Let's get this started

[usnthedog]

We just bought our new Greyston 32RE. Love the open front room. Here are some ideas or thoughts, or maybe they are just rants.

Add a rollout to the storage beside the refrigerator. 24" is too deep for a shelf. And you could go deeper with a rollout if my tape measure is correct.
Add a few inches to the bedroom. Why the step up. 2-3 inches would allow most 6' tall people to stand up.
Supply a TV that has more visible input ports. Mine has one set and it is used by the DVD player.
Deepen the closet so hangers hang staight.
Protect the back of the mirror door from loose hangers; I can see the loose hangers pecking away at the thin coating on the mirror back.
I haven't figured out why you need to get on your knees to turn on the kitchen lights. Put the control panel up at eye level.
Put shorter windows in the bed slide so the bedspead does not interfer with the blinds.
Add a security cover to the front jacks or locate in a locked door; maybe I'm wrong but I have alway considered the jacks as and anti-thief measure.
Label the DC buss in the front.
Put more distance between the light switch and the bed slide switch.
Put a sign on the water heater switch that says, "Hey dummy fill the water heater".

We have added so far some slideout drawers to the basement, a holder for waxed paper, etc to the left kitchen storage door, a soap holder to the under sink door, an extra shelf in the medicine cabinet, a shelf under the bathroom sink, and many labels. My next project is to add the rollout to the storage by the refrig.

I hope I haven't started this forum off on the wrong foot. I just observe and report. I hope in the future I can add some more items that we have installed to make our home on wheels home.

 

[cookie]

Usnthedog, I don't think you have started off wrong on this forum. It is the purpose of the forum to share ideas and help others. You have some good ideas. The problem is if all the stuff we all wanted incorporated in our new rigs were put in place, I feel the price would skyrocket. I think the manufactures need to draw a line somewhere to keep pricing at a certain level. For example, you chose a mid profile rig, if you want to get a few extra inches in the bedroom you would have to move up to a full profile rig. That would mean a greater cost to you.
Many people have added a slide out pantry and slide out cabinet shelves. I think you can get them at the big box home building centers.
And I think the water heater sign is a good idea.
Be sure to post some pics of your mods.

Peace
Dave

 

[porthole]

I hope I haven't started this forum off on the wrong foot. I just observe and report. I hope in the future I can add some more items that we have installed to make our home on wheels home.

If no one posted their thoughts and ideas the trailers would never change.

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

Jeff, many good ideas. Like cookie mentioned, some of those ideas are incorporated into the next level up in the Heartland line up. I have a Bighorn and like my cell phone, several months later they start adding nice features and changing things up and all of a sudden you're drooling for a new rig. Basically the bottom line is, those changes would make the coach cost a little more and you might have kept on looking.
Our light switch for the kitchen and step light is near the floor also. I've learned to get pretty talented with my toes.
I like the water heater switch suggestion as well as labeling the DC buss in the front storage compartment.

 

[Dave Willis]

There are some great ideas here. I will see what we can do with some of these. Thanks for the imput.

DW

 

[JJnLilly]

Agree with the following - same minor issues with our 2011 32RL

"Deepen the closet so hangers hang straight." (Have to slant everything on hangers to shut the doors properly)
"Protect the back of the mirror door from loose hangers; I can see the loose hangers pecking away at the thin coating on the mirror back."
"Put more distance between the light switch and the bed slide switch." (For sure - crazy placement!)

I am going to (1) rebuild the dresser drawers by making them 2" deeper (there is room)
(2) open the area beneath the steps for storage
(3) completely redo the exterior drain system and raise it
(4) remove the seat tech sofa bed and get a good one

 

[TXBobcat]

If your talking about the switches that are almost on the floor they are the step light and the entry light inside.

I think they were put there so you can turn on a light when you enter the trailer and are standing on the ground. I know that when I am out and about during the day and get back when it is dark, I can turn on the entry way light before I have to go up the steps, so I can see as we enter the trailer. You can turn on the porch light from inside.

BC

 

[TxCowboy]

Great comments in this thread. Wanted to add a couple that my beloved and I have encountered with the 32RL.

1. There are no furnace ducts and only one a/c duct in the 32RL bedroom. This is a MAJOR mistake. As this room is the highest room in the RV, airflow is essential for temperature regulation. A minimum of two a/c ducts and two furnace ducts should be in the bedroom.
2. Put a 120v outlet in the hallway of the 32RL. It would let you use a nightlight in the hallway for guests navigating the stairs (safety issue) and also to power a small vacuum cleaner when needed.
3. Put a duplicate of the entry steps light on/off switch in the upper control panel box (in the closet next to the front door).
4. Put a duplicate of the entry (aisle) light in upper control panel box.
5. Put a duplicate of the porch light in the lower control panel box.
6. Put a radio signal booster in the RV (in conjunction with upgrading the Touch Audio system to something useful). Yeah, we'll pay the extra $500 bucks for that. We're all old rockers -- we'll pay it! Really!!
7. An additional 120v outlet between the front basement door and the regular entry door would be a nice addition. (Inside the basement on the entry door side would be another alternative location.)

Might think of more later.

 

[Jim_Hickey]

I appreciate and value your feedback. We will definitely look at your suggestions and weigh our options. Happy Camping!

 

[ncf1108]

Hello Jim
Well after my first trip this past weekend or the maiden voyage as you will in my Greystone, the landing gear failed and the coach is still sitting on my truck waiting to go to the dealer. Since I'm at work tonight at the FD, I thought I'd cruise thru the Electrical forum to see if there were any postings on the front jacks. To my dismay, i was a little surprised to see that I was not the only one with front jack issues and some of the owners were spending out of pocket money to add an additional motor, so there would be two motors and two switches. Others have chosen a better design in the Riecotitan jack. I've surmised by most of the posts that the current system was to under powered for the front end weight of the fifth wheel. I'm wondering if this has been discussed at Heartland, if so what are the results of those discussions?

 

[GOTTOYS]

Hello Jim
Well after my first trip this past weekend or the maiden voyage as you will in my Greystone, the landing gear failed and the coach is still sitting on my truck waiting to go to the dealer. Since I'm at work tonight at the FD, I thought I'd cruise thru the Electrical forum to see if there were any postings on the front jacks. To my dismay, i was a little surprised to see that I was not the only one with front jack issues and some of the owners were spending out of pocket money to add an additional motor, so there would be two motors and two switches. Others have chosen a better design in the Riecotitan jack. I've surmised by most of the posts that the current system was to under powered for the front end weight of the fifth wheel. I'm wondering if this has been discussed at Heartland, if so what are the results of those discussions?

If I was going to guess..I would say you ran your jacks all the up until they bottomed out and blew the fuse..But that's just a guess. Look for the fuse holder inline probably on a heavier pink wire, maybe in the area of the battery, not in the fuse panel. It should take a 30 amp mini fuse if that's the problem. Many recent discussions on this here about blowing fuses. The jacks on your rig should be just fine the way they are. I have a BC 3250 and have no complaints. Just mark one of the legs on the jack and don't run it all the way up to the stop. Just do a search for info on the fuses. Good luck...Don

 

[Jim_Hickey]

I didn't want you to think I was ignoring you. I just have been absolutely slammed at work and unable to contact you back. We have had this discussion before many times on this forum, so as Don and Kathy mentioned, the info is definitely here in the forum. That being said, I have addressed this issue with engineering, production and warranty and they all state the same thing. The landing gear opporates correctly, but sometimes users will run the landing gear to the stopping point and don't stop pressing the button. This then blows the fuse. I will try to dive into this a little further tomorrow and give you a call at that point. Have you contacted a dealer or our service to work through?

 

[caissiel]

Its a mather of practice.
I have been the owner of three 5th wheels in 18 years and hit the top everytime, and have never blown a fuse yet. I also do the same on my rear stabilizers.
So its very important to let go the switch at the right moment for sure. usualy the motor will signal the power increase and I let it go.
I am not saying this for everyone to do the same, but I feel there is enough power in the fuse to allow the bump if done properly.

 

[TXBobcat]

I saw a 5th wheel trailer the other day that had a red band painted around the landing gear that said "STOP HERE" on it when it was fully extended. It made me think of the problem with the Lippert landing gear. Seems it would be an easy thing to put on the leg.

BC

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

We've had our Bighorn for 5 years. Our previous 5th wheel was a Jayco and both were purchased from the same dealer. It was at the PDI for the Jayco that the dealer explained the operation of the landing legs. I'm not trying to point fingers or place any blame but I have never blown the fuse or tripped a breaker for the landing gear motor on either rig. Our Bighorns pinweight is right at 3000 lbs and the OEM jacks have never failed electrically. I did have the shear bolt loosen up and I took care of that easily enough.
I guess my point is, the OEM legs are plenty strong enough for these rigs. I have witnessed folks accidentally trying to raise the rear of their pick up truck in a few campgrounds though. That's a funny thing to watch.
I did have my electric legs replace by Lippert during the rally though. For no reason other than speed of operation.

 

[porthole]

I did have my electric legs replace by Lippert during the rally though. For no reason other than speed of operation.

Yeah, and that nice rake angle you got now! Where is that "thumbs up" icon?

 

[jmgratz]

Our previous 5er (Alfa Gold) had electric landing gear. It had tape on it that said STOP in big red letters. I never went past the stop and never had any trouble. Maybe the STOP tape is what is needed. A simple fix.

 

[RJW993]

I have a 2011 29MK and made a few changes to make it more usable. They are:
1) I added a light above the sink (the other LR lights are too far away to give enough light).
2) The heater intake is in the cabinets next to the stove, aiming straight at the chairs at the rear of the LR. Since it makes a lot of noise I blocked off the original intake and added a new intake on the other side of the cabinet, next to the door. Huge improvement.
3) The drawers in the kitchen have a veneer layer in the bottom, which will not support silverware and utensils. I added thin plywood to the bottom to support the contents.
4) The water pump was adjusted incorrectly when new. I reset the pump and added an accumulator tank to make thigs smoother.
5) To solve the clothes rod issue I moved it forward (away from the sliding doors) 1.5 inches and now the clothes hang straight.
6) The cabinets have false walls in several compartments to give a modest amount of protection for wiring and plumbing. In several cases the walls were installed more than a foot away from what they were supposed to protect. I moved them closer to the back and added bracing to make them work.
7) There are some other complaints about the heatand AC vents in the bedroom being too few or not there. This model has 2 AC vents and one heat vent. None of them work well enough to change the temp there. All of the flow is in the main room.
8) I added towel bars in several places, since there were none.
9) I put a switch on the power line to the Touch Audio stereo to finally stop the NOAA radio from going off all the time. I noticed that the new models don't use that stereo. Good riddance. I will replace it with something different someday.

I highly recommend that the factory make some of these changes, especially 2, 3, 5, and 7. Those should not exist on a trailer that is, otherwise, very nice. The seat tech sofa and the stereo have already been changed.

 

[Jim_Hickey]

This is all great feedback and I will share it with my engineering and production team. We have replaced the 2900MK with the 3000MK making some improvements to the floor plan and I will suggest we make some of these changes as well. Thanks again!

 

[piet10]

I have a 2011 Greystone 29MK new this summer and we love it, especially the mid kitchen floor plan. Two mods I made are:

1. The access panel in the basement to get at the winterizing valves was too hard to remove and then find the screws hold to replace it. I used some screen door toggles and a bottom support to get easier access and to put the door back. 10 seconds in and out.

2. I had difficulty reaqching the water heater bypass valves. They are close to the access panel in the cabinet under the entertainment center. But to get that access panel off, you have to remove the 4 screws, and then remove all 4 hinges on the cabinet doors to remove the panel. I cut about 1 inch off either side of the access panel and permanently mounted them back in position on either side. Then 2 wooden door pulls on the panel, held in place with velcro. Now I can just pull the panel off and the valves are right in reach.

The quality of this trailer is very high compared to some other brands that we looked at.