Thursday, May 19, 2022; Forest City Iowa Winnebago Factory Tour and Service
Parking at the Floyd County Historical Society Museum’s parking lot worked out well. It was quiet and we were able to run the air conditioner for a little to cool the RV down from 79˚F to a more comfortable 72˚F. We didn’t need the heat or AC overnight.
We hit the road at 7:30am and arrived at the Winnebago Factory in Forest City, Iowa around 8:30am. We had signed up for a 12:00pm tour, but when we checked in at the front desk, they said we were actually on the list for a 9:00am tour. So it was fortuitous that we arrived early. That worked well because during the tour, they pointed out their Factory Service Center and said that they can do some drop in repairs.
They have a little museum in the Winnebago Factory Visitor Center, and they also allow dry camping in the parking lot for short periods of time.
There is also a Rally grounds across the street with capacity for over 1000 camping units. We could have easily spent the night in the parking lot had we known in advance, but Charles City was worth the stop and visit.
Winnebago is named for the county and river that flows through it. The Winnebago tribe was nomadic, spending their winters in Nebraska. During the 50’s and 60’s, tribal members would set up Tee Pee’s along the river.
The Winnebago factory in Forest City manufactures Class A and Class C RV’s, while Class B campervans are manufactured about 20 miles away in their Lake Mills factory. When they say they build the RV’s here, they really do manufacture just about everything from the frame up including upholstery, injection molded plastics, cabinetry and even the aluminum extrusions used are manufactured on site from aluminum billets. The holding tanks are roto-cast on site from polyethylene pellets, allowing them to be made to fit exactly for each individual application.
The grounds are covered with Sprinter and Ram Vans, as well as the Sprinter Chassis with open rear cabs covered with plastic film that the Class C RV’s are built from. The most primitive are the chassis by Freightliner that the Class A models are built from, which are a bare frame with motor and mechanicals that have a steering wheel sticking up above the frame and pretty much nothing else.
They don’t allow photos of the grounds or inside the factory buildings, but it really is something to see in person. It was particularly fun to see the production line that our RV was built on and seeing the same model that we have in the production process. There was only one other couple on our tour. They are from Maine, and are picking up their new Solis camper van today.
After the tour, we went over to the Factory Service Center and they were able to schedule us in today. They prioritize propane leaks since they are potentially dangerous. They did estimate that the scratch we got on the side of the RV in Delaware would cost $2700 to fix with bondo and paint, and that such a repair could be scheduled in Mid-September to October, and they would need the coach for 2 weeks to do it. We’ll probably just live with the scratch, or get it done at a body shop closer to home.
There was another RV that looked just like ours in the parking lot. The owners, Brian and Karen were also from Washington (Lake Sammamish) and have been on the road about as long as we have, visiting family in the Midwest. They were hoping to get an alignment and oil change done.
The RV technician, Jonah, spent quite a lot of time searching for the LP leak, putting soapy solution on all of the connections and checking each appliances but eventually found the culprit. The main LP hose from the tank had been damaged- presumably by a rodent, leaving a significant hole in the line. It was up above the frame of the RV. Unfortunately, they did not have the hose in stock, but have ordered it. They hope to be able to get it from Indiana in a day or two. It will take about 2 more hours of labor to replace the line, so we will have to stick around the Iowa area another couple of days to get this fixed.
We had lunch with leftover hand pulled noodles, sandwiches and carrot sticks. The wind was rocking the RV violently, and causing the slide topper (awning over the slide out) to flap violently. The owner of the Class A strolled down and informed us that a tornado watch and severe storm warning was in effect for Winnebago county and surrounding counties in northern Iowa and southeastern Minnesota. There were some omninous clouds on the horizon and the winds were gusting violently, but there was no rain or hail yet.
The stone tower with steel staircase would also make a very strong tornado shelter if you happened to be close enough. On our way up to the Observation tower, we ran into Brian and Karen, who were hiking down and headed for their RV which was now parked in the state park campground below. After checking out the Observation tower, we drove through the campground and stopped by their RV to chat. They had an automatic hydraulic leveling system installed, and when they ordered theirs, they got the nicer interior with the power leather seats, larger Nav display and adaptive cruise control. They also had Sumo Springs added up front before they took delivery. They also had a third solar panel and lithium batteries installed in the factory.
As we returned to the Winnebago factory area, we saw that the campsites closest to the service center were pretty full. The campsites by the visitor center had a couple of openings between some of the large Class A units.
We decided to park there to use the surrounding larger Class A units as wind blocks. This seemed to help reduce flapping of the slide topper.
