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  1. #1
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    3200 mile trip in my 2020 Imagine XLS MLE

    Just got back from a 3 week trip in my 2020 22MLE bought last December. This is our third trip in it but by far the longest. I wanted to give everyone a rundown on how it did and the conditions we experienced on the trip. First I pulled it with a 2014 Ford F150, FX4 crewcab, with 3.5 turbo boost V6 engine. The truck never had a problem on all the hills and the heat experienced on the trip. We started at lake Havasu City, AZ and went through Utah and Idah to West Fork of the Madison river in Montana which is just below Quake Lake about 10 mins. Next we went to Stanley, ID and camped along the Salmon River. Then to Sun Valley, ID and a RV Park. Then to a friends cabin area in the Featherville, ID area. Next stop was a rv park in Boise, ID, rv park in Jackpot, NV, Sams Town in Las Vegas and finally our last stop was a rv park in Mesa, AZ. Then we came home to Lake Havasu City. We experienced temperatures in Montana and Stanley that were as low as 32 deg. In Mesa we had 111 deg temps. We boondocked at FS camps for 12 days and had hookups the rest of the time. Longest straight boondock was 7 days. During that time we used a renogy 100 watt solar panel with controller hooked to the furion solar connector. This easily kept the batteries charged for the 7 days. I have two 12 volt interstate deep cycle batteries. We had the following issues on the trip. 1) the glass cover over the stove shattered when the front burner was used to heat a coffee pot when the inside temp of the trailer was 45 deg and out side was 32. The heat shattered the cold glass top. 2). The optional furion backup camera quit connecting with the camera. Not sure why but wouldnt receive a signal from the camera. 3) i had two moldings that came loose. One by the door and one in the slide out behind the theater seats. These are held by small brads that went through the molding. Probably set too far in the molding. Both came loose on very rough rocky dirt roads. We also had a small leak at the bathroom cold water sink connection. I put a hose clamp on it below the pex clamp and made sure to not tighten it too much when connecting back to the cold water on the faucet. This worked as no leaking occurred again. That was it. All other aspects of the trailer performed awesome. No other issues.

    Some suggestions: On the China “ bomb” tires, they performed very well. 3200 miles in cold and extreme heat and elevation changes from 500 ft to 8000 ft. No problems. I kept the tires at 60 lbs and checked them often. My feeling is as long as the tires are properly inflated they should do well. We went to Big Lots and picked up some baskets for the shoe area and for the overhead storage area above the queen bed. Two baskets for his and her shoes fit perfectly in the shoe area and 5 baskets fit great in the overhead storage for our clothes. We also used Big Lots baskets for the large pantry area. Which worked ok but still looking for better options for the pantry. My ryobi drill and tire pump worked great for lowering and raising the stabilizers and keeping tires inflated. next time im bringing the dust buster and chain saw attachments. On the schwintek slide out mechanism, we made sure to have the trailer level and fully charged or hooked to the truck or hookups before Extending or retracting the slide out. I also made sure to keep the button held until the unit was fully out or in and no more noise was coming out of the slideout and then 5 seconds more. That way all the self adjusting was done with time to spare. Doing this we had no problems with the slide out. Propane was not an issue with the 20 lb tanks as we didnt fill them once during the 3 weeks. Black tank handled our use for two weeks with the exception of morning business being done in the outhouse or rest rooms. All showers were in the trailer as it was better than most of the RV Parks we visited. We bought a 30 amp female to 50 amp male connector and was glad we had it since one RV park only had 50 amp service. Our 25 ft zero g lightweight 1/2 hose was awesome, never leaked and so easy to store, carry and roll up after use. Ill never go back to camco white hoses.

    Well thats it for now. I hope this helps those looking at the 22 MLE. We love ours and would not have any other.

  2. #2
    Site Sponsor avf100's Avatar
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    Congratulations... Sounds like you had an awesome trip !!
    People keep telling me to follow my dreams...so I went back to bed

    2019 303rls
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  3. #3
    Rolling Along Tigger1's Avatar
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    Xlsmle - thanks for the update. Sounds like you had a good run with the exception of a few things. Good to know the Furrion solar charging port worked to keep your batteries topped off. Good info on the slide too.

    I’m not quite clear why the stove top glass broke? Did you put it down over the burner too quickly before it was cool?
    2010 Tundra SR5 DC 5.7L 4x4
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  4. #4
    Fireside Member
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    No, the stove top was in the back position and the coffee was brewing But the stove top was very cold. So the heat from the front burner shattered the glass top while in the back position. Similar to a hot glass pan like pyrex when exposed to cold water. Anyway, when you get inside temps of 45 deg or so, dont use the stove until you warm up that glass top. Once i figure out how to remove it, im going to take it off. Its a pain and serves no purpose for my needs. I dont need the extra counter space it provides.

  5. #5
    Site Team Ynot4me2's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Xlsmle View Post
    Just got back from a 3 week trip in my 2020 22MLE bought last December. This is our third trip in it but by far the longest. I wanted to give everyone a rundown on how it did and the conditions we experienced on the trip. First I pulled it with a 2014 Ford F150, FX4 crewcab, with 3.5 turbo boost V6 engine. The truck never had a problem on all the hills and the heat experienced on the trip. We started at lake Havasu City, AZ and went through Utah and Idah to West Fork of the Madison river in Montana which is just below Quake Lake about 10 mins. Next we went to Stanley, ID and camped along the Salmon River. Then to Sun Valley, ID and a RV Park. Then to a friends cabin area in the Featherville, ID area. Next stop was a rv park in Boise, ID, rv park in Jackpot, NV, Sams Town in Las Vegas and finally our last stop was a rv park in Mesa, AZ. Then we came home to Lake Havasu City. We experienced temperatures in Montana and Stanley that were as low as 32 deg. In Mesa we had 111 deg temps. We boondocked at FS camps for 12 days and had hookups the rest of the time. Longest straight boondock was 7 days. During that time we used a renogy 100 watt solar panel with controller hooked to the furion solar connector. This easily kept the batteries charged for the 7 days. I have two 12 volt interstate deep cycle batteries. We had the following issues on the trip. 1) the glass cover over the stove shattered when the front burner was used to heat a coffee pot when the inside temp of the trailer was 45 deg and out side was 32. The heat shattered the cold glass top. 2). The optional furion backup camera quit connecting with the camera. Not sure why but wouldnt receive a signal from the camera. 3) i had two moldings that came loose. One by the door and one in the slide out behind the theater seats. These are held by small brads that went through the molding. Probably set too far in the molding. Both came loose on very rough rocky dirt roads. We also had a small leak at the bathroom cold water sink connection. I put a hose clamp on it below the pex clamp and made sure to not tighten it too much when connecting back to the cold water on the faucet. This worked as no leaking occurred again. That was it. All other aspects of the trailer performed awesome. No other issues.

    Some suggestions: On the China “ bomb” tires, they performed very well. 3200 miles in cold and extreme heat and elevation changes from 500 ft to 8000 ft. No problems. I kept the tires at 60 lbs and checked them often. My feeling is as long as the tires are properly inflated they should do well. We went to Big Lots and picked up some baskets for the shoe area and for the overhead storage area above the queen bed. Two baskets for his and her shoes fit perfectly in the shoe area and 5 baskets fit great in the overhead storage for our clothes. We also used Big Lots baskets for the large pantry area. Which worked ok but still looking for better options for the pantry. My ryobi drill and tire pump worked great for lowering and raising the stabilizers and keeping tires inflated. next time im bringing the dust buster and chain saw attachments. On the schwintek slide out mechanism, we made sure to have the trailer level and fully charged or hooked to the truck or hookups before Extending or retracting the slide out. I also made sure to keep the button held until the unit was fully out or in and no more noise was coming out of the slideout and then 5 seconds more. That way all the self adjusting was done with time to spare. Doing this we had no problems with the slide out. Propane was not an issue with the 20 lb tanks as we didnt fill them once during the 3 weeks. Black tank handled our use for two weeks with the exception of morning business being done in the outhouse or rest rooms. All showers were in the trailer as it was better than most of the RV Parks we visited. We bought a 30 amp female to 50 amp male connector and was glad we had it since one RV park only had 50 amp service. Our 25 ft zero g lightweight 1/2 hose was awesome, never leaked and so easy to store, carry and roll up after use. Ill never go back to camco white hoses.

    Well thats it for now. I hope this helps those looking at the 22 MLE. We love ours and would not have any other.
    Wow nice run and update. Real glad everything went well. Your battery setup and solar picked my curiosity.
    So weird about the glass stove top. But I agree that it doesn't really do much.

    Sent from my SM-G955W using Tapatalk
    Steph & Lise
    2019 F150 Lariat 2.7 EB
    2020 Imagine XLS 22MLE

  6. #6
    Fireside Member
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    We have the very lightweight 100 watt renogy suitcase model. It weighs like nothing. Bought on Amazon. So much nicer than the old glass models. It produces more power than my old renolgy glass, single panel, 100 watt panel which weighed like 20 lbs. seems to work better on cloudy days too. I have 2 of them, one for the trailer and the other for a rockpalls 300 watt solar generator we use for the tv when boondocking. It charges the generator in less than 3 hours after running the generator for our tv for 3 nights of at least 2 hour viewing plus charging our two phones. For now that will do until i decide on a bigger solar generator that powers the whole trailer.

  7. #7
    Site Sponsor orbiker's Avatar
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    Stanley, ID is a beautiful area.
    Some pictures of your trip would be nice. KEN
    Backpacker and tent camper all my life, including BSA as a kid and adult.
    Motorcycle trips across the USA with a tent - 1978 to Present.
    02-10-2005 - 2002 F350 SWD PSD and 2003 Citation 10'8S mostly for Crater Lake Ski Patrol.
    10-29-2015 - 2016 Grand Design 380TH. It's HUGE compared to a camper.
    10-19-2018 - traded truck for a 2016 Ram 3500 DRW Laramie CC 4 X 4 Long Box.
    03-16-2019 - Traded Momentum for a New 2018 374TH-R Solitude
    FULL TIME RV'er Nov 2021

  8. #8
    Fireside Member
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    Dont see an option to add more than one photo. Am i missing something?

  9. #9
    Site Sponsor Skiddy's Avatar
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    Congrats on a great trip and thanks for the summary. Similar route was on our “agenda” for this year until sidetracked with closed border due to COVID 19.
    Trim issues, been there seen that, seems pretty typical on most GDRV products.
    The D range Westlakes on my trailer are 65PSI, do you run yours at lower cold pressure? I’ve had excellent experience with them. My local Fountain Tire balanced them, every tire required a weight or two. Since balancing, we have noticed very few items moving around during travel.
    Judy & Larry
    Ty and Ali the St Bernard drool machines
    Delta, British Columbia, GWN
    2019 Imagine 2150RB - lovingly christened “IM-A-GENE” towed by Dusty via Andersen 3350.
    2018 F150 SCREW 3.5 EcoBoost Lariat - respectfully christened “Dusty”.

  10. #10
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    I did run the tires at 60 lbs cold. At that pressure going from 500 feet to 8000 ft in elevation, i figured i wouldnt exceed tire pressure since there is expansion with that much change in elevation. On hindsight, the tire pressure seemed to keep consistently at 60 lbs even at 6000 ft so i probably should have had 65 lbs pressure as recommended on trailer label. However, the tires did great and the trailer towed well for the 3200 miles. I had no problem with any movement in the trailer with drawers, items, etc. i wonder with more air in the tires and the resulting harder ride if there would be a difference in movement inside the trailer. Might be worth trying the tires at 65 Lbs on next trip and see if any difference for the fun of it. Thanks for the comment!

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