Part 2-4 weeks and 5 days how things are going
Four weeks and 5 days ago we took delivery of the new Montana 5er. This is part 2 of my report on how it’s been going.
Repairs, or repairs and fixes that should have fallen under Warranty that I just took care of myself.
It was our purpose to use the new Montana for a couple weeks before making any changes or adjustments. Like moving into any new home, it takes a while to develop a natural “flow”. You know, you walk in the door and kick your shoes off. There’s a natural spot you want to fling them, but it’s just not set up right. So, you put a box right there you can toss your shoes in.
Well, in our cases, there were a couple things that happened that resulted in me intervening and fixing my own warranty items myself. I didn’t want to wait to take it back to the dealer, and these things had to be dealt with right away.
Second trip out the shelf in the master bed room closet fell, cloths on the bottom, and screws pulled out of the wall. Very cheaply installed. Lots of bouncing I suppose being on the very rear of a 40 foot trailer. After we got back home, I rebuilt the closet shelf, which also holds the cloths bar, by reinforcing it and adding supports from the bottom of the closet to the shelf for added strength. The shelf became rock solid and no more issues.
Also, on the second trip out, I found the screws on the fender skirts were busted out. And basically the screw holes in the thin aluminum trim behind it were busted out too. A little bit of duct tape and I kept the fenders from blowing off so we could get home at the end of the camp.
Once home, I removed the screws and inserted molly studs, those plastic things that go in dry wall so you can screw screws into it and not have to hit a stud. I also pumped the back full of original Liquid Nails to help hold it and then I used a clear calking to seam up the fender from the side of camper, the crack, which had nothing on it. Well, we’ve had it on the road since then, and the fenders are holding just fine now.
The next item that was factory installed – par inferior – was the gas line quick disconnect for an outside grill or BBQ. When installed, the connection was angled upwards, actually touching the metal underbelly cover. There was no way to attach anything to the quick disconnect.
In my attempt to rotate the main pipe so the quick disconnect would be straight, I ended up breaking the disconnect valve. Fortunate, the pipe thread was ½ inch and I plugged it with …. Believe it or not … an extra plastic water heater drain plug from my first Dutchmen travel trailer. I hung on to it all these years. It was the perfect temporary plug.
I then went on a made search to get a replacement. I did finally get the pipe rotated about ¼ turn, which put the threaded connection parallel to the bottom of the trailer, but the distance was still to close to actually use a quick disconnect. So, I modified the design and lowered the disconnect. This photo may look simple, but it took a week to get all the parts to make it completely functional again. So, I moved the quick connect parallel to the frame instead of perpendicular. It must made better sense. I also added a household shut off valve to use during the time I was actually looking for the final valve on the end. So, it’s got a double shut off now.
Finally, the last “manufacturing” problem I absolutely hated was the temperature of the water at the shower head. It’s a single knob and pre-mixes hot and cold. I suppose that’s a safety feature so you won’t get scalded. But we hated it. So, after experimenting with it for 4 weeks, and studying out the water system, I simply turned the faucet up-side-down and connected the cold pipe to the hot side and the hot pipe to the cold side. Now when turning the water on, it’s all hot initially. But, consider the water always always initially comes out cold anyway, from sitting in the pipe, we’ve got plenty of time to turn the know and keep it comfortably “hot” for our taste. It’s worked absolutely GREAT ever since. Very happy with it now!
Notice also in the photo, we added a stick-on-the-wall soap dish. That thing is GREAT!
We do have a problem with one door dragging, but the camper goes back for a 90 day re-inspection by the dealer to fix any warranty issues and to re-inspect and fix anything they may find. I’m not tackling the door dragging. This is something they can do.
Repairs, or repairs and fixes that should have fallen under Warranty that I just took care of myself.
It was our purpose to use the new Montana for a couple weeks before making any changes or adjustments. Like moving into any new home, it takes a while to develop a natural “flow”. You know, you walk in the door and kick your shoes off. There’s a natural spot you want to fling them, but it’s just not set up right. So, you put a box right there you can toss your shoes in.
Well, in our cases, there were a couple things that happened that resulted in me intervening and fixing my own warranty items myself. I didn’t want to wait to take it back to the dealer, and these things had to be dealt with right away.
Second trip out the shelf in the master bed room closet fell, cloths on the bottom, and screws pulled out of the wall. Very cheaply installed. Lots of bouncing I suppose being on the very rear of a 40 foot trailer. After we got back home, I rebuilt the closet shelf, which also holds the cloths bar, by reinforcing it and adding supports from the bottom of the closet to the shelf for added strength. The shelf became rock solid and no more issues.
Also, on the second trip out, I found the screws on the fender skirts were busted out. And basically the screw holes in the thin aluminum trim behind it were busted out too. A little bit of duct tape and I kept the fenders from blowing off so we could get home at the end of the camp.
Once home, I removed the screws and inserted molly studs, those plastic things that go in dry wall so you can screw screws into it and not have to hit a stud. I also pumped the back full of original Liquid Nails to help hold it and then I used a clear calking to seam up the fender from the side of camper, the crack, which had nothing on it. Well, we’ve had it on the road since then, and the fenders are holding just fine now.
The next item that was factory installed – par inferior – was the gas line quick disconnect for an outside grill or BBQ. When installed, the connection was angled upwards, actually touching the metal underbelly cover. There was no way to attach anything to the quick disconnect.
In my attempt to rotate the main pipe so the quick disconnect would be straight, I ended up breaking the disconnect valve. Fortunate, the pipe thread was ½ inch and I plugged it with …. Believe it or not … an extra plastic water heater drain plug from my first Dutchmen travel trailer. I hung on to it all these years. It was the perfect temporary plug.
I then went on a made search to get a replacement. I did finally get the pipe rotated about ¼ turn, which put the threaded connection parallel to the bottom of the trailer, but the distance was still to close to actually use a quick disconnect. So, I modified the design and lowered the disconnect. This photo may look simple, but it took a week to get all the parts to make it completely functional again. So, I moved the quick connect parallel to the frame instead of perpendicular. It must made better sense. I also added a household shut off valve to use during the time I was actually looking for the final valve on the end. So, it’s got a double shut off now.
Finally, the last “manufacturing” problem I absolutely hated was the temperature of the water at the shower head. It’s a single knob and pre-mixes hot and cold. I suppose that’s a safety feature so you won’t get scalded. But we hated it. So, after experimenting with it for 4 weeks, and studying out the water system, I simply turned the faucet up-side-down and connected the cold pipe to the hot side and the hot pipe to the cold side. Now when turning the water on, it’s all hot initially. But, consider the water always always initially comes out cold anyway, from sitting in the pipe, we’ve got plenty of time to turn the know and keep it comfortably “hot” for our taste. It’s worked absolutely GREAT ever since. Very happy with it now!
Notice also in the photo, we added a stick-on-the-wall soap dish. That thing is GREAT!
We do have a problem with one door dragging, but the camper goes back for a 90 day re-inspection by the dealer to fix any warranty issues and to re-inspect and fix anything they may find. I’m not tackling the door dragging. This is something they can do.
