First time Grand Design Solitude owner here in New York.

Usmc616

Senior Member
RV LIFE Pro
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
698
Location
Orange County, NY
Well, after a couple years of looking we finally were able to purchase our Solitude 378MBS.
Overall quite pleased with the buying experience from Blue Compass RV in Newtown, Ct. It only took 13 days from when I called them to the day I towed it off their lot.
One thing that could be improved on is I would love a detailed manual of my model and options instead of the generic ones they gave me.
I did find a few things the dealer will need to take care of, damaged draw front, cracked refrigerator shelf, etc.
Our first trip out was 4 days after we picked it up and of course everything was working fine in our driveway but by the time we made the 50 mile trip to the CG we did have 1 major issue- had a 15amp fuse constantly blowing so I did not have overhead lights in the bathroom, the thermostat in the front bedroom had no power and I could not shut OFF the overhead lights in the front bedroom.
Grand design tech support walked me through the basic things to check then had to pass me over to a tech with second level support who believed maybe a staple had penetrated a wiring harness. He said a wiring schematic was not available and could only direct me to check all visible harnesses to see if I found one that was damaged, I did not find anything suspicious.
Ended up contacting roadside assistance who called around for a mobile RV repair center that was able to come out to the CG. 3 hours of troubleshooting and we found one of the thermostat wires was shorted, good thing it was a 5 wire pair with only 3 wires used, so we cut back the shorted red wire and then hooked up the unused orange wire, miraculously bathroom lights came on, thermostat powered up and the bedroom lights now responded properly to the light switch.
I contacted Grand Design and they had me send them in photos and the repair invoice, hopefully I will get reimbursed the full amount.
 
Well, after a couple years of looking we finally were able to purchase our Solitude 378MBS.
Overall quite pleased with the buying experience from Blue Compass RV in Newtown, Ct. It only took 13 days from when I called them to the day I towed it off their lot.
One thing that could be improved on is I would love a detailed manual of my model and options instead of the generic ones they gave me.
I did find a few things the dealer will need to take care of, damaged draw front, cracked refrigerator shelf, etc.
Our first trip out was 4 days after we picked it up and of course everything was working fine in our driveway but by the time we made the 50 mile trip to the CG we did have 1 major issue- had a 15amp fuse constantly blowing so I did not have overhead lights in the bathroom, the thermostat in the front bedroom had no power and I could not shut OFF the overhead lights in the front bedroom.
Grand design tech support walked me through the basic things to check then had to pass me over to a tech with second level support who believed maybe a staple had penetrated a wiring harness. He said a wiring schematic was not available and could only direct me to check all visible harnesses to see if I found one that was damaged, I did not find anything suspicious.
Ended up contacting roadside assistance who called around for a mobile RV repair center that was able to come out to the CG. 3 hours of troubleshooting and we found one of the thermostat wires was shorted, good thing it was a 5 wire pair with only 3 wires used, so we cut back the shorted red wire and then hooked up the unused orange wire, miraculously bathroom lights came on, thermostat powered up and the bedroom lights now responded properly to the light switch.
I contacted Grand Design and they had me send them in photos and the repair invoice, hopefully I will get reimbursed the full amount.

Wow, quite an experience for your first trip, glad it worked out well. Welcome to the forum even though it looks like you've been a member for a while.
 

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