There has been a discussion in a thread at RV Dreams’ forum category entitled “Buying an RV” about the Dynamax Trilogy fifth wheels trailers, now under the umbrella of Forest River. Dynamax has previously manufactured motorhomes, and the Trilogy is a “reasonably” recent entry into the fifth wheel market.
I was asked questions about the Trilogy and my opinion of them, but having never seen one, all I could do was look at the website for Dynamax Trilogy and base opinions upon what they posted in their brochures and on their website. Many times, those sources don’t always give one a good enough basis for analysis.
So today, we had the opportunity to be near the dealership in Oklahoma City that carries the Trilogy. So, we stopped off and looked over the two models by Trilogy that were at Oklahoma RV, which is located on south I-35.
The two models are the Trilogy 3800 D3 and the Trilogy 3850 D3 trailers. Since we hadn’t planned on going by the dealership today, I had not taken my camera, so the best I had to work with was my cell phone to take a few pictures. Some questions that I asked went unanswered because the salesman knew less about the Trilogy than I did from looking on the Trilogy website.
Both models have a GVWR of 18,000 lbs and are 41′ 10″ long and approximately 13′ 2″ tall. Both have a fresh water tank capacity of 64 gallons, 80 gallons for gray water, and 40 gallons for black water. Unlike any other fifth wheel that I know of, the Trilogy models are equipped with a regular LP tank instead of using 2 LP cylinders of either 20 lbs, 30 lbs, or 40 lbs.
Also, unlike any other fifth wheel except some toy haulers, the Trilogy does not have a ladder by which to gain access to the roof. This is a concern for me as there is the need to occasionally access the roof so one can perform preventative maintenance (and actual maintenance) to those air conditioners.
First from the perspective of the wife and the interior, she found that the Trilogy models had a good “fit and finish” look and had a lot of storage in the living room and kitchen area. However, with regards to storage, the bedroom and closet area was lacking, especially compared to the living room area. For instance, in the closet, one side is set aside for a combo washer and dryer unit. If one has a combo washer/dryer in place in the closet, clothes that are hanging on the clothes rod could very well be in the way of getting to and opening the door on the washer/dryer.
The other side has a small dresser with four drawers, although they are fairly small as evidenced by the pictures below. In the one, you can see that my hand covers about 1/3 of the width of the dresser and almost completely covers the area from front to back.
If you look on the Trilogy website, the only other items for clothes storage or organization is the clothes rod and an inset within the front wall of the closet with 3 shelves for shoes or whatever. The shelves aren’t very deep. Unfortunately, I didn’t look at the dresser in the bedroom itself, so I am of no help there.
The 3800 D3 model has the “full size” shower, but from my observation, while the length of the shower is impressive, I felt that it was pretty narrow, especially for my 225 pound frame. I was not too impressed with the shower skylight. It seemed to be overly large, almost the length of the shower, which with the right thing hitting it from above, there would be less strength in the plastic of that skylight. Keep in mind, though, these are just my observations.
The other thing that I personally looked at and took photos of was the swiveling cabinets in the pantry. When they were mentioned on the forums, I was concerned about how strong the hardware was that was holding those cabinets. I was happy to see that they were fastened to the wall with piano hinges. While the hinges looked okay, I did wonder about the wall itself that all the screws in the piano hinge were fastened into. While the wall looked okay, I really couldn’t tell for sure of the depth of the wood.
However, with regards to the swivel cabinets, I wasn’t impressed with the method of fastening the inner side of the cabinet to the back wall. They used heavy magnets and some very cheap latches. (See the photos below.) Because one had to tug pretty heavily on the cabinet to separate the two magnets in the back, I wondered if there would be a problem later of one or the other of the magnets to come loose from the wood they were attached to.
As for the outside of the coach, I found that the frame consisted of 12″ I-beam for the frame from the rear of the coach to at least the basement area. I couldn’t see well enough in that area to tell for sure how thick it was. The axles are 8,000 lb ones with 17’5″ wheels and “H” rated tires. That was good to see. The suspension springs were the normal ones with a center flex point.
With regards to the LP tank, I did have a concern with it. It sits between the frame and is below the underbelly cover in a recessed space for it. It is held in place by large straps across each end. What I was concerned about with regards to those straps was that they are held in place with one bolt and one nut on each bolt. I couldn’t tell if they were locking nuts, so if they aren’t, I would recommend putting a second nut and tightening it against the first nut. Since the tank is not in a space where one can see it without crawling under it, I wouldn’t want the single nut to loosen as the trailer hits rough areas of the roads and eventually cause the tank to fall out of its place.
The other thing I worried about was whether gas vapor from the tank might seep into the underbelly of the coach. If that were to happen and a build-up of gas accumulated in the underbelly, all it would take is one time of the furnace firing up to turn the coach into a bomb. For the most part, since LP gas is heavier than air, it would go lower and away from the coach. However, wind currents under the coach might cause some gas to find a gap in the seam of that inset area for the LP tank. Also, since they have installed a remote filling area at the side of the coach, there is a line that runs from the LP tank to that remote filling compartment. That line seems to run within the underbelly, so if a leak were to occur in that line, gas could be released into the underbelly.
Now for some oddities with the two models. For some reason, only the 3850 D3 model had an extra 20 lb LP cylinder. That is the same size as one finds on one’s gas Bar-B-Q grill. Also, the 3850 D3 had other things that I didn’t find on the 3800 D3. For instance, the 3850 D3 has a water manifold that allows one to turn water off to various areas of the coach. (See photos below.)
The second photo also shows the water filter, the outside shower fitting, the city water inlet and black tank flush fitting, and there are 5 “F” connectors in a vertical line that are for satellite and cable hookups. The 3800 D3 did not have any of those things in the same place as the 3850 D3. The next two photos show small compartments found on the off -door side of the coach.
In the first one, I didn’t notice what that blue line was hooked up to. You can see the three valves, two of which are for the gray tanks and one for the black, or sewage tank. Those fittings at the top of that compartment are the remote filling location for the LP tank. To the left of them is a switch that is a remote fill cut-off switch. This is the compartment on the 3850 D3 model.
The next photo is a similar compartment on the 3800 D3. In it you can see the LP remote fill fittings and cut-off switch, the holding tank valves, and city water and black tank flush fittings. However, if you look closely, there is only one (repeat…1) “F” fitting for cable. I looked in several compartments and couldn’t find any more of the “F” fittings or a water manifold area.
So, even though Trilogy’s brochure states on page 3 the it is “A Recreational Vehicle Designed with LEGENDARY Attention to Detail,” the fact that the 3850 D3 has hookup and features that the 3800 D3 doesn’t seems to indicate a LACK of attention to detail. Why have a water manifold in one model but not in the other? Why only one cable inlet on one model while the other has 3 fittings? Where is the outside shower on the 3800 D3? Why no full house water filter on the 3800 D3 like is on the 3850 D3?
One thing they both do have is the automatic leveling systems, however the controls for the 3850 D3 can be seen near the water filter in the above image. On the 3800D3, those controls are inside a small compartment on the outside on the off-door side of the coach.
If you haven’t seen the forum thread at RV Dreams, you can find the comments made at this link.
There are some very interesting comments that relate to features, strengths and weaknesses at that site. Hopefully, this blog post and that forum thread may be very beneficial to you if you are considering a Dynamax Trilogy.
Ignoring the Barking Dogs 
Thanks Terry and Jo. It’s interesting the things one finds when looking closely at any rv… Sometimes they just don’t make any sense. Thanks again for taking the time.
Thank you for taking the time to do the research on the Trilogy. I went to look at one yesterday. Your observation on the hookups was very helpful. Obviously if we base our buying decisions on looks alone, we might not make the right choice.
The 3800 you were looking at is the 2013 model, Dynamax has made several upgrades to that model with the release of the 2013 1/2. The 3850 was the newer model with the upgrades. You should have mentioned the full size frig and the 55 inch LED tv with a pull out desk, They have also added a 1000 watt blue ray home theater system. If the 3800 was the 2013 1/2 model you would have seen the same features in that model as the 3850. My wife and i have looked at well over 50 different 5th wheels in the last year trying to decide on which one fits our needs the most since we are going to be fulltimers. we have yet to find andthing to compair to the 3850. You also failed to mention that all the wood work is solid cherry hard wood and not pressboard. Hope this helps to answer your question as to why the two models you looked at were different and sorry that the saleman did not know more about the product,,, good help is hard to find…..
Thanks, Thomas.
At the time we looked at the two models, that was all that was available on the lot. Since I tend to like for there to be competition so that the manufacturers continue to improve their products, any improvements in the Dynamax Trilogy would be beneficial to the industry as a whole.
Terry,
We just purchased a 2013 Trilogy 3800 RL. I, like severals others commenting here have been looking and comparing for over three years. we currently have a 2006 Jayco Designer 36 RLTS that we order to our specs. The set up is very similar to the 3800 RL. I have done my homework and pound for pound, the Trilogy is the best bang for the buck!
I am in manufacturing and have used 12″ I-Beam 10.8 lbs on several occisions in our manfacturing process. I even talked to my engineer about what he thought and he said, This I-Beam is a little bit over kill. we also insulate our units, using using 2″ Foam Block Insulation. The Trilogy uses 2 1/2″ in the floor and 1 1/2″ in the roof of Foam Block Insulation. So, I would say that thier floor is a R20 to R26 and the roof is and R18 or better. Just guessing!.
The roof and side walls are cinstructed using 1 1/2″ x 1 1/2″ Aluminum tubing with 1″ x 1″ solid wood inserts to help screw retention. (I don’t know ANY other manufacture using this method of support.). The side walls and the roof are bowed. Again, not like anything I’ve seen before. The bow or arch in the roof and side walls, make them stronger then says straight walls and flat roof.
It amazes me how you seem to take a good thing that Dynamax does and make it sound bad. Dynamax commonly builts Motor coaches that are $500,000.00 plus and have a fantastic review. They are a Top Of the Line manufacture and have a great track record. What I wonder is, why are you even commenting on the Trilogy, your a Mobil Suites Owner. “Me Thinks, you protest too much”. It’s very obvious, that you are NOT unbiased
when it comes to the Trilogy, I have looked very closely at the Mobil Suites and they are a very nice unit but they have nothing on the Trilogy and they cost $30,000.00 more.
I will be picking up my Trilogy in two weeks and have plans to travel this spring and summer. I will be sure to report back and let everybody know “form and owners point of view” what I know to be true.
Phil “Dreams do come True” Trilogy Owner.
Phil,
Thanks for your comments both here and on RV Dreams forums (from which this comment is copied and pasted.) It is always good to have the insight of others with regards to the construction of the RV’s, so your comments are welcomed.
However, just because a fifth wheel is manufactured by a company that has been making motor homes doesn’t necessarily mean that they will get all things right on the trailer. For instance, those buying Trilogy models may not like it when they find themselves having to hook up to their trailer and towing it to a facility to get the LP tank filled. It is one thing to unhook the utilities, un-level the coach, and drive to that facility with a motorhome but an entirely different situation to do the same process but have to back a truck under the trailer and drive it off and then return and unhook again.
Why, did I comment on the Trilogy? Because I was asked by participants on the RV Dreams forums for my opinion of the brand. Since all I could find on the Trilogy was on their website, and that seemed little enough for my liking, I went looking for a dealer that had some in stock. Just out of curiosity, why do you think that because I own a Mobile Suites that I have no reason for evaluating another brand? Who is really protesting here? Or, do you take exception because I wrote some negative comments about the brand you chose?
I fully stand by my observations of the two models at the Oklahoma City dealership and reiterate that there were some strange inconsistencies between the two models, specifically with respect to the television inputs and the water manifolds. Can you explain why they would have been different from each other, especially considering that both models were of the same size and weight and similar in quality? I’m also not pleased that the LP tank is right under the center of the trailer in the living room. I am very familiar with pressure vessels such as LP tanks and cylinders and fully understand the dangers they pose. Are you aware that in a home setting, an LP tank is required by law in most states to be a specific distance from the home itself? Can you imagine why that is? Think of what will happen if the Trilogy coach catches fire with that tank underneath. I know of one couple that had a fire on their Mobile Suites, which was caused by a dragging brake, and he was able to remove both 40# cylinders from the LP compartment before the fire reached that compartment.
I don’t really have a bias because I am fully aware that not everyone would find a DRV Suites product suitable for their needs. The Trilogy may very well prove to be a good unit for a lot of folks, but there is a world of difference between the quality of the two brands. For instance, the Elite Suites and Mobile Suites models all have 3 1/4″ wall construction and a higher R-rating for their insulation. They also have a 15″ frame instead of 12″. (By the way, I think I said that the 12″ frame on the Trilogy was good, especially for those considering full-timing as a lifestyle.)
Good luck with your future travels and I sincerely do hope that you find the Trilogy to be a spectacular unit for your needs. Just don’t presume that it is good enough for everyone.
We just purchased a 3850 rl n March, not only doesn’t the ac cool the living room the unit it is so LOUD, JUST AWFUL!! Bedroom cools but loud loud loud! Have to turn tv way up when ac comes on! In the night wakes as up including the dog!!! This is our 6th rv we have owned, this is by far the loudest ac ever!
Wow. We were in a 3650 at the nearest dealer to us. They had a 3850 but not powered up. My wife said the same thing. The AC was loud…I am looking seriously at the trilogy’s and redwoods. I do like the trilogy even though they seem sterile in certain ways even though beautiful. Would love to talk with you more. (512) 413-2672. It’s a big buying decision.
I have been looking at the Trilogy 3850 myself for awhile now. My biggest concerns and confusion are the fact there is no oven. You cant order 1 it is not an option. The dealer did about 4 months later call me and tell me they can install a dishwasher which is something I was looking for. My other let down is the washer dryer there is no space really to put it. I hope they in the future come up with a closet for that.
My wife and I just attended the January 2014 RV show in Tampa, FL. There were two Trilogy units and one Touring unit there, presented by Dick Gore RV’s. One of the Trilogy models was the new 3750FL with the master suite bathroom up front and the half bath just off the kitchen.
We were so impressed with the fit, finish, consistent quality, attention to engineering details and practicality of available features! This is truly a ‘wow!’ unit!
We are now considering getting out of our 2011 Heartland Cyclone 3950 HD Edition and moving over to the Dynamax.
Dear Terry,
First and foremost, I must apologize for my last comments in February 2013. I had just purchased our new 2013 Trilogy and you was making points, that wounded my pride and Pride, as we know, goes before a fall. Well, in some ways I fell.
When we put our money down on the Trilogy, we was told that this unit had a Water manifold system like the newer versions, also that it had a remote control that operated the Slides, Awnings and leveling system. We got non of those, should have stop the sale right there but didn’t. Dumb. Thats a lot of money to be dumb about. Also our Dealer was horrible. First off they lied about all the above items being with our new unit and then when we came to pick it up, they paid us little to no attention. When we asked about the items that was lacking, they did seem ti care and that they had already spent money by changing out the pin box with a Air Ride SideWinder. We will never buy anything or suggest that anybody buys from International RV in Elkhart, IN again.
Then we had all kinds of little problems and had to take the unit back (two hours drive, both ways). Three times we had to take it back and fixing some of the same things they was suppose to have fixed the first time. There was no big problems just little ones.
I finally got ahold of Dynamax directly and they was absolutely marvelous. They went way out of their way to make us happy and glad we bought the Trilogy.
All in all, I must say I love this unit. It is very well built and absolutely beautiful. It pulls great and had no problems when we went to Panama City last spring.
You are correct, the worst thing about this is the integrated propane tank. Very difficult to get filled, unless your on the road. This spring I buying an extra 30 lbs tank so I don’t have to worry about this. At least they have a connection handy so this will be a easy fix.
Well, thanks for listening to me. I hope this helps some body in the future. If I ever look to trade again, I would not be afraid to buy another one, although, I think I look harder at the new Landmarks.
Thanks for all your work.
Phil
Phil,
I am glad to see that you are happy with your Trilogy after getting better service from Dynamax themselves. With many, if not all, brands, there are cases where the factory generally provides better service than the dealers. I’ve heard of some dealers that refused to work on anything that they didn’t sell, and unfortunately, some don’t even really take care of their own customers.
From what I’ve learned since my initial review, it appear that perhaps the dealer I was at had old and new versions of the two models. That would explain why one had a water manifold and the other didn’t. I’m presuming that they also straightened out the lack of TV inputs on the older model as well. I don’t remember if I mentioned it in my original review, but the salesman that helped us actually knew less about the Trilogy models than I did. That would explain why he couldn’t explain about the water manifold and TV inputs. Unfortunately, some dealers don’t understand the real benefit of good customer service. If this salesman was so new, he should have had a “companion” salesman that could help him.
There are a few Trilogy owners on RV Dreams’ forums, but for the most part, they don’t say a lot about their units. I really hope that they are pleased with their choices as well.
Safe travels and happy RV’ing.
Terry
I bought a 2013 Trilogy 3800 RL in Dec 2013 from McMahons in Quartszite AZ.
Here are my main issues:
The Roadside slide-out which is 16 ft long has every heavy item on it, like the frig, oven, panty, file cabinet and numerious other cabnits. Because of it’s weight it has broken 4 drive gears stranding us every time. We MUST remove everything from the frig (This removes the weight off of the far end shaft) and my wife then pushes hard on the other end from the hydrolic drive both in and out. Everything is in alignment and nothing is sticking or jamming, it’s just a weight issue. It’s very obvious this issue was there when I bought this 5th wheel as the underbelly was cut open already to access for repairs, the 1.5 in shaft next to the hydroic ram has new angle supports poorly welded in place that are NOT part of manuf. specs. and I found previously broken bolts and gear teeth when I removed the under belly to fix a water tank issue.
The basement doors all leak at the top. Most if not all other trailers the basement doors open up on the Trilogys the doors open to the side. The hinge at the top of outside doors is a very good rain deflector. The top seal on the Trilogy leak really bad. This is cause but rain water coming off the roof and walls and sliding on to that top seal. You see the walls and roof of a Trilogy are sloped and have NO rain gutters so the rain water just dumps on these doors. I have put more weather stripping and caulking to slow the water coming in but it still came in. I now have installed rain gutters just above these basement doors to resolve the problem.
The shower ski light was cracked in many places due to over torqueing of it screws. And, that ski light is single pane therefore when it’s cold out water condenses on it. So it rains in the shower from that condensation.
The outside tops of all windows had to be re-caulked as they also leaked due to lack of ample caulking during manuf. and the sloped walls.
All sinks had leaks.
The pantry organized system only got in the way and did not store items well and was replaced with shelves.
Over head fan blade broke off after only 50 miles on the road.
DVD player in living area was installed behind a wood door but it’s controller in infer red therefore you must leave that door open all the times to control the DVD player. Same for where they dead ended the wires for the satilite receiver.
Pantry door slams into island drawer handles when slide-out is brought in. Therefore panty door has groves cut in it by those handles.
And yes the a/c unit are way too loud.
Insulation must be lacking all over this 5th wheel as 2 a/c units putting out 45 degee air can not keep it cool.
Both bathroom sink areas have poor lighting.
ALL cabinet bottoms broke loose during first trip just from road vibration and were NOT weighted too heavy.
I have 50 more items I had to repair so far and we’ve only had this unit for 6 months.
We to bought a2013 at McMahon rv which is now bankrupt it is now 2015 and our trouble are way to any to many to mention we are at a point with.Dynamax we don’t know what to do. Our trylogy was built crooked from day one and our problems keep getting worse to the point where we don’t know if it is even safe to travel with.If any one knows of any way we can be help lease let me know.
Wow! We bought the 2012 version of the trilogy at Lazy Days in Tampa and purchased the extended warranty. We brought it to Arizona where we live. Had the same slide out problems repeatedly, almost missed our neice’s wedding the first time it broke, stranded in Bakersfield for an entire week the third time. Forest Rivers did NOTHING. We have paid out of pocket for everything except in Bakersfield DynaMax sent new gears at no charge. The propane tank hasn’t been an issue at all, but the water heater has NEVER worked on electric. When we took it to get repaired, the service man pointed out the worn rubber covering on the control button and stated that it looked like they had tried to repair it more than once. They couldn’t repair it, it’s defective. Forest Rivers could not have cared less – their on-site client relations ‘specialist’ is not especially special! The A/C is noisy and very ineffective. The shower skylight causes huge heat in the unit. I had an insulated snap-on cover made and it really helps (it’s inside, not out). I hate the micro/convection oven, try making a pizza in thirds or quarters.
Having said all this, I love the beauty, convenience and great storage in the unit. Not enough in bedroom for sure, but I’ve learned to live with it and travel a little lighter. Sure would love more freshwater capacity.
We purchased a new model 2014 Trilogy 37BH from Berryland campers in Ponchatoula, FL in June 2015. The only issues we’ve had were the AC seals were loose (tightened down AC units), a small leak by one bedroom slide out window from some of the screws which had penetrated the window trough (fixed with a bit of black silicon), an undermount kitchen sink which broke loose while full of dishes and water (fixed by installing more clips than originally used) and one ongoing issue with venting of the rear black tank (we currently don’t use the rear toilet until we get the camper to the dealer where they can drop the belly and tank and inspect for a crack/hole/leak).
With the exception of the black tank none of those issues have been more than a minor inconvenience or quick fix. The overall quality of this fifth wheel is hands down head and shoulders above every other fifth wheel we have looked at and we’ve seen just about everything out there as of the 2015 model year.
We actually discovered that our unit was THE prototype for the new bunkhouse model added to the dynamax lineup in 2014. There was a cabinet that had “BH PROTO” etched inside of it.
All in all, we have been very happy with the unit. It is gorgeous, pulls very well considering it’s about the heaviest fifth wheel on the market and every part in the vehicle is made from the best stuff on the market.
I would not hesitate to buy on of these again. My wife and I have had eight RVs over the years and all of them have issues–some more annoying than others. The Trilogy line–and especially the BH model–is not a high volume line and therefore you can find quirks because the laborer a aren’t building 100 of them a month. Repetition is a good thing is manufacturing–as we all learned from Henry Ford a century ago. Small run coaches don’t benefit from workers that can assemble them in their sleep due to repetition.
Also note that as if this year model all units have water manifolds and none have the LP gas tank in the belly.
The 37BH has been a good unit and we look forward to many years with her. If you’re trying to make a decision, give a Trilogy a look. I plan on uploading a tour to YouTube soon so look forward to a video of the 2014 Trilogy 37BH soon! Happy travels!
Khris,
Thanks for your comment. Every comment on a product is a benefit to others that are considering RV’s. A couple of things that I found in looking at your model of Trilogy is that its GVWR is roughly 18,380 lbs. Just as a comparison, our Mobile Suites is 18,500 lbs and some custom built fifth wheels are even heavier. I hope that your trailer has been upgraded on the tires and wheels because I saw in one place that the 37BH has 16″ wheels and even 36-foot fifth wheels have had issues with those. Our 38 1/2 foot Mobile Suites came standard with 17 1/2″ wheels and heavier rated tires.
Our 37BH model came with 17.5″ wheels running H rated tires as standard.
We have 2014 trillogy and we like it very much. The only problem we have had is when we want to winterize it. (We live in Wisconsin and it stays outside all Winter at a campground in northern Wis.) There were no instructions on the process of winterizing it. Evan the RV dealer we bought it from had difficulty the first year. We like to do this ourselves. Does anyone have an instruction diagram that shows how to do this? We would appreciate any help we could get.
Jim,
There is more than one way to winterize an RV, so I’d suggest getting onto an RV forum and ask that question. It’s odd that your dealer had problems, but one can do it in at least two ways. Since we live full time in ours, we never winterize it, but when we did, I bought a fitting that threaded into the city water inlet and let me use an air compressor to clear the lines. Set the air pressure to 30 psi (or slightly less) and leave the pressure on as you open each and every faucet control (hot and cold) at each sink or shower. Once all the water has been expelled through the faucets, one can then find the low point drains on the RV and let all the water that may be left out onto the ground.
Another way involves introducing some of the anti-freeze stuff that is made for winterizing RV’s, but I’ve never used that stuff. After clearing all lines and/or introducing the anti-freeze, one also needs to pour some anti-freeze into each drain to replace the water that may be in the “P” traps with the anti-freeze.
If you also have a washing machine in your RV, that will also need to be drained or have anti-freeze introduced. For that, you may need to check with an appliance center.
To gentleman with gear breaking on roadside slide, I had same issue, I found vertical adjustment (up & down) on gear rack was out of adjustment on gear that was breaking. It seemed to jump gear about 6″-8″ before fully retracted. Adjusted and no more problems. (only replaced gear once) I have a 2013 3850 D3. A/C leaks both. Maserator toilet does not fill with water, keep cup in bathroom. Took to PPL in Houston ,Texas no help on toilet. Last year slide on opposite side dining table would giggle out going down road. Had to stop about every 100 miles and retract, I was traveling back From Saskatchewan 1800 miles. I called Dynamax and talked to Mike? he sent me out a cylinder at no charge, problem fixed. If on board water freezes up, pump is at fresh water tank near rear, you will see about 12″ square hole cut in underbelly closer to fresh water tank, 4 screws. There is also a screen at outlet at pump.
Well, where to start? We have a 2013 3850RB and have nothing but problems.
We took 3 short trips and then put our unit on a lot in a park for almost a year. It was hooked to electric but we were not living in it at the time. We then moved out of state and left the camper, again, plugged into electric at a family members home for about 6 mths. BTW…during this time ALL of our warranties expired! When we moved back to Florida we moved the unit back to a lot where we have lived in her fulltime for the past 18 mths.
We purchased it in March, 2014 from Lazy Days at the RV show in Tampa, FL. There were some issues at that time so it immediately had to go to the shop. Let’s start with that…1) yes, I love the fact the wood is all real and it is beautiful, but the cabinet above the TV wouldn’t shut without having to lift the door. (We actually had this looked at 3 times and it still does it..now almost all of them are doing it).
2) We, like Phil ^^ never received the remote for the slides, awnings, etc. and we asked several times to no avail.
3) ” The cabinet in the hall ways shows there being a pull out basket for laundry, our unit was minus the basket and we asked several times about that also to no avail.
4) The vacuum didn’t work, however, Lazy Days did reorder a new one for us.
5) The antenna didn’t work (and still doesn’t) but while they were working on it did something to the little ($10) DVD player that was installed to the bedroom TV. They did finally get the DVD player working but the TV remote nor the DVD remote works it we have to work it manually.
6) We have full body paint and there was about an 18″ scratch across the portside (or opposite of curbside) of the camper.
Yes Phil, we also think we never should have taken this unit
After taking her out on 3 short trips we noticed some of the same issues Rick^^ has had. And the books they give you for the unit is so generic it’s extremely hard to try and solve the problem yourself.
1) Yes, the slides come in so tight it rubs. The island has rubbed our chairs, and cabinets. I have to cover everything to prevent this now. Unbeknownst to us one of the rocker/recliners had a metal wire sticking out of the back of it which scraped about an 8″ gash in our wall, which also resulted in our roll up blind being yanked down. Apparently, if the chairs have any room for a rocking motion at all it will tear things up or down. That same chair also had a wire sticking out of the top of it where the seams meet that ripped a large gash in the back of the other rocker/recliner.
2) The shower skylight was screwed so tight it cracked the plastic causing a leak (we didn’t know about for almost 6 months) that has caused damage to the inside of the shower wall. And, I agree about the condensation with the exception ours seems to have a double layer and the condensation will build up between the 2 pieces of plastic and seems to now be growing mold. We also had to caulk around the skylight as there was none originally.
3) Our garage storage also leaks but mainly when there is a hard rain (did I mention we live in Florida?)
4) We also had to caulk around the windows for the same reason Rick stated…it was done poorly from the start.
5) Our fan blades (2 of them) also broke off..one while the fan was on almost hitting me in the head and the second while we were in transit. We have called the manufacturer several times about it with negative results.
6) We also have had several issues with the propane tank being under the camper. No one will come fill it so the unit has to be moved every time. Although, now that we are living it it we just use the small propane tank for showering. I no longer use the gas for cooking as we go through so much gas. Now I use a little hotplate and an electric skillet. I don’t like not having an oven either as you have to keep turning anything you have in the convection oven around and then you lose heat!
7) Electric awnings…never again! The wires that attach the motor to the awning would pull out most every time and we would have to stop and get the ladder out (since the unit doesn’t come with a ladder attached). We have know idea why… but now the awnings will not come out at all and haven’t for the past year. We have called the manufacturer several times and they always say we need to talk to whoever installed the awnings. We have called Dynamax and Lazy Days and have gotten nowhere.
8) AC Units – We have 2 and YES!!! THEY ARE LOUD!!! They have been leaking for the past 6 mths. We have tried cleaning them out, caulking, and finally my husband found they were loose like one of the others^^ stated. He has tightened them up and now we are just waiting to see if any more leaks. It’s so aggravating as the bedroom AC leaks right on my bed! Since he has tightened them when they kick on it feels like it yanks the whole RV! Same issue with not cooling properly especially in the living area. We pay lot rent and electric where we are staying and my electric bill runs anywhere from $120-$150 a month!
9) Same as Anne^^ the water heater has NEVER worked off electric.
10) The wallpaper is all coming unglued where the edges meet and in the living room under a curb side window the paper appears as if it is bubbling, but when you touch it Delete repeated word feels like there are spikes under the paper. I have no idea what has caused this!
11) Pantry…I hate those swivel cabinets you spoke of! First, they are too narrow to hold much and I have to put most of my dry goods on the floor. I don’t even bother to put anything on the back side of them…it’s pointless, I either have to move everything out of the floor or I forget what I even have back there. The storage on the doors is a joke as there is nothing to hold items on the shelf. I am hoping to do a remodel on the pantry soon!
12) The small dresser in the master closet is useless as the drawers are small as you noted.
13) In the kitchen layout there really is no good “spot” for dishes or glasses so although the space was intended for appliances ours are way up high above the pantry. There are 4 drawers in the island and they are all shallow. Would rather have 3 with the bottom one deeper. Just my 2 cents.
14) Cable – Since you mentioned this I will address it. Since we are stationary we decided to get wifi. 2 techs came out and neither could figure out how to hook it up so my router is in the garage. Again, the booklets we were given were no help.
15) Again, I agree with Phil^^….it is a pain in the butt to have the cabinet open when trying to watch a movie. Also, the TV doesn’t swivel or move so it’s hard to attach cables to the TV. We added the little gizmo for Netflix and had a heck of a time figuring out where to put it as we couldn’t see anything and it was hard to reach. Not to mention the lovely extension cord I have handing down from the cabinet underneath the TV as we didn’t have room to feed it down through the cabinet.
There are a few more things, but these are the ones that bug me the most. I apologize for this post being so long but as you can tell I have quite a bit of experience with this unit! BTW, Lazy Days, Tampa, no longer sells this unit and if we had the choice to make over again we would not deal with them and we wouldn’t purchase this unit. We have had a lot of issues and everyone wants to pass the buck so it’s hard to get answers to questions or get the issues fixed. I don’t know if this would help in any decisions to purchase as my unit is a 2013, but again, just my 2 cents.
~Marilyn
I Marilyn your item #10 I have same issue the prickliest in my case is under. window and after a year I found seal on window was very poor I bought windshield black gooey sealer and removed window ( curbside rear) and resealed it put lots of sealer at top, since top is on radius it has large gap. Hope this helps. Seems like we spend more time problem solving than enjoying.
We only had a couple issues with our 2014 model Trilogy, we have the one with the living room upstairs and the main bedroom at the back of the Camper. We bought our unit from Fun town RV in Waco Texas. Here were our issues;
1) A/C units – two of our A/C’s went out in the first 8 months out of 3 units, not good in 90+ degrees in Texas when my son was using this full time in Dallas. (We purchased a back up A/C stand alone unit for my son to use in the bedroom so he could rest)
2) Roof Leak – Dallas has some bad storms and one light above my sons bed showed water inside the lens, but it didn’t leak onto my son’s bed.
I had to wait one month before Fun town could get it on there service schedule, then it took them 2 months to get approval from Dynamax to replace the A/C units and repair the roof leak. Then it only took a week later to get two new A/C units and roof repaired..
The service guys gave me updates and kept me posted once a week, my son had to go TDY to Colorado during that time period while the repairs were happening. (Everything was covered no cost for any repairs)
When I picked up the trailer my fuse blow on my truck for the trailer lights and had to stop at Dodge to pickup the special fuse. I know keep those special fuses in my 3500 Dodge Truck.
Knock on wood – we haven’t had any addition issues at this time, I’m going to have my brother climb up on the roof and put some sealant around everything that I purchased from RV supply to prevent any additional leaks from occurring in the future.
I now have the Camper in storage, due to the fact my son ended up transferring to Denver and he decided he wanted to stay in a condo in Denver instead of a Camper…
Does anyone know who I can purchase a Camper cover from to protect against the weather elements?
Thanks – Ben