3456rl

[dhpacy1]

Hello. My wife and I have decided the 3456rl is the best floor plan for us. Any owners of this floor plan or owners of a late model year Cardinal, we would love to hear your pro and con comments and generally how your coach is doing. We are looking at ordering a full body paint model. Thanks in advance

[JohnVtx]

I have had 3456rl since March. Lived in it for 3 months. I olumbed the 2 grey tanks together. Had to out soray foam around roof vent to black tank as anytime the middke ac ran we had a smell. Worked great. Had to rewire the televisions as it was not done correctly. We love unit though. I never bring to dealer if I can avoid it.

[dhpacy1]

Originally Posted by JohnVtx

I have had 3456rl since March. Lived in it for 3 months. I olumbed the 2 grey tanks together. Had to out soray foam around roof vent to black tank as anytime the middke ac ran we had a smell. Worked great. Had to rewire the televisions as it was not done correctly. We love unit though. I never bring to dealer if I can avoid it.

Thanks John. Overall no regrets with Cardinal or the 3456?

[JohnVtx]

No regrets

[Geldevik]

We purchased a 2018 Cardinal 3350RL, no problems and no regrets. We used it almost every weekend last summer.

[djousma]

Originally Posted by dhpacy1

Hello. My wife and I have decided the 3456rl is the best floor plan for us. Any owners of this floor plan or owners of a late model year Cardinal, we would love to hear your pro and con comments and generally how your coach is doing. We are looking at ordering a full body paint model. Thanks in advance

Just finished our second season in our 2017 3850RL. We do have the full body paint. In my opinion, it is a very worthwhile option. It doesnt just look good, its biggest advantage is that black streaks wash right off, and the surface will never oxidize, nor decals crack and peel!

We love our Cardinal. We had the typical list of items that needed fixing/adjusting, but the dealer and Forest River has been great. Biggest problem is that the factory is running hard, and when that happens, I think attention to detail/build quality suffers a bit.

[dhpacy1]

Originally Posted by djousma

Just finished our second season in our 2017 3850RL. We do have the full body paint. In my opinion, it is a very worthwhile option. It doesnt just look good, its biggest advantage is that black streaks wash right off, and the surface will never oxidize, nor decals crack and peel!

We love our Cardinal. We had the typical list of items that needed fixing/adjusting, but the dealer and Forest River has been great. Biggest problem is that the factory is running hard, and when that happens, I think attention to detail/build quality suffers a bit.

Thanks very much for that. Was most of the fix it list easy stuff that you could do yourself or more involved?

[djousma]

Yes, some really stupid stuff really. They didn't fully caulk the shower enclosure, so the first time my wife showered, we had water leaking out the bottom of the trailer. Then first time not camping on full-hookups, found more water leaking out of trailer, found that the waterline connections to the water pump were never tightened down, just finger tight. Coax for the cable TV, must have had a short in it, as it didn't work. Cut both ends off in the basement, and put new ends on, and that fixed the problem.

Had a couple water leaks in the roof and slide areas due to incomplete caulking, and some slide seals not installed correctly, dealer fixed those right away.

All frustrating items really, especially on a unit in this price range. I'm thinking my unit was either a Monday or Friday built one....

Things have stabilized now. If you are ordering, and awaiting delivery, just make sure you don't make the mistake I did. We took delivery the 2nd week of June, the same day we were leaving on vacation, so the dealer PDI was rushed, and I was rushed, etc. Next one will get ordered in the winter, so that delivery happens in early spring, with no rush to go anywhere. Final signing of the papers, and $$$ wont happen until complete PDI has been done, and all issues resolved.

If you are still in the ordering phase... Go with the G rated tire upgrade, and if you can, I'd consider the disc brake option. I had disc brakes added after the fact and am very happy with that upgrade. These are heavy units.

[wtchamb]

We have had our 3456RL since September and have had basically no problems and have really been happy with it. I was not aware of one of the graywater tanks being solely dedicated to a washer/dryer which we don't have, but don't expect that to be a problem. We love the larger bathroom and find the unit to be very livable. We do full time in it.

[Walking thunder]

Originally Posted by dhpacy1

Hello. My wife and I have decided the 3456rl is the best floor plan for us. Any owners of this floor plan or owners of a late model year Cardinal, we would love to hear your pro and con comments and generally how your coach is doing. We are looking at ordering a full body paint model. Thanks in advance

Be very careful with the full body paint option. I have a very long post about my paint cracking. If you do a search at top of page type Full Body Paint and you will see my post about half way down. A few pictures.

[Walking thunder]

Originally Posted by djousma

Yes, some really stupid stuff really. They didn't fully caulk the shower enclosure, so the first time my wife showered, we had water leaking out the bottom of the trailer. Then first time not camping on full-hookups, found more water leaking out of trailer, found that the waterline connections to the water pump were never tightened down, just finger tight. Coax for the cable TV, must have had a short in it, as it didn't work. Cut both ends off in the basement, and put new ends on, and that fixed the problem.



Had a couple water leaks in the roof and slide areas due to incomplete caulking, and some slide seals not installed correctly, dealer fixed those right away.



All frustrating items really, especially on a unit in this price range. I'm thinking my unit was either a Monday or Friday built one....



Things have stabilized now. If you are ordering, and awaiting delivery, just make sure you don't make the mistake I did. We took delivery the 2nd week of June, the same day we were leaving on vacation, so the dealer PDI was rushed, and I was rushed, etc. Next one will get ordered in the winter, so that delivery happens in early spring, with no rush to go anywhere. Final signing of the papers, and $$$ wont happen until complete PDI has been done, and all issues resolved.



If you are still in the ordering phase... Go with the G rated tire upgrade, and if you can, I'd consider the disc brake option. I had disc brakes added after the fact and am very happy with that upgrade. These are heavy units.

They should never have been allowed to leave with E rated tires for any reason[emoji844]

[dhpacy1]

Originally Posted by Walking thunder

Be very careful with the full body paint option. I have a very long post about my paint cracking. If you do a search at top of page type Full Body Paint and you will see my post about half way down. A few pictures.

Thanks for the reply. I spoke to the Cardinal Rep about that actually. He said they had a batch that were sealed with silicon before getting painted, and the paint did not stick and cracker after movement. Since then, they seal the coach after painting and also went to a different paint manufacturer and have eliminated prior paint issues.

[dhpacy1]

Originally Posted by djousma

Yes, some really stupid stuff really. They didn't fully caulk the shower enclosure, so the first time my wife showered, we had water leaking out the bottom of the trailer. Then first time not camping on full-hookups, found more water leaking out of trailer, found that the waterline connections to the water pump were never tightened down, just finger tight. Coax for the cable TV, must have had a short in it, as it didn't work. Cut both ends off in the basement, and put new ends on, and that fixed the problem.

Had a couple water leaks in the roof and slide areas due to incomplete caulking, and some slide seals not installed correctly, dealer fixed those right away.

All frustrating items really, especially on a unit in this price range. I'm thinking my unit was either a Monday or Friday built one....

Things have stabilized now. If you are ordering, and awaiting delivery, just make sure you don't make the mistake I did. We took delivery the 2nd week of June, the same day we were leaving on vacation, so the dealer PDI was rushed, and I was rushed, etc. Next one will get ordered in the winter, so that delivery happens in early spring, with no rush to go anywhere. Final signing of the papers, and $$$ wont happen until complete PDI has been done, and all issues resolved.

If you are still in the ordering phase... Go with the G rated tire upgrade, and if you can, I'd consider the disc brake option. I had disc brakes added after the fact and am very happy with that upgrade. These are heavy units.

Thanks for all that. Leaks are no good. I ordered a unit this week with full paint, disc brakes ( You and I think alike), and generator. The new units come standard with Sailun G rated tires now.

[djousma]

Originally Posted by dhpacy1

Thanks for all that. Leaks are no good. I ordered a unit this week with full paint, disc brakes ( You and I think alike), and generator. The new units come standard with Sailun G rated tires now.

Congrats! And your other comment about some units getting painted AFTER they were caulked is correct. That caused FR a bunch of problems. I can confirm that my 2017 was painted first, then windows, etc installed, and finally caulked as one of the last items.

[dhpacy1]

Originally Posted by djousma

Congrats! And your other comment about some units getting painted AFTER they were caulked is correct. That caused FR a bunch of problems. I can confirm that my 2017 was painted first, then windows, etc installed, and finally caulked as one of the last items.

Thanks for the confirmation. Yours holding up well?

[djousma]

Paint holding up fine after two seasons, and 7K towing miles. The only issue was that the paint shop tech's used old buffing wheels, and there were terrible swirls. The unit went back to them (on their dime) to be rebuffed. Came back looking *much* better. I was going to let it slide, as it was only really noticeable on bright sunny days, but the wife said no way! I agree, as a 10K option, you'd never accept that on your car. Glad it got taken care of.

[dhpacy1]

Originally Posted by djousma

Paint holding up fine after two seasons, and 7K towing miles. The only issue was that the paint shop tech's used old buffing wheels, and there were terrible swirls. The unit went back to them (on their dime) to be rebuffed. Came back looking *much* better. I was going to let it slide, as it was only really noticeable on bright sunny days, but the wife said no way! I agree, as a 10K option, you'd never accept that on your car. Glad it got taken care of.

Good to hear!!

[DangerD]

Originally Posted by JohnVtx

I have had 3456rl since March. Lived in it for 3 months. I olumbed the 2 grey tanks together. Had to out soray foam around roof vent to black tank as anytime the middke ac ran we had a smell. Worked great. Had to rewire the televisions as it was not done correctly. We love unit though. I never bring to dealer if I can avoid it.

JohnVtx,
Dont mean to hijack this old thread but trying to figure this same issue out you mention.

I have a 2017 3456RL and been smelling fumes as well similar to you, its when we run the roof vent fan in galley or even bathroom and everything is closed up, we get that smell from black tank. If we open a window or door it stops.
Any ideas?

[JohnVtx]

Yes, go to the roof, take the cap off the black tank vent to gain access to the vent coming through the roof. Get as much foam as you can around the pipe below roof level. Replace cap

[jacknife]

Have had my 30-30 for 5 yrs paint still looks great