Boater that's new to RV'ing

[stevenic]

Hello everyone... We just purchased a 2021 North Point 310 RLTS as the ground based companion to our Cutwater 302 boat. We've done a fair amount of boating but brand new to RV's so expect a lot of questions over the coming days.

We were originally thinking about a Class A but then my brother, who has a Class C, said that if he had to do it all over again he would go with a 5th wheel since you can just disconnect and drive your tow vehicle around without having to break camp. It was also $50k - $100k cheaper path which didn't hurt.

We went out 3 weeks ago and bought a 2021 RAM 3500 Limited Dully with a cummings diesel to pull what ever trailer we ended up buying. After I lot of research I found myself bouncing between the Jayco, Alliance, and Solitude. I'd like to be able to work from the road so the desk in the Solitude 345GK was very attractive but the problem is there's just very limited inventory right now. We already have a yellowstone trip planned for May and it wasn't clear that if we ordered something custom we would take delivery in time. So the NP 310 LRTS turned out to check the most boxes of the RV's our local dealers had in stock.

When we got to our local Jayco dealer for our appointment to look at the trailer someone had got there before us (without an appointment) and spent 45 minutes looking through the trailer we were interested in! My dealer suggested that if we were really interested in that trailer we should start the paperwork now so I essentially bought the trailer sight unseen. Crazy I know... But I had watched enough product review videos to know this was one of the top 3-4 trailers available in our area. When we finally did get to walk through the trailer we had just bought we weren't disappointed. It's a gorgeous trailer and I think it's going to work perfectly for us...

Steve

[JFlightRisk]

Welcome to the Forum from Western New York State, and congratulations on the new North Point!

If you haven't taken delivery as of yet, be sure to take your time, and do a very thorough PDI (Pre Delivery Inspection) at the dealer. Have them test every system, explain how they work, and how to diagnose them if there's a problem. Also where every hidden component is located, and how to get at them, like the water pump.

If you're in a cold climate, the winterizing procedure is important to be familiar with too.

This all may be old hat to you, if buying a boat is the same. Just throwing things out there for you.

[stevenic]

BTW... I work for a large tech company so having a rock solid internet connection is critical for me. I'm having my dealer install this aftermarket router + antenna:

https://www.mobilemusthave.com/Ultim...ing_p_168.html

It has dual modems which means I can plug in SIM cards for 2 or more data plans and it will continually which one has the best signal and use that data plan. If both plans have a great signal it will logically combine them into one super fast internet signal. We have t-mobile so we've reconfigured our plan to where we have unlimited LTE hotspot data and we're on the waitlist for a grandfathered AT&T unlimited plan via the site above. If we end up needing to pick up a small verizon data plan I may add that into the mix as well.

It looks like it should be easy enough to tie all of this into the Winegard Gateway system that came with our new trailer so when in the trailer (or truck) you'll just connect to the winegard as normal but that will be connected to my other system as if its camp wifi.

I'll post details about everything to the 5th wheel forum once I have it all working.

[stevenic]

Originally Posted by JFlightRisk

If you haven't taken delivery as of yet, be sure to take your time, and do a very thorough PDI (Pre Delivery Inspection) at the dealer. Have them test every system, explain how they work, and how to diagnose them if there's a problem. Also where every hidden component is located, and how to get at them, like the water pump.

If you're in a cold climate, the winterizing procedure is important to be familiar with too.

This all may be old hat to you, if buying a boat is the same. Just throwing things out there for you.

Thanks! So I know from owning a boat that there's a shake out period and we have no illusions that everything is going to work correctly out of the box. These are big rolling condos so stuff breaks. There are differences though so tips like these are always appreciated.

[JFlightRisk]

Just wait until you ask what you should buy to keep on board! We love to spend other peoples money! Lol!

Seriously, there's no such thing as a dumb question here, so if any come to mind, feel free to ask away. We all love to help.

[Jagiven]

Originally Posted by stevenic

Thanks! So I know from owning a boat that there's a shake out period and we have no illusions that everything is going to work correctly out of the box. These are big rolling condos so stuff breaks. There are differences though so tips like these are always appreciated.

You are well above the curve of most buyers!

My recommendation is to try everything out at home first, then take it out for a couple short hops from home, just to break it in.

Have fun with your new land yacht

[Scott]

Welcome from northeast Illinois.