Prime Time Takes Out Demo

[RV Guy]

As many of you know, I had the opportunity to take a 318 fresh off the assembly line out for a demo last weekend with my wife, daughter, and one of her friends. We had a great time and I continued to add to my personal experience regarding how our customers use our products.

We went to a campground about 100 miles away just east of Grand Rapids, Michigan called Double R Ranch Resort. We chose this campground because it had some activities - mainly horseback riding and canoeing - that you can't find at a lot of places.

Here's a few pics and some commentary:


Cool canoe trip on Sunday. Just fast enough that I didn't have to work too hard but not too fast for the ladies.


Here's a pic as we are setting up - actually almost done. A rather large tree can't be seen directly behind the LaCrosse that made everything a little more difficult than I would have liked.


Oven worked well when we cooked cinnamon rolls. The girls said they were "perfect". The large 87" U-Dinette clearly is a good idea.


The 318 works really well with two 6' folding tables placed between the steps. We used this area a lot!


Not everything was rosy - I don't like that my Ipod didn't have a home and just hung around all weekend.

[RV Guy]

DISCLAIMER TIME - This SUV is rated to tow 8500 pounds which is more than the 318 weighed with gear. I would not tow a unit this size with this tow vehicle. However, we keep hearing how well the LaCrosse tows with some of our design features, so I wanted to push it a little to see how it towed. All I can say is that with equalizers and keeping at the speed limit, it towed fine. I was pleasantly surprised. My wife rarely looked "scared"


The trail ride was highlighted by two trips across the river. It was really hot so I think us and the horses enjoyed this part!


Ice Cream at the club house was a welcome break after the ride.


This photo is of a relatively new feature we've added where you can store your sink cover. Ironically, my wife doesn't like the sink cover feature because she uses the sink all the time. It was stored there the entire weekend.

[grhodes50]

Great pictures! Looks like everyone is having a good time!

I think it's great that you guys are taking the tt's out yourselves. That's about the only way you'll be able to experience what we (customers) do.
Hopefully you'll keep that 318bhs around for others to take out and see how it holds up.
Then you can get together to discuss what worked, what didn't work; what you liked, what you didn't like, etc.....

Thanks for sharing the pics.

[RV Guy]

It's always interesting to read the various posts and opinions on the outside kitchen. For us, it was invaluable.


A prized catch while taking a break during the canoe trip. No, it didn't come home with us.

All in all, a great trip with the family. As a bonus, it inspired lots of dialogue back at the office this week.

I will share with you one mishap that I continue to think about. Twice during the trip, the weight of the water hose "stripped" the connection out at the city water fill. Basically, it pulled out and skipped a thread at the top and quite a leak sprung both times. Thankfully, the plastic Universal Docking Center contained the water and funneled it onto the ground, but still a pain. So, I found myself creating a make-shift stand to rest the hose on inside the UDC to take off some of the downward pressure on the connection. All of our people understood the issue when I described it to them but they all sort of gave the standard manufacturer answer, "I've never heard that one before"!

So, does this happen often? Did I just have a bum city water connection? Your input is appreciated.

Gary, the RV is booked the rest of the year. We've got sales, engineers, warranty, and production managers taking it out. I want them to really understand what it's like, what we are doing well, and what we need to improve on.

[grhodes50]

I've never heard of that one before!

Seriously, I haven't had that problem with mine. I have thought about using an elbow, but maybe I should think about adding some type of hose support instead. If I come up with an easy fix that works I'll let you know.

[tbritt]

I hold mine up with bungy cords all the way from the UDC to the CG water under the trailer, keeps it off the ground and in the shade of the trailer. Sometimes the cold water is hotter than the hot in this Texas sun. Good that your taking test runs in your units. We all learn by doing

[kbrown1075]

I use a 90 deg elbow made by Camco on my city water hose. I use a 45 deg attachment on the blackwater flush connection, I am always nearby when flushing. The 45 deg attachment was available at Wal- Mart. Don't use the hardware/ dept store garden hose versions on the citywater connection. After a couple uses, you can see the oxidation of the metal used. If you drink the water you may ingest it. Otherwise you may clog your airators and/ or shower head.

[DAISY BOYKIN]

I have found the stamped fittings on the end of the "WHITE POTABLE WATER HOSE" to be undersized for the plastic fittings in the side connections of the RV's. Not sure, but it may be a combination of both the hose fitting (male) is too small and the RV (female) is too large. I replaced the fitting in the side of my 8285WS with a brass thread fitting.
Cut the fitting off the hose, replaced it with a MACHINED thread fitting and stainless hose clamp. No more hose connection problem !!!

[Luvtocamp]

Originally Posted by RV Guy

Attachment 7183
It's always interesting to read the various posts and opinions on the outside kitchen. For us, it was invaluable.

Attachment 7184
A prized catch while taking a break during the canoe trip. No, it didn't come home with us.

All in all, a great trip with the family. As a bonus, it inspired lots of dialogue back at the office this week.

I will share with you one mishap that I continue to think about. Twice during the trip, the weight of the water hose "stripped" the connection out at the city water fill. Basically, it pulled out and skipped a thread at the top and quite a leak sprung both times. Thankfully, the plastic Universal Docking Center contained the water and funneled it onto the ground, but still a pain. So, I found myself creating a make-shift stand to rest the hose on inside the UDC to take off some of the downward pressure on the connection. All of our people understood the issue when I described it to them but they all sort of gave the standard manufacturer answer, "I've never heard that one before"!

So, does this happen often? Did I just have a bum city water connection? Your input is appreciated.

Gary, the RV is booked the rest of the year. We've got sales, engineers, warranty, and production managers taking it out. I want them to really understand what it's like, what we are doing well, and what we need to improve on.

This happened to us while we were out taking a walk. Came back to a couple staring at the camper - I thought they were just looking and admiring it until we noticed the water gushing and running out of both sides. As you can imagine panic set in until we figured out the problem. We had to remove everything from the storage and under the bed to dry out. Luckily we had fans to circulate the air. Used zip ties to relieve the pressure on the hose and fittings. Not they way we wanted to start the trip, (especially doing towel laundry the first day - ugh!) I have found every trip has its challenges - adapt, gain experience and get ready for the next trip. Maybe use metal fittings or deeper threads???

Oh and the new counter top holder? looks similar to what you use on a bass boat to hold your poles down - same thing?

[mhuffs9017]

Sink covers, I don't get them either? We stored ours just behind the stove and didn't realize the perfect slot they could slip into right behind the oven. Not that they were hard to retrieve but that slot ate up both of our covers in the first few hours. Great pics, I'm towing similar to you and just last night added the airlift 1000 kit and what a difference it made. We're off again tonight for another weekend in our 3150! Can't wait!

[Oakman]

I too use a 90 degree elbow to prevent leaking at the city water connection. I also use a seperate 90 degree elbow for the black tank flusher.

[padave65]

Thanks for sharing your picts and experiences....Why are you using a Weber and not the bumper mounted grill? Did you notice that it would be nice to have a goose neck faucet or an adjustable nozzle on the outside kitchen sink? I noticed that you went back to the crank up antenna?

[RV Guy]

Great ideas and suggestions - it sounds like my "mishap" might not be an isolated issue. We are reviewing several of the suggestions.

PADAVE - no real reason other than I've had that Weber for a long time and really like it. It is quite a bit bigger than the bumper mount, too. I figured I had to carry one of the other so I left the bumper mount at home. Believe it or not, the water in the outdoor kitchen sink was not turned on one time so the faucet was not an issue for us. Yes, we switched back to the crank-up recently.

[HondoPatrick]

RV Guy,

Great pics and thanks for sharing the whole experience with us. It's pretty cool that your crew will be using the TT to gain "user" experience.

As far as the water connection, I have always used the Camco 90 adaptor and have never had any issues.

[DF5.4]

I use a 45 degree adapter on our Tracer. That holds the hose away from the handles and through the opening in the docking station.

[M109Rrider]

Use a 90 also. Only problem is outside shower valves are right under the city water connection and the hose gets in the way.

[DF5.4]

Here is our docking station with the 45 degree elbow. It moves the hose out enough that it is out of the way of the handles.

[Jeannie]

So thankful to see this post! We are (if I can talk hubby into it) about to trade up for the 318 BHS. I can't get all that extra storage space out of my mind compared to our KZ Jag we have now, not to mention the sheer luxuriousness of the interior, comparatively speaking. Our camper stays at the deer lease 6 months out of the year and I think the setup with this model is perfect.

[grhodes50]

Originally Posted by Jeannie

So thankful to see this post! We are (if I can talk hubby into it) about to trade up for the 318 BHS. I can't get all that extra storage space out of my mind compared to our KZ Jag we have now, not to mention the sheer luxuriousness of the interior, comparatively speaking. Our camper stays at the deer lease 6 months out of the year and I think the setup with this model is perfect.

Talk the Hubby into it!!!!

How hard can that be????

We really like our Prime Time trailer. Read through some of the post and you'll see that while we do have some of the same problems people have on other trailers, the big difference is PT's excellent customer service. They get things fixed correctly and fast. Overall customer satisfaction seems to be very good.

Good luck to you and I hope things work out. The 318BHS is a very popular floorplan.

[RV Guy]

Follow-Up: Over the last 4 weeks the 318 has been busy with our Engineers and office people. Our VP of Sales is going this weekend with his family. Each time we learn more about how to build a better RV.

Thanks, everyone, for your input and have a great holiday weekend.

PTM