After almost a week in our new RW

TNTBaker · 06-13-2014, 05:35 AM

Well, it's been a whirlwind week in which we took delivery and also moved out of our home of 22 years. The Redwood is amazing! WE LOVE IT! It already feels like home, believe it or not. Yes, there are some minor issues, and things will need to be repaired, but nothing major so far.

Our closet doors in the bedroom were crooked, but Todd was able to fix it with his tools. Few other things, loose hinges on a cupboard door, trim molding around the basement door came off completely and won't stay on, one of the window shades fell down, the screens were not anchored properly in some windows, the ice maker line had a hole in it an had to be spliced, things like that. Yes, they are QC issues, but I am grateful it hasn't been anything more critical. So far, our punch list has only 3 items: there is a loud vibration noise under the rear heat pump (sounds like a loose piece of paper making a "kazoo" noise) and our bathroom pocket door knocks pretty hard against framing inside the wall and it's not going to work, and our "REDWOOD" letters on the passenger's side are crooked. Our surge protector is not mounted properly per manufacturer's instructions, so we are going to have them fix that. Everything else, we have managed to repair ourselves so far. We are going to try and wait a while for any other issues to present themselves to keep our trips to service at a minimum.

We replaced the shower head today with the Oxygenics, and I can say we agree with so many others, it's a dramatic improvement in water pressure (at least it seems so). I think they are too expensive, but ya gotta have a good shower. We also added the TV outside and it's COOL!!

I am extremely pleased with the Splendides and the dishwasher and the refrigerator. They are a HUGE reason that it feels like "home" and not a "trailer". The visitors we have had have been awestruck by the beauty and quality of our trailer. It has been a ton of fun! So those of you about to take deliver (we were just there ourselves) hang in there! IT'S SO WORTH IT! LOVE LOVE LOVE our Redwood!!

I gotta write a post about the hair-raising trip getting this HUGE beast into this TINY park... I think I am strong enough to tell the story now.

Stay tuned.

Foxfire · 06-13-2014, 06:04 AM

We have our rig about 2 1/2 months. We also had a kazoo in the rear heat pump. A couple of days later you could see a piece of aluminum duct tape in the register after removing it I saw a piece flapping in the duct. Once I removed it the kazoo went away. Funny when I heard it for the first time I too knew it was a piece of tape flapping in the duct.

Steve & Linda · 06-13-2014, 03:36 PM

Glad things are going well outside of a few minor issues and happy that you love your coach.

0nTheRoad · 06-13-2014, 03:56 PM

Todd & Theresa,

So glad you're coach is all you had hoped for!!!

As to the minor issues, there will always be small things that need to be tweaked, but it sounds like yours are not major so what you don't fix yourself should be easily taken care of by your dealer when you take it in.

Enjoy!!!

Rick and Mindy · 06-13-2014, 03:57 PM

It was definitely worth the wait wasn't it! Sounds like you have been enjoying it and checking things out as well. So glad to hear that your issues have been minor ones.

lwg · 06-13-2014, 10:26 PM

I had the same pocket door problem. I think they added an additional screw somewhere to "strengthen" things up and haven't had a problem since.

As to the HVAC noises, they are a plenty. I've found the foil tape in mine but most recently noticed that one of the air returns for the forward AC is more or less completely collapsed. If you pull down the cover and filter you'll see that they are just essentially insulated foil wrapped to form a duct. There's not a lot of structure to them. I might have to pull the AC and rework mine to get it fixed properly. Done dealing with dealerships on this stuff. Just easier to do it myself.

TNTBaker · 06-14-2014, 01:41 AM

It's sort of silly, about the pocket door. I am sure most people would live with it, but it's ANNOYING!!! Especially in the middle of the night to the person who ISN'T getting up to use the bathroom!! LOL! It's quite a THUMP when you slide it open. It has to be damaging the door too.

So far we haven't figured out how to get AT the noise in the duct work to even see it. Any tips on that? It's located directly in the middle between the two ceiling returns in the rear. If you push UP on the ceiling, it STOPS instantly. Very frustrating. I wish we knew how to take down the ceiling panel, but that scares me. Sounds like a punchlist item.

AlanN · 06-14-2014, 03:26 AM

Congrats, Todd and Theresa, sounds like a reasonable move into your new home. We discovered one more thing to do before we can bring our rig home to pack for full timing: gotta get the arborist in here to take off a LARGE maple limb which bows out over our driveway. At the 13'3" point, half of our driveway is impassable. So the tree guy comes in Monday to clear the way. It should be done anyway, as that limb goes out to shade most of my studio, built 24 years ago. And what it shades today it can crash down upon tomorrow, so it's well to take care of that now anyway. Good selling point for the S&B house! My old truck and HR trailer were 10'6" so I never had a problem. The hoops we jump through!

Foxfire · 06-18-2014, 03:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TNTBaker

So far we haven't figured out how to get AT the noise in the duct work to even see it. Any tips on that? It's located directly in the middle between the two ceiling returns in the rear. If you push UP on the ceiling, it STOPS instantly. Very frustrating. I wish we knew how to take down the ceiling panel, but that scares me. Sounds like a punchlist item.

For me I found the duct that had the noise coming out of it the loudest. Take off the trim ring and then the 4 screws that hold the register to the ceiling. Pull the register out and stick your hand up there ( with the AC off of course) I found the piece of tape flapping in the register there.
I was inspired by your post so today I fixed the crooked closet doors.

TNTBaker · 06-18-2014, 03:25 AM

Haha Steve & Gloria! Glad you fixed your closet doors. We had to replace the latch too, and we decided to just use a magnetic closure and we love it.

That's a great idea about sticking your arm up there, can't wait to tell Todd. It would be so awesome to have it fixed, it's driving us NUTS. Luckily, the fireplace is enough heat most of the time so we can turn the heat pumps way down.

DLRAKOWITZ · 06-18-2014, 01:11 PM

Wow. Hopefully ours won't be liked that bit the way things for us has been going I wouldn't be surprised. Been waiting over a month now to get it from Exploreusa and probably three to four more weeks for them to fix what should've been done before we drove to go finally picking it up

TNTBaker · 06-20-2014, 03:18 AM

I thought you might enjoy seeing the setup so far. We are park hosts in a very old, small campground that the County we live in is renovating. All we really do is keep an eye on things and open and close the gate every day. It was crazy getting our huge RW in here, and it will be the same getting it out, but we are HERE for now!
It's absolutely silent in this 80 acre old-growth forest except for lots of birdsong and the breeze moving through the huge trees. It's a rough life.

LOVE OUR RW!!!
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S&K · 06-20-2014, 04:24 AM

Wow, awesome!

Blue Dogs · 06-20-2014, 04:43 AM

Who sleeps in the camper? Todd or Theresa? You didn't have enough room in the RW so you moved the camper in for a detached guest house? Lol

TNTBaker · 06-20-2014, 05:04 AM

LOL Yale! Camper was getting ready to go in for service. We have had it in THREE TIMES for leaking slides and they can't seem to make it stop. VERY frustrating. Guess what we checked FIRST THING on the RW when we had our first hard rain after delivery? I was actually afraid when I felt along the floor and corners... We are traumatized. Thankfully, all was dry! Do love our Lance tho... it's for "Camping"!

Oriana · 06-20-2014, 10:46 AM

Nice location, where exactly is the park. Might check it out one time we are heading up or down the I-5.

AlanN · 06-20-2014, 12:57 PM

Congrats to you both! That's a great gig in a beautiful little park ... Angele declared, "Works for ME!" She wants to host in little, off the beaten woods CGs like yours. Enjoy that 5am "Dawn awakening" racket!

spindrift · 06-20-2014, 01:53 PM

So...you have one dually for the Lance and a second for the RW?

TNTBaker · 06-20-2014, 04:53 PM

Haha Spin; No, just one dually. You can see why we like the "puck system" hitch, though. No rails in the bed, a big benefit for us. We LOVE to take our camper and tuck ourselves up in places that NO trailer or MH could ever go. We call it "stealth camping". Almost always free, there are MANY places to go on BLM land and other public and national forest land. GORGEOUS country out there! Nothing like waking up in a solitary spot with nothing but nature around you. We haven't figured out yet how to haul BOTH the camper and the RW to a new spot down the road after we retire, but working on it! Maybe a camper tow-dolly behind the RW... (just kidding)

Oriana; the park is located in SW Washington in the city of Woodland. It's called Bratton Canyon and is about 3 miles off of I-5. Just a VERY small campground (tho camping is not open yet) and has only 10 tiny campsites. Definitely do NOT bring the RW!! LOL! It's a BEAR to get in here with anything more than a vehicle.

Angele; we are so excited to have this job. I know there are more all over, hopefully you can find one too! I love interacting with the park visitors and being involved in the process here. Learning as we go, for sure. I don't know how we got so lucky.

Oriana · 06-20-2014, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TNTBaker

Oriana; the park is located in SW Washington in the city of Woodland. It's called Bratton Canyon and is about 3 miles off of I-5. Just a VERY small campground (tho camping is not open yet) and has only 10 tiny campsites. Definitely do NOT bring the RW!! LOL! It's a BEAR to get in here with anything more than a vehicle.

.

Sounds good, we usually overnight a few miles North of you in Kelso, when heading up or down the I-5.

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