Maiden voyage in our new SOB is complete. Overall it was a great trip, stayed at William O'Brien State Park (MN), probably about a 12 other campers over the course of the weekend. About 15 degree overnight temps and the high was probably about 45. Did some good hiking.
Camper overall did well. There is a bit of a learning curve to backing up a 5ver, it reacts a LOT slower than a bumper pull. This will take a bit of time to get used to. The Gen-Y hitch was very smooth, fairly easy to hook up, I will say I wish my bed camera was closer, but it might help if I clean the lens.
Right now it is back to the dealer for some warranty work. Before we signed the paperwork we knew it had some minor interior trim damage. They already had it on order. It does have a few other issues we found, most minor things I could fix myself and a bunch I did. One new issue that happened while we were at home we lost the 12v power to the lights and USB ports in the slide out, I spent a few hours trying to diagnose the issue and finally, said its going in anyways, let the dealer deal with it.
Biggest issue is the heat. I had not truly noticed where the heat ducts are located. The thermostat is in the bedroom, set to a comfortable level. The bathroom was 5-7 degrees warmer, and the rear living and kitchen was 4-5 degrees cooler, that was with an electric space heater on in that area. There is one 4" round duct in the bedroom and another in the bathroom, that I had already installed a restrictor on, and it needs more restriction. The cargo hold under the bedroom has a heat duct, that needs to be restricted. There is a lot of heat being delivered to the front of the camper. There appears to have one dedicated underbelly duct. Then the problem there is ONE heat register on the rear wall in the kitchen. There are a ton of windows in this unit along with a large passage door. So there is a lot of heat loses. There is just not enough heat to the rear, which is a which is a poor design. The dealer suspects Alliance will say it works as designed and there will not be much that can be done under warranty. I might have a solution figured out to add a second heat duct to the living room area. Cut an inch or two off the bottom of the pantry door, install a duct under the pantry. Not sure if this is easily done, as the water heater is in the area I need to install it, but there is a decent size access panel there for future investigation.
I did inquire with the dealer about the Lippert 3.0 auto leveling, as it always lifts the camper off the ground, and Lippert says do not do this. Dealer's master tech said this sounds like the rear sensor is loose or has fallen off, so it keeps adjusting and lifting.
The old camper comes out of winter storage next week, so I have to get active on listing it for sale.
new leveling blocks for at home, need to get another 2x4, to add to the stack.
Camper overall did well. There is a bit of a learning curve to backing up a 5ver, it reacts a LOT slower than a bumper pull. This will take a bit of time to get used to. The Gen-Y hitch was very smooth, fairly easy to hook up, I will say I wish my bed camera was closer, but it might help if I clean the lens.
Right now it is back to the dealer for some warranty work. Before we signed the paperwork we knew it had some minor interior trim damage. They already had it on order. It does have a few other issues we found, most minor things I could fix myself and a bunch I did. One new issue that happened while we were at home we lost the 12v power to the lights and USB ports in the slide out, I spent a few hours trying to diagnose the issue and finally, said its going in anyways, let the dealer deal with it.
Biggest issue is the heat. I had not truly noticed where the heat ducts are located. The thermostat is in the bedroom, set to a comfortable level. The bathroom was 5-7 degrees warmer, and the rear living and kitchen was 4-5 degrees cooler, that was with an electric space heater on in that area. There is one 4" round duct in the bedroom and another in the bathroom, that I had already installed a restrictor on, and it needs more restriction. The cargo hold under the bedroom has a heat duct, that needs to be restricted. There is a lot of heat being delivered to the front of the camper. There appears to have one dedicated underbelly duct. Then the problem there is ONE heat register on the rear wall in the kitchen. There are a ton of windows in this unit along with a large passage door. So there is a lot of heat loses. There is just not enough heat to the rear, which is a which is a poor design. The dealer suspects Alliance will say it works as designed and there will not be much that can be done under warranty. I might have a solution figured out to add a second heat duct to the living room area. Cut an inch or two off the bottom of the pantry door, install a duct under the pantry. Not sure if this is easily done, as the water heater is in the area I need to install it, but there is a decent size access panel there for future investigation.
I did inquire with the dealer about the Lippert 3.0 auto leveling, as it always lifts the camper off the ground, and Lippert says do not do this. Dealer's master tech said this sounds like the rear sensor is loose or has fallen off, so it keeps adjusting and lifting.
The old camper comes out of winter storage next week, so I have to get active on listing it for sale.
new leveling blocks for at home, need to get another 2x4, to add to the stack.
. I suspect it's cheaper to buy a new scope.
