Greetings from nc-not sure what to expect.

[ronheater70]

While certainly not our first RV, It will be our first Winnebago.My wife wanted a Front Living area Fifth wheel, and we had a 2019 Keystone Cougar 369BHS that I personally really enjoyed. We had nary an issue with it until last winter when the furnace wouldnt work properly and that turned out to be a fuse issue. so all n' All I had been very pleased with it. I do not like starting from scratch when I had a tried and true , tested unit I had faith in But Here I am.
So we pick the new 3436fl voyage fifth wheel up Saturday. I intend to do a vary thorough pdi walkthrough. I plan on walking the roof with slides out and In to look for any uneven gaps, seals around all the vents, ac, and cap etc.. make sure both acs work properly, make sure all plumbing is connected and drains properly.. hot water heater works properly, all drain valves open and close as should etc.. We had a very hard time finding a front living unit that met my requirements in size and weight. I have a 2018 ram 3500 Long Bed crew Cab 4x4 CTD.. Most front living units are in the 14K or more dry, this one is around 11.8K dry so I should be a little over 13K or so ready to go. Much more than that And I would want a dually. Thats a me personally thing and not a knock on the truck etc I always like to have some extra factor of safety when towing.
I dont see alot of info on the Voyage line of Fifth Wheels, so I dont know what to expect in terms of quality etc.. after several RVS I know there will probably be some minor issues which Is normal.. I worry about buying one now because of the market being nuts and they may be getting shoved out the door without as much QC as they normally would because of demand.
BUT,this is the unit My wife likes and therefore I am to be excited and happy..LOL
I have been through Forest River with 2 units, and Keystone with 1 unit and really I have had a pleasant ownership experience with all of them in general. I hope that continues with the Winnebago!

 

[Eagle5]

Hi Ron,
I didn't know that Winnebago made a Front Living 5th wheel; the V3436FL is really pretty cool!
The only model number result I found on this site for the current year of production was for the V3134RL. Making the search more generic by searching for Voyage, I found more results, but some of those are for the Voyage Motorhome. I hope your unit is problem free. Would you please let us know the results of your delivery inspection?
Welcome to the forum.
Eagle5

 

[ronheater70]

Thank you Eagle5!

So got it home..

We did as good of a thorough inspection as we could in the pouring rain. I will give kudos to the tech he didnt even want an umbrella when offered.
In short, the slides go in and out as they should with no weird noises.
Both ACS work well
Water turns off and on without any leaks noticed in plumming.
hot water heater works in both Gas and Electric..
Has solar with Panels on the roof and the controller, I dont know much about that yet I need to investogate further.

Issues discovered so far..
Living room screen door wont latch (probably just need to shim out the plate a smidge)
one of the recliners had the foot extension twisted so it wouldnt relatch, I just put some weight on it and bent it as needed and its 99% straight now and latches fine.
Two Issues I consider more worrisome were that the hanger that was screwed onto the frame to pushoutwardly on the fender flares was dangling between the wheels on the left side. I noticed it before we pulled out and they corrected it with more stout hardware. WHen i got home, if you look at the pictures you can see I back up onto a little retaining wall. This allows me great inspection vantage point underneath. I found the strap holding the rear grey / black outlet pipe to have had the screw broken as well like the fender support. Closer look reveals a great deal of rust on the rear of the frame. My guess being that it was transported in the winter and got road salt on it and wasnt washed off. I think the little scre heads (which were too small in my opinion for a supporting piece of hardwear) saw a little corrision and just broke. I am sending pictures to the dealer for docummentation but I am going to wire wheel it all down, treat it and repaint.

It seems to pull about the same as my cougar despite being a little heavier. My truck didnt sag as much as I thought it would with the approx 2900LB pin weight, but I still may put some help on the suspension..
So all in all nothing majorly wrong at this point. some little tweaks that are to be expected, but otherwise not bad.. Our first trip is end of month about 1.25 hours from home. We will give it a thorough rundown at that time!

 

[Eagle5]

Hi Ron,
Oh my that thing is really big! I truly understand why the front living room is so wonderful.
Glad you are tackling the rust issues. My 22M was driven-out in January, and I took possession of it right away. I removed the wheels and really cleaned it well. Where I did get a little surface rust, I painted it with POR15 (nasty stuff; use an organic respirator.)
The other repairs sound rather minor; not too bad for a 2+ year old trailer.
Are you going to get air bags for the truck's rear axle?
All-in-all, it is a fine looking trailer; congratulations!
Eagle5

 

[ronheater70]

Hi Ron,
Oh my that thing is really big! I truly understand why the front living room is so wonderful.
Glad you are tackling the rust issues. My 22M was driven-out in January, and I took possession of it right away. I removed the wheels and really cleaned it well. Where I did get a little surface rust, I painted it with POR15 (nasty stuff; use an organic respirator.)
The other repairs sound rather minor; not too bad for a 2+ year old trailer.
Are you going to get air bags for the truck's rear axle?
All-in-all, it is a fine looking trailer; congratulations!
Eagle5

thanks Eagle.. It is a new 2021 Model, so Im guessing it was manufactured sometime in the fall / winter of 2020 Maybe? I need to look into that.
For the trucks rear suspension, Im looking into the Timbrens SES system which is basically glorified Bumpstops . Once it hits those then they provide additional suspension resistance. they get very good reviews from what i have researched. I thought about the airbags, Our son runs those on his f-350 dually but he is a pipeline welder and it has a heavy steel flatbed and 3K of welders on it all the time, plus all his other gear. I dont think I need to go that route cause Im no where near as hardcore as that. Plus when not towing it will ride like normal (which is not that good anyway being a 1 ton HD truck!) .. Im still in the research phase yet! Im a little excited though!