Can you recommend Winnebago fifth wheels?

[bob3346]

I want to confirm all of Mcumbies comments. We have the same issues and solutions. If not for the price, I would also choose a Drv product. My wife also fell in love with the destination, and it is so comfortable for us, we feel at home in it as we do our home. We have 2 AC's but it takes a long time to bring the temp down after setting up. On a hot day, you have to crank up the ac early or it won't keep up in the heat of the afternoon. I think it should be better then this, but it is a large unit with high ceilings. It came from factory with one ac and the dealer added the other, which unlike the factory unit, they cut a hole in the ceiling for the air intake grill. Looks like a traditional rv ac unit but blows air through the residential type air ducts the factory unit uses. One benefit of this is that when we don't need both, either unit blows air from vents throughout the unit. We haven't had any cold weather yet, but last month in the smokie mountains on cool 40 degree nights, we stayed warm with just the fireplace We also cut a hole and put in access door for drain valves. Water filter is deep inside basement still but not for much longer. The basement is not very big considering this unit is so large. I wish all the baggage doors swung sideways so you wouldn't have to bend over to reach inside. I read how Mcumbie decided to blow his out with air? I have to wander about the water line and water chiller tank and ice maker in the fridge? I had thought of using air, but the owners manual says to make ice with the pink antifreeze to winterize the fridge and I haven't figured out any way to blow out or drain that part yet. My water heater is in the very back in the bedroom closet being I have a front living room. There is a easy to get to access panel to turn the bypass valves. We have had a few issues, but overall, its seems to be a good unit with high end finishes on the inside. Everything looks like the same products they use to build a MH. We love ours and it is very comfortable. One thing to, it came with load range E tires rated at 75MPH! I don't drive that fast but its good to know the tires are above average, as you know if you have ever shopped for trailer tires. Whatever you choose, happy camping and drive safe.

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2015 Winnebago Destination 37FL 42 foot
2015 chevrolet silverado 2500 4 door 4x4 high county

[mcumbie]

Hey bob3346....when I hook up my air line to the outside connection, I go from faucet to faucet opening them until I have air only hissing out of them. For the fridge, I have just pressed the water dispenser until it does the same. That does not cover the actual ice maker though...I had not even thought of the ice maker until your comments!! My biggest advantage is that I store my unit inside a heavily insulated garage and the temp never drops below about 45 degrees even during our single digit days.

I am going to have to take a look at my ice maker now to see if there is any way I can remove anything in order to drain it or not. One of my big concerns with the residential fridges is the water just sitting in the lines and starting to "crud up" while in storage for long periods. So far, I just put some bleach in the water tank and do a half tank fill and then drive that around....then I run water through all lines in an effort to disinfect them. Then I have to flush them all our thoroughly prior to actual usage....so far, so good....my wife is a real water snob, so since she has not complained as of yet, I am guessing it is working well enough.

I have come to the conclusion that every retiree needs an RV....then they will never have to worry about not having something to do with their spare time!!!

[bob3346]

Mcumbie

I had the same idea of using the water dispenser to purge water but also wonder if there is any kind of reservoir that doesn't drain. Anyone that knows refrigerators out there. Thoughts would be appreciated. I would like to use the air method between trips. Going out for the weekend locally when time permits and going to meet the whole family in Florida for two weeks during christmas. Don't want to use antifreeze for short term storage if I can help it. Everything would probably be ok in our area until January unless we get an early deep freeze. I think as long as it is warming into the 40's during the day and dropping below freezing at night for short periods, we are ok. We also have the option of turning the furnace on during short storage periods.

[mcumbie]

bob3346....If I remember correctly, I do think I noticed some sort of slightly clear reservoir in the back of the fridge gurgling around as I was blowing the water out of the dispenser. I have no idea as to whether it still has water piled up somewhere in the fridge when I am done, but for some reason, I convinced myself that any residual water left in the freezer portion of the fridge should be fine as it is all designed to function in freezing conditions. Probably faulty logic on my part, but as I said before, I am not so much worried about winterizing (since I am in an insulated garage) as I am about stagnant water. It would be nice if we could get a solid answer or if they could set these fridge units up to allow complete draining, but then it would be an "RV residential fridge" and cost 15K as an upgrade option!!

[bob3346]

Mcumbee, agree with comments. While camping this past weekend, while thinking about air or antifreeze, I located the ice maker water valve under the sink after reading about it being there. Since the owners manual doesn't give air as an option, I decided to open the valve to let the ice maker make some ice so I could use antifreeze to do the same when finished camping this weekend.(up till this point, we had not made any ice because we had not located the shut off valve).
When we turn the water on, it sounded like it was running on the floor behind the fridge which turned out to be true when it started running out in the kitchen floor. Seems like I don't have to antifreeze the ice maker after all. Another installation defect discovered.
On another issue, my truck is in the body shop getting the dent fixed after
I turned to sharp and hit the front of the camper on the cab corner, Duh' to me?
I have a slider hitch. duh'

[mcumbie]

Hey bob....sorry to hear of the new troubles with the fridge and especially about the damage to your truck!! My first tow rig was a short bed truck and I went with the Pullrite SuperGlide hitch as I was worried I would forget to get out and activate the slide on some of the manual models. The Pullrite was awesome and allowed me to turn the truck to extreme angles never coming near the cab, so if you want to be completely worry free, I would consider selling your current one and getting the Pullrite.

Hope you get everything back in good repair as soon as possible!!

[bob3346]

i can say a lot of positive things about our Winnebago Destination 37 FL. So posting something else overlooked during construction is only for potential buyers information on this thread "would you recommend a Winnebago?" I posted some other issues I've had, here is another. We have trapped 4 mice this week. Looking underneath, I found many places where wires and hydraulic lines passed through several 2'' holes in the frame and none of them had been foamed, giving the mice easy access and probably would have an effect on heating this winter.. I foamed what I could and got things sealed up pretty good. All makes these days have things that are overlooked at the factory, so some things aren't surprising, but for a brand such as Winnebago to do this, is there any hope out there for anybody to have pride in what they build. I purchased Winnebago because of the name, but have been disappointed. We love the unit and it is comfortable, but I wonder what else they did or didn't do that has yet to show itself.

[mcumbie]

I agree with you about the frustration of spending a good amount of money on these RV's and then finding a fair amount of things that need to be tweaked, repaired, adjusted, or improved on!! Unfortunately, all of the big manufacturer's do it from what I have seen on these forums and from campground talk. We are just like you...we think overall, our 36RL is a great performer...it just gets old when you come across yet another thing you need to address that should have just been done better during the build. My carriage had big access points on it as you describe when the slides were in...this allowed tons of miller moths to get inside every year no matter how much I tried to keep those access points sealed up. This is another contributing reason why I decided to just store this one inside a garage. I plan on spending time this winter going over the whole unit to find anything I can that may need attention. One new discovery recently was that our water heater is the type that does not have the traditional anode rod in it. I do not know if that is an advantage or not...it is to me at the point as it means one less item to replace over time. I just hope it does not mean this is a cheap water heater that will crap out on me in 3 years!!

[bob3346]

Hey Mcumbee, Its great someone shares my excitement and frustration. As to the anode rod, neither this or my 2014 FW I had used the anode rod. The purpose of it is to cause a chemical reaction in the water to prevent the corrosion of the sides of the inside of the tank. Thats the best I can explain it without talking about neutrons, protons, molecules, acidity, or other words I can't spell. When it gets used up, your supposed to get a new one. The same as in your house in which I don't know of anybody that has changed one in the house. The water heater rust out and you get a new water heater. Maybe it would last longer if you changed the rod as needed.
I read about the atwood water heater having an aluminum tank as the reason they don't have a rod. I don't know about the validity of this.

happy holidays

bob

2015 winnebago destination 37FL, 2015 silverado 2500 high country 4x4 crew cab with duramaxx diesel. "Home base in southern indiana"

[fiddleddd]

Just thought I'd come back here to report on things. We've nearly (90%) decided on a Redwood 38GK. We love the extra storage in the kitchen, and while it isn't the quality of a DRV, we think it's a solid build. They also have a 2 year complete warranty, so we figured they need to be making a decent product or they wouldn't offer such a generous warranty. At least one can hope.

Thanks for everyone's input on our Winnebago question.....
Happy Trails!

[mcumbie]

Hey fiddleddd.....best of luck with the new unit. As we have discussed here, none of them are perfect, so you pick the one that has as many of the features as possible that are important to you and hopefully only have minor issues to address. A full 2 year warranty is awesome and gives you plenty of time to address anything that could come up. Happy travels!!

[nova 42qd]

First a lot depends on your budget.

We have a Tour DP MH and could not be happier. I could not see ever going back to a towable. IMO too much futzing around with leveling, hooking up, etc. Even the best 5W are a lot of effort.

With my MH I can set up in 10 minutes.

Having the room while driving is great particularly if you travel with dogs. Good Luck!

[bob3346]

Well after 1 1/2 years and many camping trips in our 37 FL, we are still happy with it. Small problems were taken care of by a wonderfull Winnebago dealer in Indianapolis under warranty. In the Florida humidity during christmas some of the woodwork that was fitted to tightly, like between cabinets, expanded and bowed out or came loose from the from wall. Ice maker line wasn't connected, kitchen exhaust fan was installed incorrectly, slide seals were torn in 2 spots, all corrected by dealer under warranty.
As MaCumbee did, I put a 8 inch dock plate in the convenience area to reach the low point drain and bypassed the in house water filter to make winterizing easier.
We took a factory tour in Middleburg In. last week. New models have a dock plate just like mine for access to low point drains, a battery drawer that pulls out for easy access to batteries, a single side swinging door to the basement on the convenience compartment which replaces an annoying double door set up on mine. I definitely want to covert mine if possible. I noticed chrome Winnebago emblems on the side and commented that I wished I had those on mine. Before the tour was over, the plant manager walked up and handed me three sets to put on mine. I thought that was a good gesture. I was shown the difference in construction between the destination and the lesser priced models like the voyage, pointing out why the difference in price.

[bob3346]

Hello everyone, anybody there with a winnebago fifth wheel. Want to follow up with previous post. Been camping over 50 days a year for 3 years now. Mostly to smoke mountains or the panhandle of Florida and local state parks in Indiana. I had a mishap when I drug the back fiberglass rear on the concrete of a low water crossing. $5,000. Had to replace brakes because of grease. Now in the shop getting a new black tank. Had the dump outlet raised by cutting a half moon notch in the lower sheet metal skirt. Now I can use my blue tank to dump at state parks. Before the outlet was lower than my blue tank top. Had the 2 gray water tanks connected to give the full 66 gallon gray water capacity. Added a portable ac in the dining room to cool when on 30 amp. Just place cord out dining side window and place exhaust against screen and close window on adapter that came with ac. Works great and quit. Just plug cord into 110 outlet on pedestal. Winnebago must read these because on my factory tour, I observed that many things Mcumbee and I discussed was incorporated into new units. The size of this unit, 41 ft, with 9 ft ceilings really needs 3 ac's on the roof. Next project is a generator because I now have a 1 ton truck to carry the extra weight