Grand Design RV - RV-Dreams Community Forum

bigboomer · RV-Dreams Family Member

Grand Design RV

Jo And Craig · RV-Dreams Family Member

I got to the part where it said 60 gallon fresh water tank. That was enough for me. Next!

Ann and Steve · RV-Dreams Family Member

Saw one at last year's RV show in Chicago. Pretty nice, large pantry, routine accoutrements, big basement. Met the company's co-owner (co-President?) who explained how he and some other engineers abandoned their previous [manufacturer] employer. The unit I saw was something like #2 as they weren't yet in full production at that time. I don't remember the asking price. They didn't have brochures or a web site at that time.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

I've not seen one, but like Mary Sunshine, I've looked at the specifications. 16,000 lbs GVWR for units that are over 38-feet long and 101 inches wide is pretty light. As such, the 7000 lb axles would probably be suitable. The furnaces are 35,000 btu instead of 42,000, but I couldn't even swear to what was normal for coaches that size. Our Mobile Suites is about that size, but much heavier and would normally come with a 42,000 btu, but ours has the Canadian Package, which is two 30,000 btu furnaces.

Their images on line look pretty good, but I seldom use that in my evaluation unless I'm actually in the unit. Otherwise, that's Jo's job.

Terry

dtrp17 · RV-Dreams Community Member

We have been looking at 5th wheels for over a year my wife likes the infinity fl and we both like the solitude 368RD. The only problem that we have with the solitude is the lack of info as to how they are built. We live in Calif. so it would be hard to visit where they are built.Their web site has all most no info. We have another year before we retire hopefully by then we will be able to find out more.

Wayne and Jennifer

el Rojo and Pam · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have a 2014 Grand Design Solitude 369RL. This is our 1st 5th Wheel but our 10th rv. We traded in a 2004 Winnebago Vectra that we bought new. We already had a Ford F-350 DRW so that wasn't an issue. So far we really enjoy the livability of the 5th wheel. To be honest I wasn't crazy about the 60 gal fresh water tank. But the corp parks around our home have water but no sewer at the site. The 90 gallon gray water is great coming out of a 54 gal gray in the MH. The owners of GD are the ones who started Keystone. So far no major quality issues.

That's all I got for now. Any questions, ask away.

Red

Singing4MyJesus · RV-Dreams Community Member

We love ours. It has everything we wanted and we are now practicing retirement in it by living in it full time. We bought a 2016 GD Solitude 379FL. We buy our truck in 2018. Her name "Beautiful Behemoth!"

Second Chance · RV-Dreams Family Member

We've been full-time in our Grand Design Reflection fifth wheel ("little sister" to the Solitudes) since August of 2015. We love the size and the floorplan of our 337RLS - perfect for us. I'm not a big fan of Lippert Components and their suspension systems, but we've had ours replaced with the MOR/ryde independent suspension and disc brakes. It's a keeper for us! Grand Design customer service is about the best in the industry right now. GD has just been purchased by Winnebago and we're waiting so see what impact - if any - that has on things. You can get a lot of good information over on the Grand Design Owners' forum, too.

http://www.granddesignowners.com/forum/forum.php

The forum is independent from Grand Design.

Rob

MooreFun · RV-Dreams Family Member

We went back on the road full time in August in a 2017 Solitude 330GK-R from Lazydays. It's the smallest (so far) of the Solitudes, but plenty big for us. The only thing I'm not fond of is the residential fridge. Need generators and/or solar and haven't decided yet. One issue: black tank wouldn't empty at campsite, called Lazydays and they recommended a guy who came out on a Sunday, but couldn't fix. Drove to Lazydays for fix (done under warranty) and GD reimbursed us for the repairman and two days CG deposit we missed. GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE. Hope that doesn't change with Winnebago purchase.

We tow with a F350 6.7L Super Duty DRW. Haven't hit any mountains yet, but expect to this summer out west, and we don't expect struggles. In Bradenton right now for the winter.

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

MooreFun wrote:
The only thing I'm not fond of is the residential fridge. Need generators and/or solar and haven't decided yet.

I am not starting the "RV vs. residential" which-is-better discussion. I'm making a comment on some facts. The residential fridge, from a battery size standpoint, needs about 125 AH (or more) of battery capacity per day. That means about a 300AH battery bank (at around 50% discharge which one should not exceed very often) just for the fridge. So if one is contemplating any type of boondocking or dry camping one should plan on at least a 600AH bank to allow for other power needs beyond the fridge in our opinion based on a lot of experience.

As we know, generators have to run a long time to charge batteries fully on their own. So solar is generally necessary to do the last 15-20% charge. So . . . do consider all this in the selection of a fridge - RV or residential. Residential for full time, IMO, is probably the best choice even though we chose an RV fridge to give us plenty of battery capacity when off-grid. Linda is very happy with it. We know others have differing views. But it does depend.

We have 600AH of batteries with a 5500 generator and 750 watts of solar. But, in our opinion, if we had a residential fridge we'd need at least 900AH of bank to be comfortable and more solar. One's lifestyle and power usage obviously has a large impact on some of these numbers. But we're very happy with our RV fridge after we went to Leon in Shipshewana and he completed the install to make it work well even in 115 degrees in Arizona.

Just our perspective from experience.

hasanchez · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hello everyone,

My wife and I went to visit our local Happy Days RV here in Sacramento, CA........I found the GD 5th wheel models wonderful. Model: Solitude 310GK was about the right size for us I felt (or so I think). We have not committed to anything as of yet. It'll be most likely the end of this calendar year before we make a decision. I really enjoy this forum and all the information that you guys provide. I have found that GD Customer Service is very much enjoyed by so many people. I only negative I saw as we were checking out the rig was that they had tires that were made in China as opposed to Goodyear or Micheline (sp?) tires. I have read from many of you that that was a negotiable pre-purchasing conversation to have (getting rid of Chinese tires for better tires). Fact or fiction?

Second Chance · RV-Dreams Family Member

hasanchez wrote:
Hello everyone,

My wife and I went to visit our local Happy Days RV here in Sacramento, CA........I found the GD 5th wheel models wonderful. Model: Solitude 310GK was about the right size for us I felt (or so I think). We have not committed to anything as of yet. It'll be most likely the end of this calendar year before we make a decision. I really enjoy this forum and all the information that you guys provide. I have found that GD Customer Service is very much enjoyed by so many people. I only negative I saw as we were checking out the rig was that they had tires that were made in China as opposed to Goodyear or Micheline (sp?) tires. I have read from many of you that that was a negotiable pre-purchasing conversation to have (getting rid of Chinese tires for better tires). Fact or fiction?

The WestLake Super STs that come on the GD fifth wheels really aren't a bad tire and have a pretty good track record. We lost one to road debris (rebar or an extremely large bolt) and another to alignment issues. Since we had to replace two anyway, we just made the move to Sailun load range G tires all around.

Rob

hasanchez · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks Rob. Did you upgrade your brake system to disk? How about the suspension or pin box? Did you switch to MORryde brand?

Second Chance · RV-Dreams Family Member

hasanchez wrote:
Thanks Rob. Did you upgrade your brake system to disk? How about the suspension or pin box? Did you switch to MORryde brand?

Yes - disc brakes at the same time as the MOR/ryde independent suspension. What a difference! We had installed a Demco GlideRide pinbox early on after encountering some of our better roads across the country. We were using an Andersen Ultimate hitch at the time, but the GlidRide works just as well with the PullRite after we traded trucks. I'm very happy with all of the running gear, now.

Rob

PS - see the private message I just sent you.

-- Edited by Second Chance on Tuesday 18th of April 2017 02:55:30 PM

hasanchez · RV-Dreams Family Member

Received your PM Rob. Thank you again for your suggestions. Very much appreciated it. Happy trails!

Neil and Connie · RV-Dreams Family Member

Bill's right…you need more batteries (and correspondingly more solar) with a residential fridge…but that was part of our planning. I would recommend asking yourself how much you're going to boondock and if you're only going to boondock in non A/C required weather. If the answers are "some but not a lot" and "yes" then you can consider a smaller generator than the normal propane powered Onan for a bunch less money.

With a residential fridge you're looking at a 2000 watt inverter to handle it and the other inverter loads. With that inverter…and the batteries down in the 60-70% range after a night of usage…then our Honda 2000 generator at max load puts out just about as much current as the inverter provides to the battery…and it costs a whole lot less to run than the Onan does. The Onan is just loafing at max inverter charge rate but burns almost as much fuel (I think) as it does at full load.

If it's sunny then we run the gas Honda about 2 hour in the morning and let the solar (we have 800 watts) finish up and by the afternoon we're back at full charge. Of course…we don't boondock if we need A/C and I'll admit the Honda is a bit more trouble to hook up and start/stop than the Onan push button start is…but then the Honda cost us $800 and the Onan was about $6,500 as I recall as an option from NH back in 2012. If you're not going to use the generator a lot…we typically boondock 2-3 weeks a year as a "we want to park here" thing rather than a "we're trying to park cheaply" thing…then I consider the Honda a better choice. You an even get two of them and parallel them together…and then you could run 1 A/C unit as long as you didn't start the microwave or coffeepot at the same time…and two of them would still cost 1/3 of what the Onan costs.

Like Bill…not trying to start a long discussion about the pros/cons of built in vs portable generators…just offering what works for us.

ksand · RV-Dreams Community Member

I have been looking at the 310 GD. We plan to be full timers in 4 yrs. The price looks doable. New horizon looks good but pricey. Plan on a Ford 350 or 450. Do you have the dishwasher?

Neil and Connie · RV-Dreams Family Member

ksand wrote:
I have been looking at the 310 GD. We plan to be full timers in 4 yrs. The price looks doable. New horizon looks good but pricey. Plan on a Ford 350 or 450. Do you have the dishwasher?

If you're getting a New Horizon over about 34 feet then the 450 isn't enough truck. You will be over the rear axle limit and the bedrail to bedroom clearance will be too little…result is dinged up bedroom. Go with the 5500HD and hauler bed combo instead, its more bucks but far better truck.

You can tow and stop a NH with the 450…we did for almost 4 years, but the axle rating and clearance issues pushed the upgrade for us.

We did get the dishwasher option, smartest thing we did. We put it under the cabinet next to the pantry facing the door, immediately right of the sink. That's almost wasted space as far as cabinet goes and left the under the cooktop area for pots. Also got the island option…you really need it for full time cooking.

We got the hardwood floor, residential fridge, and no generator in favor of a Honda 2000 which is plenty. Also have 800 AH battery bank and 800 watts solar that we added later.

Yeah…NHs are expensive but they're better built than the under 100K brands…and have a lot more standard stuff that's an extra cost option on other brands. Deluxe Suites was our other serious contender…but they will do little to no custom stuff.

el Rojo and Pam · RV-Dreams Family Member

ksand wrote:
I have been looking at the 310 GD. We plan to be full timers in 4 yrs. The price looks doable. New horizon looks good but pricey. Plan on a Ford 350 or 450. Do you have the dishwasher?

ksand, Pam and I are one our second Grand Design trailer. First a Solitude and then the Momentum (toy hauler). We are very pleased with the quality and customer service after the sale of the Grand Design products. As of now all the heavier Grand Design trailers are designed to be towed with an off the lot 1 ton dually of your choice. You aren't comparing apples to apples here, the New Horizon is an upper end trailer with DRV and some other brands while Grand Design is at the upper end of the mid-class trailer. There is nothing wrong with either you just have to decide how much you want to spend on the trailer and tow vehicle.

Hope that helps,

Red