New to RVing, Forest River Wildwood Heritage Glen 356QBH

[HAF1027]

Hello everyone my family and I are new to the RV world from the boating world!

Well not yet we take delivery of our Forrest River Wildwood Heritage Glen 356QBH end of this month beginning of next month. We are exiting to start camping, we are out of south Florida and plan on start traveling Florida and work our way north.

We are a family of 4 with an additional to, grandparents, coming to total of 6 campers for the most part. That’s why we went with the Forrest River 356 QBH. So much room for everyone.

Asking if anyone could give me input on the make, brand, general info on the RV as this is our first. The plan is eventually downsize once the family downsizes but won’t be for at least 10 years and we hope this one will last us this long.

Also looking for any newbie tips you can give me etc. I’ll be pulling it with my Chevy 2500 diesel.

Thank you for any input, ideas, overall information for me as well I’m a completely rookie to RVing.

[Kimber45]

welcome. ive been happy with my heritage glen 372rd. get yourself a good walk through on the unit and its systems. maybe some stuff carries over from boats. if not hooked up to full hookups familiarize yourself with battery, water, tank capacities etc with that many folks.

be cautious with what you pack with that many folks you will be close to over payload on a 3/4 ton diesel truck.

[Chris Pastuzyn]

Congratulations and Welcome from New Jersey

[loyda]

Have them explain the TV and cable hook ups

[CurtPutnam]

Welcome from SoCal! Congratulations! Please read the many threads about towing and weight and be sure that you have enough truck for your trailer and family,

[SeaDog]

welcome to the forum its a great place go get your questions answered

[wmtire]

Welcome aboard, this thread link below may help get you started:


https://www.forestriverforums.com/fo...ts-157524.html

[DannyLori]

Welcome to the FR family.

[HAF1027]

Thank you for the replies

[wrogers]

I have a 2019 Heritage Glen 356QB, and we really love the floor plan. It works very well with 3 adults and 2 grandkids. We love that the kids have their own room to go off to, as well as 2 full baths.

We've had several issues with ours, but have worked through them and making it into the "6 million dollar rig" "better, faster, stronger. lol"

Our current issue we are having taken care of is getting the roof done with RVFlex Armor. It should be done this week, and then I will have a truly "maintenance free" roof.

I'm sure you will enjoy yours very much.

[Yertle]

I really like the "have them explain the TV and cable hookups" comment. I strongly second that. I just got my second RV just a week or so ago and I have spent more time figuring that out than anything. My 2020 Forester is not cabled up like any of the discussions I could find here and I ended up removing things to see how it's cabled. Unfortunately, the back TV does not have an HDMI cable hooked to it and I am finding it difficult to get Dish Sat back to that. Additionally, I can' figure out how to remove the TV from the pocket so I can see what is connected. A walk-thru of how the cabling is routed would have helped me a lot but I don't think it was my demonstrator's strengths.

[HAF1027]

Originally Posted by wrogers

I have a 2019 Heritage Glen 356QB, and we really love the floor plan. It works very well with 3 adults and 2 grandkids. We love that the kids have their own room to go off to, as well as 2 full baths.

We've had several issues with ours, but have worked through them and making it into the "6 million dollar rig" "better, faster, stronger. lol"

Our current issue we are having taken care of is getting the roof done with RVFlex Armor. It should be done this week, and then I will have a truly "maintenance free" roof.

I'm sure you will enjoy yours very much.

Wondering if you could tell me what issues you’ve had? The roof flex is that additional? Thank you

[wrogers]

Originally Posted by HAF1027

Wondering if you could tell me what issues you’ve had? The roof flex is that additional? Thank you

Ahh, where to begin LOL:

We purchased the unit used as it was an early 2019 model that had some differences in the layout that we preferred over the current iteration. Since it was "used", we had no access to any kind of warranty. I think my unit may have been built on a Monday or Friday.

1st issue:

On our initial trip out with it, we noticed a strong sewer smell inside the rig after using the toilets. I went onto the roof to look at the vent stacks to make sure there were no blockages (from wasp nest etc). I found none , but also noticed that there were only 3 vents, even though I have 4 tanks. I contacted Forest River and was told that they sometimes tee some vents together. I looked down the vent tube up front where there are 2 tanks with a borescope to verify there was a tee, and to my surprise, I suddenly started to see screws and the inside of a wall, rather than the inside of a pipe. I photo documented all of this. To further investigate, I pulled the shower surround wall out to gain access to the vent stack, and found that the pipe up through the roof was not connected to the "Y" at all, and the tanks were venting inside the wall. The pipe that went through the roof was 2" away from the "Y" and resting on 2 other pieces of pipe. There was no glue in the top of the "Y", so it was obvious the pipe through the roof was never connected to the "Y" at the factory. I connected everything up the way it should be & put the shower back together. The vents are all good now.

2nd issue:

Still was getting a strong urine smell, and further investigation revealed a known issue with the Dometic 300 series toilets leaking between the bowl and housing. I replaced both toilets with Thetford toilets. Cured that problem.

3rd issue:
When draining either tub, water would forcibly come out of the drain in the sinks. Turns out it was another vent issue with the air admittance valves under the sinks not working properly. Cured that problem by replacing all the traps on the sinks with Hepvo waterless traps. They allow air to go into the drain system to allow the vent to work properly, but will not allow any water to back up into the sink.

4th issue:
The tub drain trap in the back bathroom was loose and leaking. Tightened that up & is all good now.

current issue:
When cleaning the roof a few weeks back, I noticed an area of the rubber that looked a little "different" that the rest. When I looked closer, I found 1 leg of a staple sticking up through the rubber, which caused a "very" small hole in the membrane, but has been enough for water to get underneath, & what I saw was the OSB swollen under the rubber, with an area the size of a hockey puck that was rotted away under the membrane about a foot behind the pin hole in the membrane. It was probably this way since new, and was just some trash that wasn't cleaned off at the factory when the membrane was installed. It has probably been a very small leak for over a year now. A hole that small is not noticeable at all, since an EPDM roof naturally gets black spots on it, & the hole doesn't look any different. I put a temporary patch over the hole with Eternabond.

I decided at this point, rather than trying to do a patch job on the membrane after fixing the underlying wood, that I would just tack it to RVRoof.com in Green Cove Springs and have them repair the wood, and then spray the entire roof with RVFlex Armor which gives the roof a completely seamless, extremely tough coating that requires "ZERO" maintenance other than washing. It is supposed to be complete by the end of this week. I'll post some pics when I pick it up. The cost of the coating is not cheap ($170 per linear foot), but is not out of line with a complete membrane replacement, however is infinitely superior. (you will learn with factory membranes, you have to do semi-annual to annual maintenance on all areas that have seams or penetrations, to make sure the lap sealant is intact)

So there you have it. A long post, but that is the issues that I had. As you read through the forums, some of these issues are typical, some are not. Please don't let it scare you away, it just takes some diligence and maintenance to resolve them. But you are coming from a marine environment, so I'm sure you are used to it LOL (boat = hole in water to throw money in )

I did some other things to the unit as well, but we really like the floor plan, and plan to keep this 5th wheel for many years, so it was worth it to us to make "lemonade out of a lemon"

[HAF1027]

Originally Posted by wrogers

Ahh, where to begin LOL:

We purchased the unit used as it was an early 2019 model that had some differences in the layout that we preferred over the current iteration. Since it was "used", we had no access to any kind of warranty. I think my unit may have been built on a Monday or Friday.

1st issue:

On our initial trip out with it, we noticed a strong sewer smell inside the rig after using the toilets. I went onto the roof to look at the vent stacks to make sure there were no blockages (from wasp nest etc). I found none , but also noticed that there were only 3 vents, even though I have 4 tanks. I contacted Forest River and was told that they sometimes tee some vents together. I looked down the vent tube up front where there are 2 tanks with a borescope to verify there was a tee, and to my surprise, I suddenly started to see screws and the inside of a wall, rather than the inside of a pipe. I photo documented all of this. To further investigate, I pulled the shower surround wall out to gain access to the vent stack, and found that the pipe up through the roof was not connected to the "Y" at all, and the tanks were venting inside the wall. The pipe that went through the roof was 2" away from the "Y" and resting on 2 other pieces of pipe. There was no glue in the top of the "Y", so it was obvious the pipe through the roof was never connected to the "Y" at the factory. I connected everything up the way it should be & put the shower back together. The vents are all good now.

2nd issue:

Still was getting a strong urine smell, and further investigation revealed a known issue with the Dometic 300 series toilets leaking between the bowl and housing. I replaced both toilets with Thetford toilets. Cured that problem.

3rd issue:
When draining either tub, water would forcibly come out of the drain in the sinks. Turns out it was another vent issue with the air admittance valves under the sinks not working properly. Cured that problem by replacing all the traps on the sinks with Hepvo waterless traps. They allow air to go into the drain system to allow the vent to work properly, but will not allow any water to back up into the sink.

4th issue:
The tub drain trap in the back bathroom was loose and leaking. Tightened that up & is all good now.

current issue:
When cleaning the roof a few weeks back, I noticed an area of the rubber that looked a little "different" that the rest. When I looked closer, I found 1 leg of a staple sticking up through the rubber, which caused a "very" small hole in the membrane, but has been enough for water to get underneath, & what I saw was the OSB swollen under the rubber, with an area the size of a hockey puck that was rotted away under the membrane about a foot behind the pin hole in the membrane. It was probably this way since new, and was just some trash that wasn't cleaned off at the factory when the membrane was installed. It has probably been a very small leak for over a year now. A hole that small is not noticeable at all, since an EPDM roof naturally gets black spots on it, & the hole doesn't look any different. I put a temporary patch over the hole with Eternabond.

I decided at this point, rather than trying to do a patch job on the membrane after fixing the underlying wood, that I would just tack it to RVRoof.com in Green Cove Springs and have them repair the wood, and then spray the entire roof with RVFlex Armor which gives the roof a completely seamless, extremely tough coating that requires "ZERO" maintenance other than washing. It is supposed to be complete by the end of this week. I'll post some pics when I pick it up. The cost of the coating is not cheap ($170 per linear foot), but is not out of line with a complete membrane replacement, however is infinitely superior. (you will learn with factory membranes, you have to do semi-annual to annual maintenance on all areas that have seams or penetrations, to make sure the lap sealant is intact)

So there you have it. A long post, but that is the issues that I had. As you read through the forums, some of these issues are typical, some are not. Please don't let it scare you away, it just takes some diligence and maintenance to resolve them. But you are coming from a marine environment, so I'm sure you are used to it LOL (boat = hole in water to throw money in )

I did some other things to the unit as well, but we really like the floor plan, and plan to keep this 5th wheel for many years, so it was worth it to us to make "lemonade out of a lemon"

Thank you so much for the info!

I purchased mine new at the TAMPA show, waiting for delivery hoping end of month beginning of next month. Purchased from General RV in Tampa.

I’m thinking of paying the third party inspector do assist me when I go pick it up!

[wrogers]

I'm sure you will enjoy your new unit. Just be sure to take your time and do a thorough PDI. Just understand that even with a thorough PDI, some issues may crop up with use (can only run and fill things so much during PDI). Thats why a good shakedown trip gets you in tune with all the nuances of your new rig.

[wrogers]

Here are a couple of pictures of the issue I had with the vent that never was connected at the factory. The black pipe behind the coupler went through the roof, but was not connected to anything, just was resting on bottom of frame. It was actually in 3 separate pieces stacked on each other, so the tanks were just venting into the wall void.

Something like this will not necessarily show during a PDI of a new unit because there shouldn't be any stinky stuff in the tanks yet.

After some use though, it will manifest itself as there should be no lingering sewer smell inside the rig. (you may have some right after use, but that's not a tank vent issue LOL. Some people have been known to clear a whole stick & brick house )

[mspeicher73]

Taking delivery of an early 2021 model in a few weeks. Can anybody advise on what size of toppers and sheets I should get for the convertible dinette, front sofa and rear bunks?

[wrogers]

Twin size works fine for the rear bunks.

I don't use the convertible dinette or sofa in the main cabin, but they appear that queen size would fit fin.