The 2000 mile trek is over. We drove 14 hours the first day and spent the night in Moab, Utah. We woke up early the next day and got to Stewarts Rv in American Fork, Utah by 9 in the morning. Every one there was very friendly and met our every need.
We spent the next two hours doing a PDI, every thing seemed to be in order, the camper was very clean, I couldn't find on bit of sawdust anywhere. I did find a brake wire unhooked, the deadbolt in the door would not latch, and the outside kitchen door was a little loose when it was latched. All those problems were fixed on the spot.
I had them take the decorative pinbox cover off before we even hitched up. Thanks to forum member Ependyday, we have the same retrax pro bed cover, and his has scratched his liner under certain turning circumstances. I didn't want that to happen. We're both thinking of triglides anyway
The first night of camping was at Green River State park, Utah.
Everything worked great, pulled wonderfully, no problems. We left the next morning for South fork, Colorado, Fun Valley to be exact. When we opened the pantry we were greeted with a broken bottom pantry shelf.
I didn't think any of the roads we took were too rough, but I guess the rear kitchen bounces a little more than I thought. There was only a gallon of water in the bottom shelf, but enough to break the shelf and supports and send it all down on the heater below. 1/8 inch shelf? really guys? I'll fix that and it wont do that again. We spent a full day at fun valley and left for Cloud croft, New Mexico the next morning.
It rain pretty much the whole way there and the next three days. Happy to say we found no leaks anywhere
. The second day at Cloudcroft (dry camping) I noticed the battery indicator was working its way down. Even with the generator running (Honda eu3000), the panel was not showing the batteries charging. On the internet I go for trouble shooting on the converter. After running the test and checking the two fuses on the converter, it's completely dead. Down the mountain I go to buy a battery charger, I needed a nice one in the shop anyway.
The next five days were uneventful except a whole lot of relaxing. My daughter brought our dogs to use since we couldn't fit them with all the stuff we took. They seem to approve of the new camper.
After 6 great nights in Cloudcroft, it was time to go home. We stopped at rattlesnake park. a great little rest stop between Artisia, NM and Lovington, NM. I lowered the hitch one hole, the camper is now riding almost perfectly level.
The only other problem we had was I twice had to plunge the toilet. I'm not sure what's going on there, we never had any problems with that with our two previous 5ers. My son in law has a 4 foot crevis cam we're going to shove down the poop shoot and see what is amiss.
I talked to the manager at Stewarts RV and asked him about warranty work done to a rv bought in a different state. He just happened to know someone at the Forest River dealership here in my town, and gave them a call. He said I'm set up and will have no problem with warranty problems. I'll find out today when I call and see if I can swap the converter out.
All in all, I think we're going to love this camper. I used the outside kitchen everyday, it's not a novelty for me. The wife and I did comment after a couple of days, that we do need to take a few more precautions with the camper especially when the slides are closed. Wow, that living room slide floor is thin and unsupported. We both made the comment, this is no arctic fox, not in a negative way, but just that a little more tenderness may be in order. I did notice this, holy cargo carrying capacity batman!
My new Duramax 3500 performed flawlessly, got 19.5 going up to Utah, and averaged a little under 12 the way back. Good times, We're looking forward to the next 5 years with the Sabre, then it's time for the retirement camper
Mike T.