23dbh First Impressions

[depo]

We picked up the 2015 23dbh yesterday and gave it its first night of camping

First and foremost, we picked it up and it was snowing with 4 inches on the ground already, so that made things interesting.

Tow Vehicle: 2011 Nissan Titan, Non Big Tow, 2:94 Rear End

Nissan was awesome and no issues, pulls with little effort. I will comment that it is rated for 900 lbs tongue weight, I am not sure I would ever put that on the end of that truck. We had 640lbs and it dropped the truck quite a bit. We use the E2 with 800b bars. Once we put the WDH set up on the truck was level, the electric jack on the hitch makes quick work of it. Suggestion plug your 7 way in to the truck and run the truck. It supplies the amperage and will not drain the battery on the trailer. I will probably move the hitch up one set of bolt holes based upon the recommended measurements from E2 I need a little more height on the hitch.

I mentioned the 2:94 Rear End above, because it is not the best Rear End for the job. The 2:94 wants the engine to run at very low RPM, which unloaded is awesome, we go down the highway unloaded 75mph at 1300 RPM. Even setting the truck in tow mode and taking overdrive out of the picture, it wants to sit in fourth gear at too low of an RPM. So throttle management is a little more labor intensive than I would like. But it tows it like its not even back there for being near 6000lbs.

You know it is an entry level trailer. My Rockwood Roo had better framing using mostly aluminum square tubing, instead of dimensional lumber. I am going to beef up the supports that come down to flooring for the front bed and the rear bunk. Fit and Finish is pretty good. They overall could do a better job of cleaning the hole filling for the nail/staple holes on the trim. They are well filled and look good, but the smudge marks around the nail holes needed more attention.

The two zone furrion stereo system actually impressed me for being an all in one system. I did not realize it was bluetooth so that was an added bonus. I am a manual reader so I did notice it has a subwoofer out, so I will have a powered sub that I will be mounting in the storage of the front bed that will add a little more bottom end.

I am a big guy and I keep coming to the fact that the bathroom is very accommodating for a guy my size. I do not hit walls with my legs or arms while sitting on the toilet. All three beds are sized well and are comfortable. The queen is perfect for my wife and I, we will have to convince the two Boston Terriers to relocate to the lower bunk where one of our children will sleep.

The kids wanted to sleep in it so we decided to sleep in it, driveway camping. It got down to 15 degrees. Furnace did a great job keeping the camper warm, but I will let you know that it has some spots where the furnace just does not push enough air to. The lower bunk all the way to the back and surrounded by two outside walls was chilly in the corner. The queen bed is chilly all the way to the "headboard" area....

We placed 2 inch memory foam on each bed. The bunks need it, the pad is thin. The Queen is very firm. The new fridge is awesome. No temp control issues with the little slide. The truly automatic control is awesome. We love the DSI water heater that is also electric. Suggestion turn the breaker off for the water heater, if you have a brain fart and do not turn off the electric on the outside it is insurance you will not burn up the element on the water heater when it is empty.

The Bal xchocks (which you only need the standard), are awesome. With the stabilizer jacks there is almost no movement in the camper.

We mounted a 32 inch tv in our camper. The PAW mount works well, but the wall side is mounted too low for most TVs. So currently I just moved the mount on the TV using only one set of screws. But I never plan to go down the road with the TV on the wall. It will be safely secured on the queen bed.

Microwave is a nice unit. I do not like that you have to reset the "presets" for cooking items. It makes the presets not work having.

We are going camping for four days and I will provide more comments and pictures as we continue on this adventure.

[driftinby]

Nice write up and thanks for sharing. Glad to hear everything is working out so far. Another week or so until we take delivery of our 26dbh. I looks like the 23dbh is the same except for a couple feet shorter and no sofa in the slide?

Glad to hear the regular x-chocks work... I just received mine yesterday in the mail and I was worried they wouldn't be long enough. Bummer about the effectiveness of the heater without floor vents running the length of the coach. We generally sleep with the windows open year-round right down to the teens. Bluetooth on the stereo? That is awesome! I was just wondering about that the other day. I too am looking forward to the ease of use of the fridge and water heater and good tip for not burning up the water heater!

I look forward to future updates.

[ridersfan]

I have a 2013 26dbh... the 23dbh came out after I'd bought mine, otherwise, I'd have probably gone for it... the little sofa thing is fairly useless afterall... you have a nice setup there, congrats and enjoy!

[tragusa3]

Enjoyed your first impressions. Looking forward to the 4 day trip report. I have a similar floor plan.

[depo]

Hook up of the camper before the four day trip.
I measured my adjustments, overall pretty close. I added two spacers in the angle hitch and it has me at level measurement on the front end and only 3/4 inch sag in the rear and that is with the bed loaded with goodies.

Sorry for the upside down photos...

[Thurman]

Interesting note: You stated: " Suggestion plug your 7 way in to the truck and run the truck. It supplies the amperage and will not drain the battery on the trailer." I'm thinking that you meant "voltage/power" for the electric tongue jack instead of "amperage". I'm glad your Nissan will do this. My old truck, an '07 GMC, would do this also but my newer '14 GMC will not do this. IF I hook up the 7-way plug and try to use the electric tongue jack this will blow a 30 amp fuse dedicated to the "power" lead at the 7-way plug--every time. When this first happend I went back to the dealer to get a new fuse and was told that there was an estimated 4 month waiting period for these fuses. When I questioned about this I was told that there was a problem with "something" blowing these fuse on way too many of the '14 GMC/Chevy trucks. Well DUH, maybe I have an answer to this. I told the service manager about trying to use this power lead for my tongue jack and he thought this was interesting. I offered to bring the TT to the truck dealer for an experiment IF they could get a new fuse. I did take the unit to the dealer and the pulled a fuse from a new truck to try this. They put the fuse in, I had the 7-way hooked up, we disconnected the TT battery for this, and when I hit the button on the tongue jack--BAM, a 30 amp fuse blown. From what the dealer's parts department found out there is not a fuse rated higher than 30 amp that fits into this fuse spot. I reconnected the TT battery and the tongue jack worked just fine. I did get a call about three weeks later that the dealer had the new fuses in and they were offering me two fuses, one to replace my blown fuse and a spare. When I went to get the fuses I talked to the dealer's general manager about this and he told me that GM is working on this as it is a very common problem with the new '14/'15 trucks and big SUV's. I cannot find any info on the 'net as to the amperage draw of this Husky branded tongue jack. I don't think there is anything wrong with my jack as it works well with the TT battery and when plugged in to shore power.

[Wise Monkey]

I too enjoyed this writeup. I just picked mine up last week and I agree with many of your points. We were very close to going with the 26 but decided the 23 would be best for us - which it is.

Some of my own observations are...

Trailering: You definitely know it is there. I see folks posting all the time that the 23 and 26 DBHs tow like a charm, and I guess it is a subjective thing depending on many things.

For me, I have a 2005 Ford F-150 5.4L with 3.73 rear end. A great setup by any measure to tow this trailer.

When I'm not trailering, I drive about 70-75 mph and my tach will read somewhere just around 2k.

When I tow my 23 DBH dry, I have to keep it around 60-65 otherwise my tach will peg around 3k and spurt around 4k at times. Mind you, I was in the mountains of Vermont but as I got closer to home in Massachusetts, things balanced out better.

I did the walk through but when I got home, my wife noticed that there are no shades/blinds for the window at the top bunk. Any suggestions on a low-profile solution for that? Also, what is the weight capacity for the top bunk?

There was also no toilet paper holder mounted anywhere. I thought I might find a lose one that we had to install ourselves but no luck. Interesting too that there is no lock for the interior bathroom door.

We ran the AC. It seemed to put out pretty well (standard, not upgraded). I never had an AC on the top of the camper. Water started dripping out of the gutter spout near the awning. Is that normal? It all stayed outside of the camper but I would have thought there would be a drip hose that ran under the camper somewhere.

I don't mean to come off negative. I am very excited about taking our first trip this weekend. Just thought I would pass along some of my observations where I took for granted some things that I thought would be there but weren't.

[doc73]

Ours did not come with a TP holder, neither did our Rockwood... I had found a cheap plastic on in a compartment but a trip to Lowes and that was done. I have not seen locks on bathroom doors in any of the trails I have been in... Guess privacy takes a back seat. I guess a knob could be bought from Lowes to fix this. The A/C leaking is also normal.

[cdangel0]

On my 27dbh there are no blinds on the window for the top bunk either.
No toilet paper holder installed.

I don't think they come with these items.

I BELIEVE the weight capacity for the top bunk is 250# but don't quote me.

The water dripping from the gutter is normal with AC operation, I've had 3 campers with AC on the roof and none have had a condensation line. They all just drip on tot he roof and gravity takes over from there.

[doc73]

Sorry, no blinds on the top bunk either. I tinted it with 5% limo tint and put the litter box in front of it to block the view. I am sure CW would sell a long short blind but I would probably just source something local.

[Thurman]

"Wise Monkey", and others: My 2015 310BHDS did come with blinds over the window for the top bunk, they are the horizontal pleated shades. Does yours have blinds or these type shades? NO, there was no toilet paper holder, nor a towel bar in the bath area. I just bought a nice set at a big box store and installed these where I wanted them. I also had to change the passage door handle (non-locking) on my interior bath door also, seven bucks or so. The passage sets may be due to some safety thing from FR. Granted that I have the thirty-one (31) footer and it is a big box thingy. When I am on a four-lane highway, in the right hand lane, and big trucks pass me I can feel when the front of the truck gets even with the back of my unit. My unit wants to drift into the void left by the front of the truck which in turn make the front of my truck want to go to the left. The first few time this happened it literally scared the poopy out of me. I have learned to keep a closer eye on oncoming traffic--hopefully. Does the heater have a register in the bath area? Mine does not. But then I live in the deep south where it really does not get too cold. The only two (2) times we have been out in the unit in cool weather a small electric heater worked just fine. As far as the water from the A/C unit (which IS normal) dripping from the roof--I set my unit up with a little slope back away from the front door side and a bit to the back of the unit. This allows this A/C condensate water drain to run off of the back driver's side and onto the ground in an area we don't usually walk in. It also helps to allow rain water to run off of and away from the slide opening in case it rains. I have seen too many other units where rain water came into the unit via the slide room top. I am all packed up today (Mon) for a four day trip out Thursday when the honey gets off of work at noon. Three couples, units, of us headed to Florence Marina State Park Georgia in order to do practically nothing but relax.