Winnebago 2304 Review - 2003 continued . . .

Bathroom and Toilet

Another huge change is the bathroom. It's magnificent and accolades of praise to Winnebago for putting so much thought into this vital area! Yes folks you actually have a small bath with a lovely sliding shower screen all done in a very tasteful creamy beige. It is sensibly sloped towards the outside so water drains out completely if you happen to be on a slight lean as so often happens when you arrive at a site in the dark. But it gets better! Gone is the old style fold down sink and in its place is a full width vanity cabinet with loads of storage underneath. The toilet is the familiar Thetford cassette type, but in this case it swivels to give easier access to the under sink cupboard. Being a swivel type there is no top tank for flushing, as water is drawn from your main freshwater tank - this means you save on chemicals. Another benefit is that there is less chemical smell in the bathroom for those sensitive to this. One tiny drawback is you have to always have the main pump switched on for it to flush. Maybe Winnebago could address this in the future as it's not good camper etiquette to leave a toilet"unflushed" is it now, to go outside and turn the pump on? If you are an old hand and prefer chemicals in the top tank, you can request this feature as the cost is exactly the same. The minor drawback is the tank only holds 9 litres so you have to refill it fairly frequently. It is a DIYers paradise as there is so much you can do to make it even better such as adding another window to the bathroom and fitting more shelves. The photos below were taken using natural light giving you some idea of the airiness of the bathroom. The sliding screen is a bit finnicky to use as it tends to fall out of the grooves if you leave it open to dry. We would like to see a stronger bottom track as there is nowhere to rest your feet whilst drying. The bath also needs a hand rail as being very short some of us could have problems getting up again! This item would be VERY hard to retrofit. By the way, this is the same bath as used in the upmarket Alpine and Explorer ranges, so you are really getting good value for money here! With three other leading RV makers poised to enter the motorhome market Winnebago is setting a cracking pace that will be hard for others to match.

Kitchen and Stove

Being right next door to the front entry the kitchen has a lovely open airy feel. It has the excellent Italian SMEV 3 burner stove with oven and grill. We liked the automatic ignition and having separate controls for the oven and grill. It is an easy to clean unit and comes with a split glass lift up lid. The oven door is double glazed so if you have toddlers there is less chance of burns. The oven has a handy light, BUT no indicating pilot light, so you must remember to turn it off! Oodles of cupboard space and these at long last now have dividers fitted. We would like to have seen a deep pots and pans draw like the excellent one fitted to the entry level Freeway. Ventilation is taken care of by a Jensen extractor hood. A bit noisy, but it works quite well. The rattle in the outside vent still persists - maybe one day this will get a redesign! Fire hazard wise this is a very safe set up. We would however like to see a small splash back on the left hand side of the stove to stop anything spilling onto the upholstery.

Sleeping and Dining Arrangements

The double bed over the cab is very comfortable. The blanket locker at the foot of the bed has been retained from the 2104 - a wonderful idea and oh so handy. A rather odd thing here though in that the lid wont stay open! All they have to do is move it 20 mm towards the front and it would stay open on its own. A minor thing, but remember you tend to open this cupboard in the night if it turns cold. There is a light at each end and access via a ladder stored in the adjacent wardrobe. A small problem still though with this area. There is no light switch near the bed. On retiring you have to climb the ladder in the dark - not good! Similarly there is no hall light on entering the 2304. The rear club lounge converts into the biggest bed you have ever seen! Talk about a honeymoon suite! It is a slat style bed and the slats are cleverly concealed in a rear locker ready for instant use - an idea introduced in the Freeway. With the table stowed in the cavernous boot the club lounge is excellent for entertaining when it gets too cold outside for Happy Hour! The seat across the back is not super deep and is really only suitable for children or short card sessions. It all looks very inviting, and trust us it is very hard to get visitors to go home! The photos below show the rear with and without the table.

Electrics

In a word superb! The new state of the art Mastervolt charger performs flawlessly and at last at least two motorhome manufacturers are fitting a multi stage charger as standard. We have already covered this device in minute detail in the 2104 review so wont repeat the same information here. Needless to say money wont buy you a better unit. Oddly it is not mentioned in any Winnebago literature or on their website. You can even ship your Winnie overseas and it will AUTOMATICALLY adjust instantly to the new voltage! It is not cheap at $1185.00, but worth every cent. You can buy these from Don in Winnebago spare parts if you have an older Winnie. Yes the fan does come on in boost mode, but you don't hear it inside the motorhome. This makes Winnebago class leading in this vital area as it now charges in boost mode at 14.4 volts, so at last it is possible to almost fully charge the twin Exide Extreme glass mat batteries. Again this is state of the art in battery design - see the articles written by CMCA technical writer Collyn Rivers on his website. Battery stowage is now completely different. The slide out has been dispensed with in favour of a taller locker - similar door to that used on gas bottle lockers. This is because of the extra floor height. In our view they have moved forward only slightly as it is still very hard to check acid levels, and more thought is needed in this vital area. The vehicle battery is mounted in the engine bay and has fantastic accessibility.

Still no power points at the rear of the dinette area for those wishing to use computers, sewing machines etc. on the table. You can of course plug into the points at the end of the kitchen bench. However, this means leads, power supplies etc. have to run under cushions - not good practice and in the case of computer power supplies a possible fire hazard, as they get so hot. We suggest you have a "little moan" when you order your 2304 and Winnebago might take the hint and put a power point right at the rear - you never know your luck. We found it extremely hard to use the odd shaped power supplies that come with Samsung and Motorola mobile phones. The power points need more clearance around them in our view.