North Trail buyer review

shevy

Member
Ok, so I am three months in on our purchase of a new north trail 33 buds and wanted to give fellow members my review of the rv. We are 1st timers so I’ve got nothing to compare our purchase to but thought it would help prospective buyers.

The owners manual that came with with it does not help. Heartland mass produces these and tries to make it a one size fits all. Also, the manuals that came with the rv were only on installing the appliances. No manuals on operating the individual appliances. Be prepared to find styrofoam pieces all over the floor. When you pull the trailer, it causes the styrofoam in the ceiling to move this causing pieces to break off.

The wood moulding on the inside slide outs have all come off. They are put on with thin nails that don’t hold this small piece of wood to the slide out. Two of the dump drain handles have come off and are laying somewhere on a highway which means I’ve had to buy replacements. The gas grill that comes with it is cheap. Spend $100 and buy a portable Weber.

Because there was no rv manual with specifics such as capacity of clean, grey and blank tank capacities I had to call the manufacturer and they emailed me the specs

I know this sounds like I’m dumping (pun intended) on Heartland, but I’m not. I’m just giving new buyers a heads up on what we learned as first time buyers. I cannot stress enough to make sure your sales person or whoever walks you through your rv when you pick it up is video the entire walk through, ask any question you can, even if you think is stupid. Our walk through went way to fast and were not educated enough to know what to ask.

RV life is great and overall we are happy with our purchase and thankfully we have this forum and don’t know what we would have done without it.
 

ram22

Well-known member
My experience with my 2015 22FBS is.... exactly same! BTW, wait until you have to extend or retract your electric slide manually with the cordless drill attachment that they should show you upon delivery, then you’ll be pulling that trim off by hand and reinstalling it with screws or something more logical than brad nails or staples.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Hi shevy,

Have you found our collection of owner-written user guides that fill in many of the blanks on how things work? You can get there by clicking on the TOOLS tab at top of page and selecting HUG - Heartland User Guides. Or just click here.
 

shevy

Member
My experience with my 2015 22FBS is.... exactly same! BTW, wait until you have to extend or retract your electric slide manually with the cordless drill attachment that they should show you upon delivery, then you’ll be pulling that trim off by hand and reinstalling it with screws or something more logical than brad nails or staples.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


no I had not seen this thx for sharing but the link is for a different rv, Landmark.
 

RossRagan

Well-known member
I am six weeks into ownership of my first travel trailer, a Mallard 245, basically the NT 24BHS with the CW Mallard brand name. AS I was exploring the purchase, I browsed this forum and others to learn a bit about the way these trailers are built. What I learned was that ownership pretty much requires that one be a do-it-yourselfer as the trailers take a beating just running down the road. I learned that the black water and gray water drain handles do fall off so I took mine off as soon as I purchased it and put red locktite on the threads and put them back on the trailer. I've reinforced some of the storage compartments walls, built a heavier plank the is used to change the dinette into a bed, started watching caulking for signs of cracking and have already caulked some areas where I wasn't comfortable with the factory work; and I will continue to make quality improvements as I see the need and don't intend to seek any warrantee work unless there is a catastrophic failure of one of the systems/components from the factory.

I figure this is just part of the cost and, since I enjoy the work, the pleasures of ownership.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
no I had not seen this thx for sharing but the link is for a different rv, Landmark.

If the link you mention is to the user guides, yes there's only one trailer guide - LM 365. But maybe you'll find useful information in the other 14 guides which are not specific to any one model.
 

cjb2283

Member
To the OP,
I experienced most of what you did as well withmy 2018 28DBSS. The foam, although apain and a mess, understandable and easy to clean up. The dump handle, I was lazy and just kepttightening the one that kept coming loose until it finally fell off. Then when I got the new one, I went around toall of them and tightened them with a vice grip and wrench. To add, a lot of the lower trim/moldingscrews holding the lower seal on the exterior of the trailer had broken heads….ALOT. Not happy about that one. Other than that, I am overall very happy withmy NT.
 

Silverado23

Iowa Chapter Leaders
To the OP,
I experienced most of what you did as well withmy 2018 28DBSS. The foam, although apain and a mess, understandable and easy to clean up. The dump handle, I was lazy and just kepttightening the one that kept coming loose until it finally fell off. Then when I got the new one, I went around toall of them and tightened them with a vice grip and wrench. To add, a lot of the lower trim/moldingscrews holding the lower seal on the exterior of the trailer had broken heads….ALOT. Not happy about that one. Other than that, I am overall very happy withmy NT.




One of the first things I did with my 2016 BUDS was opened the end vent on the AC Duct and use a shop vac to pull most of the debris out. Then turned on AC Blower and repeated with Shop vac. Then vacuumed out all of the remaining vents.
I also vacuumed out the furnace duct work. I still get a bit of debris once in a great while but not nearly as much as I would have if not vacuumed out.

Had a few minor issues but did have two slide-out cable brackets replaced.
 

shevy

Member
Just returned from our fifth trip and reminded again how little attention Heartland pays to details. The tank handle has come off twice and of course the dealer was happy to sell me a “better” one that also fell off. Because there is no “owners manual” I have no way to know which jandlenis for grey and which is for black dumping. Anyone that can help answer this? We have a Northtrail 33buds.
 

BLR

Well-known member
Just returned from our fifth trip and reminded again how little attention Heartland pays to details. The tank handle has come off twice and of course the dealer was happy to sell me a “better” one that also fell off. Because there is no “owners manual” I have no way to know which jandlenis for grey and which is for black dumping. Anyone that can help answer this? We have a Northtrail 33buds.

Having a hard time understanding "jandlenis" "
Some people have had miss marked handles, best thing to do the 1st time is do one at a time and check the tank Indicators.. or buy what most of us have done is a clear elbow for when dumping you can see forsure what is coming out

Sent from BLR Logistics
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Because there is no “owners manual” ...

If you're the first owner, you should have gotten a pouch full of manuals, including either a trailer manual, or perhaps a flash drive with softcopy of the manual.

In any case, you can download a manual here. The Heartland manual covers a wide range of models and floor plans, so specifics like which lever does what are left to the selling dealer to explain during your pre-delivery walk through.

We also have quite a few owner-written user guides that fill in the blanks on many things not in the trailer manual. Here's a link.

One other thing - you might want to get a clear adapter for the sewer outlet. That will let you see what's coming out so you can dump the tanks more effectively. Here's one that also has a backflush fitting that can come in handy.
 

Silverado23

Iowa Chapter Leaders
Just returned from our fifth trip and reminded again how little attention Heartland pays to details. The tank handle has come off twice and of course the dealer was happy to sell me a “better” one that also fell off. Because there is no “owners manual” I have no way to know which jandlenis for grey and which is for black dumping. Anyone that can help answer this? We have a Northtrail 33buds.


Not 100% sure your tanks would be the same as mine (I have 2016 NT 32 BUDS) The rear handle is for black tank, forward is grey tank.
 

RossRagan

Well-known member
Just returned from our fifth trip and reminded again how little attention Heartland pays to details. The tank handle has come off twice and of course the dealer was happy to sell me a “better” one that also fell off. Because there is no “owners manual” I have no way to know which jandlenis for grey and which is for black dumping. Anyone that can help answer this? We have a Northtrail 33buds.

When you put them on this time, use red threadlocker as well so they can't vibrate loos again.
 
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