Feedback for Redwood at the 2014 rally

[Rick and Mindy]

I agree, the water filtration system is a joke at best. I had to take half of the wall down and enlarge the door for access to the filter. Changing the filter is a project that should be a simple one! I have not seen any other manufacturers placing their water filters in such a place. I also had to reinforce the way it was connected. 1 screw held the filter in place, wow only 1 screw away from flooding my underbelly. I also have to get on my knees and reach under the side of the coach to connect my sewer hose. Not really Baby Boomer friendly.

Thanks for reading these threads and taking an interest in our concerns.

Rick

[Blue Dogs]

One other thing would be slide out racks fo the LP tanks, not a necessity but sure would make it a lot easier! Wish list.

[TNTBaker]

I plan to REMOVE my filter and/or install the by-pass like AA did. We just filter the water at the sink for consumption.

[Blue Dogs]

Originally Posted by TNTBaker

I plan to REMOVE my filter and/or install the by-pass like AA did. We just filter the water at the sink for consumption.

I like the idea of a full house filter, keeps junk out of all the strainers in the faucets, shower and toilet.

[atom ant]

We added the option at the last minute because of the ice maker. For that reason alone it has proved itself last year after all the heavy spring rains and the wells were stirred up at campsites. My buddies ice in South Dakota was tan, mine was glass! The filter had to be removed by a hazmat team.

[TNTBaker]

sounds like cleaning 3 faucet strainers is going to be a lot easier than the filter! Haha

[Blue Dogs]

Originally Posted by TNTBaker

sounds like cleaning 3 faucet strainers is going to be a lot easier than the filter! Haha

yeah but the toilets screen is another issue! LOL ;-)

[TNTBaker]

LOL! TRUE THAT! Well, maybe I better get the big tool ready to be getting at that whole-house filter after all.... Now where did he get to?

[TNTBaker]

CARPET/NO CARPET.
I would have ordered NO CARPET in the LR of the coach had it been an option. They looked at me like I was nuts when we were ordering. I HATE carpet in high traffic areas. We like to put down area rugs and THROW THEM OUT every year or so. Much better. This doesn't seem like a big deal to implement, but I don't build RV's so perhaps I am wrong.

[ksaltman]

I was able to order our 38FL w/o carpet everywhere except the slides and the stairs but it took a lot of arm twisting.

Interestingly, we were told that the slides had to have carpet but really the kitchen slide comes stock with vinyl on that slide.

I will rank the no carpet option very high.

[rcflame]

1.We don't all want the same thing so there is no way you will satisfy everybody. Just a couple things as an example. I will use almcc's post.
We have 1 2012 36RL. In almost 2 years haven't had a problem with the toilet. ( knock on wood).
2.We have the sewer with the self storage swivel that I love. I don't know why the discontinued it. So far all we've had to do is swivel it, pull out the sewer hose and hook up.
3. I have had to replace the garbage drawer latch, but over all I like them. We haven't had a cupboard door come open in any of our travels. They latch better than any we have had in our previous units.
4. I prefer the rear electrical hookup. The only time I have to use a short extension is where we spend a good share of our summer. The only reason I have to use it is because I park as far back as we can to give more room in the front. If I pulled up a little farther I wouldn't need it. My preference. Many of the campgrounds have the electrical box at the rear and if we had the side hookup we might have to have the extension anyway.

These are my preferences. Like the saying goes, you can please all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you will never please all of the people all of the time. All you can do is try your best.

[Rick and Mindy]

I agree with alcc post about the electrical being in the middle of the coach. I have also encountered a post located at front of campsite and I have the 31sl which is not as long as most of the Redwoods. I was not able to connect to power without an extension cord or move coach up to front of campsite which took away my parking for TV. If it was in the middle, seems to me that it would reach to the back or the front without extension. I have encountered just as many power hookups located at center of campsite as I have the rear of campsite. Only occasionally found one in front but did cause problem when I encountered it.

[TNTBaker]

I might be alone in this one but... The dishwasher. I LOVE the dishwasher! I have the same one in my home (but with 2 drawers).
My wish would be that they would find a way to raise it up and put a storage drawer UNDER it, instead of having to stoop so low to load/unload it.
Might seem petty, but to those of us doing dishes all the time, it's a lot of bending down. I find I use the TOP drawer on mine at home all the time, and the lower drawer hardly gets used ;-)
I know space is a big issue, but as long as we are wishing...

[almcc]

Originally Posted by Rick and Mindy

I agree with almcc post about the electrical being in the middle of the coach. I have also encountered a post located at front of campsite and I have the 31sl which is not as long as most of the Redwoods. I was not able to connect to power without an extension cord or move coach up to front of campsite which took away my parking for TV. If it was in the middle, seems to me that it would reach to the back or the front without extension. I have encountered just as many power hookups located at center of campsite as I have the rear of campsite. Only occasionally found one in front but did cause problem when I encountered it.

yes Rick that's exactly what I'm finding, when the sewer connection and pedestal are in the center of the campsite I find that we have to unroll the electrical cable first then park the camper so that we can connect. I do have 50+ feet of 30 amp cable from our former RV on-board but we got spoiled with 50 amp service!

It's a toss up, either a long sewer run or an electrical extension cord in a number of campgrounds, a central electrical plug on the Redwood would solve this issue.

In answer to the post on the toilet suggestion I made, we've had RV's since 1985 and haven't had one toilet "crap out" (I have replaced some hand sprayers when they plugged up with minerals though!) until this Redwood. When others find that the pedal on their toilet falls off, have a look at the design, it's cheap plastic bearing on plastic. The design (compared to the Dometic) is either heroic or foolhardy. Not sure if Dometic has a patent on the design they use, I note that you can replace the water valve cartridge on the Dometic, on the OEM toilet that Redwood supplies you have to replace the entire toilet!

[Dro67]

What a great thread! After our first time using our 38RE we took it back to the dealer to fix a few minor things and get our sleeper that we had waited a month for. Called yesterday and after three weeks nothing had been done! Said they were waiting for warranty authorization! Seriously??? That's a phone call or a fax! WE TOLD THEM about the microwave recall (ours is one of the bad ones). These repairs have to be done quicker!!! 😡 should never take this long!!

[TNTBaker]

Yes, that's way too much waiting and inconvenience. Sometimes it's hard to distinguish between "DEALER/SERVICE" issues and "REDWOOD" issues. I have often thought it would be beneficial to have a forum expressly FOR comments (good and bad) about specific dealerships/service providers and about Redwood. It would be easy for a person to peruse and get a good snapshot of what to expect. HOPEFULLY folks would post KUDOS as well as complaints! It's human nature that people will RUN to post a complaint, but KUDOS tends to just go by unmentioned. I noticed, in spite of that, there is still a lot of KUDOS on this forum! That's GOOD!

[AlanN]

Jeff, your new presence on the forum has raised my estimation of RW by leaps and bounds. I have almost no history with your company, but your presence here gives me hope that RW is not the typical "sell 'em and forget 'em" corporation ... I'm not a cynical person, but I have dealt with a lot of corporations. Making posts at 11:30 at night? Redwood, give this boy a raise and promote him to Senior Media Customer Service Rep! :-)

[TNTBaker]

X2
Every single owner of a Redwood is automatically an Ambassador for the company. I am sure they know this. Most of us can say that we were greatly influenced in our past purchases NOT by a Sales Rep, but by an owner of an RV, and what they felt about it. I have met many folks in RV's that are happy, met a lot that regretted their purchase, but they were unanimous in that they were ALL were quick to tell you all about it! Redwood making an appearance and offering insight has moved my mark for them much higher. I hope it continues. Dropping a little news brief here and there wouldn't be a bad thing! Then us "Ambassadors" could share that with the envious visitors we have to our coaches in our travels who are still deciding which coach to buy

[hoosierguy]

I would like to say that the former Redwood Factor Service Center as Syracuse, IN and current Crossroads Factory Service Center at Topeka, IN have been great to have access to for service and annual warranty inspections. They are much closer to my location than my original selling dealer by at least two hours and have really been a pleasure to work with. The only drawback that I have seen is that you have to schedule an appointment 3 to 4 months in advance, but, they do get the work done in just a few days and are very thorough, complete and professional in their work.

I took my 36RL to the Crossroads Service Center last fall on a Sunday evening and hooked up to their facility overnight. I din't even need an alarm clock on Monday morning as the Amish horse and buggies started "clip clopping" by at 4:30 AM on their way to work!!!

[NW Snowbirds]

This is pretty basic but we should receive a Redwood operating and maintenance manual that is specific to the fifth wheel product we bought. What I received was so basic and generic that I found it mostly useless. And every coach that leaves the factory should have every manual included for each component and accessory. I had at least half of the accessory manuals missing in action as I know many others have also experienced.