Salem / Wildwood 368RLBHK

[m35a2]

That's really nice! Those rails must be pretty hefty. What'd the project set you back for parts if you don't mind me asking? I may try doing something like this (though my woodworking skills are novice at best).

[arter368rlbhk]

Thx Ya the slides are 500lbs rated. Think they were $60 on amazon. One sheet 1/2 plywood $28 cabinet grade. 2ea 1x8 maple $24. ( I used scraps I had so no cost for me).Quart of laquar and stain n/c old stock.

[Gonyoda]

New owner here. Thanks to gpaw and a few others for helping me make the decision to purchase the trailer!

Someone asked about the waste tank displays. Mine are wired like this:

Gray 1 - front grey tank (probably the shower)
Gray 2 - middle grey tank (probably the kitchen sink)
Black - black tank
The large lonely "Waste" display - rear (outdoor kitchen) tank

Mods so far:
Battery box cut-off switches (harbor freight) for both boxes
JT strongarm stabilizers
Bathroom vent cover
Rounded/smoothed edges of master bed foundation plywood
Replaced bedroom jack-knife couch with a twin mattress
Replaced storage bin locks

Mods I'd like to do:
replace the steps w/ a 4 step Torklift? or the Mor-Ride store-in-the-door-flip-down style

Things that don't make sense to me:
. the waste gates for 2 of the grey tanks are outside the basement - worries me about cold weather camping/storage
. apparently no water line drain valves?
. the bedroom a/c thermostat in the living room?

What are your thoughts?

[DNA111]

Originally Posted by Gonyoda

New owner here. Thanks to gpaw and a few others for helping me make the decision to purchase the trailer!

Someone asked about the waste tank displays. Mine are wired like this:

Gray 1 - front grey tank (probably the shower)
Gray 2 - middle grey tank (probably the kitchen sink)
Black - black tank
The large lonely "Waste" display - rear (outdoor kitchen) tank

Mods so far:
Battery box cut-off switches (harbor freight) for both boxes
JT strongarm stabilizers
Bathroom vent cover
Rounded/smoothed edges of master bed foundation plywood
Replaced bedroom jack-knife couch with a twin mattress
Replaced storage bin locks

Mods I'd like to do:
replace the steps w/ a 4 step Torklift? or the Mor-Ride store-in-the-door-flip-down style

Things that don't make sense to me:
. the waste gates for 2 of the grey tanks are outside the basement - worries me about cold weather camping/storage
. apparently no water line drain valves?
. the bedroom a/c thermostat in the living room?

What are your thoughts?

Your water line drain valves (hot/Cold) are on the entry door side just under the furnace and outdoor speakers, or at least mine are.

[Gonyoda]

Hah! Thanks for the photos that helped! Mine are there but tucked up under the skirt and don't have valves, just caps. Thanks!

If you replaced your steps which ones did you choose and why?

Also, my awning rail is pulling away from the camper at the front. Anyone else have this problem yet? When the awning is in all the way it puts tremendous pressure on the rail. It's like I need to stop pulling in the awning a 1/2" before it's in all the way. That's tricky to do especially when it's the boy pushing the button...

[gpaw56]

Originally Posted by Gonyoda

Hah! Thanks for the photos that helped! Mine are there but tucked up under the skirt and don't have valves, just caps. Thanks!

If you replaced your steps which ones did you choose and why?

Also, my awning rail is pulling away from the camper at the front. Anyone else have this problem yet? When the awning is in all the way it puts tremendous pressure on the rail. It's like I need to stop pulling in the awning a 1/2" before it's in all the way. That's tricky to do especially when it's the boy pushing the button...

I installed Lippert 341504 Quad Radius Step because I wanted 4 steps and they were im price range I was looking for. Had to make slight adjustments for them to fit but no big deal.

Haven't noticed awning problem yet. I have been paying close attention due to others reporting same issue.

[gpaw56]

Outdoor fridge quit working yesterday. Runs but doesn't cool. Calling dealer tomorrow for appointment to get list of repairs done. We're done camping for a few months. All in all this camper has served us well so far even with the issues we have had. The good times seemed to outweight the issues though. Kind of like owning a boat.... You never quit working on it...

[Gonyoda]

I fixed my awning pulling away from the RV problem:

1) Lowered the powered arm 1 1/2". This significantly reduced the leverage the awning arm had against the awning rail which was causing it to pull away in the first place. See this link. A trick here is the gas charged rod puts out ridiculous pressure. Opened the awning all the way and used a strap to keep it from putting a lot of pressure on the attachment rods. Also recruited a friend to help hold the arm and maneuver the pins into place. I left the non-powered arm alone - it doesn't tug on the rail at all. So now I have an un-level awning - seems like a good idea since it helps shed rain to one end when the trailer is level and the awning is closed?

2) Replaced pulled out screws (and a few others) with Dometic "oscar/molly" rivets. See this link. These rivets also pulled the rail tight against the RV wall - exactly what I wanted to happen. I used a drill to widen the holes - but be careful with the rotating drill and the awning fabric! I rubbed away some of the fabric color accidentally - oops! Also don't drill too deep!

Very happy with how it turned out and it wasn't too much work either. Sorry, no before/after pics!

[arter368rlbhk]

Just a little up date on ours that we bought beginning of May. No real issues so far. Have camped with it 4 times and 5th time coming up this weekend. Side note, if anybody out there goes to Cedar point amusement park I highly recommend camping at lighthouse point. We did this last weekend over a long weekend and we had a great time.

[m35a2]

Got back last Friday from a 3 week 5k mile trip to the Sonoran Desert (not far from Green Valley, AZ) and back.

The rear of my camper has a sofa with an end table at each end, attached to the wall of the camper. One of these pulled loose from the wall. Not sure exactly how I want to fix this yet. Maybe some kind of molly bolt. Securing a table into a 1/8th sheet of board backed by styrofoam with a wood screw... Really FR?

Bedroom slide: There are two boards (one on each side of the bed) toenailed to the floor which cover the slide mechanism and slide motor. Both of these came loose. I intend to fix these with a few angle brackets.

Steps would not stay retracted on rougher sections of highway. Fixed with a pair of bungee cords.

The little black "filters" for the AC units got partially sucked up into the AC units so that they weren't filtering anything. Bad news when we travel with two dogs and two cats. I think they were supposed to be secured with rubber bands originally. One had one rubber band holding it, the other didn't have any at all. Fixed these so that they velcro to the cover.

The driver's side big slide (dining table/couch) started making a lot of noise when I extend/retract it. This weekend I am going to lube the slides with some slide lube I have coming from Amazon. It's supposed to be some kind of dry stuff that doesn't attract dirt.

My 15yo tripped coming into the camper and put a hole in the bunkhouse room door. LOL what a klutz! I need to replace the door. It would be so nice if I could make a residential hollow core door fit. I can't bring myself to measure it though because I fear the answer is "No".

[Gonyoda]

Originally Posted by m35a2

The rear of my camper has a sofa with an end table at each end, attached to the wall of the camper. One of these pulled loose from the wall. Not sure exactly how I want to fix this yet. <snip>

m35a2 - my tables are attached to the back wall and side walls. Looks like woods screws to me as well. Hasn't come loose yet!

Is your rear couch attached to the floor? The recliners in the slide are attached to the floor, but I can move the rear couch around. It's heavy, but I'd imagine with a panic stop and some bumps, it could move around. Need to look to see if there were some attachment points that broke loose. We had it setup as a bed on our last trip and it worked fine.

Bummer about your door! Post how you end up fixing it, seems like a possibility for anyone here.

In all my trailers I've never had stairs pop out while travelling, but the stairs in this trailer are pretty bad. I got some new Torklift Revolution steps and installing them this weekend. Pics and feedback in my next post!

-J

[StressedVines Wine]

Originally Posted by arter368rlbhk

Attachment 141357

Wow! Great ideal!

[gpaw56]

Thanks to everyone with you trip updates and ideas. Last trip in late June was really hot and we had in-laws. Was worried a/c's wouldn't cool satisfactorily. I was pleasantly surprised, they did a great job. They both worked hard during the day, which is what I wanted them to do so if it was going to have problems I was hoping it would surface. Only problem on that trip was outside fridge quit working.

Finally put mine in the shop for list of warranty repairs. I have ordered TPMS after reading numerous recommendations on the forum.

[m35a2]

Tpms is a really nice quality of life improvement, not so much for pressure (because I check that with a gauge before every trip) but for the temperature monitoring. I'm a little bit paranoid about bearing failure.

Just so nice to have that temp display!

[arter368rlbhk]

Thx for the updates and Anybody have a recommendation for a good tpms system?

[m35a2]

Originally Posted by arter368rlbhk

Thx for the updates and Anybody have a recommendation for a good tpms system?

I got this one. It's relatively cheap but works well. The only gripe I have about it is the lcd display can be hard to see during the day. At night a backlight comes on and it's great.

Customer support is good too. Had one sensor not working and they sent me another one.

http://a.co/eLEqZ2J

When you are shopping pay attention to the max pressure. Some of them don't go high enough for our tire pressure.

[arter368rlbhk]

Ordered thx for the info m35a2

[Gonyoda]

How long does your inverter work off your batteries?

We just did a 12 hour drive with ambient temps in the mid-high 90s and the inverter stopped due to low battery voltage somewhere after 8-9 hours. Stuff in the fridge was still plenty cold. But we often drive a marathon day so our second day is much shorter.

I have 2 batteries but not sure of cca or a/h ratings. Curious about your experiences with long run times on the batteries. And any advice to improve on 8hr runtime.

Thanks!
John

[arter368rlbhk]

Hmm I'm not sure, I also have two batteries. But I have a charging hot lead from my truck to the fiver and haven't noticed a problem, even after driving 12+hrs. May want to consider running a charging wire from the tow vehicle to the camper. My truck was prewired for it from the factory and all I had to do was put a fuse in the trucks fuse panel in order to take advantage of it. Does make me wonder if my dealer was blowing smoke though, as he told me that the two batteries would run the fridge for multiple days as long as there weren't any other power draws.

[bmarleyzq8]

Could someone shed some light on the order of the grey tanks on this unit? I know the meter for the outdoor kitchen is all by its self. Is the bathroom grey tank one or two? Also and probably more of a concern, I think there is a possibility that the set of pull handles most forward of the camper are mixed up. I'm pretty sure that my grey lever is actually to the black tank. Oddly enough it appears that both handles are held on to the steel rods with electrical tape? Could some one take a look at theirs and tell me if their black handle is the farthest forward handle or not? Thanks!