Picking up Puma 19rl

[lazypuma]

Hello all,

New to forum, couldn't help myself. Was gonna wait for pics, picking up our 2015 Puma 19rl tomorrow upon inspection. First thought was 23ft model but wife and I really like the coziness of the 19. With 2 month old baby boy and two dachshunds I think it will be perfect. Just shows you can look at all the pics online but until you get out and lounge in them you never know.

Anything I should be on the lookout for? Will post pics when I get her home. Also will have curt wd hitch as well. Tow vehicle is 14 Silverado 1500 cc sb 5.3 3.42 4x4. Thought I would share, have a great day and take care.

[Wiscampsin]

Welcome and congrats on your 2015 Puma 19rl. Looking forward to your pics.

[Platokidd]

Welcome from the top side land of Lincoln!

[lazypuma]

Here it is, hopefully pics uploaded.

[Platokidd]

Nice!

[lazypuma]

It pulled home nicely, granted was only 20min. drive. My only question is, with it empty I noticed some bouncing (55mph)like worn shocks on a stretch of road. Being in Houston and traveling to Louisiana frequently I noticed a lot of cars bounce, maybe due to expansion joints.
Think maybe the distribution hitch needs to be fine tuned, maybe bags with some pressure help with this. Any thoughts. Was not major but would like to remedy anything I can make sure wife and boy have a safe and comfortable trip.

[lazypuma]

Take it back, they filled the fresh water, 51 gallons and the propane tanks. I will search the forums, I am sure there is plenty of info.

[Platokidd]

Looks like the chains on your wdh are rubbing / binding on the brackets. They should go straight down to the bars. This could be having a effect on your towing of the camper.
Also looks like the gas tank and or cover is preventing the brackets from being properly located.
I would address this issue asap.
Did you dealer do the install?

Nice chevy truck!!!

[Oaklevel]

Welcome to the Forum & Congrats on the Puma. We have had two Puma fifth wheels & few to no issues with either. For the $ Puma is a great deal.....

ENJOY !!!!!!

[lazypuma]

Yes the dealer installed setup. I was out there with the kid putting them on. The chains seemed to go straight up to the tongue brackets. I think they could have went up a link. Will read up on them. Saw curt has a video online as well.

[campingwilliamsons]

Welcome to the PUMA club and our crappy Houston highways. Our trailers always bounce threw town, but once out of town it smooths out nicely, even I-10 east bound. Now, once you are in Lake Charles and heading east, you get back to some bounce, but it is much better than it was even 5 years ago...

All that said, go through the WDH setup from the beginning per the manual and make sure it is all good. The RV monkeys that setup the hitch are often the lowest paid people at the dealership, and generally don't have a clue...

BTW, where did you get it? Your pics look like the DeMontrond lot in Conroe?

[lazypuma]

You would be correct on DeMontrond dealer in Conroe. I agree on the highway towards Lake Chuck, but have improved. I travel to Port Fourchon frequently for work, hwy 90 is real roller coaster.

[campingwilliamsons]

I thought that was Demontrond. I tried to deal with them but the guy would never give me any straight answers. I ended up buying ours out of state!

Hwy 90 (or any road south of I-10 in LA) can get pretty dicey for sure. I think you are the poster child for needing air bags. I suspect installed over the rear axle of the truck, you could air them up enough to take some of the bounce out. Otherwise, I think you are stuck towing at slower than highway speeds...

[lazypuma]

While I do not plan on taking the TT down 90, I think it would be nice to have something in case, upon travels. I am looking at the firestone brand 2430 bag setup. Looks simple enough and no drilling required. Something to stiffen (minimal air) as these Silverados are soft and I will give GM credit, they ride like a cadillac, atleast the 1500s.

As for the dealer, we did not have alot of questions as this is our first. I was more concentrated on weight and matching it up with TV. I did ask the sales rep. " What should I be asking " or " What would you ask " not that would make a difference. Price seemed right so we went for it.

You ever head up to canyon lake area? That is where we plan on heading first. Trying to get wife to go somewhere closer for first outing, as we are in Montgomery, right up the road.

[campingwilliamsons]

All the new 1/2 trucks blow me away with how they ride. I just traded off an HD payload version of the F150, and I swear it was the best riding vehicle I have ever had! Anyway, the firestone airbags seem to be a popular choice due to ease of use, install, and they work very well to-boot.

We just did a week vacation in June, and spent 3 days around Canyon lake. We camped at Rio Guadalupe Resort. Nice and shady, full hookup sites, right on the river. They have a "toob" outfitter right there on the property if you are wanting to float. The river is very pretty there, and essentially is one solid rock outcrop. The kids loved it because there was very little mud in the river. We will be back with the kids at Thanksgiving at the Jellystone in Canyon lake. The other place that is close that we really like is Guadalupe State Park. No full hook-ups there, but the bathhouse is nice, so you could shower in the bathhouse, and save the grey water offloading.

As for "local", Wolf Creek at Lake Livingston is nice, though the full hookup loops are pretty tight. We also really like Huntsville State Park, but you will definitely need reservations for that one. Both of those are about an hour away(probably less for you being on Montgomery). We really liked Livingston State park itself, but the RV camping area is in a big swamp, and if it has raining in the last week, they site are VERY wet and muddy. As such, we will day trip that one, and camp on the other side at Wolf Creek. Brazos Bend is a really nice park south of Houston, and Lake Somerville Birch Creek is pretty nice as well. Those are both about 1.5 hours from Tomball. We have several "local" places that are on our to do list. We have not camped at Conroe yet, but there is a park called Cagle Recreation area that we plan to go check out this fall. Another one we want to try is Stephen F Austin in Sealy. We have heard tons of great reviews, but that is another that needs reservations fairly far out. The other one we have been thinking about is Double Lake over close to Cold Spring (Livingston area), it is a Forest Service park. Of course there are tons of private RV parks on Livingston and Conroe as well.

[Puma26RLSS]

I think on really bumpy roads you will feel some bounce with a travel trailer at highway speeds. I think it does take some experimenting with the number of links on the WDH to get the optimum sturdiness in travel. I , also, use anti-sway bars on both side of my Puma 26RLSS, and the two devices together, with the right number of chain links "dangling" seem to be the answer for a smooth ride.

[BooBoo23]

The chains will only be straight up/down when the trailer is straight behind the TV. I don't see the sway bar hooked up. Did you remove it before you took the picture? I see the ball for it. I see you have a hand crank tongue jack and you may want a electric tongue jack (about $250/or less) the next thing you buy. Easy change, 3 bolts and hook up the wires direct to the battery (plus fused) and you are in business.
The reason I say that is because when you hook up the WD hitch you want to hook up the trailer on the ball and lock it and then with the tongue jack raise the back of your TV up several inches (or more) to make it much easier to hook up your chains. Or, if you don't want to raise your TV with the tongue jack you may want to raise one side of the trailer on leveling blocks (or TV) and hook up the chain on the low side (shortest distance for the chains) and then swap sides and raise the other side and hook up the other chain. If you raise the TV it will be the high side of the TV. The chains shouldn't just drop on, they should be pretty tight before you raise the chain hook up. Doing that is a lot easier and will give you a better adjustment to put more weight on the front of the TV. In my case I use the 4th link up from the bar.
Enjoy your Puma, my first trip with our Puma 25RS was from Atlanta to Tomball, 800 miles each way (by the way less than 30 miles of that were on interstate highway), where my daughter lives. We plan to be moving in with them some time next year as they are building a new abode just west of Magnolia that should be ready for move in mid December.
Note: my picture is my TT in the Spring Creek/Harris County park just west of Tomball.

[lazypuma]

Been a minute, been away for work. So got back and installed firestone bags on TV. Took trailerr upto Potters Creek for a few nights then to Cranes Mill for another couple.

Yes I had the sway control bar off in the pic. I did however install it on the trip upto Canyon lake. Tested out a few things. Everything really good at 5 chain links on wdh, 10psi in bags. We did have some winds on the trip so utilized sway control half way there. To be honest it helped but didn't feel unsafe without it on.

So upon arrival at Canyon Lake, I noticed my ball hitch had rotated up and forward on the riser. Thought that is weird. What I get for trusting dealer guy, I had my suspicions, but on me for not checking. He didn't install spacer stud and washers between hitch and riser. Luckily when he put it on I threw the boxes and remaining stuff in bed of truck, he was gonna throw them out. So I had the hardware on hand.

Other then that, good trip. Heading upto Wimberley next week. TV pulled the little trailer comfortably.

[Mac 57]

Hi
I have a 2011 Puma 19 fs, which is very similar to what you have, I hook the weight distributing chains on the second chain link, and this has worked well for me since new. Hope the helps you out, or gives you starting point to fine tune.
best of luck