2021 Sandpiper 379FLOK

[sparky986]

Hello Everyone,
We pulled the trigger on a new 2021 Sandpiper 379FLOK. We are trading in our 2019 Crusader Lite 26RE. We will be picking it up later in the month.
My question is for everyone who has one, what do you like about it? What things have you found that you don't like? What would you change if you could? What things have you changed or upgraded? We are thinking about going to a KOA for a winter camp, here in Nebraska, to see how it handles cold weather. We will see.
Thank you to anyone who offers some input.

[jpjn94]

Pros:
Love the layout, which is why we bought it. A must-have for me was the outdoor kitchen. The microwave hasn't been used much, so I'm still debating about removing it for more storage or a small TV. The separate living space has been great when my kids have traveled with us, they almost have their own room upfront.

Cons:
Overall, there isn't anything I hate about it outside of the back driver's side corner I hit a pole with, but that was my fault for rushing the turn instead of taking my time. My wife complains about counter space when she is prepping a lot of things, but I remind her of other RVs counter space.

Things to watch for:
We had an issue in the bedroom where something fell and opened the cabinet doors. Most items will not stay hung up back there. So, you can't see into the room when opening the slides, so that caused a little damage. Be careful what you put in there or babyproof the doors so they can't open on their own.

The door in the bathroom was not hooked up correctly with the highly secure button to lock the door in place. So one trip we found it against the shower wall and all of the beads from the mount all over the floor. Didn't cause much damage, but I need to buy new brackets for the door and find a better way to secure it. For now, it's just open.

A very bumpy road lead to me finding the fridge popped out into the kitchen. I was able to push it back and only minor damage to the floor, but I had to have it mounted properly to the wall so that wouldn't happen again.

The attached BBQ was not made very good, granted I am very picky about my BBQs and buy mainly Weber products. I had an issue one trip and grease dripped down and burned up a lot of the components before I could get the small fire under control. Needless to say, I now need to remove it as it's just decoration for my bumper now.

The two additional folding chairs for the dining room table were broken by normal-size people. Can't imagine what would have happened if I sat on them! Replaced them with some nice folding chairs from Costco.

We had a leak in our gray water tank, our hydraulic system for the landing pads, and the hot water didn't work in the kitchen sink. All fixed by the warranty and extended warranty. Our bathroom fan doesn't work and when it finally did work, it broke. Not that you can reach either vent in the RV.

The main issue and major concern, ours came with Castle Rock tires, and yes I've read all the reviews, but I thought I could at least get a year out of them before replacing them. Nope. Had three blowouts that caused damage to my siding. No TPMS so maybe that would have helped, but I should have replaced them right away. Now I've upgraded the load range with Carlise tires and no issues at all. I have seen the newer RVs come with Goodyear Endurance which I find odd because they don't make a tire that supports the needed load range for the RV.

Changes:
I went to flagpolebuddy.com and picked up a cool flagpole for my back ladder. Still looking for a side table for the bedroom so my wife can put a cup of water and her phone on it. Picked up a collapsable table for the living room to help place our drinks or snacks on. Added some strip LED lighting I found on Amazon to the outdoor kitchen door to provide extra lighting there.

[sparky986]

jpjn94,
Thank you for your reply. I love the flag pole idea and will have to have one now. Thanks for the information on when pulling, every camper is different when you pull it on how things ride. We have an annual site, we pull it to every April, and then home in October.
We chose this floor plan so the kids, and grandkid can come stay and have their own area, up front.
The outside kitchen is must for me too, the camper we traded in has an outside kitchen, won't own one now without.
I bought a Dyna-Glo charcoal grill that I mounted on the bummer mount, and I wouldn't go back to a little gas grill. I also have a Dyna-Glo smoker, and a Coleman tailgater gas grill, for when the kids come to the lake. I want to mount my Blackstone in my outside kitchen, so maybe the microwave will give me the space.
Do you like the front window? Ours will over look the cove, and help see when someone comes the our site. I did buy the 5 year Good Sam warranty, which is supposed to cover bumper to bumper. Never had it before so I hope it is what they claim.
Again, thank you for your reply.

Glenn

[jpjn94]

We have only been to a few campsites that the front window actually has a view of something worth looking at. Honestly, window placement in the rig is probably the one negative to the floorplan, but I'm usually outside when I want to look at the scenery anyway. But the side windows make for a good cross breeze when the weather allows it.

[sparky986]

Here is our new 5th wheel. Stayed in it one weekend.

[Kimmytheone]

Originally Posted by sparky986

Here is our new 5th wheel. Stayed in it one weekend.

We just purchased our 1st ever RV back in December 2021. It is a 2017 Sandpiper 379FLOK. We are from South Eastern Iowa, & I can give you an answer about camping in the winter with these Sandpiper. I don't know what your Winter is like, but ours here in Iowa this year has been one of the coldest in probably 20+ years. We sold & closed on our home on Dec. 30th, after living in it for 20 years 2 months. We planned on living full time in our 2017 Sandpiper by going South for the Winter months & come back to Iowa 1st of March. Well, due to problems with our hydraulic Jack's system not working correctly from the time we went & picked this RV up from the guy we bought it from, we are currently backed into a 55 degree heated shop of our friends who came to our rescue on January 6th after a night of 45-55mph winds & temp of - 25 below zero. It was 32 degree F in the morning when we woke up in our RV. We could not get the Jack's to retract so after 7.5 hours we took them off with an impact driver so we could get out of the frudgid cold & get our RV into this shop where we are currently still sitting. These Sandpiper don't have a polar package on them which even if they did have, they still are not made for Winter camping let alone Iowa Winters!
In regards to the layout, the front living area is nice, My only complaint is there is nowhere to sit ant drinks other than the 2 theater chairs/recliners & the small space next to these chairs, but nowhere for anyone sitting on either loveseat/fold out beds. I have an end table that has a shelf down below & the table is on wheels which makes it east to move around, but after being in here for nearly 2 months now, Im going to look for a lightweight coffee table or some sort of fold out kids table that would work as a coffee table. I guess a fold out card table would work, but you would be taking up alot of space.

The only other cons I don't like about this camper is there is not enough storage or counter space at all in the kitchen. Atleast not for full time living. Also the bathroom doesn't have enough storage at all if a person would utilize the closet for a washer & dryer, you would have nowhere to put bath towels unless you would put them in the bedroom which there is not alot of storage area in the bedroom for towels when you are utilizing all the cabinets & drawers for clothes, shoes, extra linens & blankets for the 2 beds in the living area & the King size bed in the bedroom & extra pillows too.

I hope that you enjoy your new Sandpiper & that it doesn't have as many issues as we are having & what I've read about other Sandpiper.

[sparky986]

Kimmytheone,
Again, thank you for the reply. I'm totally disappointed in the RV industry right now. They have forgotten that, "We Are Why They Are In Business", and their customer service is horrible. And as all things, this to shall come around on them. When you forget what generates your income, that income dries up. We put ours in storage until April, then it will go to our annual spot. I can only fret what will be the end product when we really start using every weekend. But we really did like this floor plan.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by sparky986

Kimmytheone,

Again, thank you for the reply. I'm totally disappointed in the RV industry right now. They have forgotten that, "We Are Why They Are In Business", and their customer service is horrible. And as all things, this to shall come around on them. When you forget what generates your income, that income dries up.

That opinion has been around, on many RV forums, for at least the past 20 years I've been on many of them.
All that's changed is that they are selling increasing record numbers of RVs, while RV quality continues to get worse.

[Kimmytheone]

Hi Dan, Yes I totally agree with everything you are saying. They charge so much for all RV's these days, & I would have loved to purchase a new one, but I just can't see spending that kind of money on something that is built for maybe 1/3rd of what the msrp's are. Especially after seeing how cheap the materials are, & the quality of the work of the people throwing these RV's together. The amount of maintenance these RV's require speaks loud & clear for the lack of Quality of the materials, & all the the components that are used to manufacture these. It's so sad how things change from just 20 years ago, let alone 45 years ago. This 2017 Sandpiper FLOK Luxury Edition I just purchased from a privet seller, has had issues with rhe hydraulic jacks not retracting since the day we went to pick it up, & we have already got nearly 2 grand in parts & labor & we are still not able to leave or go anywhere. We picked it up on December 12th & we are still back into a heated shop waiting for new valves to come in. We sold our home of almost 21 years to live in this RV year round & since it's not made for Winter camping let alone Iowa Winters, we are decided to sell this RV & the truck we bought to pull it as soon as we can find an apartment to rent. Remember that any RV's that come with the "Polar Package" is still not made for Winter comping anywhere. Best wishes to you with your future travels. Enjoy!!

[sparky986]

Hello Everyone again. You're not going to believe this, I still shake my head. We have had the Sandpiper setup at our annual site at the lake. Since April, the Freezer on the LG French door refrigerator has not ben keeping things froze. We called LG they were nice about it, and set up a tech to come out. Well, he never showed, we called him, he claimed they wouldn't pay mileage. Whatever! LG was trying to find a different tech in the area, so we called Camping World. They said they would give to my extended warranty company, not sure why when this is still under warranty. Aussance said there is a $100 deductible, and we were like whatever. So as we are waiting to hear back from either place, we use LG's smart technology to trouble shoot the fridge. We hook it to WIFI and run thew test. Comes as working normal. Error says door is not shut properly. I start troubleshooting the door, and i find it doesn't have a gasket on it. From the Forest River Factory, no seal on the freezer door. LG wants us to just buy one, $29.95. Not a big deal, but REALLY? Camping World says they will have to contact the manufacturer to get one. So now we have it unplugged so it doesn't burn up the compressor. What a mess buying a new camper is!! WE bought this Sandpiper new in December, and are just now starting to use it.

[bikendan]

Wouldn't it be LG's fault for not having a seal on the fridge door. Or am I missing something?

Sent from my SM-G781U using Forest River Forums mobile app

[sparky986]

Originally Posted by bikendan

Wouldn't it be LG's fault for not having a seal on the fridge door. Or am I missing something?

Sent from my SM-G781U using Forest River Forums mobile app

Normally I would agree. But when we picked up the camper in January, the freezer door was missing the handle. And it needed to be installed.
LG asked where we purchased the refrigerator, when we replied it came with our new camper, they were quick to reply we need to go through them.
This all leads me to believe that Camper Sales, or Camper Factories do some level of assembly on these appliances.
Or maybe I'm just wrong. All possibilities.

[Kimmytheone]

We just bought our 2017 Sandpiper 379FLOK from a guy that bought it new off the lot in 2019. He only used it 3 times he told me. He did not maintain it as it should have been. We bought it on Dec 12th of last year. We spent the winter backed into a friend's heated shop after waking up to - 25 degrees with wind chill factor, & it was 32 degrees inside the camper. The campers are not made for winter camping in Iowa & I'm sure you have bad winters in Nebraska too. Even if they have a polar package, I was told by a salesman at a dealership near by that these campers are not made for winter camping especially Iowa Winters.
Pros= I like the amount of room you have to move around,. I like the self leveling jacks & the level up system. Makes set up so easy & fast.

Cons= very cheaply built. Not enough storage in kitchen especially, & the island is too small. I'd rather have a front kitchen, & I'd much rather have living area downstairs. The steps get used alot going back & forth to bathroom & kitchen for snacks

[sparky986]

Hello All again!
I installed the fridge freezer door gasket, and wow, it works like a new freezer. Oh yeah, it is a new fridge and freezer. Now I have to submit my receipt to LG for reimbursement. I wonder if they will pay me for my time too? It should be worth something. It is to me.

[Reverse_snowbird]

Originally Posted by sparky986

Hello All again!
I installed the fridge freezer door gasket, and wow, it works like a new freezer. Oh yeah, it is a new fridge and freezer. Now I have to submit my receipt to LG for reimbursement. I wonder if they will pay me for my time too? It should be worth something. It is to me.

Glad you got it fixed. Hopefully you'll get reimbursed for the $30 gasket, but don't hold your breath on getting paid for your time. Unfortunately, getting appliances that have not been completely assembled seems to be the new normal.

[wlrdchngr2]

I love everything about your Sandpiper. It is a 2017 and we have had little to nothing go wrong with it. That being said, don't waste a lot of time on the factory tires. Absolutely get 14 ply tires as soon as possible. We had three blowouts on other tires. Nothing since we upgraded to 14 ply.

[JOECRAFT]

How do I switch from city water to my fresh water tank? There is no switch I can see in my panel. And when I turn on my pump it is just spitting air and a little water out.

[Reverse_snowbird]

Originally Posted by JOECRAFT

How do I switch from city water to my fresh water tank?

Welcome to the forum JOECRAFT.
I don't have your rig, so I don't know the exact procedure, but you should have a compartment on the side of your rig that has a valve/switch that you select tank or normal/city.

[JOECRAFT]

Thanks I have not located that switch yet...

[sparky986]

JOECRAFT:
The valves are in your wet bay. They are colored white, blue, and red.
Instructions on which configuration for city water, or on-board water tank is at the top.