New 35x12 & Trav'ler Dish question

[danno2u]

Hi guys/gals! My wife & I sold our house and gave away most of our belongings (to our kids!). This Saturday, we pick up our custom ordered XLR 35x12 toyhauler! We're very excited to start our new life as full-timers!

My question (one of many but the others can wait): Should I attempt to install my Wingard Trav'ler SK-1000 myself? I am mechanically inclined and tend to do most things myself. But I can't find any information online in regards to a pre-set location on the roof for the dish, existing RG6 coax cable wiring, existing cable port on roof, etc. Of course, I'll know a little more when I can crawl around on the roof this weekend!

I'd love to hear from anyone with a SK-1000 mounted and their experience.

Cheers and hope to converse with and/or meet you on the road!

Dan & Toni

[TURBS]

I have no REAL ADVICE but check you tube for install videos.

By the way do you have anything else to give away?!?!?!?!

Welcome to the forums!

[MilCop4523]

Originally Posted by f1100turbo

By the way do you have anything else to give away?!?!?!?!

Diddo on that... other than advice on how you got your children to take your stuff. We still have all our kids stuff in our house - 2 spare rooms full and all 3 are home owners or renters of their own.

They only come to visit when they need something fixed or to use my tools etc.

ut WRT the application. if you are a full time enjoyer - I'd get it installed by a dealer who will warranty their work if something goes wrong.
We ordered a Sat dish and tripod with receiver set up from Shaw direct in March. The instructions were like the Swedish company who makes chairs and tables - no use at all.
Now almost 2 months later they have failed to send me the correct dish and mounting bracket, not once but twice. Now I have 3 of the darn things and no Sat. TV has been watched.

[danno2u]

Originally Posted by f1100turbo

I have no REAL ADVICE but check you tube for install videos.

By the way do you have anything else to give away?!?!?!?!

Only thing I'm giving away now is good will & smiles! Did the garage sale thing for 6 hours before I carted off the rest to Goodwill. I still have a single storage shed of things we couldn't part with but we'll reconsider that too after a year or so when we can't even remember what's in there!

[danno2u]

Originally Posted by MilCop4523

Diddo on that... other than advice on how you got your children to take your stuff. We still have all our kids stuff in our house - 2 spare rooms full and all 3 are home owners or renters of their own.

They only come to visit when they need something fixed or to use my tools etc.

I feel your pain! My youngest is 25 and still unemployed post-college. I notice your moniker is Mil Cop -- did 30 myself in the USAF. Just retired a little over a year ago. I figured I could pack a lunch and go to the cemetary to wait or do something fun for the next 30 years. The RV life is where we hope our fun meter will peg.

Thanks for advice on the satellite. I'm leaning towards dealer installation and have asked them what they will charge to install. But I just found out the RV is "delayed" in Indiana by Forest River who is apparently doing a QC on the rig before shipping!

[danno2u]

Just an update. I talked to the dealer today and he didn't leave me with a good warm fuzzy about installing the Trav'ler. He said they could do it but it would take some time and cost me around $200 for install. So I am back to planning a self-install. I'll update the thread with how it went in case others following my path.
Cheers!
Danno

[danno2u]

Followup. I installed the Trav'ler SK-1000 with no real issues. It was a little tough getting the 50+ pound antenna up the ladder to the RV roof so I tied a strap to it and hoisted it from the roof. It was spooky screwing things into the roof of my brand new XLR but otherwise uneventful. I sealed it as per the directions with dicor self-leveling Lap Sealant (#501 LSW). Then I ran 2 coax cables and the Dish controller cable through a 3/4 inch soft PVC conduit to the entry location. I chose to drill upwards from inside the TV built-in cabinet to hide the hole/cables. Then I fed the cables and controller into the RV and sealed all screw holes & conduit with the sealant. Dish booted up just as expected. Considering the $200-$250 that dealers charge, my 3 hours was well spent ... and I went slow and carefully.

If you're considering doing a self-install and you're reasonably handy, I say go for it!

Danno

[danno2u]

I was reading a "should I buy" question in another thread and someone said that folks only post negative stuff about their RVs. I agree and wanted to counter that with positive info about our RV in my own thread.

Almost 3 months down the road in our 2013 XLR 35x12 and we LOVE this RV! We've put about 3,500 miles on it so far. This was the perfect choice for my wife & I. We've only had one major roadbump when we lost DC due to the factory routing wiring poorly against the frame, causing a short (fixed at a dealer).

You have to be very proactive in researching your RV and learning how the thing operates! I consider myself pretty handy at fixing things, but RV systems bear only a slight resemblance to typical home systems. You have to search for current information online if/when something goes awry. The info I got at the dealer was grossly insufficient. The FR owner's manual is vague at best. This forum is a great source of information among others. If you were born with 2 left thumbs and can't fix minor things yourself, I'd advise against buying an RV of any type.

But to the basic question ... The XLR 35x12 is a great RV. I'm disappointed in FR for absurdly inadequate documentation, but the trailer is great!

And I STILL learn something every day. Today I learned that my hot water heater can run on both electric and propane. We've just been using propane and had no idea that it could run on electric and/or propane. Go figure!

[crasher]

Did you use the reinforcing plate for the Travl'r that is described in the instructions?

[danno2u]

Originally Posted by wincrasher

Did you use the reinforcing plate for the Travl'r that is described in the instructions?

I did use the small landing plate but I did NOT use the reinforcing plate for the main device. The XLR has a full walk-on roof and after researching, I didn't see a need for that large reinforcing plate. I just climbed on the roof yesterday (conincidentally) and everything is still secure and exactly as I mounted it a couple months ago.

We LOVE our Trav'ler! We've had 2-3 campgrounds where trees block the signal but 90% of the time we have full coverage with all 3 satellites. Only thing we don't get is local channels (which are spot-beamed to our mailing address in Texas). But we get whatever local channels can be picked up off of our rooftop antennae and that works fine most of the time.

By the way, we bought a VIP211k and a stand-alone HDD for DVR capability. Thumbs up on that combination too. Let me know if you have questions. I did a lot of research on the DISH & receiver combos before making the plunge.

[MightyMike]

But to the basic question ... The XLR 35x12 is a great RV. I'm disappointed in FR for absurdly inadequate documentation, but the trailer is great!
[/QUOTE]

Just like to add we too love our 35x12. Had 2 great weeks in it beachfront at Myrtle Beach. Only complaint I have is the dealer we have to use is basically useless. Had the rig out there 3 times already and still no progress on getting minor stuff fixed correctly. Still waiting to find out what factory is going to do about the front bedroom slide they installed out of position. Bottom 4 screws didn't even make it into the wall and the dealer figures to cover the inside with a piece of masking tape and I'll be happy. And the Forest River XLR rep insisted I would be better off with a local dealer rather than a wholesaler!! What a load of