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Fell Apart | Grand Design RV Needs to See This | 310GK Solitude 5th Wheel | Fulltime RV Living
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- čas přidán 15. 08. 2024
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Liz and Paul share the problems they have had with their Grand Design 310GK fifth wheel camper and make important recommendations for reinforcing your RV.
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Liz and Paul are fulltime RVers who met on the road as solo travelers. Each of us had been on the road for a year before getting together as a couple. This channel provides entertaining and informative RV tips and tricks if you are thinking about living the RV life fulltime, part time or just on weekends.
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Just got off the phone with someone at Grand Design corporate. After watching this video, Grand Design decided to put an additional screw on each end- starting today. And THIS is why we do what we do. We want our channel to be a force of good.
Thanks to all of the A-Team for helping making this channel what it is!
1 additional screw on each end ?? thats pitiful, good for you for getting some attention but they should do better.
1 screw extra would not be acceptable for particle board like this appears to be. Additionally, there are special screws made for this type of engineered wood.
One screw? Why not brackets bolted down? That island is over 100lb
That was my first thought but Paul said that it would make a difference. I guess it's 50% better?
We too bought a 310Gk in March. We bought based on Grand Design's reputation and great product. Now after six months we are sickened we spent so much on a product that has been nothing but problems for us in only six months. To date we have had rain come thru the living room air conditioning due to loose stripped bolts from the factory, the roof membrane peeling back from the nose cap, and no trailer brakes due to a bolt on the kitchen slide ripping out the brake and other wiring. Unfortunately for the consumer the RV industry is poorly regulated. Grand Design has been very responsive but as a consumer spending this much money we expect and deserve more.
Wow. I am so sorry you had those issues. Especially with the brakes. I will ask Paul to take a look at that. Goodness. We, too, have had our 310GK since March. The other day the furnace broke. Of course that's not GD's fault but one more thing to add to the list.
The good news is, thanks to this video GD corporate called us yesterday and will be putting one additional screw on each end of the island. So that is something.
Hope to meet you on the road someday- it would be too fun to compare 310s!
Our you making payments. Cause If you paid $ For 300,000 + you could built Way more have it in a bus.
I know this is going through your mind but I gotta say it, 'the industry builds with the idea you only use the trailer once a year' . The industry is too much about profit. The reality that people are now year round living in these isn't something their profit margin can deal with. You all certainly bring that home. Thx for sharing.
Very true. It's the weekenders that are driving this business and since they are not living in it they don't notice or don't care about some of the flaws. Thanks for your comment!
Overpriced industry. And the drop in value after you get it home. Ching ching
Having been serial cruisers for the last 20 years, COVID-19 has made us re-think our priorities in safe vacationing. We decided to purchase an RV (I come from a long line RV family, all Class') early this year and I've spent more hours than I can count researching, joining groups & forums, watching review videos and Grand Design has been a strong contender. Until now. I so appreciate consumers who will take the time to tell people real & honest reviews. RV's are a huge investment and having experienced life in an RV as a child I know things go wrong with them; it's a fact of RV ownership -- but only 2,500 miles on interstate and owning it since March to have this many problems is taking Grand Design off my list. As much as we would like to have all the bells & whistles that many RV's are offering right now, the huge demand for RV's is causing manufacturers to skimp on quality. Airstream has always been a consideration but the cost of them made us consider another brand. Our mind is now made up; Airstream it is. Thank you for your video and please do not feel bad for telling the truth!
Thanks for your comment! Maybe we should be looking at Airstreams as well! Wish they came with slides, but they sure our beautiful! We are happy that Grand Design corporate responded to our video and are putting extra screws in the island. So that is something.
Airstream has problems too. Believe me.
We also own a Grand Design and we also found a few things that fell apart: the pantry shelves doesn’t hold up, the ceiling and wall trim is peeling and the grey tank valve is stuck. We’re truly soooooooo disappointed for such an expensive RV!!!!
Ugh. So sorry to hear that. We are also in a place of being bummed about the quality. The island is made of pressboard so Paul says it is likely to fall apart again.
@@LizAmazing oh no!!!
@@MrsWong-qm5cu We hope that doesn't happen but now every time we move we feel something is going to go wrong. We are distressed and dismayed about these recent events. Stay tuned.
Great video...you were right to make this one. Everyone benefits...travel safe.
Thanks so much for saying that Pamela!
Dang! As I've mentioned a couple of times, I have the exact GD. Minus the exterior paint. I've noticed you don't want to lean on the island, as it feels like in could just tip over. I will be checking this out in the morning. Thanks!!!
Hi Fred! Glad to hear you will be doing that. We are also concerned about the cabinets over the couch and will be trying to figure out how to reinforce them. They seem solid but sure do have a lot of stuff in them....
@@LizAmazing just extra bedding in mine, so not a lot of weight.
@@LizAmazing I wouldn't put heavy stuff in them or cabinets over the sink! Same cardboard imitation wood just stapled together!
If you have a floor to ceiling cabinet, use it for your canned goods BUT replace the shelves with plywood or 1/2 pine and supported with 1/2 x 1/2 inch pieces so neither will sag which they will start to do in about 25,000 miles!
Blue Sky's and Safe Journeys!
Hi guys, just returned from Alaska (to Northern CA) and felt the need to look for this vid. We have a 2021 310 GK, Dec 2020 build. Our island collapsed exactly as yours did on the Alaska Hwy. GD has not improved the method of attaching the island to the base as of this build, 4 screws holding up the heavy island. There's more screws and angle brackets securing it now. I also lost the decorative trim around the island as well as the valance over the dining room slide later in the trip. I hope that GD has reinforced these areas. I sent pics and comments to GD customer service and received a reasonable reply. Thanks to this vid I was ready to repair these issues. Happy travels!
Hi guys! Paul, you are amazing 😉! And you are so handsome. And Liz, you are beautiful and smart! You two were meant to find each other! Thank you 🙏 for sharing that with us! Love you 😘 two!
gee we are going to start expecting a trail of rose petals wherever they walk!
Awww, you are so sweet!!! We love you too and are glad to hear from you. Thanks for your comment.
I've heard a number of stories where this same thing happened to other Grand Design owners. Why pay for an expensive RV like this when it's so poorly constructed. If I were GD CEO, I'd be embarrassed our company let such shoddy workmanship out the door. The person in charge of QC should be replaced & those departments responsible for the poor workmanship should be placed on notice.
Sorry, but I don't think you should be doing the repair work. Actually where you bought the RV shouldn't have to be bailing out GD either. The unit needs to go back to the build facility. If enough of these units were sent back maybe GD would shape up & release a quality product rather than shipping out a poorly constructed piece of junk.
I know this blog is a year old but I feel I need to comment. In 2019 my husband and I bought our 1st rv , a Jayco Pinnacle 36fbts, and are full-timers. Other than the poor quality Furrion products we have had no real issues to talk about. The reason I am commenting is to tell you what I was told by more than one RV dealership. They are calling the 2020 and 2021 RVs "COVID CAMPERS". There are 2 main reasons for such poor quality products coming off the assembly line. First, the high demand has been unlike any in the history of RVs. Second, when plants began reopening after the Covid shutdown they could not get a large percentage of their experienced assembly line workers back on the job AND the plants waited months on materials to be shipped. So the plants were forced to hire workers with no experience. Lacking quality control checks before releasing each unit to market became the norm in all brands.
We have a 2020 sunset trails cruiser 40ft 5th wheel that we purchased February 1, 2020. It is now being dismantled because their is a leak somewhere in the drain and did not leak until the underbelly was full of water and started leaking is how we found it.so now everything has to be removed and replaced underneath and the flooring has to be replaced because it is soft and warping. Our dealer is really good and they have already called the manufacturer and are now discussing to send it back to Indiana for all the repairs or maybe replace. Our dealer said it has been leaking since we purchased.we are stationary and live in it, luckily we have a place to stay for the duration. Wish us luck and glad y’all have been lucky with getting yours repaired. Stay safe
Oh my goodness, Melanie, so sorry to hear this. I'm hopeful that it will be taken care of and maybe you'll get a new one. Thanks for sharing. Fingers crossed that it all goes smoothly for you.
I had the exact same issue with my 2020 310GK and it occurred much sooner than 2500 miles. Bought it in March and it failed after the third or fourth weekend trip. Grand Design agreed to replace the entire island but it has been in for repair since August and not just for that but the fridge also needed to have the complete cooling unit replaced as it would not get cold enough to safely store food. There were many other more or less cosmetic items that needed to be fixed. Kudos to Grand Design for owning up to the quality issues but this sort of thing should have never happened on a higher end unit. NO EXCUSE FOR POOR QUALITY.
Agreed 100%, John. How frustrating that this happened and you've lost valuable camping time to your unit being at the dealer. I sure hope everything gets resolved soon. If you haven't already, subscribe and ring the bell. Our next video will be about another issue with Grand Design!
Hey guys sorry for your mess. The cabinet should really be supported one of two ways. Either the bottom base should extend under the side walls helping to support the entire cabinet. Or the side cabinet wall should extend to the floor supporting the cabinet. Those screws you place in the cabinet look as if they went into a particle board shelf which has zero strength. The base self should be hard wood, thus allowing it to support the weight of the entire weight of the island. Hope they fix it correctly for you. I was just looking at Grand Design as a possible first purchase. Will wait to see what they do for you guys before I purchase.
Hi Robin. They reached out right away on this page. And you are correct, the base shelf is particle board. Paul says it's going to happen again, unfortunately because of that.
@@LizAmazing perhaps you can build a 2x4 base attached inside to the base shelf particle board that way the 2x4s will bear the weight of it and the outer layer particle board will just be the finishing show peice.
The frame the island is attached to is MDF and even with the extra screws I added I'm not confident it's going to be a long term fix. I would prefer something more robust and am looking at the possibility of building a frame inside of the existing frame. Thanks for watching and commenting. P.
Cabinet material is not high quality. Sad to see current Rv's being such junk.
Yep, it is. We hope things get better. In this case, Grand Design called yesterday and they are adding two screws to the island bc of this video. For that, we are grateful.
This is precisely why I went with an older RV. I got a class A from the 90s. I find that anything current is just so cheap.. even the high-end stuff is absolutely cheap. You can feel it when you touch it..
RV dealers areny bashful with indicating thier not likeing to perform warranty work.
They all have the same policy. Over priced and cheap made American pride.
Had a GD travel trailer. People think GD build is superior. It is no different than all the others. Learned my lesson.
Exactly. This truly is an industry-wide problem. The unfortunate truth is that the vast majority of people only use their campers two or three times a year. They would not notice or care about the quality details. They just want the most camper they can buy for the least amount of money. Until that changes, the companies will continue to get away with building crap.
We like our Grand Design Reflection 295rl, Howevwer we have had our problems also. 1. the fresh water tank keeps emptying when you tracel apparently there is no check valve and when you hit a rough patch the water drains out of the overflow, 2. the freah water fell out while we were on the road good thing an alert motorist got our attention and iwas able to stop and strap it up till we got to our destination then we had to wait for almost a month to get it repaired by a mobile repair. 3. currently dealing with our kitch islan coming loose and leaking, I have been trying to figure out how to get it fixed without taking the whole thing our and replacing it as the toe boards are softened due to some kind of water leak. I agree that while we are having a great time traveling our great country it is a "not so perfect life!"
When you put out that much money for a rig, you should get better service.
Grand Design provides great service. We are most dismayed about the quality of the product, at this point.
Grand design are one of the least expensive camper lines out there. They are a great bang for the buck, beautiful and inexpensive... but while not perfect are still a good value.
@@Erin-Thor Agreed.
GD are former Coachmen employees that started their own company
Oh my GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much for the shout-out Liz amazing and Paul (who is also amazing!!) we are so grateful for our YT parents
🤙🏼😊😎☺️😉
You are so welcome! We all get bigger by helping one another. We love watching your channel, and watching it grow!!!! Now, keep cranking out those awesome videos!
You got it mom!
When your buying something so so expensive you all deserve nothing but the BEST OUT THERE TO KEEP YOU ALL SAFE..
Awww, thanks so much! Big hugs to you!! Be safe as well!
I’m convinced that RV owners need to take that RV owners course offered in TX. We are in beginning planning stage so we haven’t bought one yet but told my husband we will have to know every inch of ours and how to fix it. I’ve read that 80% of repairs can be fixed by owners so I want to know how to fix 100%. Love your videos
Hi Debbie! That sounds like a great idea. Here is our video on how to fix the trim: czcams.com/video/dhMgK26otJg/video.html
And we are excited to see you out here on the road someday. Thanks for being on our team!
THANK GOD U HAVE PAUL HE IS A GREAT MR. FIX IT LOVE YOUR VIDEO KEEP THEM COMING ❣️
YES!!!! So grateful for Mr Fix it! And thanks for your kind words!
Well, that just canceled our plans for a new 351M. Thank you for sharing and your honesty. I was hesitant after seeing the issues KYD and Tolleson Life had with their Grand Designs, but your issues are absolutely some of the worst issues I have ever seen on a new unit. Problems are one thing, all RV are junk, but that collapsed island is incredibly huge red flag. And let's face it, Grand Design charges a premium and a collapsed island is not premium. I beleive we are going to take a different approach and trade for a "budget" cost point RV that is a simple, inexpensive, and bare bones.
I think that's good to take a step back and re-think. We don't regret our decision but are certainly disappointed. In better news, Grand Design corporate called us the other day and from now on the island will get an extra screw on each end. So that is something. We are glad our video reached the right people!
Most trails/Rvs are junk..We, as consumers need to scream and complain a lot more.
Debi Caron yes most are junk, but you pay a premium for grand design and from what is have seen, they are worse off than many of the low value proposition brands and makes. Every RV has issues but a kitchen island collapsing is very telling from engineering to qc.
If you want simpler but good quality I suggest you consider Lazy Daze motorhomes. They only make gas class C 24-31 ft. Low volume production. Good attention to detail. Impressive fit and finish. No dealers. You order direct from the factory in southern California. Family business for over 50 years.
We purchased and had built a pull behind trailer from Forest River a Salem. They sent us one with a bent axel and my husband and I wondered why we could not keep it from shimmying down the road even with sway bars. Our son-in -law noticed something wrong when following us. It wore out a set of tires in 3 - 500 mile trips. Under warrantee they fixed the axel but did not reimburse us for the tires. We got scared of it and got rid of it traded it in on a Winnebago motorhome at a 10,000 loss. Be careful purchasing anything by this company.
Thank you for the service your providing....in every way, but this is the best part of CZcams RVers - WOM. Thanks!
Awww, thanks so much! We love to hear from you.
True. There is a lot of overlap and commonality on structural build across most RV’s. Grand design does stand behind their product more than many other brands. Hopefully they’ll learn from it and improve their RV’s over time.
Yes! That's exactly what we want. Thanks for your comment.
Thanks Road Hog!
Appreciate your honesty! This review was one of the best I’ve ever seen.
Thanks Erin, we do love our Grand Design but definitely feel distressed and dismayed with the recent happenings.
@@LizAmazing - I feel for you! But... with respect, Grand Designs are fair;y inexpensive. They are a mass producer of “economical” RV’s, and you kind of do get what you pay for. And you can’t really fault them, it’s the American way. I’ve had a few RV’s, and had some whopper issues, simple things like TV’s ripping away from the wall mounts during travel, cabinets collapsing from the weight of a few can goods, and my personal favorite... finding out the electrical and plumbing were barely held together in our Winnebago. Realizing that your midnight flush had dislodged the black tank pipe so sewage was all over the undercarriage compartment. So I bought an Airstream 23fb, and was happy with it for over four years when I realized I had a wood floor rot issue. Turns out because Airstreams are so nice and airtight they have moisture issues in cooler climates. Humans breathe, cook and shower, and if you see condensation on your windows, you’ve got trouble coming. The window condensation runs down to the floor, rots and one day you have a hole from your foot. What irked me was that Airstream, which I thought would be the best, saved $50 (the cost of mold mildew resistant plywood for a unit) KNOWING that it was a common problem but wouldn’t surface until after the 2 year warranty ran out. The cost to fix was over $20,000 and Airstream was like... awe... so sorry. My point, every brand has issues, they crank them out fast and make their money off volume hoping that most people will only use their unit a few weeks a year. Many have a clause ‘not for full time RV’ing’ and if they ask you, lie. Because answering yes, can cause them to void your warranty.
Wow, what a shock that the cardboard “wood” didn’t hold up.
Yep. We are bummed. We hope this video serves as a wake-up call to Grand Design.
🤣
Yes 'MDF' is absolutely the worst building material you could use.
RVs built out of cardboard and sticks. And people pay top dollar for them! CHING CHING!
I am not surprised about the problems you had with your RV, what surprises me is that you were thinking about becoming an ambassador for GD. I have had my GD for just about 2 months now, and already I can see how much they skimped on the quality. Just to look at the appliances they put in their RVs (Furrion, in my case), you can figure out very quickly that the satisfaction of their clients is not at the top of their mind, far from there.
It's a tough situation. My first Grand Design was a 260RD and I loved it. Any issues I had, GD took care of. This was an immense relief for me, as a solo traveler at the time. The 260RD was a 150 series Reflection. The Solitude is two tiers up in quality so we are quite surprised to have had so many problems. While GD has been responsive, we are disappointed to have had the issues to begin with. Thanks for your comment and hope your GD is as trouble-free as possible.
To everyone who would like to consider a different brand like Outdoors rv and Northwoods like Arctic fox... They are built well. We currently full-time on a Outdoors RV trailer since January 2018 and counting. This rig never saw a dealership or a repair shop since we bought it new in late 2017. There are few minor issues but no major ones that requires parts replacement or repair. We use it hard boondocking on harsh terrains and mountain camping. However, we are set on purchasing a GD Momentum toy hauler for their nice layouts and fancy styling. Hopefully this is a keeper with only minor issues.
We've heard good things about Outdoors. Glad you are happy with yours. Our camping neighbors where we are now have a Momentum and are very happy. Safe travels to you!
My 2019 380FL kitchen island is very loose and shaky. I’ll have it checked out. Thanks!
Yes, do. Let us know what you find out. The good news is that Grand Design corporate called us the other day and from now on the island will get an extra screw on each end. So that is something. We are glad our video reached the right people!
Thank you so much for sharing. We are researching RV life right now... and Grand Design is on my list. With more people thinking of living full time in an R.V., especially retirees, there needs to be more accountability and at the $$ they ask for one of these rigs, I feel that they really screwed up on that island. Take a look at the RV Odd Couples channel, they are teaming up with an R.V. advocate company.
We are hopeful that Grand Design will change the build specs on this island. They've already reached out to us so hopefully we will be able to report some good news.
Research RV forums!!!!!!! Before you buy... There are tons of people with problems, and they are not just Grand Design.
Don't forget the drop in value after you buy one.
We’ve lived in our fifth wheel for 2 1/2 years and some of the roads we’ve traveled, I’ve been surprised that we haven’t gotten more damage. But we just upgraded to a DRV because of their frame build, better insulation and other things. It’s a 5 year old unit at this point but when we drove from Florida, where we bought it, to Georgia where our first stops was at my in laws, the trim on one of the slides was almost completely disconnected. Upon closer examination, it had fallen off before and been repaired and reattached. So he took out his air nailer and put in about 30 new holes after he finally found the correct spot to put them in to hold it which was done wrong to begin with. I guess no matter the company, there are issues.
Yep, always issues. We've heard great things about DRV and even did a video tour of one. They certainly are well-built! Here's the one we looked at: czcams.com/video/tnukqEFNGuA/video.html
I love my 2004 Gulf Stream because it's solid. It's had 2 previous owners who treated her with TLC and everything in it is quality workmanship and solid wood cabinets.
Sounds awesome! Good to know there are good quality campers out there.
I have a 42 year old travco motor home that I drove from missouri to the Arizona desert, boondocked over the winter and drove back to missouri in the spring. No problems . I think most things were made better back then.
Yes, the older ones are DEFINITELY better! We can really tell the difference when we look at older campers. Enjoy yours!
Love those old Travco Motorhomes.
A little more duck tape and a few more staples it will be back almost good as news
actually it's generically "duct" tape
Yep. It's all staples and glue! We hope Grand Design decides to make changes to their build specs after watching this video.
@@kevinwelsh7490 Actually.........
That is a message many people we follow mention, but then so many get supprised, you WILL have problems! Our then new 2017 Jayco 5th wheel, the front a/c didn't work, the main slide-out was out of square and had to be taken out and reinstalled, the shower leaked because of a missing floor support that allowed flexing of the entire shower stall. Then the nose cap, because of the slide out realignment developed deep stress cracks in several areas of the cap. Jayco paid for much of the various repairs but the dealership that had the trailer kept it for over 9-months for the nose cap replacement, then when we went to pick it up the replacement nose decals had been installed when the weather was too cold and they crinkled all up and had to be redone again. When we finally got it home and we're checking everything out we found that the dealer had crushed wiring that was installed in the area of the nose cap which shorted out the awning wiring and it all had to be bypassed and replaced. As it is well past the warranty I fix everything myself now. At least then I know it is fixed and how it was done!
Oh my gosh, that sounds like such an ordeal. So sorry you have gone through that. We are definitely trying to avoid going to the dealer if at all possible. I hope you have smoother sailing from here on out!
We also have a 2021 Grand Design. It’s a 26ft Imagine. We went with GD after reviews, research, and finding their reputation for quality was supposed to be good. We have found they really aren’t much better than other manufacturers. Their quality control is lacking regarding materials used. The barn door slides continually come loose, cabinet door hinges pulling loose, hoses leaking (a new one each trip) blinds that fail to work, counter laminate pealing on all the counters, and dining table. Some of this started within the first few months of ownership. And have continued over the past 12 months. We do like and enjoy the trailer. However, I believe anyone purchasing any travel trailer no matter the brand need to remember the companies appear to have dropped quality control to either save weight or increase profit margins. Get good at those minor repairs and do inspections after each trip to prep for the next one.
Good tips. When you own a camper you either have to be handy, you become handy, or you go broke. Just reinforce everything. Wishing you much happy camping this year!!!
I always put my “extra” beach towels under kitchen and bathroom sink. Just in case there is a leak. It’s contained.
Happy Trails
Great idea! Thanks for your comment.
Liz Amazing thanks. Love your channel !! Keep them coming !!
You always having fun !!
Awww, thanks so much. We love you!!!
Wow..are they going to repair it?. we have a 2019 cougar 5th wheel we bought last year...first camping trip awning broke..second trip commode broke...3rd trip air stopped working, blind fell down in kitchen...no telling what will happen on our next trip 🤷♀️🤣
So sorry you've also had trouble. It's all part of the RV industry, unfortunately. Paul fixed it and we are hoping they will change their design specs to include more screws.
My friends have a brand new GD and they had it 2 months and already were waiting to take it in with 5 issues!!! We are buying a Taylor Coach, they have a 4yr guarantee!!! We owned a9yr old one and travelled 33 states in 5 months and only issue was we had to tighten down ac, it had gotten a bit loose, and those plastic tabs that hold cupboard closed were brittle and breaking, so bought a pkg of those. So all in all a quality build and we found them on youtube!!!
I have not heard of Taylor Coach, will have to check them out. We definitely wish Grand Design had better quality. The good news is that they do take care of their customers and do listen to them. GD corporate called earlier this week and because of our video will now be adding an extra screw on each end of the island. So that's something.
Great video. You are right to worry about the above-the-couch cabinet. We have the 378MBS and have had this cabinet, the cabinet under the coffee bar, AND the cabinet above the Rockford sound system collapse since we purchase in May of 2022! Nothing holding the cabinets to the walls other than short screws, 1/8" pressboard, and staples. There is no support under the cabinets whatsoever; so, don't put any real weight in the cabinets and travel. This too is our second Grand Design and, as full timers, we are not please with the cutting of corners and crappy construction.
Yep, it's so frustrating. Definitely reinforce EVERYTHING. And thanks for watching.
Wow, that is not good. Rhank you for sharing. You surely opened my eyes.
Thanks Liz. We still believe Grand Design is #1 and they definitely stand behind their product. We hope when they see the video they will change their build specs.
3:39 "All we did was drive down the road on the Interstate all day long" THAT EXPLAINS IT!!!! I drive a truck on those Interstates all day long and they beat the &^%$ out of me. Your Federal highway trust fund has been raided and pilfered and instead of worrying about the guy that can only hold onto power for 8 years max we should be FIRING the 535 THIEVES that can hold power forever!!!!!
Agreed that the Interstates can be rough...and only getting worse. Stay safe out there!
This is exactly why we got rid of our last travel trailer. Cheap construction build and walls separating in the bathroom. Took the plunge and purchased an airstream and in 2 years of ownership have towed it 15k miles over all kinds of roads and only suffered very few minor issues. Would never go back to a non airstream.
You know, I am intrigued by Airstreams. We are just not sure we can downsize THAT far to make having one work for us. We do see fulltimers in them so we know it's possible though. Love the look and idea for sure!
Great video and explanation of dealer service.
Thank you! Not being forced to go to a dealer is a big deal when you are fulltime RVing. Happy travels to you!
Thank you for making this video.
Glad to hear these stories.
Have you seen the one from the channel
'Downsizing Makes Sense'..? It's titled "Broken Schwintek slide out". Good info.
Keep up the great work.
A trick : you can watch series at kaldroStream. Me and my gf have been using them for watching a lot of movies during the lockdown.
@Royal Makai Definitely, been using kaldrostream for since december myself =)
Oh no! Thank goodness Paul is so handy! It is frustrating when these type of shortcuts are uncovered.
Hi Randi! It sure is. I'm glad Paul is such a great help. BUT...now we are wondering about the stability of the rest of our rig!
The RV trade needs investigated. Cheap made and over priced. Yet people still gotta have one.
Bought a used 2005 TAB camper ... redid the floor, was a huge job. Cant believe how cheap they made the whole thing. We fixed it better than new. Sold it for top dollar. Going back to a tent for a while as we look for next camper.... going to be very picky and take time as we are weekend campers or were. Bob
Hi Bob, yes take your time and do the research. When you hone in a brand, see if you can join a Facebook group for that model. You'll learn what to watch out for and what to avoid. Happy camping!
Hello guys, I’m David in South Africa. We have the same problems with our caravan builders in SA, don’t use enough screws to hold the cupboards. Hit a few pot holes and bam off comes the cupboards
Oh no! Sorry to hear that. We hope the industry gets the message. And hello to you in South Africa! Wishing you much happy camping this year.
have you contacted GD on this failure?
They reached out to us on this page and we have emailed them. They are on it and we are hoping they change the build specs.
@@LizAmazing So, you did not contact them before doing this? Don't you think that would have been more appropriate. You can still warn others to contact Grand Design about a possible recall, but it does not seem right that they find out from a CZcams.
@L K: We've talked to four people so far who've had the exact same problem with their island colllapsing. Grand Design is well aware of this situation. There's no excuse for using four #10 wood screws to hold up an island that weighs over 100 pounds. Our channel is about the reality of RV life and we don't want to censor or sanitize problems when they come up. We hope our video serves as a wake-up call for Grand Design. Thanks!
Have you had anything fall apart in your RV? Let us know in the comments!
And absolutely go through your camper and reinforce EVERYTHING!
The seam strips between the wallpaper seams have fallen off on 2 of our rigs. Not structural but annoying for sure. Oh and also closet rods. They are built to support a weekender not a full timer. Reenforce it before you stop and find your clothes on the floor
Great tip, thank you! We are going to go thru and reinforce everything we can in our 310GK!
@@LizAmazing You shouldn't have to do that to a brand new RV. That is why I gravitate toward the older, better built models. They have gone through depreciation, are solid built and usually have real solid wood cabinets.
@@daretodream...898 thats my thinking also but are the older ones heavier and require a bigger beefier truck to pull them? we had a 24 ft trailer that weighed A TON it was i think a 1984 it was 25 yrs ago and our half ton had real issues pulling it.
Like you, my background was also a field service engineer for Chrysler products serving dealerships and assisting with on-site vehicle diagnose. I now have a 2018 Keystone Outback 32ft model. Maybe I had high expectations for RV service, but quickly lost complete confidence when I took it in for various warranty issues. I attempted to document very well the problems with photographs and clearly communicate the complaint, what I felt was the cause, and what the required remedy should be. It's like the advisor never read the document nor shared key aspects to the "technician". I use that word loosely here for reasons you could understand. Big Truck Big RV does a good job lowering RV buyers' expectations of quality out of the shoot and reminds everyone you must have a basic skills set to repair things yourself, short of major problems. Do everything you can to avoid that dreaded trip to the dealer, because you will be disappointed. That is an industry all to themselves and comes no way close to what our automotive dealers provide today.
I agree the way in which Grand Design secured the island was completely inadequate. That's almost as bad as when I brought my Outback home immediately after purchasing it new, having gone through the walk through for Q&A and upon opening the slides to sit down and gaze at my purchase, horrably I immedialy noticed a 4 to 5 inch tear in the vinyl flooring where lose fasteners under the kitchen dinette dug in and and tore the flooring. That damage was not there during the walk through and they had just completed a mechanical repair in the area. I accused them of leaving a fastener unattended and it got caught up under the slide and ripped the flooring upon closing the slide and diverging the unit to me. That was just the beginning at General RV of Harvey, IL.
Thanks for your videos.
Hey Carl,
With our shared background I can appreciate the frustration you're feeling. After meeting what they called a "technician" at our selling dealer I decided to do the few repairs we've needed myself as I assumed that I'd spend more time cleaning up behind them than it would take to just do the repairs myself. That said, I am still in a state of disbelief that the industry has managed to thrive with a nearly non-existent after-sale support system in place. Can you even imagine an automobile dealer surviving under the same circumstances?
Thanks for watching and commenting! P.
I'm another person who prefers to do my own repairs. Another reason I like doing my own repairs is I know what I did was done correct. I have taken a camper in for service, left it there for weeks and picked it up only to find the repair not done; twice. Talk about disappointing. I wound up doing the repair myself. The main thing is to understand your limits.
Yikes. I would not be happy about that at all. We agree that it is a gamble leaving it to the dealer to fix. We have heard many horror stories! Just talked to a guy who's still waiting for his rig to be fixed and it's been in the shop since August.
We own a 2017 GD 310gk and absolutely love it!!! We are also full-time rvers. Remember folks we don't live in a perfect world and theres problems with any rig you choose whether the problem is big or small. We chose the GD for their warranty & the level of service that they offer
Yep, you can't beat their service. As we say in the video, they do stand behind their product. GD corporate called us yesterday and they are now putting an extra screw in each end of the island- directly due to this video. We do love our 310GK as well. Hope to see you on the road!
@@LizAmazing If they would stand behind their products, they would build them properly. What are the chances that they give you good service because they know that you have many followers?
I bought a new 2019, 310, Solitude: First was the overhead hook for holding the front storage door up/open, It was not the kind of hook that hooked itself up out of the way, got broke off in the first week, found the right kind of hook on Amazon. $7.97... Then 2 of the blinds went bad, GD had to pay the dealer to have both of them replaced. The bolt for holding the counterweight shock for the steps broke off, have not fixed that yet. The brick on the wall between the hall and the pantry fell off, Replaced it with 3' X 6' beveled mirrors!! looks great!! The screws holding the straps for the pantry door stripped out, Corner wall trim come off. L stop brackets on the sliding closet doors started leaving scrap marks on the wood, just took them off. Black tank valve will not shut tight, (put another shut off on the end of the drain line) Got a recall notice for the rubber propane hose next to the fridge heater, took me 5 minutes to fix that myself. It's a 4 hour drive to nearest dealer!!
There are so many suggestions I've sent to GD, but have No idea if they used any of them yet? A big disappointment was to discover they did not wire for back up lights!!! There are No back up lights on GD 5th wheels except for the toy-hauler's. Does GD think we never have to back up in the dark?? Put a backup camera on, (plug & play) but the way GD has it pre-wired, the light is on, 24/7/365, I tapped into the clearance light, Now the camera is on only when the clearance lights are on!! Last of many complaints, The slide outs, each slide out should be on there own control switch!!! Having both living room/kitchen slides on the same switch is sometime a big pain!!! (Yes, I know about the shut off valves by the propane tank!)
OH my gosh. We can sure relate! We also broke the dangle-y hook in front just about right away. We replaced it with the same one. Let us know if you have a link to a different one. Our thought is to add some kind of spring bracket to put it in when not in use.
We also had brick fall off, though ours was in the kitchen. Grand Design sent it to us and it arrived already mounted on a board so that was an easy fix. I do love your mirror idea for the hutch/coffee bar area- nice!
We've also experienced other small issues. Grand Design did decide to add an extra screw to each end of the islands on new builds. So that's something. Not sure if it's enough.
I didn't even realize there were no backup lights! And agreed about the slides. We still love our 310GK but are definitely distressed and dismayed about the many problems.
Hope to see you on the road!
With all of the cheap materials used in these rigs, no wonder the useful life is 3years or less. This thing bouncing along behind the tow vehicle for miles and miles just changed my mind on getting a rig to see the country.
Yeah, driving a camper is really hard on everything inside. Just the other day I put two cameras in there. Oh my gosh. It hurt to watch everything getting slammed around. There are suspension systems out there that will take care of that, but they are pricey.
i have a 1982 Toyota based Rader motorhome with 260,000 miles on it think of what i have seen in the course of keeping it alive. when i was fixing some rot in the over cab area i found that some of the major structure was the sides of pallets....with the cutouts for the forklift forks....from the factory the truck part is flawless tho Paul..i always say "i can fix anything that doesn't scream when i take it apart" we may be brothers from a different mother
I bet you and Paul could sit and talk for hours! That is soooooo crazy about the pallets! Looking forward to meeting you on the road someday- I bet that Rader is a classic!
@@LizAmazing it's pretty crusty i named it "The Portable Ghetto" i bought it from a towing company, the rear duallys broke off at highway speed and the owner gave it to the towing company for the towing bill. $800.00 took a 12,000 mile 2 year what i called my "see america before it closes tour and my only repair was a $10.00 U-joint. did a lot of work camping in state and national parks. google search Army Corps of Engineer's Campgrounds...all beautiful. paul was really lucky you broke your wrist.
Grand Design is not so Grand! We bought a GD travel trailer a few years ago after we sold our house. That was going to be our home while we traveled the country. That thing swayed like a dog wagging it,s tail and no hitch adjustment,sway bar or rearranging the weight fixed it. We didn’t have time to screw around with the factory trying to get it fixed so we ended up buying a bigger truck and trading the GD in on a Jayco 5th wheel so we could continue our journey. I am pretty sure the axles were not aligned properly. We took a beating on the trade in and the expense of the bigger truck. Thanks to the not so GRAND DESIGN, they cost us about $50k that we had not planned on spending. I also read online that some others that had GD 5th wheels and TT,s had excessive tire wear on the inside tread. Maybe they got a bad batch of frames or axles. Grand Design won’t get any recommendations from me.
So sorry that happened to you. What a bummer! Congrats on your Jayco. Hope to see you on the road.
We have a 310GK as well and the our island also fell within a month. The exact same thing on the exact same side. We had the dealer repair.
Sorry to hear that and glad it's fixed now. We've heard from several people their trim under their cabinet fell down in the exact same place ours did. Here's our video about that: czcams.com/video/dhMgK26otJg/video.html
We feel your pain. We also have a Grand Design (384GK) and had a terrible water leak from the bedroom slide. Bedroom had to be gutted and fixed -- we had our new rig only 6 months when this happened. Hubby also fixed cabinets, plumbing fixtures, etc. We did not expect these types of problems based on what we paid for it.
Yep. So sorry to hear that. I hope your Grand Design problems are behind you now!
You are not alone with problems. Just bought a new 2021 Winnebago micro minnie. Second week out and the slide failed, tore up the wood. Called roadside assistance and after many no shows, a diesel mechanic showed up. He proceeded to pull everything apart. By accident the slide motor fell back into place. A 20 minute service call, $150. Then I have had to fight to get that money reimbursed. Every time we travel, it’s a new problem. Emergency window opened and was flapping in the wind as we went down the highway. We arrived once to find the water hose to the toilet had come loose and was leaking in the bathroom. You definitely have to be able to fix things. I would never buy new again. Buy used and all those problems may be fixed.
Hi Nancy, Oh my goodness, sorry to hear this about your Winnebago. It's a shame that new RVs are getting such a bad reputation- but they are getting that reputation for a reason.
Paul and I hope that our video and ones like it will serve as a wake-up call to the industry. In good news, Grand Design corporate called and they will now be putting in an extra screw on each end. So that is something.
Wishing you much happier camping from now on!!
Thanks for this update. We just purchased a Cedar Creek Destination model that will be placed on Nov 1st in a permanent spot for now. It will be interesting to see if we experience any similar issues.
We watched many, many build vids and hopefully with this also top line unit wont have any big problems! If we do, it also will be posted for sure! Safe fulltiming to everyine!!
Thanks Allen. You will likely have smooth sailing ahead since you won't be traveling with it. It's the rolling earthquake we put them through that shakes everything loose. Congrats on your Cedar Creek!
We have a 2019 Grand Design Transcend TT. Our furnace wasn’t correctly assembled, so all our heat was coming out under the kitchen sink. Grand Design was good to work with for repair. We live full time in it and it has only been pulled 30 miles from the dealer. There is a hole in rear under bumper (about 2” x 4 “).Ick! Has to have foam to fill. My husband dropped something in the kitchen sink and the sink fell out of the cabinet. Color is already peeling off cabinets. We plan to paint, but we certainly shouldn’t have to paint cabinets that aren’t even a year old. Builders need to slow down and do these things right. Grand Design has only been notified of the furnace problem. I am sure there are others that are doing like us and just fixing the annoying little things.
Exactly. It definitely gets annoying! Each time Paul fixes something we hope that's the last of it...and then something else happens.
And this is an industry-wide problem. The unfortunate truth is that the vast majority of people only use their campers two or three times a year. They would not notice or care about the quality details. They just want the most camper they can buy for the least amount of money. Until that changes, the companies will continue to get away with building crap.
That's incredible that they would cut corners like that. Glad nobody got hurt. PS love you guys!
Thanks so much! We hope that things go better with Grand Design in the future.
We have fixed so many things on our Solitude 310 GK that I've lost count. Springs, Shackles, Tires, Water heater, not to mention all sorts of stuff inside falling apart! This is our seventh fifth wheel in maybe 35 to 40 years of doing this and more has broken in the last few years than all other years combined. To be fair, we are retired and on the road way more. I just think a little more quality and better dealer backup would be nice. Burlington Bill busking at home and on the road here on you tube.
Busking! I remember when I first learned that word in a London underground. Yes, this life can call for that for sure. We too have fixed so many things on our 310 that we've lost count. Would love to camp next to you someday and swap stories. Happy travels!
We have a 2016 Rockwood Signature, several small issues with build detail. Almost every trip I am fixing or tightening something. Every manufacturer has issues and quality challenges. Does not seem to matter how much a person spends. Tell you, we had what was deemed a lower quality Grey Wolf before, we had no issues, buy our next unit what was deemed better quality, only to be disappointed.
Yeah, that is too bad. Sometimes I think it depends on what day of the week the camper was built. Update: Grand Design corporate called us the other day and from now on the island will get an extra screw on each end. So that is something. We are glad our video reached the right people!
I have the same 310GK watched this video and add sport on each corner of the island thanks Lis & Paul Amazing
Glad to hear our video helped! Hope to see you in a campground someday.
I inspect my interior regularly and use a makita brad nail gun to sure things up when they get loose. They build these things like piñatas. I tell my 10 year old to treat everything like it is made of eggshells. I have an adrenaline toy hauler so i only have the kitchen and a few cabinets to worry about. Im so glad you have Paul to slap that sucker back together. I also travel with a tube of silicone and a calking gun.
Hi Patrick. Yes, it's true you need a lot of tools just to keep the rig together! Good for you for inspecting your interior. We may need to start doing that!
Another piece of amazing American quality.
Glad we changed our minds and bought a Riverstone 39FK…… this past March and knock on wood NO problems yet!
Wow, that's awesome. Good to know- thank you. We hadn't heard of them and will have to check them out. Happy travels!
Thanks for the video I also found out the other down side of RVing other campers playing music to loud leaving the camp fire smoldering rinsing the stinky slinky with the fresh water outlet loud campers and thieves no thanks one video did it for me!
Oh my! Thankfully those downsides are rare. There's a lot to love in RV life, but it's not for everyone. Here is a video where we talk about if RV life is for couples: czcams.com/video/PVSjNt0tQ0E/video.html
You think that's bad you should see my Artic wolf. All the modeling I had to use liquid nails to fix that,the storage compartment doors wasn't tall enough so when it rains I to take everything out and mop it dry. The roof on the slide out has staples coming out, the paneling on the side of the kitchen sink keeps falling off. Staples are coming thru the carpet, staples are coming out of the walls the bedroom door wouldn't close. You want me tell the rest of the stuff. I'll never by another forrest river again
Oh my goodness. I’d heard good things about Arctic Wolf, did not realize they were made by Forest River. My first 5er was Forest River, was very cheap. Sorry to hear you went through that.
While at the annual rally I heard one of the techs ask another for some help with a sunken island. I have a 2016 (May2015) 337RLS and have certainly had some issues. One in particular was the shelf backing in the front closet coming off, when i pulled out the shelves to fix it there was one or two pieces of insulation hung from above, I was looking at the fiberglass backing of the front cap. i guess I figured out why I was getting mildew in there last winter. I was able to fit 2 entire rolls of R19 in there. Arctic Insulation at its finest :)
Wow, I should tell Paul about that. Sounds like a great place to put in some insulation. Thank you!
J-trim panels on both slides need to be replaced with heavier gauge sheet metal. They are rippled. The right panel had a dent in it from day one as well. I still have the photo of it. You can actually watch them change shape in the hot sun being black. The trim between the left slide j-trim and the fiberglass bow’s out in the heat also. It will have a ¾” gap when it warms up.
2. The right side propane access door and large storage compartment beside it to the left both need replacing.
3. The trim between the front nose and the side walls both need replacing. The right side one has a big gap above the pin box already.
4. There is damage occurring in the fiberglass from the inside out on the left side, behind the left slide, below the left rear side window.
5. The whole unit needs to be then stripped and repainted. The pictures you have seen of the front and right side with all the green tape are of the dirt and paint flaws. I only could do those sides as I ran out of tape. The quality of the clear on the door is so poor, the foam on the assist handle that swings against the door had almost rubbed through to the base. There is black base coat missing on the front cap, dirt and flaws everywhere, The product quality that was initially applied is very poor. There is overspray above the pin box, on top of the left slide, below the bedroom slide just below the weatherstripping, on the right slide between the awning and front window, and the inside of the right slide of the forward capping.
6. The right side slide roof has a sunken spot about two feet round so the water will not drain off. I am going to guess it is about a ½” deep.
7. The new awning is inside the unit to replace the one with paint on it.
8. All of the utility drain handles rust. I could hardly open them the first trip out.
9. The flooring in the kitchen/living area needs to be replaced. There is something else going on with the right slide to rub on the floor when it is closed. The slide had to be repaired when the roof was replaced because the fiberglass insulation was jammed in the slide tracks/mechanism. Loose screws have also damaged the floor.
10. The bedroom floor in front of the closet makes a loud creak. When you call tomorrow I will play it for you. I recorded it.
11. Trim is falling off to the right going into the bedroom in the hallway.
12. The shower doors get stuck when trying to open them after being open and secured. I am sure the screws are loose at the top of the doors and are getting jammed against the next door.
13. The dark wood to the right of the fridge at the bottom was all beat up.
14. The wood to the left of the fridge right on the edge has a “chevron” style damage mark about 6-8 inch’s long right on the 90 degree edge.
15. The oven door has a dent in the center above the panel
16. The cupboard door direct to the right of the microwave still needs to be replaced. Shipped to me, but not replaced.
17. The wood top above the fireplace/tv top has flaws and cracks.
18. The wood trim in the ceiling about the second one from the rear is falling down.
19. The wood panel on the bottom of the rear cabinet that is above the rear couch is falling down.
20. The rear blind behind the rear couch and the right (forward) blind near the headboard in the bedroom both have holes in them.
21. The large blinds over the two large right slide windows behind the dinette and the theatre seat won’t roll up on their own.
22. Passenger side nose LED light strip needs replacing
23. Right side frame eight foot LED light strip needs to be installed as the original one only about 4 LED’s worked and started to fall off. I removed it and taped up the wires.
24. The under belly is falling down more. It is now down about 6 inch’s in front of the axles. There has been several fresh water and grey water leaks, of which have been repaired.
25. The trim on either side of the dinette slide at the bottom, on the inside, are both falling off.
26. Both rear bumper caps fell off during the first trip. Good thing the sewer hose isn’t kept in there.
27. There are screws broken off and missing on the outside of the right slide down near the bottom of the panel that faces the entry door. Possibly caused by slide misalignment? Or?
And the list went on and on. Good bye Grand Design.
Oh my gosh! Is this a 310GK? It sounds like you need to return the rig and get out of that deal. So sorry for your troubles.
@@LizAmazing 2019 310GK full body paint. After 35 years of camping and this horrible experience, I'm done.
That is just awful! Grand Design corporate reached our to us when our island collapsed and changed the build specs. I hope you are working with them directly as they will be much more responsive than dealer.
He guys, near the end of the video I noticed you had a turning point box and are using an Anderson Hitch. I was warned about not marrying these two together (or Rota Flex w/ Anderson) by a service manager. He described that the result is intense vibrations inside the coach. So much so that cabinetry can warp and break. Just FYI...I never did follow up on the service managers claim. Happy camping.
Thanks for this Brian. As long as the turning point is locked (which it is), it's totally fine. That service manager was not correct. Thanks so much for passing this on though!
Quite obvious that the problem is not just screws. Cheap particle board construction probably extends throughout all the cabinetry. This beauty is truly only skin deep.
Agreed. We are hoping our video is a wake-up call to Grand Design. At least GD corporate did call us. They will now be putting one extra screw in each end. So that is something. But of course that doesn't change the particle board.
The attachment of a heavy island like that with only two points on each end in a box that bounces down the road is "Penny wise and pound foolish". How much would it have cost them to put 4 screws per end? Maybe $2.00 or less since they purchase in bulk? Like you mention in the video, what other areas might they be cutting corners?
However, I was wondering what came first? The leaking water line or the Island dropping? At 2:34 you can see what may be some residue from some liquid in the back corner on the shelf. Maybe a spill or residue from evaporated water? If the water line/pipe was leaking onto particle board, and possibly had been doing so slowly since purchase.... then it may have weaken the particle board over time. The boards didn't look wet, but if there was water damage previously, then the potentially damaged particle board might have just finally given way.
Not trying to defend GD for the minimal screws for attachment (that is concerning and will potentially impact my decision if I should buy a GD or another brand), but just thinking through how the island would just drop, unless it was previously damaged at the dealership or during assembly at the factory. I've always considered GD as my first choice, and now, maybe not so much and I'm now wondering if they (GD) are considered one of the best, how bad other brands might be. Thank you for the video. I hope your future travels will be repair free.
That's good thinking regarding the water leak. It actually happened due to the shift in the island. So no prior water leak or damage. Grand Design corporate watched our video and decided to now put three screws on each end. I am with you that it should be four or more. But three is a big improvement percentage wise so that is something.
And, yes, we are concerned that other things need to be reinforced. As we say in the video, go through your camper and reinforce it all!
I have seen too many examples of this in the last year on CZcams. I had looked at the Grand Design RVs about six months ago. They looked beautiful but now I know that is what the companies have as their top priority. I can’t really afford an Airstream but I’d rather spend the money on quality. I’m actually thinking traveling and renting VRBO or hotels may be the way to go. I don’t want to spend my time repairing my rig or waiting for them to do warranty work. I shouldn’t even have to worry about that. Thanks for sharing.
Hi there! Unfortunately, these quality problems are not at all limited to Grand Design, as you are realizing. And Airstream also seems to have their share of problems, pricey as they are. Hotels may be the way to go and we did a video about that here: czcams.com/video/SxUUxAvTB7k/video.html
Thanks for watching!
I use mobile rv repair. They come to your rv site. They aren't cheap, but they have done good work.
Me, too! Or at least when I was solo. Paul seems like he can fix almost anything so far. We do have an issue with our furnace and will be getting a mobile tech for that. Sure beats waiting at the dealer!
You guys are awesome!!! Were you thinking that you would get a trailer with no issues?? EVERY trailer in the world other than Airstream are rolling shitboxes. Grand Design, Arctic Fox and Outdoors RV are better than most but new buyers should expect to have 40 to 60 warranty issues to correct. Now Covid purchase rush has caused them to increase production. Now new trailers are really junk. Never push the limits of the weight on any trailer. Water alone makes your trailer exceed limits.
Hi Scott, Yep, sadly this is the case. New trailers even those topping $100k arrive at the dealership with a host of quality issues. Overall, we are happy with our Grand Design AND we wish they didn't just slap them together.
We had a 2018 Grand Design 303RLS Reflection 5th Wheel that we really liked, but found a number of small problems that could have been a bigger problem if we hadn't caught those problems earlier. We actually had to have a number of trips back to the dealer for warranty work. Great customer service, but I was disappointed by the number of trips it took to get everything working right. We sold the trailer in 2021 and felt like the trailer was finally the way it should have been when we first bought it.
Yep! Same here. If it weren't for Paul being so handy, our rig would be in the shop more than on the road!
Great video and fix. I’m disappointed with the wood Grand Design used. It looks like press board. With the amount spent on these 5th wheel nothing wrong with using better wood for cabinets. Also don’t forget to use the right amount of screws.
Yep. We are feeling the same way.
I loved my GD, but it fell apart and they did us wrong on so many levels.
First trip the awning arm broke, they said it was our fault. Second trip, we had to pay someone to come remove the awning so we could go home.
Within 4 years the refrigerator went out! They will not fix it!
Our window treatments fell off of 2 windows.
I will never buy another one and I can’t wait to get rid of the solitude we have! I would not recommend.
We also heard good reviews, we’ll, something had changed!
We were ripped off. ☹️
So sorry to hear this. Yes, that window trim falls off so easily. You don't want to glue it on as you'll need to remove it to access the blinds. It should sell easily though!
Thanks for the heads up. We just purchased the same model yesterday.
Congratulations!!! Yes, do reinforce everything. We still very much love our 310 and think it's the perfect floorplan. Hope we get to camp next to you someday! Enjoy!
Sorry this happened to you Liz and Paul. It’s certainly wonderful that Paul is so talented and isn’t afraid to tackle jobs like this!🙌
Yes it is. He's very handy to have around for sure!
Thank you so much for making this video… I’m on my way to purchase a 2021 grand design Solitude 390 RK today. Your video will help us to know what to look for but has not discouraged us. Happy travels!
Yay! So glad. We love our floorplan and hope our video was a wakeup to GD. They do step up and take care of their customers, that's for sure. Congrats on your new rig- looking forward to seeing you out here!
Great video,
We had many many
Issues with Our first 5th wheel ( Cougar)
Finally stepped up to a Arctic Fox
Not with out problems
But not every trip out
That's great to know! We have heard good thing about Artic Fox!
Lickem and stickem is the truth!
I'm a OTR trucker and have delivered to an both a mobile home and RV manufacturers and they are both built the same!
Frame is pulled in.
The electrical, plumbing is mounted.
Then the pre cut and built floor is dropped on and bolted down then glue is rollered on for the carpet then the pre framed walls are done and lowered on and screwed on, you get where I'm going
Its all premanfacatured not stick built which isn't a bad idea but its fast!
I was at a mobile home place and while they unloaded me inside the building (water heaters) they actually built 2 full homes!
Rvs at a different place took about 30 minutes but then the auto industry were the leaders in assembly lines! Even though the RVs aren't moving! Bring in the frame with the engine fuel tank generator and electrical then the cabin is dropped on! The cabins are but the same as mobile homes but its better quality to acvount for the movement they take over their lifetimes!
And yes i e lived in them and plan on a new one in about 6 months after coming out of retirement to drive a truck to .ake the money for a new one and go back to retirement!
And yes if you're not mechanically inclined you can spend a lot of time sitting in line at a reoair shop!
There's nothing lime having a battery powered set of hand tools with a well stocked tool bag to fix those little headaches as the crop up!
You might even in your travels see if you can go on a tour at an RV manufacturers plant. You'll enjoy what goes into the making of a rolling home!
Blue Sky's and Safe Journeys!
Thanks so much! Yes, we'd love to take a factory tour. Even though we are having to deal with all these hassles (the furnace broke today!!!) we wouldn't trade RV life for living in a house. I used to spend HOURS each week keeping the house clean and on yard work. Always something with gutters or needing the plumber in. It's (almost) always something out here but at least we are out on the road. Thanks for the good wishes, wishing you safe travels as well!
@@LizAmazing oh I know. I let my house go and live with my daughter now.
And hopefully by next spring I'll have saved enough to buy the 2 toys I need to be completely retired!
But no matter which unit I buy I'm pretty certain I'll be replacing drawer hangers as those plastic things give up and then cardboard drawers are jokes as are cabinets!
My ex has a 30' Winnebago Minnie that wound up with severe water damage from all 3 front windows over the cabover bunk leaking thats in storage now but I might even get someone to replace the bunk floor replace both outside panels that those side windows were in as both sides just gave up but replace them without windows and even fibreglass that big front leader! Then I'll build cabinets up there and watch the rest of them as I can replace them with real wood!
But I've already replaced the drawer hangars with metal ones!
Heck its almost a good idea to buy one without half the cabinets and just build it yourself!
I would also just for the heck of it go around and check all your sink water line fittings that they are snug and not leaking including the shower that should have an access panel to access the plumbing. I know on a few TT we had the connection were lose and leaking. And go over plumbing in the basement area as well. Thanks for the tip on the extra screws on the island!!!
Good idea. We will do that right now. Thanks again!
Mistakes happen, businesses cut corners, that is just a fact, period. IF the manufacturer backs up their product and repair whatever, then I would purchase the baby I want - Grand Design Solitude 310RL. Hopefully, they watch, listen and learn. Thank you for this disturbing reveal.
Agreed! And Grand Design truly does back up what they sell. We've been very pleased with their service. We love our 310GK and am sure you will as well. Such a great floorplan! Looking forward to seeing you out here!
Extremely helpful video! Thank you! (Also, I chuckled when he said his handiness is the only reason he's there 😆)
Thank you! Yes, Paul is good for a chuckle now and then! And he's certainly very handy to have around!! Grand Design called us to let us know they will be adding two more screws to the island so that is something. Happy camping to you!
For the amount of money they charge for these rigs, you would think manufacturers would at least use quality marine-grade plywood instead of engineered “wood,” especially considering the additional stress these vehicles endure. But they still cheap it out. This is the very reason so many like us stay away from RV’s today. Sad, but the way it is today.
You got that right!
I’m a sailor. Sailboats must endure massive stresses and are quite capable of doing so for decades in many cases without falling apart. However, most RV’s (especially Class A’s and travel trailers) are designed to travel less than 5,000 miles a year and are built using the cheapest materials - yet many cost more than a house! Manufacturers claim that falling apart is a result and the price of the constant shocks of road use, yet many other vehicles do fine (super C’s, semi tractors, quality boats, aircraft) when they’re designed and built well using quality materials and practices. Your example should never have happened, but it does every day and it’s people like you that end up holding (and paying for) the bag of poor engineering and manufacturing.
I love the idea of the freedom that the IDEA of RV life aspires to. But the truth is the RV experience is quite different than it’s reality. It’s become a frustrating money pit full of pretty junk for most who follow its dream. I know many RVers and once was one. Like many, I fell for the dream too but was enlightened quickly and expensively. Great channels like yours expose the seedy underbelly that subverts the dream manufacturers are selling. I wish I had the luxury of manufacturing cheap products and walking away from any culpability by simply claiming failure is the nature of the beast. But then again, I’d be out of business overnight.
GD seems to be a fad with CZcamsrs? There good build quality is a false perception. They use the same construction methods and components as most other similar rv’s. Thanks for showing the reality of the industry.
Correct. The different with Grand Design is they stand by their customers. They will not force fulltimers to go back to the dealer. Instead they will send parts directly to the RVer and pay for a mobile tech. Although we are disappointed with the island collapse, we are somewhat heartened by their response: they will now be putting an additional screw in each end of the island. So that is something.
Grand Design cares about catering their interiors to the customer wants, however the structure behind the scenes are just staples like most of the RV industry. I own one as well, we have had almost all the drawers break and one broke and snapped a water line causing us major water damage. The drawer rail supports were just stapled to the wall. Needless to say all of them are screwed in now. We are moving to Riverstone for our next 5th wheel and I had a chance to see inside some of them. They don't use as many staples like GD, but when you start looking behind things you'll still find the cheap rubber water lines and such. Just get in the mindset that it's a small house, you have to improve and maintain things.
We've heard good things about Riverstone. We sure hope that Grand Design and the rest of the RV industry sees this video as a wake-up call!
We bought a brand new 43 Ft Grand Design Momentum last year. We picked it up in Boise, ID and drove it back to Texas. We kept noticing that the RV sounded squeaky but we thought it was just new and needing to break in. When we got home and went to move it to storage my husband noticed that the whole axle was about to fall off. Grand Design never tightened up any of the bolts holding our axle together and we almost lost the entire rig. The holes where all the bolts are attached had warped and widened during our trip. We couldn't even drive it to a local dealer to get it fixed. My husband had to fix it all himself (he's handy). We called the dealer where we bought it and they said there was nothing they could do because we fixed it ourselves. We've had various other problems due to crappy build and are really disappointed with the quality. Would never buy again.
Wow. I just don't know what to say. That is an incredibly scary story. We are certainly less enamored with GD after our problems. I can't even imagine how you feel. We do love the floorplan of our 310GK, just dismayed by all the problems...which continue! Hope things get better for you two...and for us!
My roof bubbled up as well on my new 22RBE. We pressed all of the bubbles large and small down by hand and they seem to be holding. Probably due to the solar panels we mounted on the front of the roof. The roof oddly has much thicker wood on the front third than the back two thirds. This was a problem when mounting the solar panels. We won't get into the unstapled vinyl in the vents, the misaligned drawers, the bent steps, the screws that punched through the exterior wheel vinyl, the multiple 6 inch holes drilled under the kitchen cabinets for wiring, the open to attic a/c vents (explained why the a/c would not cool even though the air was cold), etc. Would I buy another one, no. I would look elsewhere. I thought I was buying a quality trailer. I did not take the trailer back to the dealer as I have heard horror stories about trailers being in dealerships for a long time and instead repaired things myself.
BTW, Grand design said I could not replace my recalled pressure regulator my self because the dealer had to do a bleed down test on it per DOT. After waiting months they called me to service it. After the tech was done I asked him if he did the bleed down test and he said "yep" and held up his spray bottle of soap. I was livid and stormed into the store to complain. Apparently they are not into following DOT requirements. Did I mention the microwave not mounted into the wood correctly..................
Oh my gosh, David, that sounds so epic and not in a good way. So sorry you've been through all this. Unbelievable about the propane regulator service. I think GD just needed a dealer to sign off on it. Ours needed more heat protection and if you look at it, it looks like they just put some aluminum foil on it. You can see it when we talk about RV fires in our latest video. See you there: czcams.com/video/aothX9LLJqE/video.html
In June we purchased a 2021 295rl fifth wheel. The faucet in our bathroom has not been replaced by a faucet with more clearance. We are unfortunately going to have to spend $50 on a new faucet, after spending $50,000 on the trailer. But we still love our 2nd Grand Design!
Yay! We love ours, too. And we wouldn't trade RV life for going back to living in a house. We have good news: Grand Design corporate called us yesterday and will now be adding an additional screw on each end of the island. We are grateful that they listen to their customers.
Ya gotta call this kind of stuff out. Ambassador or not ... people need to see this. This kind of faulty manufacturing from GD is why ill be purchasing a Riverstone.
We have heard good things about Riverstone. Wishing you best of luck!
I have a 1980 Kings Highway.30' It's the coolest Brady Bunch funky looking motor home Ganted doesn't have granite countertops. But in 1980 This was high end motor home. Everything says Kings Highway on it floor mats built in blender on the countertop says Kings Highway Central vacuum .
I like it! They sure don’t make em like they used to! I bet yours is built way better than today’s. We hope to see you in a campground someday so we can take a tour!
Hey guys.. Like your video. Do yourself a favor, if your new fifth wheel doesn't have a air ride fifth wheel hook up, definetly look into one, they make a world of difference on the ride of the fifth wheel, and you'll see a big difference on how the truck does !!!!
That's good to know. We just did a big upgrade on our suspension- stay tuned for that video.
Having owned two Aerolite products, we knew our next RV trailer had to be "better" built unit. Not to say the two Aerolite's (2005 & 2013) were bad, but same as the Highland Ridge and Grand design's where you questioned "why would they do this". Or skimping on the construction material quality of the overall cabinets.
With 18 months of kicking tires, settled on a ORV (Outdoors RV Timber Ridge). Which is a sister company of Arctic Fox. If one word could be said, "Stout" would be it. It's built like a tank. So much better insulated. Thermal pane windows standard, huge tanks, full 5" roof edge to edge, over sized axles (3500 cargo cap.). But it starts with the Mor-ryde 3000 suspension, with Monroe shocks, greasable bronze shackle bolts, 16" Goodyears. It might not have all the "eye candy" of the other brands, but the build quality and the better construction material makes it a better long term as a home on wheels. Built for temps down to zero degrees. The down side is for the length, they might be 1000/1500 lbs heavier than the more middle of the line brands.
Hi Jay! We have heard good things about ORV, so glad to hear from an owner directly. That is good to know about them. We sure need SOMEBODY to step up and do quality builds, sounds like ORV is the answer. We've also heard good things about Newmar and Airstream. We hope our video will be a wake-up call to Grand Design!
we have a 337 rl so far the only thing is that our dometic fridge wont go from propane electric with less then 1200 miles going in under warenty on fri we will see
Oh no. I know Grand Design will stand behind their product, it's just the inconvenience of having to go through all this to begin with. Best of luck!
@@LizAmazing this has been very minor so far so good dealing with campers inn if part has to be ordered i asked if they could send it to the next campers in on our travels they said no prob we shall see