The Q-Ship (Grey Wolf 26dbh) has landed.

[driftinby]

We had a good first outing last weekend in Breckenridge at Tiger Run RV Resort. It was our first time a an "RV Resort" and private campground but all went well and smooth as far as the campground is concerned.

Check in-


Our Site-


As you can see in the hitched picture above I think I solved the squat problem. I really wrenched down on the Andersen hitch tension screws, for lack of a better term. It road\drove well on the ~110 mile trek up I-70 hitting a max elevation of 11,158' above sea level. The F150 Ecoboost managed the load and kept to freeway speeds nicely yet, it was very thirsty in doing so.



However, we are going to have some significant warranty work done. We opened up the camper to find more sawdust and debris. The culprit? The speakers are falling from the roof!



Connections made and this mess cleaned up, we headed into town for dinner only to come back and find the faucet leaking and flooding the camper-



And that "solid surface" counter top that won't swell isn't all that... more like paper covered MDF that is swelling and puffed all over now due to that damn leaking faucet-



It's hard to tell in that picture but you can see the right side of the counter is now higher due to swelling, than the sink cover.

The water that leaked fell to the floor and we noticed the base of the cabinet, also made of MDF has swollen too causing the under sink cabinet door from closing. We have an appointment tomorrow morning to get the warranty work started on these repairs in addition to a few others.

Anyway, we did wake Saturday morning to 18-degree temperatures and the city water hose frozen solid but no other signs of anything frozen, yet. Frozen water on the exterior and frozen condensation on the inside of the windows.



We managed however to stay comfy and warm with the furnace only kicking on a few times set at 60F in conjunction with our space heater and it felt too warm while sleeping. What a difference over our drafty popup where the furnace would run almost constantly.

New Aeropress coffee maker and Camp Casual dishes made it feel just like home.



When it was time to pack up and head home after our short 2-night trip, I found our black tank frozen and unable to dump. With the temps hovering around 34F at 11 AM, our only option was to head to lower and warmer ground but not before going up and over the Continental Divide on Loveland Pass at nearly 12,000' (11,991') instead of cheating and going through the Eisenhower tunnel.



Once back in Denver, we used the My Pilot app to locate the nearest Pilot truck stop with RV dump station. By this time, things had defrosted and we were able to dump but not before paying $10 for the pleasure.

All in all, a good trip. We're obviously bummed about the water damage and falling speakers and feel like it's going to be a fight to get repaired under warranty. Also I could have done better to prevent the black tank from freezing but it was only a minor inconvenience.

[jbert84]

Completed our first trip also. What a great time. Going back this weekend. Driftinby sorry to hear about your issues. very frustrating for sure. we had no such issues. only a concern. did your water get very hot? we had what i would call warm water for dishes and showers. while taking a shower would put it on straight hot and was like i said just warm. our trip was 250 one way. trailer pulled great. about 10mpg going 65mph. coming home was better a little over 12 but had a nice 20mph wind pushing me most of the way. trailer wagged a little when that wind was directly on the side but never felt unsafe. making some up grades before going this week. have new speakers for inside, and an oxygenics shower head.

[driftinby]

Originally Posted by jbert84

did your water get very hot?

Yes, and perhaps ours felt a bit too hot but I wonder if that was because we were at 9000'. I enjoyed a nice long shower both nights to the point of running out of hot water but it was a luxury I didn't enjoy as much in our pup's tiny wet bath.

Did you have shore power? We had ours running on both electric and propane. I did read that there is a thermal cutoff at 180f with a manual reset. I wonder if your's got too hot or if you were just on propane if it doesn't get very hot but I would think the propane heater would heat very efficiently. Another idea is if the propane was was working correctly... in other words, lighting and burning at the correct temperature without any obstruction? Unfortunately, they don't have any manual thermostat adjustment.

Sounds like you had a perfect trip! To be fair since we do most of the climbing going west and benefit from some coasting coming back home east, our round trip average MPG was 9.9 MPG. Similar to yours but we ran into some nasty cross winds on the way back which made things interesting but never felt out of control or dangerous.

Good luck on your speaker install and shower head. I've got both the same planned in the near future.

[jbert84]

we were at a koa with full hookups. and i had both the electric and propane on for the hot water. checked the reset a few times also. disappointed that it cant be turned up. my old camper the water was hot enough. have tested both the electric and propane last night and both are working so i guess will see how trip 2 goes this weekend. i was just wanting to see how your hot water was since we are both working out the kinks in our new campers. . i have spent some time in the area you were this last weekend. (vail many many times for dr stuff with our son) beautiful country. and you for sure were pulling up some steep grades. sounds like your ford did great and a 9.9 average i would take for sure.

[driftinby]

Might be worth having checked out if it's still not good after trip 2. I'm happy with the F150- capable yet civilized... that is until I ruin the ride with a set of load range C or D Tires. I'm sure the 26dbh is no sweat for that big bow tie you have? Thanks, we sure do like it here in Colorado and that means a lot having lived in California, Arkansas, Ohio and Texas. Wish I could say the same for Montana... I've heard nothing but good about it but it is one of the few states in the Union I've not been to yet but we do plan to hit up Glacier NP in the near future.

I took the camper back to the dealer this morning and I couldn't' have picked a worse day, weather-wise-


Knowing it was going to be a long slow drive, I needed to fuel up with a breakfast burrito. This now makes just about every adverse driving condition I could expect to drive in. Not sure what I'll do when I hit the open flat road on a on a bright sunny day with no wind!

Like I mentioned before, I was ready for a fight but the service manager I talked to and pointed out all our concerns to seemed very receptive to everything and never once acted like any item wouldn't be taken care of. We even got into a discussion about replacing the faucet now only to have to replace it again when the counter top comes in. I told him not to bother with replacing it now and it would only be a waste of time. And there was no question about the speaker with the rear one now resting on the slide.

[ridersfan]

I have the same trailer in a 2013... my piece of advice is to add some extra plywood to the top bunk right away... mine broke through and I understand they're all weak unless of course they've changed that for 2015

[jwhite1301]

We just returned from our first trip this weekend. We had only warm water as well.... After some research, there are three ball valves on the back of the water heater (under the bed). Make sure the hot and cold are turned ON and the middle pipe (between the hot and cold) is turned off. That is the bypass for winterizing. When I shut that off, we had very hot water.

No issues on our first trip.... And we had big thunderstorms last night. I will be adding a topen to the slide, as it was a mess without one.

[jbert84]

jwhite1301
i was able to figure that out also on this trip. had the bypass valve on. turned it off and had plenty of hot water. 2 trip two nights complete. really enjoy or grey wolf. next trip???? very soon i hope.

[jwhite1301]

Our next trip is in two weekends. We had zero issues with ours the first trip. Very impressed. But after seeing some of the pics, I am going to do a little more investigating.

For what it's worth - we are a family of 7, with 5 kids ranging 10-2. We all fit and had plenty of space actually. Really looking forward to our 5 day trip for memorial weekend.

[depo]

Just replaced the kitchen faucet due to a leak in the faucet. I am replacing all of the faucets with residential style that are made of metal and not from China Plastic. I will warn you it is a knuckle buster to get at the faucet hook ups and finally resorted to using a set of vise grips. If you have a basin wrench that should help.

[ND_RV]

Anybody have any tips for leveling the RV? My finace and I are out on our first trip, first time camper owners. Everything has gone fairly smooth, but unfortunately we're on an unlevel lot, and besides a handful of 2x6's, I'm rather unequipped to properly level it. We finally got it level front to back, but it definitely leans to the one side. I found out the hard way why you're not supposed to use the stabilizers to help level, as none of the doors would close.

Remedied that issue, but we're back to leaning again, also alot of noticeable movement on the trailer when the other person is moving around inside.

Any tips or suggestions are very much appreciated. Total novice at this point.

Thanks.

[Grey9712]

OP, we had the exact same faucet in our kitchen and had to replace it yesterday due to leaking from the handle. Thankfully I noticed it when I turned on the water yesterday before it had the chance to ruin my outdoor fridge directly underneath. Replaced with a residential faucet from Lowe's for about $70.


Sent from my iPhone using Forest River Forums

[bigrigfixer]

What's this hot water plug you're talking about in the street side wardrobe? Mine doesn't have one.

Joe
06 Expedition
15 Grey Wolf 26dbh

[driftinby]

Been out of pocket for a bit. With a trip to Disney World via Animal Kingdom Lodge instead of Ft. Wilderness Campground (maybe someday) obviously my attention was on that. Added to the fact that I scheduled to drop off our Grey Wolf at the dealer to get parts ordered on 4/16 but didn't get it back until Friday before last, 5/8. Literally, it took them 3 weeks just to get someone to look at the things we needed fixed and a full week of calls getting them to do it. They managed to fix the speakers and replace the leaking faucet.

I recently discovered that our HOA has a dumb rule- We can only keep an extra vehicle parked in our driveway over night but can leave it on the street for 3 nights. I was thrilled that it fit in our driveway so not the disrupt traffic on the street. So in the meantime, it's been parked in our storage facility. We pay $85/ per month for a 30" back in slot with electricity about 10 minutes from our house. Not ideal especially considering if I drive 2 minutes east of our house there is literally nothing except Kansas. I posted an ad on Craigslist asking for people with land to reply if they wouldn't mind renting out a bit of land to store our camper on. One really nice couple responded but were asking for $85/month, no electricity, no dump station and 24-hour notice for access. Then another guy on the opposite side of town replied with a concrete floor barn but was charging by the square foot to total nearly $200/month. I'm still on the hunt for something less typical but in the meantime this will have to do-


I did finally get so time to work on some mods. The first... last weekend we got a surprise 10" dump of snow and temps the just broke freezing. I didn't turn on the tank heater and sure enough, the water wouldn't flow from the fresh water tank. I later discovered that not only a section of water line between the tank and where it goes into the camper to the pump is exposed alongside the fresh water fill but they cut a big 6"x"6 hole under the tank exposing the tank drain tee'd off with the supply line. This tee is where I found a bolt of frozen water. So I got some coraplast (corrugated plastic- think cardboard made of plastic like a Yard Sale sign) and a can of Big Gap Filler Great Stuff (expanding foam) and went to town. Sorry no pictures but I think it'll do the job.

Next some hook to hang stuff. Specifically in the bathroom. This would be my first venture into putting holes where someone might see 'em. Picked up these studs from Ikea for $3.99/pair and some new Ikea towels too go along with their European loops to hang by. Very easy to install.

Above the toilet for body towels-


Next to the medicine cabinet for hand towels, two of them-


Also got this over the door hook that matches that provides a lot of flexibility to hang either way to place whatever we need on it or simply take it off when not in use. I think this one was about $12-



We also picked up a toilet paper holder from Ikea. I think it was about $6 and if you're keeping track all this alone was less than 1 toilet paper holder from Home Depot or Lowes. We contemplated it's placement for quite awhile. A place easily reached when perched on the throne but would't get wet from the shower or sink. For awhile we considered inside the cabinet, under the sink but hated the thought of it taking up space so we settled on the wall between the cabinet and door opposite of the hand towels-

[driftinby]

Now with all this fussy stuff done, I got some work done outside. First, I hated the thought of my batteries sitting unsecured at the storage facility or some campground. So I set out looking of things to secure the plastic boxes. I found some viable solutions ranging from making some bands out of steel stock to purchasing rv-specific battery storage boxes made out of diamond plate. These rv-specific boxes came with an appropriate rv-specific price tag often reaching upwards of $300-$400 and most designed to carry just one battery. So I put the Google machine to work and found the following solution at Lowes for just $169.



I did have to move the LP bottle mount forward (away from the coach) about 1 inch which was easy with the self tapping screws and I simply anchored the Kobalt box with self tapping screws in similar fashion. The design of this box as a bed side tool box for a pickup truck really lends itself nicely to be used in this application allowing space for most WD hitch applications.

At just 48" wide, it is almost double the size needed for one group 24 battery and one group 27 and after some grinder action on the old boxes to remove the handles and lid fasteners, they both fit like a glove secured in place each with a single self tapping screw through the bottom of the toolbox.-



Batteries installed-


I know, I know, I'm not supposed to mix group sizes, brands or age of batteries but the larger group 27 energizer off my popup was only 6 months old so I'm gonna give it a whirl. I imagine in another year I will have upgraded to lithium! It doesn't hurt to dream does it?

As luck would have it, my positioning of the batteries would result in the support arm coming in contact the the negative terminal post. Luckily it was the positive side but nothing the ole grinder couldn't fix-


I'm a big fan of Yakima products and had a number of bits laying around so I retrofitted some raingutter roof mounts, and cut in half 54" cross bar and some bike trays to the rear cargo rack. I will need to get some better pictures especially in use but this is all I had of the install-







Without getting too crazy, I just wanted to see how this works. With the 3 bike trays installed here, I just need to figure out how to add 5 more to match what our popup was capable of. What I like about this is that a large majority of the cargo rack is available for fire wood, a cooler or whatever on the street side.

That is about it for now. Up next are some LED's bulbs and matching lock cores all around. Oh and some Andersen Levelers- those look amazing!

Got a short 3 night trip planned in Frisco on Dillon Reservoir this weekend in the mountains for some snowboarding and sunbathing which brings our total to 5 nights so far this year... actually 5 nights in 7 week and 8 of those nights were at Disney Wold as mentioned earlier. Can't wait and if I think about it, I'll get a picture of the LED TV on the mantel that seems to be a popular topic in other threads of more of the bike rack.

[Timna]

Thanks for the mod ideas. Our first trip was this last weekend, I did notice a lot of little things that I need to contact the dealer for. Lights falling off ceiling, toilet won't hold water, some electrical outlets not working., kitchen faucet leaking. I will have to look at the hot water heater ours was warm so thanks for that info. When we dumped the tanks the first time we got tons of metal shavings which looked like pop rivets so it seems that they don't clean them very well while building.

I am planning on installing solar panel in 2wks ordered a renology 100w kit just waiting for it to get here. I will probably up it to 200 overall in the near future.

I tow it with a 2014 Silverado 1500 went through some very steep grades and overall I got 12.5mpg in a 150mile trip so that was pleasing. I am adding Firestone air bags to this week which I read will help a lot by stiffing the rear of the truck.

Thanks again and hopefully you don't mind if I steal some of your ideas.

[driftinby]

Originally Posted by Timna

Thanks for the mod ideas. Our first trip was this last weekend, I did notice a lot of little things that I need to contact the dealer for. Lights falling off ceiling, toilet won't hold water, some electrical outlets not working., kitchen faucet leaking. I will have to look at the hot water heater ours was warm so thanks for that info. When we dumped the tanks the first time we got tons of metal shavings which looked like pop rivets so it seems that they don't clean them very well while building.

I am planning on installing solar panel in 2wks ordered a renology 100w kit just waiting for it to get here. I will probably up it to 200 overall in the near future.

I tow it with a 2014 Silverado 1500 went through some very steep grades and overall I got 12.5mpg in a 150mile trip so that was pleasing. I am adding Firestone air bags to this week which I read will help a lot by stiffing the rear of the truck.

Thanks again and hopefully you don't mind if I steal some of your ideas.

Omph, lights falling and toilet not holding water? Is the valve on the toilet closing all the way? Is there an adjustment on the foot controlled valve? On ours, there is a very fine point to allowing the water to run to seal the valve and it opening letting water out. I've wondered if there isn't some sort of adjustment to it? Hopefully you can get it sorted out easily at the dealer. No problem borrowing ideas... that is what this is all about and I'm sure to be stealing yours on the solar panel install. Take good notes and post lots of pictures!

Sounds like your Silverado is doing a nice job. We hit grades as much as 6% headed up I-70 and do nearly 11k feet of climbing but I think the bigger problem for me is trying to not let anyone pass. If I could take it easy and stay at 55 MPH, I'm sure things would improve but we drive this almost weekly in the winter to go snowboarding and it's difficult to not keeps pace with traffic which is either 80 MPH or 0. Around town, I get between 12 and 13 mpg dragging the camper around but can still gain or loose ~1200' just crossing town.

[Timna]

Yeah the valve is closing. Looked for an adjustment but didn't see any it is a dometic 300 I had the manual in the trailer and followed the procedure to get it to hold, push deal down, pour hot water in but nothing. I called the dealer today he said bring it by and they would take care of it asap. The lights falling out was weird we got to the campsite and lights dangling.. They were put in with just screws but they were not in a stud so just fell through. I had some anchors so just used those. I am stuck doing 55 here max although I do push it to 60 whoa I know! Haha. I have a commercial license and tickets are not good for me, for work or the extra point. I am use to everyone flying by.

All the solar came today but with long weekend and a trip planned this weekend i may have to wait till next anyways. I will keep a good record on the install hopefully no issues arise.

[driftinby]

I've lived in 5 different states and I've never seen as little speed control/monitoring as I see here but the speed limit for the most part up I-70 is 70 then in rural areas on both I-70 and I-25 it gets up to 80! Not only do you keep you commercial license in good standing but also save a good bit at the pump.

Are you planning to install the solar panels on the roof? Are you concerned about voiding the warranty? Also were you "pre-wired" for solar with the Zamp plug on the side? Do you or anyone else know what is involved with that? Is there a charge controller? You got me looking at solar and was wondering what we got with this per-wired solar socket.

[Timna]

The ideal install would be permanent but I did ask the dealer about roof mounting and they told me warranty will be voided and since we purchased the extended I don't want that. I am going to make it portable but mount the controller and all wiring so all I have to do is set up the panel and plug in.

I was debating on just setting it on the roof and holding it down with Velcro or something similar when we arrive and let it work then just take it down when we break camp. I am unsure as to how much of a theft chance that is. It would be on the roof and hopefully out of sight enough to not be stolen.

2nd option is to just keep it mobile and make a stand for it like the zamp kit and use it when we are at camp.

3rd I was thinking of making a mount so it can attach to my truck when I am at camp.

The issues with all are theft. Then issues with 2,3 are lack of continuous charging.

I also read about roof mounting with a really sticky double sided tape but I fear the worst.

As of now I am leaning towards the first choice and if it's out of sigh then hopefully it wont be stolen.

As far as the controller I got the renology 100w kit but with the upgraded mppt controller. The base kit is $184 with the pwm controller and the upgraded was $319.

I am prewired for zamp and I was going to just purchase a zamp kit but for what you get it seems that the only thing you get over the cheaper kits is better portability but for double the cost and have the same issues of potential theft.

As far as the zamp plug from what I understand is its just a quick wired port to the electrical system and the zamp solar kit has the controller on it.

What do you think would be the best besides permanent mounting? I am paranoid about theft as you can tell but I don't want to take a chance