2014 Dynamax Trilogy 3850RL General Tips for Newbies

[CivEng12]

All,

My wife and I just bought our first RV ever and a truck to haul it so we are brand new to this. I was hoping that all of you could maybe provide some must-have items or general things to look out for regarding our Trilogy 3850RL. Traveling will be me, my wife, our 4 year old daughter and our dog. Our first trip will be from Florida to California at which we will probably stay for a while (6 months or so) full-time in the Trilogy.

We are interested in putting in a stacked washer dryer combo for easy access from bedroom and minimal closet space reduction. Anyone have good experiences with any certain models? Who should we have install the W/D if we bought the RV used from LazyDays dealer in Tampa, FL?

All input is welcome since we are brand new to this. Thanks!

[CC38EL]

Congratulations and welcome to the RV world. It will be a phenomenal experience for you and your family.

The questions you ask are very broad.....and you will get enough answers to fully overload your rig. And scare you to death. Please take these with a grain of salt.

The following are just my opinion. Not something I'd fight and die over.

First, what to take. My wife and I take what we need to be fairly self sufficient. For example, we take a small 120v air compressor to handle the pressures of the 5ers tires and the trucks tires. But we don't carry a generator. Moral is...we check pressures in a campground or at home. If it happens on the road, we have road care assistance for that.

So take what you think you'll readily need, but not stuff you can get from a Walmart or other store. Or that you can borrow.

Second, what to look out for. The thing(s) that I learned towing a 5er for the first time were a) tires inflated b) 5er connected correctly c) truck ready and able d) 5er ready and able. For these 4 things, I made a checklist and I follow it every time. Others will contribute more and you should start making your lists from that information. But again, just my opinion.

As for the washer and dryer, I can honestly say I've become more knowledgeable just recently. We had a stackable installed by the selling dealer and on the 4th trip, it fell over. Not sure where yours will go, but ours had to go in the closet. We lost 1/4 of our rail space. Since we're retired, the new one is an all in one since we don't care how long it takes. However, it is a vented model.

Another consideration is the weight of a stackable. It will be 1/3 more than the all in one. So check your weight and balance on your truck and 5er axles so you don't go over your max GAWR.

We only have experience with Pinnacle and it worked well.

If you'd like more info, PM me and I can answer more of your questions.

Happy trails.

[John Hagen]

We have the washer and dryer stacked in the bedroom closet. Eats up space but having it is better than hauling clothes out to be washed.

Watch the direction of the door handles. Make sure they are on the right (as you face the front of the machines). Our dryer door was on the left and nearly impossible to open. We had Dynamax move the door (flipped it over) so it would open from the right, like the washer.

John

[CivEng12]

Originally Posted by ua40j

Congratulations and welcome to the RV world. It will be a phenomenal experience for you and your family.

The questions you ask are very broad.....and you will get enough answers to fully overload your rig. And scare you to death. Please take these with a grain of salt.

The following are just my opinion. Not something I'd fight and die over.

First, what to take. My wife and I take what we need to be fairly self sufficient. For example, we take a small 120v air compressor to handle the pressures of the 5ers tires and the trucks tires. But we don't carry a generator. Moral is...we check pressures in a campground or at home. If it happens on the road, we have road care assistance for that.

So take what you think you'll readily need, but not stuff you can get from a Walmart or other store. Or that you can borrow.

Second, what to look out for. The thing(s) that I learned towing a 5er for the first time were a) tires inflated b) 5er connected correctly c) truck ready and able d) 5er ready and able. For these 4 things, I made a checklist and I follow it every time. Others will contribute more and you should start making your lists from that information. But again, just my opinion.

As for the washer and dryer, I can honestly say I've become more knowledgeable just recently. We had a stackable installed by the selling dealer and on the 4th trip, it fell over. Not sure where yours will go, but ours had to go in the closet. We lost 1/4 of our rail space. Since we're retired, the new one is an all in one since we don't care how long it takes. However, it is a vented model.

Another consideration is the weight of a stackable. It will be 1/3 more than the all in one. So check your weight and balance on your truck and 5er axles so you don't go over your max GAWR.

We only have experience with Pinnacle and it worked well.

If you'd like more info, PM me and I can answer more of your questions.

Happy trails.

Thanks, Jim. We bought a ViAir compressor and it seems to work great for keeping the tires inflated. We also bought a host of other things in an attempt to not be under-prepared which has paid off in many instances. We are still trying to figure out the W/D situation haha.

[CivEng12]

Originally Posted by John Hagen

We have the washer and dryer stacked in the bedroom closet. Eats up space but having it is better than hauling clothes out to be washed.

Watch the direction of the door handles. Make sure they are on the right (as you face the front of the machines). Our dryer door was on the left and nearly impossible to open. We had Dynamax move the door (flipped it over) so it would open from the right, like the washer.

John

John,

Did you guys have to remove the closet wall in order to put the W/D in? We have the same year and model as you and our closet W/D space is slightly enclosed which prevents us from having the W/D face to the rear of the coach for easy access. As it stands, we'd have to open the doors sideways into the hanging clothing space.