Designer 35RLTS and Jayco Talk...Thanks Frank!!

Hello, I'm new to 5th wheels, but not to RVing. Been from tents to folders, TT and currently have a class A. I've been looking at 5th wheels for sometime and have now settled on Jayco (I think). Currently looking at a new 2008 Designer 31 RLTS. Anyone know anything about this model? Looks like a well constructed trailer. This one has almost all bells and whistles; two airs, electric rear stabalizers, etc. No generator, however the compartment is wired and ready with a fuel tank already installed.

I believe the MSRP is around $68K. Dealer currently has a tag on it of $42K. Thoughts on price?

Thank you for any help, thoughts.... Mike

Hey folks ... Hope everyone had a great Christmas ... and what's everyone doing for New Years Eve ??

Our shower leak ened up being a lousy glue job on the drain pipe. We must have caught it right away 'cause there were no signs of any damage under the shower, or underneath in the basememt area.!

We just spent 4 days down in Apache Junction, AZ (just east of Mesa), and now we're up in Camp Verde, AZ where the temps drop down to the teens at night!! On Wednesday we're heading to Palm Springs for a few days where they're seeing highs in the low 70's !
With these changes in temps I'll probably catch a darn cold ..!!:W

Hey ... looks like we have another Northwest Roadtrip in our future. Daughter's getting married up in Oregon in February, (No ... that's NOT good news) ... so we're going to hit the road again. Wonder if we'll luck out again this time and have great weather ?!?! :h

Anyway, Happy New Year everyone. Be Safe

CRUZ

I tried to replace it once, but with not a lot of luck. The regular replacement guides did not work 100%, so I just took it back. I firgured someone smarter than me might figure it out later

Ok maybe you guys missed a question before...

Have any of you replaced the thermostat in the 35RLTS Designer with a programmbale thermostat? Any problems replacing the old T-Stat?

2QAYL wrote:

I've hunted for that squeak on all of our Designers, including this one, and never found it.:? I think it might be a shock. Someday I'm going to get under the trailer with a shop stethascope and hunt 'til I find it. If I ever do, I'll let you know.

Dave

I have laid under the rig while wife walked around inside and still couldn't find it. I have thought about the shocks, and thinking after this trip of pulling the shocks off and seeing if it is one of them. I have put litho grease on everything under rig to no avail too.

2007dura wrote:
Does anyone have a squeak as they walk in rig. We use roto-chocks and tri-pod for stability, but have squeak that I can't locate. Sounds like it is outside around the suspension. Any ideas?

I've hunted for that squeak on all of our Designers, including this one, and never found it.:? I think it might be a shock. Someday I'm going to get under the trailer with a shop stethascope and hunt 'til I find it. If I ever do, I'll let you know.

Dave

We had the same trouble with the slide toppers last December. If possible, we now try to pull in the slides periodically to keep dry (even down here in Florida it's a little bit of a problem in that the slide toppers stretch under the weight of the water and don't roll up properly if they don't have a chance to dry out and firm up again.)

Ceiling seams also came down on ours a bit -- tech said he used Gorilla glue to reattach.

No squeak so far.

I was worried that we had the same shower leak trouble as Cruz. Found water outside shower returning even after wiped away -- we believe it happened because the tank was so full (next shower topped off the tank.) Once drained, no excess water. Also...no evidence of leaks underneath.

Anyone know if it's OK to have one slide out and the other in for a 24 hour period? Will it throw anything out of whack? What about having slide only open half-way?

Foot pedal on toilet sticks a bit -- doesn't close all the way unless we give it a push up. Just have to grease it a bit.

Fridge is still a bit tempermental, even with new thermister. Run-off tray in fridge has ice, but temp of fridge reads in correct range (or even a little high.)

Air conditioner leaks onto the carpet when we move if it's been running for a while. Tech said it just needed to be tightened. Wrong. Going to get another tech to look at it unless you guys know what's what.

Not bad for a full year on the road!!! Still very happy!!!

The seam tape comes on a roll in various lengths, have the dealer order a roll from Jayco under warranty and cut a adequate length for you to repair the seam. I would wait for a dry day (low humidity) and peel the old tape off, wipe the area with alcohol, let dry then apply the new tape.

You can buy 12v heat tape for the tank pipes and heat pads for the tanks. If you plan to camp in cold weather frequently the investment would be worthwhile.

Happy camping!

I have that same darn squeak, I need to try to locate it. It kept squeaking when we were putting in the new tv....

Just finished a 9 day trip, leaving in the AM for 6 more days. The last 2 trips we have experienced some very cold weather, last week 2 nights straight in the single digits, first night with 20+ MPH winds, so real cold wind chill. Had a few things you might want to watch out for. The tank valves froze shut, took a while of running furnance at a higher than normal temp to get thawed out, but it also went above freezing outside. Windows let alot of sun in that warmed up rig which caused furnance not to cycle much.

Slide out toppers froze up and couldn't bring slides in. This happened first weekend in Dec. It had rained and puddled on toppers. Came a hard freeze that night and puddles froze up. Started snowing so I couldn't get on roof to try and chip off, toppers were laying on top of slides and wouldn't roll up as we brought slides in. Was going to spray with water and try to break loose, but water spiquet had froze too. Ended up having to leave camper at campground, but we were lucky as we had reservations there for Christmas anyway.

Anyone having trouble with the tape that is used to cover seams on inside ceiling coming loose. We have a piece in bedroom that will not stay up and one in living room starting to fall.

Does anyone have a squeak as they walk in rig. We use roto-chocks and tri-pod for stability, but have squeak that I can't locate. Sounds like it is outside around the suspension. Any ideas?

Still very pleased with the rig. On the coldest of nights with wind blowing, stayed very warm, also checked for drafts around slides and found none.