Forest River Guides To Winterizing Class C's

[RedLdr1]

Forest River has produced guides for winterizing your rig. They are based on your chassis type; Transit, MBS Sprinter, or the E-450 / Chevy LE, not brand or model. I believe these guides are applicable to units made after 2015. Most of the info should apply to older units as well.

 

[Duckogram]

References

Those are pretty good references. Should be useful for gnubees and a good checklist for the geriatric campers. For those who found a GTS to wander about in, the Classic guide will work just fine.

 

[ron203]

Just need to double check

I have a new 2022 3010DS Sunseeker Classic and found these guides which are great. Sorry to resurrect to a fairly old thread but I need to doublecheck something I see in the Sunseeker guide.

The winterization guide is VERY helpful but Figure 4 shows the intake hose fastened directly to the valve. Mine has about a 6" feeder stub on that valve (for lack of a better description) and the short hose is capped off. I was thinking I'd have to replace that hose, THEN I noticed a coil of braided white hose of the same type, about 1/2" dia. coiled up and stuffed behind the pump. The long piece was secured to the wall with a retainer similar to a zip tie. This coil has a female fitting on one end and the other has no fitting at all. It turned out to be about 36" long when I fished it out of the retaining device holding it the wall and pulled it out of the compartment.

The question is this: Has FR gone from a long attached hose like the guide shows in Figure 4, to a short piece attached with the longer piece (used for anti-freeze pickup purposes) which is stashed behind the pump? Everything else appears the same as in Fig. 4. The hidden (stashed) hose screws right onto the end of the stubby hose.

I've just found enough little "things" wrong with this rig on this same side, that I do not trust the builder tech when I find something "just a little off."
Thanks in advance!
Ron

 

[Duckogram]

I have a new 2022 3010DS Sunseeker Classic and found these guides which are great. Sorry to resurrect to a fairly old thread but I need to doublecheck something I see in the Sunseeker guide.

The winterization guide is VERY helpful but Figure 4 shows the intake hose fastened directly to the valve. Mine has about a 6" feeder stub on that valve (for lack of a better description) and the short hose is capped off. I was thinking I'd have to replace that hose, THEN I noticed a coil of braided white hose of the same type, about 1/2" dia. coiled up and stuffed behind the pump. The long piece was secured to the wall with a retainer similar to a zip tie. This coil has a female fitting on one end and the other has no fitting at all. It turned out to be about 36" long when I fished it out of the retaining device holding it the wall and pulled it out of the compartment.

The question is this: Has FR gone from a long attached hose like the guide shows in Figure 4, to a short piece attached with the longer piece (used for anti-freeze pickup purposes) which is stashed behind the pump? Everything else appears the same as in Fig. 4. The hidden (stashed) hose screws right onto the end of the stubby hose.

I've just found enough little "things" wrong with this rig on this same side, that I do not trust the builder tech when I find something "just a little off."
Thanks in advance!
Ron

I would not be surprised and it makes perfect sense if FR did make that change. Valve issues (function or operator error) would be avoided if the suction line was capped. I know I never in 5 years used that winterization hose. I cannot see how having to unscrew a cap and screw on the hose would create an issue. I am not sure what a “builder tech” is but I would view this change as a right vs a wrong. YMMV

 

[ron203]

I would not be surprised and it makes perfect sense if FR did make that change. Valve issues (function or operator error) would be avoided if the suction line was capped. I know I never in 5 years used that winterization hose. I cannot see how having to unscrew a cap and screw on the hose would create an issue. I am not sure what a “builder tech” is but I would view this change as a right vs a wrong. YMMV

Thanks for the reply. “Builder tech” is what I called whoever wad working on the actual construction of the unit, Every single tweak or adjustment I’ve had to make since delivery has been on the same side of the rig.

 

[RKNOLA]

I have a new 2022 3010DS Sunseeker Classic and found these guides which are great. Sorry to resurrect to a fairly old thread but I need to doublecheck something I see in the Sunseeker guide.

The winterization guide is VERY helpful but Figure 4 shows the intake hose fastened directly to the valve. Mine has about a 6" feeder stub on that valve (for lack of a better description) and the short hose is capped off. I was thinking I'd have to replace that hose, THEN I noticed a coil of braided white hose of the same type, about 1/2" dia. coiled up and stuffed behind the pump. The long piece was secured to the wall with a retainer similar to a zip tie. This coil has a female fitting on one end and the other has no fitting at all. It turned out to be about 36" long when I fished it out of the retaining device holding it the wall and pulled it out of the compartment.

The question is this: Has FR gone from a long attached hose like the guide shows in Figure 4, to a short piece attached with the longer piece (used for anti-freeze pickup purposes) which is stashed behind the pump? Everything else appears the same as in Fig. 4. The hidden (stashed) hose screws right onto the end of the stubby hose.

I've just found enough little "things" wrong with this rig on this same side, that I do not trust the builder tech when I find something "just a little off."
Thanks in advance!
Ron

I also found the coiled up hose while looking for the low point drain. Now all I need is a 6 yr old with an arm small enough to reach into that compartment to retrieve the coiled up hose!
This is not a very efficient design! UGGG!!!

 

[ron203]

Hose

I also found the coiled up hose while looking for the low point drain. Now all I need is a 6 yr old with an arm small enough to reach into that compartment to retrieve the coiled up hose!
This is not a very efficient design! UGGG!!!

Thanks for the reply. Agreed. Why not just toss it in the compartment? Mine was secured to the wall with a strap similar to a zip tie and had just enough slack in it the I was to feed the raw end that has no fitting backwards through the tie a couple times and free it Good luck.

 

[RKNOLA]

Thanks for the reply. Agreed. Why not just toss it in the compartment? Mine was secured to the wall with a strap similar to a zip tie and had just enough slack in it the I was to feed the raw end that has no fitting backwards through the tie a couple times and free it Good luck.

Yes mine has the same "zip tie" but it is tight. Also hard to see what I am doing since the hole is only big enough for either my flashlight OR my head..... but not both! I was able to open the valve to drain the fresh water tank so that should help.

 

[Lady Di 83]

What about dewinterizing?

Hello, I see the stickies for winterizing, but what would be the best guide for De-winterizing my 2021 Forest River Forester (class C). Can anyone send me a link? I will have to do it at the campground so I presume I'll dump all the pink stuff into the gray tank and then dump? It's just lil ol me trying to figure it out so as dumbed down as possible is best haha Thank you!