280RS Break In Woes

[Mannyjt]

Hello GDRV folks!

I've been vacuuming up everything I can on this forum for days now and massively appreciate all the insight yall share. After reading around for a while I'd like to ask a few questions of my own.

I'm looking for some help gauging how we approach some of our break in period woes and and advice on which are serious or not.

We picked up a 2023 150 series 280RS this winter and got it out for the first time this past weekend. (Un)luckily it rained the whole time and showed us where the leaks are.

First up: Bathroom skylight. This one seems to be a common failure. There was some water in the shower that got through and a trip up to the roof shows significant moisture inside the exterior housing of the skylight. Per the dealers advice (why I was talking to them I'll get to) I got some sealant and went around all of the existing sealer to try and plug the ingress point. I suspect its the commonly reported cracked cover failure as the sealant seemed well applied. My concern here is water in the insulation and wood, but I also see some sort of liner that may keep it contained. Short of pulling it off I can't verify that myself.


Recliner/Dinette Slideout:
While relaxing on the couch we heard water suddenly hit the floor and thought Oh no! The dog! Thankfully they were both snoozing on the bed. Not so thankfully there was a near constant stream of water coming through the top center of window behind the recliners.. naturally directly onto the 110vac outlet. Using some wet applicable sealant I put a bead across the edge where the slide roof meets the upright flashing, where the black liner? That extends 3-4" inward from there was and across the top edge of the window. All looked like they had gaps. Im a little uncertain if sealing that liner down was a good idea and now I wish I had a photo.

Some other things we've run into are a front door that doesn't like to stay shut unless you set the deadbolt. Its bowed outward at the middle. It almost seems like someone was aware of this as the strike plate is already maxed towards the inside on the screw slots.

We are also outright missing 2/3 hinge pins on the outdoor kitchen door (which they had to have known it was open for the walkaround and we stupidly didn't try to shut it, similar to the front door) I measured the one thats wedged out on side (not making contact with inner hinge half at all) at about 5.25mm dia and bought some expanding roll pins Im going to try to use to temp fix it.


There's a multitude of other little things to fix, but theyre just little things that can be nabbed with time and a trip to Ace Hardware.

I'm a little bummed as I see so many report they had a couple minor issues and then nothing for years.. and others report they started out like this and it never improved in terms of how much is breaking.

Last Friday I took it up to the dealer to have some items installed we made warranty claims on at delivery. I had been assured that was a same day appointment and that they could take a peak at the outdoor kitchen door, skylight leak, and front door that we had noted when visiting it in storage. I took the day off work, rescheduled a crew I manage and got it there only to find their idea of same day is leave it 3 weeks.... As we had a booking that night it was a no go for me. Why on earth it has to wait 3 weeks to get in to a bay when the appointment was made 3.5 weeks earlier is beyond me. I even schedule and manage field service of machinery so it's not like Im unfamiliar with service scheduling issues.. but I digress.

My problem now is that the camping season in Michigan is very short, bookings are limited and my schedule is a field service one so hectic at best. What that means for us is having to pounce on the opportunities we get and bail out with the camper. I don't want to lose whats almost 1/5th of the season with it sitting at the dealer before it even gets looked at. If at all possible I'd like to fix what I can and save everything up til the offseason. They can take as long as they want during the winter months, matters not to me. I do machinery repair and we built a house with a stick builder so I'm fairly handy and used to repairs.

So this brings me to my questions:

*How much of an immediate issue are the leaks? Do they need to have the components ripped off and the stuff behind them dried out RIGHT now? Or is sealing them and putting a ton of moisture absorber in the camper for now OK?

*Does anyone know where to get those hinge pins? Do I have to call GD?

*Any advice on adjusting the door? If its bowed am I going to need a replacement?


Thanks in advance for your input!

Bonus rig and puppy pic:

[Soundsailor]

Hello GDRV folks!

I've been vacuuming up everything I can on this forum for days now and massively appreciate all the insight yall share. After reading around for a while I'd like to ask a few questions of my own.

I'm looking for some help gauging how we approach some of our break in period woes and and advice on which are serious or not.

We picked up a 2023 150 series 280RS this winter and got it out for the first time this past weekend. (Un)luckily it rained the whole time and showed us where the leaks are.

First up: Bathroom skylight. This one seems to be a common failure. There was some water in the shower that got through and a trip up to the roof shows significant moisture inside the exterior housing of the skylight. Per the dealers advice (why I was talking to them I'll get to) I got some sealant and went around all of the existing sealer to try and plug the ingress point. I suspect its the commonly reported cracked cover failure as the sealant seemed well applied. My concern here is water in the insulation and wood, but I also see some sort of liner that may keep it contained. Short of pulling it off I can't verify that myself.


Recliner/Dinette Slideout:
While relaxing on the couch we heard water suddenly hit the floor and thought Oh no! The dog! Thankfully they were both snoozing on the bed. Not so thankfully there was a near constant stream of water coming through the top center of window behind the recliners.. naturally directly onto the 110vac outlet. Using some wet applicable sealant I put a bead across the edge where the slide roof meets the upright flashing, where the black liner? That extends 3-4" inward from there was and across the top edge of the window. All looked like they had gaps. Im a little uncertain if sealing that liner down was a good idea and now I wish I had a photo.

Some other things we've run into are a front door that doesn't like to stay shut unless you set the deadbolt. Its bowed outward at the middle. It almost seems like someone was aware of this as the strike plate is already maxed towards the inside on the screw slots.

We are also outright missing 2/3 hinge pins on the outdoor kitchen door (which they had to have known it was open for the walkaround and we stupidly didn't try to shut it, similar to the front door) I measured the one thats wedged out on side (not making contact with inner hinge half at all) at about 5.25mm dia and bought some expanding roll pins Im going to try to use to temp fix it.


There's a multitude of other little things to fix, but theyre just little things that can be nabbed with time and a trip to Ace Hardware.

I'm a little bummed as I see so many report they had a couple minor issues and then nothing for years.. and others report they started out like this and it never improved in terms of how much is breaking.

Last Friday I took it up to the dealer to have some items installed we made warranty claims on at delivery. I had been assured that was a same day appointment and that they could take a peak at the outdoor kitchen door, skylight leak, and front door that we had noted when visiting it in storage. I took the day off work, rescheduled a crew I manage and got it there only to find their idea of same day is leave it 3 weeks.... As we had a booking that night it was a no go for me. Why on earth it has to wait 3 weeks to get in to a bay when the appointment was made 3.5 weeks earlier is beyond me. I even schedule and manage field service of machinery so it's not like Im unfamiliar with service scheduling issues.. but I digress.

My problem now is that the camping season in Michigan is very short, bookings are limited and my schedule is a field service one so hectic at best. What that means for us is having to pounce on the opportunities we get and bail out with the camper. I don't want to lose whats almost 1/5th of the season with it sitting at the dealer before it even gets looked at. If at all possible I'd like to fix what I can and save everything up til the offseason. They can take as long as they want during the winter months, matters not to me. I do machinery repair and we built a house with a stick builder so I'm fairly handy and used to repairs.

So this brings me to my questions:

*How much of an immediate issue are the leaks? Do they need to have the components ripped off and the stuff behind them dried out RIGHT now? Or is sealing them and putting a ton of moisture absorber in the camper for now OK?

*Does anyone know where to get those hinge pins? Do I have to call GD?

*Any advice on adjusting the door? If its bowed am I going to need a replacement?


Thanks in advance for your input!

Bonus rig and puppy pic:

If you haven't already done so, reach out to GD customer service ASAP. For any repairs you're willing to do yourself, they will most likely ship you the parts under your warranty. Often they will approve a mobile tech to do repairs you can't do yourself. I agree, no point in leaving your coach at the dealers' lot when you could be out camping. Let us know how you make out.

[Mannyjt]

Thanks for the push to reach out to GD, some times I'm hesitant on stuff like that for no good reason. I reached out and spoke with a rep named Amy who was super helpful.

I got some advice on what to peel back to inspect for damage and what the threshold is to make it the dealers problem. Hoping we don't cross it!

Also was asked to send in some photos of the hinge pins as well as getting a procedure for "Door Camber" (Read how to bend it to the right amount of curve with a 2x4) I love simple fixes though!

Next hurdle is ensuring the leaks are solved and figuring out how to run a good dehumidifier in it while it sits in storage for the next week and a half before our next outing. No power on the storage lot unfortunately. Have a couple of buckets of Damp-Rid in there now. Will probably bring the home unit and run it off of my truck while I work on it over the weekend and hopefully can hoover up most of the moisture.

[Riverbug]

That is such a disappointment. Regarding moisture, since it hasn't been leaking long term it likely isn't going to cause lasting issues provided it gets sealed up and dried out. If it did get the fiberglass wet, that's probably the biggest concern but how much to take apart to verify is your call. If you can pull down the trim around the skylight and see anything, or be able to drill a hole and get a endoscope (cheap on Amazon these days and extremely handy) you might be able to see just enough to satisfy you; to determine whether or not it requires further digging.

Sounds like you are on the right track. Good luck! Better days ahead!

[Mannyjt]

Well GDRV folks.. It's a new weekend and I've planned my entire schedule around working on the camper.

I have a slice of good news: My sealing job on the skylight seems to have held and there is *Knocks on wood* no visible mold. I dropped the inner pan today and dried out the excess moisture and left it open to ventilate. The sealing job on the slideout window also seems to have held, but final proof of that will be borne out when it rains heavily with the slide out. We hadn't noticed it until then before.

That's about where it ends unfortunately.

If anyone is willing to provide advice on any of these items I would be so greatly appreciative. Also curious if this unit is an outlier or GD does a phenomenal job of supressing stories like mine. We legitimately thought by spending the extra money for a GD RV we'd be dodging these sort of problems but it seems like my normal amount of luck is at play here. We have read, and continue to read, so many testimonials that people have next to zero significant issues with GD units and it seems like we are not following in those tracks.

I can't quiet the suspicion that given how many issues I'm having that even if we were able to get all of these problems remedied there's all sorts of gremlins hiding I haven't spotted and this will be a nightmare for the life of the unit.

The build date is July '22 if anyone is wondering.

I guess let's start with the thing I have a question on.

While looking around the pinbox I noticed there's a lot of exposed forbidden cotton candy erm I mean insulation. It seems that the insulation under the bedroom is just open to the elements. I'm unsure of if this is due to a missing piece? Or if I'm overthinking it and this is just a small area that's sealed off from the rest of the floor. Can anyone advise how theirs is please? I'll be asking GD about this also.





*Edited out the axle question, newbie ignorance. Thanks for clarifying CamFlyer!

Carrying on, more bonus freshwater sources! While troubleshooting a problem that I'll get to below I noticed a fairly large gap in the sealant on the front cone. Given the staining it appeared water was running under there. To confirm I poured some on the roof near it and it runs into the gap... and who knows where it comes out. There's a matching one several feet to the left of this.



Needing some ventilation because of all of the leaks I proceeded to try to open the vents.. The bathroom one has the opening mechanism blown out. When you turn the knob you can feel it try to catch the gearing and just skip. I got up on the roof and pulled the vent cover I purchased from the dealer off and opened it manually and was able to confirm the spline on the mechanism did in fact engage the handle. Turning it from above it's definitely the opening mechanism thats the issue, the handle stays engaged. I put the vent cover back on and found that surprise, it's the wrong size and makes contact with the vent lid. This is a dealer issue IMO but if that's the one specc'd for it and the mounting pins place the cover too far back.. well that portion is a GD issue.



Wifey noted a draft in the bedroom during our shakedown run and investigation found that the vent cover for the bedroom just doesn't shut all the way unless you remove the cover and push it down from the roof. Sweet. Guess it's good we got the ill-fitted covers or that'd be yet another leak..

I'd been having trouble with the factory backup cam and thanks to this forum learned I needed an adaptor for the 7-pin trailer connection because GM decided to use a PWM signal for the 12v trailer lights.. not an issue in and of itself.. but after purchasing said adaptor it still didn't work for some reason! I got up and pulled the camera down and found that the power wires were just shoved in there and shorted to the board. I rewired the connection and actually plugged it in and found that the camera is definitely nuked.

No matter! I have the GM trailer camera! I spent a few hours doing a beautiful job of routing the cable and then found that for whatever reason the fifth wheel prep I paid for on my truck that placed a 7-pin connector in the bed has a 4-pin above it, not camera connections. Decidedly not a GD issue, but an additional kick in the shorts nonetheless.

While inspecting the unit top to bottom I found copious amounts of surface rust. Not the end of the world, I'll sand and repaint those areas tomorrow. Just need to hit 6 spots on the frame.. the whole pinbox.. the supports for the propane tanks and the rear hitch!

Rounding out the list I started going inch by inch checking every bit of sealant across the whole trailer and found many a place where if I pressed on the panel water would ooze out from the sealant that wasn't actually connected to the panel. (See following post for photos, I hit the cap)

I also tried to enact some repairs from my earlier post. I was able to knock one of the outdoor kitchen pins in by heating the hinge and finally freeing the one that was sticking out enough to push it in with a mallet. The opposing side I got some expanding roll pins for and now the door opens and closes without bending the gas struts..

I also followed the door camber procedure so we could actually shut the door and it sorta helped. Now I dont need to brace against something when giving it the extra push to close the door. Just a normal amount of pushing as hard as I can on it to get it to latch.

[Mannyjt]

A sample of the sealing issues. This is the area under the bedroom. When you press on the panel there it seperates from the sealant and water comes out. Oh joy.



For some positivity here's one of my pups looking on in wonderment at his new hangout. He doesn't quite comprehend leaks and frustration so it's all gravy for him!

[KamFlyer]

#1 - Get all of those deficiencies documented with Grand Design Customer Service directly with pictures. Make sure you do that before your 1 year warranty runs out. Most all of that should be covered. Document all the repairs you have done and get them signed off as satisfactory with your dealer and Grand Design.
Any of those ares where water is oozing out are a huge red flag. If water is oozing out, moisture is remaining and may migrate further into the structure causing untold damage.
The bow in the axles in normal. That is how the camber of the wheels is adjusted. Both axles should be similar. Keep an eye on your tires for any undue wear for the first few thousand miles.
Any gaps in the roof sealant must be sealed up! No telling where that water is going.
I would try and tuck that exposed pink insulation back in so it doesn't wick moisture into the structure.
-Rob-

[txgals5561]

We have a ‘23 295RL and sounds like we had the same issue with entry doors. We also had to push/ pull pretty darn hard to get the door to close and if we didn’t lock it it would pop open on its on. Did the camber procedure and it never lasted. Finally called GD and got the ok to have the door replaced. Night and day difference. Finally a door that works! Call and report it… hopefully you can get it replaced. Good luck!

[ddepew]

On the window leak, look at the outside of the window, the slots in the plastic are weep slits. They should be at the bottom. If they’re at the top the window is installed upside down and would probably leak.

[IBEW Sparky]

On the window leak, look at the outside of the window, the slots in the plastic are weep slits. They should be at the bottom. If they’re at the top the window is installed upside down and would probably leak.

On our 337RLS we had water leaking in at the top of the large rear window near an inside screw every time it rained. It turns out that there are slots in the window frame both top & bottom with little rubber plugs in the top slots. Even if water gets into those little slots it should normally run down an internal track in the frame and drip out of the bottom slots. Removing those little rubber plugs and sealing each slot with silicone and reinstalling the plugs has fixed the issue...no leaks in in the past 4 years.