New to Columbus, FRF and RVing

[jlsr]

Hi,
We just purchased a 2015 Columbus 325RL and will be picking it up this week. We are very excited RV novices and are glad to have found this forum. Though after reading some of the issues people have had we are very nervous, wondering if we've made a mistake in our choice. Yikes!

I found a couple pre delivery checklists on line but nothing specific to a Columbus. Does anyone have a checklist for a Columbus? Are there certain things we should look for specific to this brand?

We chose the 325RL due to the outdoor kitchen. I think we will use that a lot. Hopefully all goes well when we go back to the dealer to get it.

Thanks all,

[MacDR]

I had a couple minor Issues when I picked up my 5th wheel.. Just take your time and have them show you everything... Ask questions even if you feel silly..nothing is perfect but I find Forest River products to be outstanding.. Get the second year warranty for 150.00.. Enjoy it.


2013 Ram 2500 "Cummins"
2014 Columbus 340RK
28 Days camping 2015

[jlsr]

Thanks so much! I seriously wish the dealer would have mentioned the 2nd year warranty for 150! Ugh we bought their extended warranty for way too much I believe. Oh no

[Kidtexas]

Check even the stuff you dont think much about like does the radio work, are the blades on the fan tight, shower door works, these are things that folks on here have found, dont be afraid to say turn the radio on or hook water up so I can check the fixtures or fire up the heater even if its 90 outside. congrats and good luck.

[bobmagpie]

Hi jlsr, we have the 325rl also in which we bought Feb 2014 from Camping World. With most of these RV's you can expect some problems as we did. CW was terrible about warranty work. For example anything that went wrong they would have to take pics, send in a work request to Forest River in order to complete the work. Well this would all take time and we live approximately 200 miles from CW. So a trip down and back was time and money. Our problems with the RV consisted of broken airconditioner from day one, leak from shower due to shower frame installed wrong, outdoor kitchen slide would not open and close, broken kitchen droor, fith wheel hitch installed incorrectly,( lucky to be alive), grease on breaks, seems to be a common problem with Columbus, problem with cable tv connection and black water tank valve leaking. All the problems were eventually fixed however we got tired of going back and forth to CW and had a local RV repair shop fix some of the things under warranty. The great thing about the local RV shop is that they would repair the problem and send the paperwork in to Forest River and we never got questioned or billed for the repairs, funny CW would not do this. CW tried to push the extended warranty on us also and thanks to this website we learned of the 2nd year warranty for 150.00. After all repairs have been completed we are very happy with our 325rl. The kitchen slide took around 2 months for CW to fix it. I don't think there is specific pre delievery check list for Columbus but most of these RV's are the same so a good list will do you fine. If I knew than what I know now it would probably take 5-8 hrs to complete a pre delievery inspection. Take your time and go over every inch, open every cabinet droor, operate everything, electrical, plumbing, slides, etc. We do really enjoy our RV at this time.

[jlsr]

Thanks kidtexas and bobmagpie,
Our walk through took a couple hours. We were kinda overwhelmed but we hopefully didn't miss too much. Have spent one night in it to test things out. The shower seems to installed the right way. We have so much to learn. Been cleaning and polishing her today. Dealer didn't do a very good job cleaning the camper.

Have found a few things we'll bring it the dealers attention. One thing we have noticed is even though there are 2 a/c units it doesn't stay at the set temp during the day. Seems to have a hard time keeping cool inside during the afternoons. Guess the Texas heat is too much for it. And what is with all the little Styrofoam beads being blown around when the ac first kicks on?

We thought we had a problem with the water heater last night. Hubby turned it on and we waited an hour and no hot water. He checked everything out then I found that the button in the closet was off for the water heater so I turned it on and a while later we have hot water.

We are going to get a memory foam topper for the bed. Its too firm for us.

Just can't ge over how big and roomy it is compared to the one we traded in. Really think we're going to love this camper and keep it quite a while. :-)

[SYE]

Just do a thorough PDI

[jlsr]

Thanks SYE. We tried to be thorough but missed a few minor things. One thing we didn't check during the PDI was running the vacuum. It runs when you open the flap but not when the hose is in place. And the fridge doors are a little off and the handles don't catch properly.

[SYE]

There is a Columbus group on another website with over 1000 Columbus owners, I am not allowed to tell you on here where it is.

[jlsr]

Hi,
I think I know which group you mean. And I have joined it :-)

[aceinspp]

Yep and take pad and pencil cause you will not remember it all. Later RJD