Before our 2023 Baystar 3014, we owned 2 other gas Class A motorhomes. Overall, we are very happy we switched to Newmar and love most things about our Baystar 3014, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts.
However, every manufacturer has some oddities and peculiarities that sometimes make you scratch your head and wonder why. In some cases, it’s just because some manufacturers are slower to update construction techniques and/or technology than others. In some cases, maybe it’s because they just haven’t thought about it.
In talking to someone who was also looking to purchase a Newmar Baystar, my wife and I put our heads together to come up with this list of the odd and strange side of owning a Newmar Baystar. While we love our Baystar because of how it elevates our RV adventures, these are some things that just come with your purchase, whether you like it or not! 🙂 I’m sure it’s not exhaustive, so feel free to add to the list.
Who knows? Maybe Newmar will find this post and reconsider a few of the items!
I’ve organized the items loosely by exterior and interior issues.
Exterior:
- Entry Door
- Entry door may be hard to close and/or lock you in or out! Mine was hard to close but the dealer adjusted the strike bolt, and it works well now, but many online still complain about the door and locking mechanism.
- The entry door can also make annoying squeaks when on the road. Many people wrap electrical tape around the striker bolt to reduce the noise. I also added felt tape to areas where the screen was squeaking. Newmar can do better here.
- The entry door does not have a strut that keeps it from opening all the way, and will slam against side of RV if the wind is blowing and you forget to hold onto the door. Be careful when opening.
- The screen door lock is really cheap plastic and will break if door closed and it’s in the lock position. Newmar will send a new one for $30!
- Slides
- Slide out motor mount bolts have a history on iRV2.com of coming loose. Many people re-torque these bolts every year, as a loose bolt could damage the slide motor and lead to an expensive repair. So far so good for mine. The NewSere tech said he believed Newmar had fixed this issue, but I’m having him check the torque just to be sure during annual maintenance.
- Slide rollers WILL dent vinyl flooring in 9 out of 10 Baystars. Nothing seems to help, even the plastic floor protectors provided by Newmar. Newmar says they do not cover this under warranty as it is normal for this to happen. A few people online had said Newmar replaced their dented tiles, but I’ve just accepted the look and hardly notice it now. I could have placed this in the interior section, but since I was on slides it seemed to fit here.
- Mind the gaps! Since 2015, Newmar is careful to instruct that slides need to be extended before leveling the coach, as long as the gaps between the slide and the exterior wall are good. It seems unintuitive, but I’m used to stopping the coach, plugging in power, inspecting the gaps, extending the slides, starting the motor, and finally leveling the coach. It’s probably most important for motorhomes with full wall slides. Some people level first and then extend the slides, so I just tell folks to do whatever their manual says.
- The slides that lower flush to the floor, like on our full wall slide, can make a jarring thud when going down the ramp. This can be a little un-nerving at first. Newmar and everyone online says this is normal, and it is. Newmar invented the slide and this is a solid design, but I do wish it was a little more elegant.
- Patio Awning
- The Carefree patio awning key fob and wind sensor are really unreliable and stop working often. Get to know the procedure for reconnecting, or just don’t bother using them, like me.
- Also, when the wind sensor battery gets low, it will annoyingly beep to let you know. If I had a dime for every time I heard someone ask online what the beeping sounds by the passenger seat was for and how to stop it… Some people turn the awning power switch off each time they extend it. Since everyone knows about this, why does Newmar put up with it?
- Many times, the factory does not set the Tractioners correctly. They are located at each end of the awning, and must be set to catch on the awning ribs and help the motor unfurl the awning. If you are having issues with your awning not opening properly, this is the first place to check. Newmar was going to replace my awning motor, but after adjusting the Tractioners it was not necessary.
- Other Issues
- Fiberglass roof just laid over top but not glued down. May have high spots where you can feel it separated from rood by up to a quarter inch. Newmar says this is normal.
- Hood release may catch. I’ve never had this problem, but it’s well documented online. Hopefully Newmar has fixed this in 2023 models and newer.
- The rear window is a good size, but does not open, and the exit window below the bedroom TV is way too small. Most people keep a safety glass tool handy to shatter the back window if needed in an emergency, and allow exit by holding onto rear ladder.
- The Equalizer jacks Newmar uses are known to be terrible at auto leveling, and it usually makes the RV much too high. Almost everyone levels manually, lowering the front jacks first, then the rear, then leveling side to side. I’m not too picky about getting it perfectly level, but I manually level each time. Since everyone knows about this, why does Newmar put up with it?
- Strangely, if you have 6 house batteries, the battery bank is separated, with 4 in basement compartment and 2 under the hood, even though the compartment has plenty of room for 6 batteries. This results in much more cabling than is needed. Not a huge issue, but it complicates upgrading your batteries to lithium.
- The generator hours are not displayed on your house control panel. A good place for it would be on the AGS screen. Strangely, you have to go outside to the generator to view the hours operated. Since this relates to the generator I chose to put it in the exterior section.
Interior Living Space:
- Cab
- The front driver and passenger chair may be hard to swivel around to face the living area. But, only turn the chairs clockwise towards the living room, and then counterclockwise to return them to face the cab. Sometimes the seat swivels most of the way around, but catches at a certain point. If that happens, note there are two ways to release the seat. There is the black plastic tab on side of the chair AND there is a black metal lever under the upholstery on the right side of the chair. Pull the black lever up if the chair catches and it will swivel the rest of the way around.
- Do not turn the powered drivers seat too far or the power wires will break under the seat. This is easy to repair by reconnecting the wires under the seat inside the loom. Good to have a wire crimper in your tool bag.
- The charging pads make the iPhone too hot if you have a large camera bump, like most newer iPhones. Just something to be aware of and it might be easier to simply connect a cable to charge the phone.
- The window shades by the passenger chair can get stuck in the window casing, unraveling the shade on the edge and making it look bad. The damage is not too bad, but you need to cut the unraveled threads off so they don’t get worse. To open and close the passenger side shade, angle the front side outward a bit to miss the window casing.
- Note the privacy shades in the cab (front and side windows) are not very private, and have some pretty bigs gaps.
- KIB Control Panel
- Strangely, the control panel in the hallway does not include Bluetooth, even though KIB makes a bluetooth module for the unit! Seriously, Newmar!? [Note: 2025 models have now have an app!!] In this day and age, almost all accessories come with bluetooth builtin. It’s even worse, as Newmar has made it so you can’t take advantage of the bluetooth models made by third parties. For instance, they don’t include the HVAC controller made by Penguin. If they did, you could use the builtin bluetooth capability or swap it out for a third party bluetooth HVAC controller. By deleting the manufacturers controller, and not including bluetooth in their control panel, there is absolutely no way to upgrade the system to bluetooth. Practically, that means having to get up in the cold morning to turn on the heater. It’s the little things like that, that make a difference Am I right or just lazy? It would also be nice to be able to monitor the holding tanks while at the wet bay using your phone, rather than having to trudge inside to check. Thanks Newmar, for blocking our ability to get bluetooth for everything you close to put in the KIB control panel! Hopefully, they will remedy this and allow 2023 Baystar and beyond to upgrade.
- Lights controlled by the KIB matrix panel may occasionally flicker. Since this is basically controlled by a little computer, I guess it makes sense. To reset the system, just turn off 12v power for a few seconds at switch over entrance door.
- The shape of the water tank in the 3014 (and probably other models) is actually L-shaped. This makes the readings on the control panel wildly inaccurate. Someone was kind enough to make a chart for the 3014 so you could translate the control panel reading with how much water is actually in your tank. Really Newmar!?
- Other Issues
- The fiberglass shower floor does not have supports in some areas. If you take off the vent and look underneath, you will see what I mean. Several people say that this leads to leaks in the floor, or even cracks in the drain line below the shower floor. Yikes! It’s probably a good idea to check there for leaks each year.
- The cabinet door hinges may have screws that loosen or come out. This has happened twice to me so far. Get familiar with how to repair using wooden toothpicks and wood glue, and you will be good to go.
- In our 3014, there is no full length mirror. We added one on inside of wardrobe door.
- The trash can is very SMALL (3 gallons) and, at least in the 3014 model, there is no where else to put one. Get used to taking out the trash more often. Maybe this extra exercise is acutally a benefit. Thanks, Nemar!
Well, that’s my list. Haha, it was actually a little cathartic getting that out there. As you can see, you have to take the good with the bad. Thankfully, its mostly good with our Baystar, and I hope it is with yours as well.
This sums up our 1-year review of our 2023 Newmar Baystar 3014. I hope you enjoyed learning more about our experience and I’m also hoping that some of this may make your journey a little more smoother and pleasant.
Remember, in a motorhome, the journey is at least half the fun…and the destinations are pretty good, too!
Al & Deb
MobileMosers.com 
I have two suggestions for you.
For the entrance door swinging open in wind, Lippert makes a set of Friction hinges, that can be added to the door, and they do just what their name implies—add enough friction that the door won’t swing open on its own. Glad I added these. If your entrance door isn’t made by Lippert, they may not fit.
The second one involves the Carefree wind sensor. I added that to my RV. They are well aware on the battery drain issue. So much so that the have gone through three iterations of the arm sensor batteries.
The first ones were small hearing aide style batteries—those only lasted a few months, with the awning switch on.
The second one used larger flat batteries like a CR2032. Those lasted longer, but were still disappointing.
The final one, which I swapped out to, uses two AAA batteries. I put in lithium AAA ones and they lasted a year now.
Sure, turning off the switch saves the battery, but then the awning won’t retract in wind. But I do turn it off when the awning is in—that helps.
Good write up. Thanks!
Wyatt from Winneowners.
Winnebago Intent, 2018
Thanks for the comment!
I’ll look into the friction hinges, but I don’t think the door is made by Lippert. Great idea, though! I also thought about adding the same king of door strut that was on our Winnebago’s.
I have the AAA version of the wind sensor, so I’ll give the lithium a try. I thought about it but was concerned the temperature up there may get too hot for them.
Appreciate the suggestions!
Al
Good, thorough review. We have a 2022 3014 Bay Star Sport. Slightly different than yours but very, very close. I could relate to most of your comments and after a year and a half, I believe we have worked most of the bugs out. Yes, Newmar isn’t perfect, but the factory has been responsive to my questions and/or parts ordering. You hit the nail on the head regarding the hour meter on the genset. Should be able to read inside the coach. Fortunately, we haven’t had to have any service work performed. I change oil and filter myself.
Glad you are enjoying your BSS, and thanks for the comments!
I wouldn’t have a very good feeling after reading all of this. Personally, I’ve toured the gas coaches from Newmar and have come away disappointment. We love our Winnebago.
Having had 2 Winnebagos before my Newmar, I’m very happy with the quality construction of the Newmar. The Newmar, for instance, is much better insulated from sound and temperature than our Winnebagos were, and I could go on… But we loved traveling in the Winnie’s too. As you can see, I get into the weeds in the reviews, and both Winnebagos had their share of issues too. Winnebago does some things better, like numbering wires for their schematics, providing CAD like capabilities online for your coach, and a better control panel for house systems. Everyone just has to decide what’s most important to them. Glad you are happy with your purchase. As a wise man once told me, “Happy is the man who wants what he already has”.