Picking up new 2024 25BRDS in a few days!!!!

[Ratskat]

We have our appointment finally to pick up our new trailer on Saturday (March 23, 2024 for those seeing this much later)

We downloaded a check list another member posted (thank you!)

This years season will only be our third with travel trailers, first season we had a used pop up, the second we had a used hybrid, so we know the basics at least now.

Super excited as this will be our first NEW trailer. My front hall is a disaster as everything from the old trailer is waiting to go into it's new home.

Any wise tips/advice are appreciated.

[Fun finders]

Welcome to the forum from Winnipeg and congratulations on your new trailer

[Wiscampsin]

Welcome from Wisconsin. Congrats and enjoy your 1st new camper. Download another checklist so you have 1 for you and 1 for the dealer. That way anything you see that needs to be fixed/adjusted/repaired/etc check it off on both lists. Now you both have a copy of what you expect to be done before you finalize the transaction. And don't sign anything else or hand over any more $ until all is taken care of to your satisfaction. Otherwise you go to the end of the service depts list and it could take a while for things to get taken care of.

[Ratskat]

Originally Posted by Fun finders

Welcome to the forum from Winnipeg and congratulations on your new trailer

Thanks fellow Canuck! I actually lived in Winterpeg for 5 years and our first two girls were born there.

[Ratskat]

Originally Posted by Wiscampsin

Welcome from Wisconsin. Congrats and enjoy your 1st new camper. Download another checklist so you have 1 for you and 1 for the dealer. That way anything you see that needs to be fixed/adjusted/repaired/etc check it off on both lists. Now you both have a copy of what you expect to be done before you finalize the transaction. And don't sign anything else or hand over any more $ until all is taken care of to your satisfaction. Otherwise you go to the end of the service depts list and it could take a while for things to get taken care of.

Thank you for the welcome and what a great idea on printing two!

I am searching for a better list as the one I downloaded said it's for Hybrid trailers. It does say it could apply to any travel trailer but will see if I can find a better one.

[Ratskat]

haha you will get two responses as I didn't see the quick reply, only the quote (newbie can you tell? )

Thanks fellow Canuck! I actually lived in Winterpeg for 5 years and our first two girls were born there.

[jimmoore13]

You asked for advice.

New does not mean perfect. If you can, schedule several close-by shakedown trips to try to iron out the kinks. Try everything, repeatedly. Even if you have plans to use city water at an RV park, sanitize your freshwater tank and pump, and test it out thoroughly.

Run everything including the furnace and AC regardless of temperature. Be dogged in your attempts to test run everything to see if it breaks. Once you get a few short trips under your belt and all the bugs dealt with, you will be confident when you go on a trip.

If you have a portable generator, give it a test run...and see what will and won't run on the genny. If you have a 2 KW genny, it's likely your AC won't work. If you need the AC to work on the generator, consider a soft start kit for the AC. (google it)

As the season progresses, watch your tires for uneven wear. Once in a while an axle will be mounted cockeyed. Two axles can just double your pleasure.

Monitor for things "falling apart." It's not unusual for screws to back out...even fall on the floor. Also monitor for your suspension to show signs of welds cracking. Spring hangers can be fragile...ESPECIALLY if you spin the trailer in place when parking. Lateral loads on the tires transfer through the springs and up to the frame.

Depending on how you use the RV and what battery the dealer supplied, learn about battery upgrades, solar add on, and so forth. If you do ANY boondocking at all, think about substantial upgrades to your battery bank, solar, and genny. That 12 volt compressor fridge eats batteries alive. If the dealer gives you a conventional lead acid, group 24, 12 volt marine battery, it will have a very hard time making it through one night if you also run the furnace.

If you ever plan to "dry camp"/boondock, bone up on 12 volt power and how to have enough and how to manage it.

Lastly, if you boondock, you'll tote water in the fresh tank. Find out how well or poorly your fresh tank is supported. While things have gotten better on this front, freshwater tanks are notorious for "falling out" of the trailer when full.

[Ratskat]

Originally Posted by jimmoore13

You asked for advice.

New does not mean perfect. If you can, schedule several close-by shakedown trips to try to iron out the kinks. Try everything, repeatedly. Even if you have plans to use city water at an RV park, sanitize your freshwater tank and pump, and test it out thoroughly.

Run everything including the furnace and AC regardless of temperature. Be dogged in your attempts to test run everything to see if it breaks. Once you get a few short trips under your belt and all the bugs dealt with, you will be confident when you go on a trip.

If you have a portable generator, give it a test run...and see what will and won't run on the genny. If you have a 2 KW genny, it's likely your AC won't work. If you need the AC to work on the generator, consider a soft start kit for the AC. (google it)

As the season progresses, watch your tires for uneven wear. Once in a while an axle will be mounted cockeyed. Two axles can just double your pleasure.

Monitor for things "falling apart." It's not unusual for screws to back out...even fall on the floor. Also monitor for your suspension to show signs of welds cracking. Spring hangers can be fragile...ESPECIALLY if you spin the trailer in place when parking. Lateral loads on the tires transfer through the springs and up to the frame.

Depending on how you use the RV and what battery the dealer supplied, learn about battery upgrades, solar add on, and so forth. If you do ANY boondocking at all, think about substantial upgrades to your battery bank, solar, and genny. That 12 volt compressor fridge eats batteries alive. If the dealer gives you a conventional lead acid, group 24, 12 volt marine battery, it will have a very hard time making it through one night if you also run the furnace.

If you ever plan to "dry camp"/boondock, bone up on 12 volt power and how to have enough and how to manage it.

Lastly, if you boondock, you'll tote water in the fresh tank. Find out how well or poorly your fresh tank is supported. While things have gotten better on this front, freshwater tanks are notorious for "falling out" of the trailer when full.

That's great information! We are actually towing it to our driveway for at least a week and during that time we plan on testing out as much as we can. After that week we will either tow it to our daughter's place a few hours away or to our trailer storage area that is only a 30 minute drive from our place. Our first official camping is booked for May 10th.

I'm pretty sure it will be your basic lead acid cheap battery that will come with the trailer. Our thought is to change to a lithium one in the future but we want to do more research first. Baby steps

We have a Honda EU2200i generator and plan on getting the companion as well but the soft start is an option to consider for the AC.

Because I have done some overlanding in my Jeep Wrangler., we already own a portable 200 watt solar panel and a portable power station LiFePO4 battery generator (1800W (Peak 3600W), 1548Wh). Since we have this we thought we wouldn't immediately add a second solar panel to the roof as the portable panel can be moved to take advantage of where the sun is, unlike moving the trailer itself.

I have researched a bit on how to support the fresh water tank since where we have boondocked we would need to bring the water in with us. A few have mentioned adding supports but it's intimidating to us as it would require messing around underneath the trailer. We will need to do more research on that and for now just carry jerry cans and a honey wagon.

In regards to the dual axle, i have seen videos on how they can get skewed, that's scary for sure, especially since hubby doesn't want to get any extra warranty. He feels that the amount spent on the warranty cost ($3K & up) , the trouble to get anything covered under warranty and that we have heard that you can get repairs done quicker if it's something you will pay and the repair place doesn't have to do the "red tape" warranty battle will pay for itself...not counting that the amount paid would most likely pay for the first bit of repairs.

[RoadDog66]

Congrats. We picked our 25BRDS in Feb but the weather hasn’t allowed us much time to get acquainted with it. Definitely recommend a local “shakedown” trip or two to check for any issues before any longer distance trips.

[Ratskat]

Originally Posted by RoadDog66

Congrats. We picked our 25BRDS in Feb but the weather hasn’t allowed us much time to get acquainted with it. Definitely recommend a local “shakedown” trip or two to check for any issues before any longer distance trips.

We should compare our shakedown trips later haha

[RoadDog66]

Will do.

[jimmoore13]

Originally Posted by Ratskat

That's great information! We are actually towing it to our driveway for at least a week and during that time we plan on testing out as much as we can. <<SNIP>>

We have a Honda EU2200i generator and plan on getting the companion as well but the soft start is an option to consider for the AC.

Because I have done some overlanding in my Jeep Wrangler., we already own a portable 200 watt solar panel and a portable power station LiFePO4 battery generator (1800W (Peak 3600W), 1548Wh). Since we have this we thought we wouldn't immediately add a second solar panel to the roof as the portable panel can be moved to take advantage of where the sun is, unlike moving the trailer itself.

I have researched a bit on how to support the fresh water tank since where we have boondocked we would need to bring the water in with us. A few have mentioned adding supports but it's intimidating to us as it would require messing around underneath the trailer. We will need to do more research on that and for now just carry jerry cans and a honey wagon.

In regards to the dual axle, i have seen videos on how they can get skewed, that's scary for sure, especially since hubby doesn't want to get any extra warranty. He feels that the amount spent on the warranty cost ($3K & up) , the trouble to get anything covered under warranty and that we have heard that you can get repairs done quicker if it's something you will pay and the repair place doesn't have to do the "red tape" warranty battle will pay for itself...not counting that the amount paid would most likely pay for the first bit of repairs.

Responding point by point:

With the driveway test, actually sleep in it at least one night. Run the furnace at 68 to 70 degrees to make sure it runs reliably and the thermostat can get the furnace to deliver a fairly consistent temp.
After sanitizing, do your full city water and fresh tank and hot water heater testing with "real world" demands like doing dishes and taking a shower.

With the soft start, your single 2 KW Honda may be enough. A "companion" may not be necessary unless it's unbearably hot where you camp and you need the reserve power to be able to run the microwave simultaneously. Otherwise, just shut off the AC to run the microwave, and save yourself many $$$ and lots of brain damage managing two small engines and the hookup paraphernalia.

Solar/batteries. Portable solar is great if you stay on top of the aiming. Rooftop solar is always working...even on the road. More often than not, I see portable panels setup pointing SouthEast at 3 in the afternoon, because folks are off playing and forget to reaim them.
The converter in your new rig can likely be switched to charge LiFePo4. So can rooftop solar charge controllers. Be aware that you may need to isolate your tow vehicle's alternator from that battery somehow, because the battery is like a black hole sucking amps past its event horizon, and the alternator can't keep up. There's a way to handle this...so I'm just making you aware.
Lithium is awesome.
I put 400 watts of solar on my roof so I don't need to ever think about the solar. That much solar generates power dawn to dusk, shade or full sun. Image below.
BTW, that portable power bank is pretty healthy. 1548 watt hours = about 129 amp hours. This calculator will be handy. Watts are "power" in the calculator. Always enter 12 for voltage. https://www.rapidtables.com/calc/ele...alculator.html

There are LOTS of threads here on supporting your freshwater tank. It's not that hard.

Speaking of "supporting" your fresh tank. It's great to have lightweight, high-capacity potable water jugs that allow you to bring or get a sizeable amount of freshwater to refill your fresh tank in the field without moving the rig. I fill and carry with me 4 or these 7-gallon Reliance jugs. That gives me 28 gallons of additional water to bring to a remote site. If there's clean water nearby...like at a National Forest Service (NFS) campground with water hydrants, the jugs can be empty, and I can fill them and bring them to my rig. Why not another type of water jug? Note the cap on the Reliance jug. It's an NPT-threaded hole that will accept standard 1/2" pipe thread. I make an adapter useing a PVC 1/2" thread to barb adapter. To that I add about 18" of clear plastic 1/2" hose with a hose clamp. This allows me to pour from the jug to my gravity fill on the rig without spilling. The only caveat is that a jug containing 7 gallons off water weighs 60 pounds. That doesn't sound like much until you have to hold it up while transferring the water from the jug to the fresh tank. They make 5 gallon Reliance jugs, too.

Jumping ahead, tire wear is your telltale for axle alignment. But you can tell sooner with a portable temp sensor like this. All tires should be fairly close to the same temp when measured...allowing a bit of flux for sun exposure and so on. If any single tire or pair on an axle are much hotter than the others, it's time to start investigating. A tire pressure monitoring system is a good investment with a new RV. If you plan to invest in one, come back to the forums for recommendations on the best choices.

Extended warranties??? IMHO fuggeddaboudit. I don't have time to mess around with that nonsense. You lose your rig for weeks at a time, have to wrestle with all the bureaucracy, and most of the time, you end up fixing things yourself anyway. I had two warranty repairs...both with the running gear. Spring hangers broke off my frame...a portable welder fixed them and the frame manufacturer reimbursed me. A main leaf spring broke, and a mobile RV repair helped me with the job...and after 6 months of struggle with Dexter, they reimbursed me. The rest of the stuff? If you're inveterate boondockers with tents and Jeeps and portable solar and a Jackery power supply, you don't need no steenkin' extended warranty. Get a decent tool kit instead.

Next...dry camping for extended periods. This is going to be a "book".

You mentioned "honey wagon," and that triggered me to think you plan on some extended stays that might be far from dump stations. That's how we camp.

When you dry camp, you tend to be frugal with flush water. That can work against you with a "honey wagon." We boondock exclusively. Our tactic is to be frugal with flush water. So to keep things from getting out of hand, I turn off the pump, take a large "paint stir paddle", step on the flush, and "stir the pot." This breaks up the growing mound. As the days wear on, urine adds liquid along with the quick flushes. As I stir the pot a couple of times, the effluent becomes more and more emulsified. By about the 6th or 7th day, our black tank is brimming, but it's now a nice emulsified slurry, and only then will it dump reliably. Otherwise solids will block the dump and you might only get 5 gallons or so out of the black tank. Premature dumping is actually counter productive. In our case, we camp in National Forest Service campgrounds, and we are required to move every two weeks. Since we arrive on Thursday and go home on Sunday, we are technically only there for 6 or 7 camping days. And I stretch the tank capacity by using the vault toilet for the rough stuff. BTW, not to worry. I use lots of nitrile gloves and I store my "nasty" paint paddle in a trash bag, outside, under the rig...managing where the business end is in the bag carefully. This process is FAR less nasty than the actual process of performing a black tank dump.

Continuing:
We do consulting work from our home office. This year, we are considering investing in Starlink so we can work from the RV. This will require a better method for dumping the black tank, because we would stay in the camper for nearly 14 days at a clip. Something's gotta give, and we don't want to de-camp with the rig and tow it 5 miles to the nearest dump station.
At home, we use a macerator pump to pump the contents of our black tank to a convenient sewer cleanout. So our new plan (under consideration) is to get a very large blackwater tote, leave it in the truck bed, and use the macerator pump to transfer the black tank to the tote. Since water weighs 8.3 pounds per gallon, 36 gallons of blackwater might weigh as much as 300# or more with the tank. The macerator allows keeping the tote in the truck bed.

The NFS campground has potable water hydrants here and there. I could fill a 5 gallon bucket with water to "chase" down the toilet to help with the flush. The key is to ensure the tote is significantly larger than my black tank so there are no poop explosions.

We typically camp about 20 miles from home...on a lakefront site. We'd no doubt go home at least once during the 2 week stay to check on things and restock supplies. I'd be able to dump the tote at home during that supply trip.

Does any of this apply to you guys? Not sure. Consider it as food for thought as you design your boondocking capabilities.

We never go to RV parks. We camp in places like the photos below. Being able to boondock for extended periods takes some planning and equipment, but it's worth it...especially if you're the 4-wheeling types you sound like. That one distant shot in the woods was about 1/4 to 1/2 mile down an ATV trail.

End of novel.

[jimmoore13]

P.S. On warranties and RV retailer repairs. Never forget what it costs you to drag your RV around here and there. It's well over a dollar a mile. Your tow vehicle might get 17 MPG unladen on a flat road. Towing, it's more likely to be under 10 MPG. Add in the wear and tear and depreciation on your tow vehicle and cost per mile to drag the RV (tires, wheel bearings, brakes, and blah blah blah) and $1.00/mile is a VERY conservative estimate.

So, if your RV dealer is 20 miles away, that round trip costs you $40! Just to get there and back. Not to mention your time on two different days and another 40 miles of driving to/from without the RV. Going to the RV dealer will set you back at least $60 or more. $60 will buy you one helluva lot of RV repairs. And when REAL things break (spring hangers, main leaf on the springs), you ain't goin' nowhere nowhow anyway.

Bank that $3K you're thinking of blowing on extended warranty, and find the number for a reliable mobile RV repair service. Spend it on that person as needed when needed.

[Rabidawg]

Two things: Keep toothpicks and a wood glue (Elmers) so that you can put those loose screws in your cabinet doors back on. (Glue on the toothpick into the screw hole, then put the screw back in. Stays forever.) Just break off excess toothpick. To transfer outside jugs of water, I have a small battery operated transfer pump. They're cheap, easy to store.

[Deans25BRDS]

We got our 25BRDS last November and we love it. Their are some minor issues we.ve found but it still a great trailer. First, the closets on each side of the murphy bed are a little hard to get to (with the bed down). Second, the cabinets above the dinning takes two hands to operate, one to hold the door and one hand to retrieve an item (they don't stay up). Third, their is far less storage inside the camper than our old one. My wife loves to cook so its basically a rolling kitchen. We can store clothing and other items on the bunks unless we have the grand kids. Fourth, the stock mattress has to go. The three trips have been miserable on this cheapo mattress. Swapped it out with our foam one and its great. These are minors and we look at it as somethings to improve on. Being a DIYer is kinda part of RV life. But we love it and you will too. Enjoy !!

[Rabidawg]

Originally Posted by Deans25BRDS

We got our 25BRDS last November and we love it. Their are some minor issues we.ve found but it still a great trailer. First, the closets on each side of the murphy bed are a little hard to get to (with the bed down). Second, the cabinets above the dinning takes two hands to operate, one to hold the door and one hand to retrieve an item (they don't stay up). Third, their is far less storage inside the camper than our old one. My wife loves to cook so its basically a rolling kitchen. We can store clothing and other items on the bunks unless we have the grand kids. Fourth, the stock mattress has to go. The three trips have been miserable on this cheapo mattress. Swapped it out with our foam one and its great. These are minors and we look at it as somethings to improve on. Being a DIYer is kinda part of RV life. But we love it and you will too. Enjoy !!

We use those closets on the sides by the bed for pillows and extra bedding for when the bed is up. (and my shotgun). Be sure to use those straps on the bed to keep the mattress from sliding down into the floor storage area! We converted that closet in the bathroom for hanging our clothes using a sturdy closet bar and screwing the mounts into the side walls. We also have hooks and baskets screwed into the walls for jackets, or misc. items. We tow with a stablizer system, and a Ram pickup. I learned the hard way that the truck tailgate can drop onto my electric jack. Depending on your brand of electric jack, I turned mine 90 degrees (with some drilling) to avoid future damage. My next step after summerising in a few weeks will be to double check if I need to put extra support boards under the fresh, grey, and black water bladders. We improved the mattress with a 2" foam topper to keep it on the light side.

[benchmarks]

Yeah Jimmoore13 said it right. New is a suckers bet. You should have known better after the first not second. Let the first owner pay for the fixes and save dollars. Next time �� bleep it…happy camping! Keep in mind Jimmoore13 lives the extreme camping life. His wife better love him lots lol.

[JDR76]

Congratulations! We also have a 25BRDS and we love it!

Originally Posted by Deans25BRDS

We got our 25BRDS last November and we love it. Their are some minor issues we.ve found but it still a great trailer. First, the closets on each side of the murphy bed are a little hard to get to (with the bed down). Second, the cabinets above the dinning takes two hands to operate, one to hold the door and one hand to retrieve an item (they don't stay up). Third, their is far less storage inside the camper than our old one. My wife loves to cook so its basically a rolling kitchen. We can store clothing and other items on the bunks unless we have the grand kids. Fourth, the stock mattress has to go. The three trips have been miserable on this cheapo mattress. Swapped it out with our foam one and its great. These are minors and we look at it as somethings to improve on. Being a DIYer is kinda part of RV life. But we love it and you will too. Enjoy !!

Mind if I ask what mattress you went with? I was trying to decide between buying a new mattress or playing around with a foam topper, but obviously can't go too thick.

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by Ratskat

I am searching for a better list as the one I downloaded said it's for Hybrid trailers. It does say it could apply to any travel trailer but will see if I can find a better one.

At the top of the screen is a green bar. In that bar, click "Library."
Then, at the right, click "Miscellaneous Documents."
Ignore the Motorhome PDI. There are two other PDI documents, one on page 1 and one on page 2. Both are good.

[RoadDog66]

Sorry in advance to hihack the thread. Any of you with the 25BRDS that keep it at your home know just the box length (exterior rear wall to farthest part of curved front)?

We store ours away from our home and I’m working all weekend so I can’t get there to measure it myself for several days.

Thanks