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  1. #1
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    2020 Solitude 373 FB

    We have previously owned two class A motor homes and two fifth wheels-Carriage Compass for 13 years and a Forest River Cardinal for one year. The 373 FB Solitude is clearly the best of them all. As an engineer and a craftsman I see many attentions to detail that separate this trailer from the others in terms of quality. My interactions with Grand Design have been exceptional.

    That said I have a few suggestions to the company or others who might be interested.

    The front closet has two doors. The left door is the "stationary door" and the right one has the door knob. They put the travel latch on the right door. It should on the stationary door. I wound installing a latch on the backside top of the stationary door. If the stationary door is secure the door handle will secure the other door.

    The tailpipe from the left sink to the right sink is about 1.5" too short and was just barely connected to the P trap on the right sink. It was easily dislodged by a bottle of shampoo in the bottom drawer that was a bit too tall when the wife closed the drawer. I added an extension. Simple fix.

    The side tables by the bed are nice but why not hinge the tops and have a place to put a magazine or book in them and or a place for the TV remote?

    It appears all of the wall outlets are on a single ground fault protected circuit on a 15 amp fuse. I see this as a significant problem. It seems to me the kitchen outlets should be separate from the others and it should be a 20amp circuit. The coffee pot alone when it is heating will be close to 15 amps so running a toaster or griddle is not possible.

    Related to this the refrigerator cannot be turned off unless this breaker is turned off. There is a breaker labeled Refrigerator but it apparently only addresses the inverter supply to the refrigerator. Haven't sorted that one out. You can put the refrigerator into the display mode so only the interior light comes on but when I store the unit I leave the refrigerator doors open to allow air circulation and avoid mold or mildew. too bad the plug in isn't accessible as you could just unplug it. Why would Frigidaire make a refrigerator that can't be turned off without unplugging it?

    The sound system wiring is not accessible and does not have remote. If you choose to add a dvd player or a satellite box there is no way to input it into the sound system and I found snaking a second HDMI cable down to the TV to be a significant challenge. I was successful but had to drill a hole into the chase way at the very top to assist the cable through that very tight space. I then added a splitter to the second cable so I could feed both the DVD and satellite box into it. So it is separate from the sound system. When the TV is in its up position the speakers wind up behind the TV which requires higher volume levels to hear the TV.

    We subscribe to Dish TV and we purchased the dual playmaker antenna but no matter how I tried I simply couldn't get it to work right with the two TV's. So we bought a second antenna and now can run both TV's independently of each other and it was much cheaper to buy two Playmakers than a roof mounted satellite dish. It also gives some ability to remote the antennas if we are under trees to get a clear signal.

    The boxes on either side of the sofa like the ones next to the bed should have a hinged top and small storage compartment in them for magazines or books. Once I figure out how the tops are attached I will likely make the change.

    I have added a drawer under the bench by the front door that is about four inches deep where we keep the flashlights and batteries and such

    I converted the panel to the left side of the sink that was over where a dishwasher might go into a drawer. A little tricky as the drawer has to be slightly offset to the left to clear the sink under the cabinet but works great.

    We have added a 15 inch deep cabinet on the end of the island that will be our coffee station. It includes a shallow drawer for our Keurig cups filters etc. and a movable shelf where there is room to store the coffee maker for travel and the toaster. I extended the outlet below the sink to add an outlet on the end of the island and the folks at Patrick Industries have graciously agreed to make me a counter top to match the existing materials for the extension. They have been absolutely terrific. Really good people.

    I have added a suspended shelf 8 inches deep to the storage space under the trailer. this is where we put our beach chairs, the beach umbrella and two of the collapsing chairs leaving the space below open for other things. I also added a 3" diameter piece of PVC to the wall on the right side for the flag pole.

    I took pictures of it all so can easily send to any interested folks. This is an awesome trailer and I highly recommend it to anyone.

  2. #2
    Site Team Second Chance's Avatar
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    Just an FYI... Grand Design hasn't monitored this forum in quite a while. If you want them to see your suggestions, you'll need to contact them directly.

    Rob
    U.S. Army Retired
    2012 F350 DRW CC LB Lariat PS 6.7
    2020 Solitude 310GK-R, MORryde IS, disc brakes,
    Sailun LRG tires, solar, DP windows, W/D
    (Previously in a Reflection 337RLS)
    Full time since 08/2015

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