New to PUP Camping - Flagstaff 228D 2013

[Hapy.Trainer]

Hey Everyone! Super excited to be here with our new FR Flagstaff 22D. We brought it home Friday from the dealer and can't wait to get it out. I have been loading and preparing it and notice a few quarks about it. I am hoping that I can get some tips and tricks here.
1. The fresh water tank is bowed beneath the drain valve. This means that I will never get all the water out, leaving about 2 inches (2-3 gallons) in it all the time. Any ideas here or is this really not an issue?
2. There are no DC outlets. Anyone know of a contraption to help?
3. Last, I am wondering about external cargo holders. The dealer told me anything on the bumper would void the warranty. What about the roof mounted racks like on a car? Has anyone done this to their unit and can provide some tips and pics?

Thanks all for the help. I am glad to see there is a community dedicate to FR products. Talk to you all later.

[bikendan]

DC outlets are not a normal standard thing, in many RV's.
you'd have to install one.
many pup owners install a roof rack to theirs, for bikes.
i'd have the dealer look to install another tank and put in a support, if that's not a normal bulge. i don't see why it should be.

[Wiscampsin]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your Flagstaff 22D.

[mattgator]

Welcome!!! We have a HW29SC and I just put a whole yakima system on top (against all reviews & my wife's advice). I put 4 bars on top (I know..excessive). I purchased the 86" bars from yakima (ORS racks direct) with the #6 landing pads. All went well...so far. Gonna try them out fully loaded this weekend (2 bikes, I tandem kayak, 1 standup paddleboard). I'll take some pics this weekend.

My guess is, if you are gonna void a warrantee by putting something on the bumper, poking holes in the roof will put you in the same boat.

They do make a tongue mounted bike rack where the rear bike tire rests on the shell of the camper.

Good luck!

-m

[Terier]

Welcome to the FR family! And congrats on your new Flagstaff too.

Good luck and take care!

[backpacker3]

Congrats on the new camper. I can hear you when it comes to the water tank sagging, had the same issue. Took it to dealer, they put on a new tank and looked great until I filled it up with water, sagged big time. I called the factory and they said because of weight issues, trying to make everything lighter, the tanks are not as thick as they used to be in the wall thickness.
After looking at differant ways that I thought would help relieve the sagging, I came up with measuring a piece of exterior treated 1/2 inch plywood 2 inches wider and longer than the water tank. Used a floor jack to push the plywood up tight against the bottom of the tank to flatten out sag and used three pieces of plumbers strapping with 3/4 inch self tapping screws across the the ends and center of the tank screwed into the frame that holds the tank in place. After installing, removed jack and filled tank with water, no sagging. Drained the tank and darn near got it all out except where drain valve meets water level, tilted the camper on the drain valve side and got most all the water out. This might be worth a try, cost me less than $20.00 and about an hour of my time. You could take it to dealer and see if they would do it under warrenty. Good Luck.

[Dr Bobs Patient]

As far as the DC outlet thing goes. Look for what appears to be a 1/4" audio jack in a white cone shaped device on the ceiling, about 2-1/2" dia x 2" tall. My Flagstaff 270BH has one on the ceiling near the beds for a fan. I've also seen them in other pup manufactures units. You can also add DC jacks if there aren't any. CW sells the kind that are like cigarette lighter type. I hate them as I've always had trouble with them. You can find the 1/4" jacks at Radio Shack or at an audio repair shop. Guitar cords with two 1/4" male jacks makes for good extension cords.

[Hapy.Trainer]

Thanks everyone for your comments. It has been most helpful. I will keep the conversation alive on the water tank if I hear back from the manufacture.

[scsd251]

We are looking at a 2012 228D that the dealer wants to move...did you look at any other popups before chosing this one.

[RCD1968]

Congrats on the new purchase. I actually have a 2010 Flagstaff 228D that I am trying to sell as we just purchased a Vibe 6504. That model is really great and we loved camping in ours.

[f5moab]

I was ready to install a auto type accessory plug for DC, but never got around to it on my 228BH due to the lift mechanism's motor gear destroying itself.
I'm assuming your 228 interior is the same as mine. Under the front table seat is where the battery wires come into the fuse panel.
I will tap into those wires and feed off the 12 volt plug and install it into the side panel. This will allow me to plug in a pretty good size DC unit, and if needed, a DC to AC inverter so that I can power some AC components when the trailer is only running on battery power. (Be careful doing this since it can drain batteries pretty fast if powering a good size component...I have two 27 deep cycles on my unit).

[BigBaron]

You can install usb ports, cigarette lighter outlets, etc.
I'm putting them all in.
Got 'em on Amazon.

[Hapy.Trainer]

All the recent posts have been most helpful. I am looking into adding the extra outlets. We have had the until out twice now and love it. I have also booked our first vacation this summer to Sequoia National Park.

[BigBaron]

It is very easy to add extra outlets, etc. You just have to be careful about polarity and grounds!
Also, some are parasitic, like the USB outlets, and can drain your battery if boondocking, so you have to make them switched.

[bodzcampers]

I'm thinking....I wouldn't want perpetual water. one, stale, two, bacteria medium. Not to be a bummer....just encourage you to get that taken care of.

[Blueyes]

Welcome and enjoy your 228D! We are still learning. But have enjoyed (mostly) three short trips form our Daytona Beach base!

[steamboatscott]

Regarding cargo holders - I personally talked to the Forest River warranty department about this in fair amount of detail. Putting a receiver hitch on the back voids frame warranty and the amount of bounce on the back of a popup can be excessive and ruin your bikes when on a hitch rack, so decided against that. Drilling holes in roof will probably be ok, but then again I've known people that have them leak after some time. I decided to put my bikes on the roof of my TV. If I was going to do a roof rack, I'd do the Yakima with the landing pads, because those pads have flexible plastic surrounding the screw and hole, which should help keep water out (whereas the Pro Rac and Sport Rack systems simply screw through the rack mount and into the PUP).

I've looked at the Pro Rac system mentioned previously that mounts to the tongue of trailer. While it shouldn't void your warranty, you need to be careful about either the rear bike tires rubbing on the popup or the pedals rotating and scratching your roof. To mitigate this, you buy the weight distributing wheel/tire pads and then bungee the pedals tight. However, this all seems like a lot of work, and you must do it all to get the bikes off before setting up the PUP, whereas putting them on your TV roof allows you to forget about the bikes until needed.