New R pod owner - Introduction

Been enjoying this forum for a while and finally took the plunge.  My name is Jack.  Recently retired and just wanting to try something different.  Tent camped a lot in the past but ready to move up to glamping!

Had a great time and only 3 issues.

1.)  Neither of the 2 usb charging ports worked.  So I tried usb port on the radio and phone said it was charging but did not charge and by morning was dead.  Weird.

2.)  The legs for the awning would not lock into place when you closed the locking lever.  The only way I can see this happening is who ever showed this camper repeatedly raised and lower the legs without releasing levers... ether that or it is just plan defective.

3.)  The slide made a loud pop anytime you moved it in or out.  Turned out to be a vertical piece of trim that hung on the bottom and then would release.  Cutting off about 3/32 inch off bottom of the trim solved that problem,  but if only whoever nailed it on had placed all the way up it would have never hung at the bottom.

misc. stuff - picking up packet and found the year long FR warranty extension form was included.  The lady did mention the extended warranty they sold and there was place mat like thing sitting in front of me describing their extended warranty... but she only mentioned it and no hard sale.  Now I gotta decide if I want it.  I normally do not purchase extended warranties on anything...but these things are so cheaply made and looks like a million things that could go wrong.

Dealer included and installed torsion bar with ball and drop down included, weight distributing hitch,  a friction type sway bar, 7 pin bumper hookup, a 7 to 4 pin adapter so I can hook up my boat, a 50 to 30amp adapter,  and brake controller. They hard wired it from my battery (this is an older truck) and I was pleased to see they even installed inline fuses on the wires.  

We did purchase a surge protector, cover for the top vent, stair rug and bug screens for all openings.

Now we are trying to decide if we should buy the cover as we have no sheltered place to park.   Should we buy a cover?

Only pulled it about 6 miles with a top speed of 45 and it pulled well.  I asked several questions about axle weight limits, GVWR etc.  No one seemed concerned.  I can only assume that they are advised on what to install for each camper.  What they put on mine seems like over kill as the drop down hitch weighs at least 50 lbs, and if the torsion bars were any heavier I would not be able to push them up into sockets.  I struggle at one point to install torsion bars and could not get the chain link hooked as far down as they told me to do at the dealer. Finally used jack to raise everything and and easily hooked chain where dealer told me to hook it.  Problem solved.

I did notice that when I lowered jack w/o torsion bar the truck really bottomed out.  This did not happen with torsion bars.  Will measure distance between tires and body with and without camper soon.

Anyway, will have to return to dealer to have usb ports and awning leg issues fixed.

If you purchase one of these I suggest you try the little things yourself and make sure it all works.  Still haven't tried fridge, heater, shower, crapper, a.c., as we had no 30 amp hook up.  Fingers crossed.

Long story short - lots of fun, lots of features,  interior lights tooooo bright.   Permanent retinal damage

Jack

But if you had it in the first place, you probably don't even notice it, and you just keep on toe-tapping to whatever is on the stereo. 

Will weigh trailer tongue soon.  No long trips for awhile.

The heavy hitch and torsion bars should add plenty of extra tongue weight at least 100 pounds,  the tongue weight listed in the sales manual is 320 pounds (if I remember correctly) and the camper weight is around 3000 lbs.

Dealer did not charge me anything for the extra towing equipment.

jp