Finally!

Defiant530 · 05-29-2013, 09:03 PM

Today we took the plunge and ordered a 2014 Trilogy 3650RL , we had been trying to sell our 2005 class A Winnebago Adventurer without much luck so we traded it in ,we have been working with Colerain RV in Ohio, they seem to be pretty good at this point , we will see how they do when we take delivery sometime in July

sroarke · 05-30-2013, 08:22 AM

Congratulations! You will love it.

Defiant530 · 05-30-2013, 11:09 AM

Thank you sroarke ! We can't wait! Be sure to keep us updated with how you are fairing with yours !

sroarke · 05-30-2013, 11:44 AM

We LOVE it! And have had no major issues (mostly user errors), other than dealership problems. It's really too bad that FR or Dynamax doesn't make their dealerships go through some training. Perhaps if they did there would be far fewer issues ... not that there are many to begin with ... but our dealership didn't seem to know the product at all. We dealt with John Armstrong to solve our issues. He was most helpful.

Doogie · 05-30-2013, 06:30 PM

Congrats on your new Trilogy! We love ours.

Defiant530 · 05-31-2013, 07:33 AM

Thanks Doogie ! We can hardly wait to pick her up ! Looks like we are planning to do this in July as it is hard for the DW to arrange time off on short notice we plan to make it a vacation / shakedown trip not far from the dealer to be sure there are no issues since the dealer is about 9 hrs away from home.
We loved the Trilogy when we first saw it at the Hershey Pa. show in Sept 2012 , but we didn't care for the factory rep who was there that day, he couldn't seem to answer some of our questions (maybe a new guy?) and we kind of wrote the Trilogy off, and we concentrated on a DRV, but I kept finding myself going back to the Trilogy, it had all we wanted and I like the DRV but I couldn't get past the I will call it gaudy patterns that they use, also The DRV has things I didn't want like a dishwasher and garbage disposal amongst other things, and things and then there were things that we wanted that added to the cost that are standard on the Trilogy.
Drv builds a good rig but it didn't make a good fit for us and we couldn't justify an extra $20 to $30K in cost.

Defiant530 · 06-01-2013, 06:43 AM

Just a thought here....What hitch are the Trilogy owners using ?

Doogie · 06-01-2013, 04:16 PM

We are using the B&W companion hitch. Seems to pull very smooth.

Defiant530 · 06-02-2013, 05:25 PM

But the Companion only has an 18K capacity , correct? I like the Companion but GVCW is close to maxed , does that really matter though?

Doogie · 06-02-2013, 07:57 PM

Defiant,

It is close to max but I am still under the max weight by a little bit. It pulls so well that I hate to change hitches but I may look into it if I add more cargo weight. I had this hitch with my last fiver as well and really like it.

rambler5860 · 06-02-2013, 08:44 PM

I had a Husky 26K installed at Holman's, when I purchased the Trilogy and Truck together. The truck I traded in had the Reese 18K, but I decided to bite the bullet and get all new. I think I am probably a little over kill, but didn't know for sure. I know I love the way this tows as compared to my past Bighorn. It was 40 ft and about 3M #'s lighter, but trilogy tows much better. Colerain is only about 45 minutes from Us and never heard anything negative. I've went there a few times this spring to see the changes made this model year. They did not handle Dynamax when We bought ours. we actually ended up having the 2nd awning installed on our unit. What a great 5ver this has been.

Defiant530 · 06-03-2013, 04:02 AM

Rambler5860, Colerain has been good so far ,we are trying to do a deal with them for generator, washer/dryer and possibly the hitch separate from our 3650RL purchase.
Are you fulltiming in it? Or just use it for weekends and vacations?

rambler5860 · 06-03-2013, 07:06 AM

I'm still working for a couple more years and then plan to full time. I'm excited about that time coming and wanted to get everything paid off before retirement. I figured it was a lot easier now than later. What type of generator are you planning? I've been curious about how a generator would work on the unit. Examples would be total price installed, generator brand, noise level and LP consumption. Since I have the larger LP tank, that definitely helps. I currently have a large generator that I've used, but only in situations of camping in the middle of no where, so noise wasn't an issue. I just think on board would be nice.

Defiant530 · 06-03-2013, 06:49 PM

Rambler, we are not old enough to retire (52 & 51) but we are going fulltime in 2014 we will still be working ,just not doing what we do now. We will be totally debt free by then, so we decided to do it while we are young enough to enjoy it to its fullest.
We will be having an Onan 5500 that runs off the propane , so no need to carry any other fuel, I can't really help on the cost right now as we are still working out the total cost for the package, but the 5500 runs from about $4995 to $5300 give or take. A little pricy I know but no mess no fuss.
We have the gas model on our current motorhome its so nice to just hit a button and instant power, quieter than most generators out there and no lugging it in and out

Defiant530 · 06-03-2013, 07:02 PM

Personally I didn't want the generator but the DW insisted..... but I will admit the genny on our Class A saved our behinds twice when power was out for 4 days due to flooding and another 4 days after storm took out power lines, we where one of the few houses who had lights in the neighborhood..... so I guess I have to give the wife credit where credit is due

rambler5860 · 06-03-2013, 07:13 PM

I just keep thinking that an on board generator would be so handy for those unplanned stops and more freedom on places to stay. It would definitely make me 100% independent. I'm just really curious what the LP consumption would be. I've been doing some web surfing tonight, but haven't been able to find any reporting. I also posted this question in a thread, but have had no responses. I hope that everything works out with yours and I'd like to see the final install. Are you working with Sales at the Colerain location or Indianapolis. We are located in the middle of both off I74.

Defiant530 · 06-03-2013, 07:51 PM

Well I do know gasoline is more efficient at producing power than propane,and I have read gas model uses less than 1/2 a gal per hour, so I will have to assume propane will use more,but I obviously don't know for sure and I also was looking a little bit for fuel consumption figures and have not as yet found any numbers. Hopefully you will have better luck

WAP · 06-04-2013, 08:16 AM

If you go to the Onan generator site on line and look up the 5.5kw Marquis gold unit, you will find both the gas and Lp models. In the spec section are the fuel consumption rates.

rambler5860 · 06-04-2013, 08:43 AM

Thanks,I found it. Looks like half load is 3.3 lbs/hr and full load is 4.6 lbs/hr. Definitely couldn't run for long periods of time. Wonder how real life these numbers are.

Defiant530 · 06-04-2013, 06:38 PM

Nope ,you couldn't run it for long periods of time ,but I never ran mine for more than a couple of hours at a time usually in the morning, breakfast , recharge the battery bank ,heat water on electric, and then in the evening for dinner and all of the other stuff, this was when we where in Yellowstone and many campgrounds have generator restricted hours, but we did fine and we were gone all day anyways

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