New Pioneer owners in Ga

[BrannonB]

Hello all, new member here. Been camping in motorhome, 5er and travel trailers since I could remember. But now with wife and 4 kiddos we took the plunge and picked up a 2018 DS310 on Dec 1st. It was a “Black Friday” purchase for us. Lol 😜

Got it home and set it up. Going to do some mods before long. Went through and vacuumed the 200 pounds of aluminum drilling’s, the 300 pounds of sawdust in the duct work. Found SEVERAL issues with it that I think should have NEVER passed inspection from the factory, but then again they got passed me too. I did my walk around at 7:30 in the rain 🤫

One thing I did not noice until after I was home is this thing don’t have a porch light. It came with the electric awning with LED strip which we love, but unless you have the awning extended it don’t do much good. I’m hoping to find a 12vdc low profile motion light so it will alway be “hot if the switch (that I have to install) is on. Has anyone else seen a trailer with no exterior lighting???

once I meet the required number of posts I’ll be able to share some pics as well.

 

[jimtoo]

Hi BrannonB,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and to the family. We have a great bunch of folks here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge when needed.

Be sure and check out our Heartland Owners Club. Join us at a rally when you can and meet lots of the great folks here and make friends for a lifetime.

Enjoy the forum and your new unit.

Jim M

 

[Oregon_Camper]

Welcome to the site and congrats on the new RV

If you didn't do a complete (ie..4+ hour) inspection, you might want to download my Pre-Delivery Inspection document, by clicking on the link in my signature below.


This inspection should take you about 4 hours to complete (don't rush it) and will ensure you understand all the operations of the trailer as well as having you inspect the trailer. This will help you find all sorts of "gotcha" stuff that might not pop up until later down the road (ie...when your 100's of miles from an RV shop). No matter what the dealer says, their PDI is will never cover everything.

 

['Lil Guy']

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your new RV. Hope to meet you down the road.

 

[Nabo]

Congratulations on your new Pioneer. Do check out the Heartland Owners Club (link is on a post above) and after you join (no fee), all the upcoming rallies. Enjoy and safe travels.

 

[jbeletti]

Brannon and family - welcome!

 

[ALF]

Hi BrannonB

Welcome to the Heartland family! Good luck on your new rig!
Watch the forum for Rally details and hopefully we will get to meet you and your family at a future Rally.

Paul and Sue - Georgia Chapter Leaders

 

[Toccoatravelers]

Welcome to the Heartland Family and the Georgia Chapter, hope to meet you and your family at a rally in the future! Check out the info for the SE Regional Rally in April of 2018 at Stone Mountain Park. You will have to officially join the Heartland Owners Club in order to attend but the good news is that it's FREE.

Happy Holidays! 🍑🎄🎅🏽❄️

 

[Power247]

Welcome!! We've had our DS310 for almost 2 years and love it so far. I did have to do some minor things on our first trip but it has been nothing but good times since.

Greg
2012 | RAM 2500 | CCSB | Custom tuned by Double R Diesel
2016 | Heartland Pioneer | DS310

 

[BrannonB]

Welcome!! We've had our DS310 for almost 2 years and love it so far. I did have to do some minor things on our first trip but it has been nothing but good times since.

Greg
2012 | RAM 2500 | CCSB | Custom tuned by Double R Diesel
2016 | Heartland Pioneer | DS310

Greg, I know everyone will find some issues with it their first or second trips. What was yours?

 

[Power247]

Greg, I know everyone will find some issues with it their first or second trips. What was yours?

The only item that I would call an issue was the automatic switch/ propane regulator started leaking. I picked up a replacement at a camper supply near where we were camping and had it changed in a flash.

Well, that and having to reseal the duct at the AC unit inside. But other than that, all my other mods have just been things to make it our own. Very happy with the quality of the Pioneer.

Greg
2012 | RAM 2500 | CCSB | Custom tuned by Double R Diesel
2016 | Heartland Pioneer | DS310

 

[jerryjay11]

Welcome aboard Pioneer!

We purchased ours Sept. 2017 and still yesterday I was picking up metal shavings. I look down at the heater vents and see sawdust build up again. I pulled the panels off for the HW heater, furnace, and outdoor shower access and vacuumed quite a bit of sawdust and shavings there. One thing I hadn't noticed all this time was a small gouge developing on the bottom of the slide-out. Turns out there was a loose trim screw under the slide carpet. The screw head was painted black so it would have been an external trim screw.

With you on the porch light. Would be nice on windy days and while camping under trees when I don't extend the awning. Just do a Google search for RV motion sensor porch lights and you'll find a ton of them.

 

[BrannonB]

Jerry, I do know what you mean about sawdust and metal shavings everywhere. I too removed the duct louvers and vacuumed out enough sawdust to use for kindeling. Lol. And I ordered a LED strip to go under the awning rail that I will tie in with the awning lights. That was I don’t have to have the awning extended to have light. Plus I have been looking at 12v Motion lights so you don’t have to try and find the key hole on dark nights.

 

[jerryjay11]

Jerry, I do know what you mean about sawdust and metal shavings everywhere. I too removed the duct louvers and vacuumed out enough sawdust to use for kindeling. Lol. And I ordered a LED strip to go under the awning rail that I will tie in with the awning lights. That was I don’t have to have the awning extended to have light. Plus I have been looking at 12v Motion lights so you don’t have to try and find the key hole on dark nights.

On your rig the panels would be below your fridge and oven. The vented one would be for the heater assess and the one below the oven would probably be where your HWH and pump would be. If you see 4 screws holding those panels on then you could remove those panels and I would bet you'll find more sawdust and metal shavings. On our RL250 we have one below the fridge, oven, and a table at the rear of the camper. Plenty of sawdust piled around the heater and water pump areas. The table area on ours is where the power cord and outdoor shower stores from outside our camper. When Heartland cut out the rear wall at the factory to mount the outdoor shower recess, power cord, and city water fittings they didn't bother to go inside the camper, pull the panel under the table, and remove the material they cut out.

I am assuming if you open the cabinet door under the sink you'll see a panel that divides the space from the plumbing. Another area that may need cleaning when you remove that panel.

 

[BrannonB]

Yep. Got all those areas too. As well as under the beds, couch and table seat storage. Pretty much took off all panels, cushions and plywood covers and vacuumed everything. I was surprised by the amount of dust that was on everything too. But doing a good deep clean revealed some issues I may have never seen if I hadn’t done it.

 

[jerryjay11]

"But doing a good deep clean revealed some issues I may have never seen if I hadn’t done it."

I know where you're coming from.

 

[jerryjay11]

An added thought...
When removing those access panels you may have noticed the screws weren't biting well on the panel material behind them. What I did was cut some left over 1/4" lauan into 2" X 2" squares and glued them to the back side of the panel material using clamps to hold it while glue dried. Now the screws bite better and not strip out on me.