Redux: 2017 Isata 5 36DS -wow

[loftygoals]

This past week I picked up a 2017 Dynamax Isata 5 36DS. I had a previous thread debating purchasing a new 2018 vs. a used 2017. In the end, the positive economics of the used 2017 won out.

These forums were a major factor. The first owner was a forum member, jdwky. Here is his post from when he first took delivery:

2017 Isata 5 36DS -wow

His ownership is well documented in threads within the forum. The forum allowed me to see his interactions with Brian Clemens and know that he was ensuring everything was perfect on the coach.

The owner kept this Isata 5 in a garage he had built for it in Kentucky. I'm in Dallas. While I was weighing the decision, another used 2017 36DS came up for sale locally at a dealer for less money. I decided that the history on the forum member's unit was worth the extra expense and the trip to and from Kentucky--I was not disappointed.

Coming from a E450 class C that is approaching 10 years old, the Isata 5 is nearly other worldly. What really impresses me is the ride quality. Although the Isata 5 is based on a truck, it doesn't ride like any truck I've ever ridden in. It is very impressive. I've covered nearly 1000 miles in it, and I find it no more tiring to drive than our family sedan.

After spending some time with it, I can apricate some of the changes from the early 2017 production to the current 2018 production. But I also like some of the things in the 2017 that where replaced in the 2018, either way I don't think you could go wrong with either unit.

Thanks for Brian Clemens for his participation on this forum--it's awesome to have the General Manager from Dynamax participating in this community and answering our questions. Thanks also to this forum for all the info I was able to ascertain prior to my purchase. And thanks to jdwky for taking great care of this coach and for a great sale.

-bj

[Whalenss]

Welcome to the I5 family.

[bclemens]

Congrats! Glad it worked out and welcome to the family.

[BLT4SPD]

Congratulations! I REALLY want to make one work for our family as well, so I hope to join you in ownership very soon!

[FOURWHL]

Congrats! Look forward to pics of you out enjoying it

[Juniorj]

Congrats! I just got a 2018, and I love it. Although my Xantrex inverter blew up on my first weekend. I live in VA, but bought it in NJ. I've got an appointment on the 18th with a local dealer to get it fixed. Fingers crossed it's an easy process!

[Webefine]

Juniorj your not going to tow a corvette with that are you? 😉

[loftygoals]

I finally got to spend a couple of days/nights in the I5. We needed to be in Houston on Monday, so we drove down from Dallas on Saturday and stayed in an RV park just outside downtown.

It isn't often that we stay in a RV park, but it made for a low stress weekend to test everything out.

First the bad:

Outdoor TV
This is something I never thought we would use much, especially in Houston, TX in July. But, we found the evening to be quiet nice and had fun sitting outside in the evenings watch kids shows with our son. Some of the other kids staying in the park were very impressed with the TV.

I did find an issue with it, though. The DVD player wouldn't display an image, nor would sound from the TV pass to the radio. I found you can access the rear of the radio by removing the drawers under the stove. The RCA cables were hooked up wrong; that was an easy fix.


Atwood On Demand Water Heater
I now understand why everyone hates this thing. It adds 65* of temperature to the water no matter the inlet temp. This means the water is scalding when the outside temp is already 100*. As suggested in this forum, I ran the sink while showering to allow for actual temperature adjustment.

On day 2, I adjusted the temperature all the way down on the unit. This made it so I could shower, but the water was still too hot for my 4 year old son.

Seeing as this was on city water, I'm really worried about showing when boondocking, which is what I do most of the time. I might end up with an old fashioned 10 Gallon water heater instead. In the meantime, I will attempt to increase flow to the shower to get enough GPM to keep the heater running.


HDMI Cabling
I am very confused by the cabling in this coach. I installed my TV Media player in the cabinet above the door. I removed the 110V outlet on the side to allow me to fish the power cord for the media player through the side of the cabinet. While this all worked great, why does this cable only go to the bedroom? I assumed it would be distributed to all the TVs. It wasn't until after I hooked it up that I realized that there is no HDMI to the outside TV and the front TV just has one to the Blu Ray player.

It looks like I'm going to be running some HDMI cables and a splitter.


The Cabover Ladder
I believe this has been fixed on later production units, but the ladder for the cabover is way too long. I also would have mounted it further right, so it could be used with the slide in.


Leveling Jacks
My unit refuses to self level even on the gentlest of grades. If I can find flat ground, I will reset nil, but I'm open to other suggestions.


Now the Good:

Pretty much everything else! I mean I have a few complaints, but they are all small things. There are also a few others that I knew before I purchased, but... I love this coach.

I still can't believe the features in this coach for the price. Though some dislike the multiplex wiring, I think the system is slick and I love being able to kill the master lights or start the generator from the driver's seat. The plumbing setup is really nice. Even the accent lighting adds an upscale feel.

Then there's the RAM chassis: it is easy to drive, it rides great, and it looks amazing. I got tons of questions about it at the RV Park. I even get thumbs up going down the highway!

The 36DS floorplan is awesome. Sure the bedroom is a bit small, but the bathroom doesn't feel like a bathroom in coach on a plane and the living room is bigger than some apartments I've had.

Having a early model, I have the dual fuel tanks. That gives me over 700 miles of range getting 9-10 MPG. I drove to Houston and back to Dallas without a fuel stop.

In a few weeks I'm headed to Colorado. It is going to be a combination family trip and a race weekend. At least I'm racing someone else's car, so I don't have to tow the trailer. Instead I'll be towing with a Mazda 6 on a dolly. It should be a good workout for the I5. I'll be traversing the West Texas heat and Mountains in Colorado all with a car in tow. Plus it will be hotel for the family and headquarters for the race. It's a 24 hour race at High Plains Raceway, so I imagine I'll have other drivers and crew crashing in the motorhome during the night segments. It should be fun!

-bj

[zgipson]

Originally Posted by loftygoals

I finally got to spend a couple of days/nights in the I5. We needed to be in Houston on Monday, so we drove down from Dallas on Saturday and stayed in an RV park just outside downtown.

It isn't often that we stay in a RV park, but it made for a low stress weekend to test everything out.

First the bad:

Outdoor TV
This is something I never thought we would use much, especially in Houston, TX in July. But, we found the evening to be quiet nice and had fun sitting outside in the evenings watch kids shows with our son. Some of the other kids staying in the park were very impressed with the TV.

I did find an issue with it, though. The DVD player wouldn't display an image, nor would sound from the TV pass to the radio. I found you can access the rear of the radio by removing the drawers under the stove. The RCA cables were hooked up wrong; that was an easy fix.


Atwood On Demand Water Heater
I now understand why everyone hates this thing. It adds 65* of temperature to the water no matter the inlet temp. This means the water is scalding when the outside temp is already 100*. As suggested in this forum, I ran the sink while showering to allow for actual temperature adjustment.

On day 2, I adjusted the temperature all the way down on the unit. This made it so I could shower, but the water was still too hot for my 4 year old son.

Seeing as this was on city water, I'm really worried about showing when boondocking, which is what I do most of the time. I might end up with an old fashioned 10 Gallon water heater instead. In the meantime, I will attempt to increase flow to the shower to get enough GPM to keep the heater running.


HDMI Cabling
I am very confused by the cabling in this coach. I installed my TV Media player in the cabinet above the door. I removed the 110V outlet on the side to allow me to fish the power cord for the media player through the side of the cabinet. While this all worked great, why does this cable only go to the bedroom? I assumed it would be distributed to all the TVs. It wasn't until after I hooked it up that I realized that there is no HDMI to the outside TV and the front TV just has one to the Blu Ray player.

It looks like I'm going to be running some HDMI cables and a splitter.


The Cabover Ladder
I believe this has been fixed on later production units, but the ladder for the cabover is way too long. I also would have mounted it further right, so it could be used with the slide in.


Leveling Jacks
My unit refuses to self level even on the gentlest of grades. If I can find flat ground, I will reset nil, but I'm open to other suggestions.


Now the Good:

Pretty much everything else! I mean I have a few complaints, but they are all small things. There are also a few others that I knew before I purchased, but... I love this coach.

I still can't believe the features in this coach for the price. Though some dislike the multiplex wiring, I think the system is slick and I love being able to kill the master lights or start the generator from the driver's seat. The plumbing setup is really nice. Even the accent lighting adds an upscale feel.

Then there's the RAM chassis: it is easy to drive, it rides great, and it looks amazing. I got tons of questions about it at the RV Park. I even get thumbs up going down the highway!

The 36DS floorplan is awesome. Sure the bedroom is a bit small, but the bathroom doesn't feel like a bathroom in coach on a plane and the living room is bigger than some apartments I've had.

Having a early model, I have the dual fuel tanks. That gives me over 700 miles of range getting 9-10 MPG. I drove to Houston and back to Dallas without a fuel stop.

In a few weeks I'm headed to Colorado. It is going to be a combination family trip and a race weekend. At least I'm racing someone else's car, so I don't have to tow the trailer. Instead I'll be towing with a Mazda 6 on a dolly. It should be a good workout for the I5. I'll be traversing the West Texas heat and Mountains in Colorado all with a car in tow. Plus it will be hotel for the family and headquarters for the race. It's a 24 hour race at High Plains Raceway, so I imagine I'll have other drivers and crew crashing in the motorhome during the night segments. It should be fun!

-bj

Welcome to the Dynamax family! Good luck at the race and in the words of the great Ricky Bobby: "If you aint first, you're last"

[bclemens]

Atwood: give them a call and see if the recall work has been done on this unit.

HDMI: We've changed this several times trying to accommodate a whole range of possible installations. Its still a work in progress.

Leveling Jacks are often messed up when they sit on a dealers lot with low voltage. In most cases it just needs the null point reset for level. Instructions are in the manual.

[loftygoals]

Originally Posted by bclemens

Atwood: give them a call and see if the recall work has been done on this unit.

Will do. Thanks for the advice.

Originally Posted by bclemens

HDMI: We've changed this several times trying to accommodate a whole range of possible installations. Its still a work in progress.

I didn't expect a response to this, but I'm sure if you talk to 10 people that actually care about this, you'll get 10 different answers on how it should be done. The video cabling is easy and cheap to retrofit.

Originally Posted by bclemens

Leveling Jacks are often messed up when they sit on a dealers lot with low voltage. In most cases it just needs the null point reset for level. Instructions are in the manual.

Thanks. I re-read the manual and realized I don't need flat ground. I can manually level the coach and then set Null.

Thanks for the responses, Brian!

-bj

[mikew968]

What series do you race with?

[loftygoals]

Originally Posted by mikew968

What series do you race with?

I compete in mainly road racing. I compete in sprint races with NASA and BMW CCA and endurance races with World Racing League.

-bj

[letsgorving]

Will have to try that with our leveling jacks. It almost never can level itself, we always have to do it manually.

[mikew968]

I run w NASA here in the Great Lakes region.

[loftygoals]

Originally Posted by mikew968

I run w NASA here in the Great Lakes region.

So does your screen name mean you race a Porsche? I started out racing with NASA in the Midwest and Great Lakes region with my 944 Spec car. I still stay in contact with Eric Kuhns. If you've been racing with NASA for a while, I'm sure you know Eric.

-bj