WestCoasting
Senior Member
Our intentions with this post is to tell you our modifications so far and the reasoning behind some of what we have done. We don't mean for this to be taken as criticizing Grand Design.
We've paid heed to what others are saying on other GD sites on Facebook and have noticed what seems to be common problems in our GD RVs, so we have looked closer at those areas and are applying fixes to some of them in hopes to avoid those problems on the road, some of which would be very time consuming and costly to repair. If you can think of any other mods/areas that we should give extra attention to, please let us know.
Our modifications so far:
1) We are big on boondocking and have added a Onan Propane 6500w generator. We had a Onan propane 4000w for 18 years in the Montana and wanted to go larger.
2) Installed a solar system. Now our batteries stay charged up and we can use the oven whenever we want as it has a electric igniter. (The wife bakes great stuff!) Have installed one outlet inside at the kitchen to use with the solar system and will install a couple more when we have time and figure out the routing for the wiring.
3) Took out the dining table and bought a table that is a few inches shy of the wall space between the window and the recliners. Now our two dining chairs face the big window which allows for much more room for us when sitting, less chance of the table and island hitting when bringing in the slides, and a biggee is being able to walk past the table area when the slides are in.
4) Have bought seat covers for the dining room chairs from Amazon. They are awesome and fit like a glove. You can buy a set of four for $19 and up.
5) Have replaced the electrical outlet just under the sink at the front of the kitchen island as it was installed crazy-like and bulging out.
6) One of our shower door panels exploded and we are in the process of ordering and replacing the shower door panels with the "Nautilus' retractable shower door.
7) Saw that there was a common problem with the entry door striker plate being installed backwards and made it hard to shut the door. Checked ours and it was installed wrong also. Now it's good.
8) Trim strip at the top of the inside stairs was installed so the ribs that help keep a shoe from (hopefully) slipping off the top stair was installed upside down. Fixing that today.
9) Reinforcing the roofing material at the top front of the RV where it meets a trim piece. Many of the RVs are having a problem with the roofing material flying up during travel as it appears to have been cut too short and also not secured very well.
10) Installed a RV Door Lock. We like this a lot.
11) Going to make this mod before we leave on our 3-4 week trip in August: Many folks are having problems with the kitchen island falling off the base during traveling. Found out the island is secured to the base with just 2 short screws at each end. Solution is to take off the end panels (which is easy) and to add some more and longer screws.
12) Securing the wood trim strips above the slides with more screws/nails as they are falling during travel for many folks.
13) Hoping to get these three areas secured (in our 310GK) with some strong decorative screening secured to keep out animals: Bottom back wall at the floor of the pantry has an opening; Under the 'coffee station' has an opening visible when sitting in the recliners; Shoe storage under the stairs is open to the back. All areas where pipes enter (under the sinks).
14) Will install the 'RV AirFlow' system, or might follow a YouTube video and make one for our two ac units at about 90% less cost.
We've paid heed to what others are saying on other GD sites on Facebook and have noticed what seems to be common problems in our GD RVs, so we have looked closer at those areas and are applying fixes to some of them in hopes to avoid those problems on the road, some of which would be very time consuming and costly to repair. If you can think of any other mods/areas that we should give extra attention to, please let us know.
Our modifications so far:
1) We are big on boondocking and have added a Onan Propane 6500w generator. We had a Onan propane 4000w for 18 years in the Montana and wanted to go larger.
2) Installed a solar system. Now our batteries stay charged up and we can use the oven whenever we want as it has a electric igniter. (The wife bakes great stuff!) Have installed one outlet inside at the kitchen to use with the solar system and will install a couple more when we have time and figure out the routing for the wiring.
3) Took out the dining table and bought a table that is a few inches shy of the wall space between the window and the recliners. Now our two dining chairs face the big window which allows for much more room for us when sitting, less chance of the table and island hitting when bringing in the slides, and a biggee is being able to walk past the table area when the slides are in.
4) Have bought seat covers for the dining room chairs from Amazon. They are awesome and fit like a glove. You can buy a set of four for $19 and up.
5) Have replaced the electrical outlet just under the sink at the front of the kitchen island as it was installed crazy-like and bulging out.
6) One of our shower door panels exploded and we are in the process of ordering and replacing the shower door panels with the "Nautilus' retractable shower door.
7) Saw that there was a common problem with the entry door striker plate being installed backwards and made it hard to shut the door. Checked ours and it was installed wrong also. Now it's good.
8) Trim strip at the top of the inside stairs was installed so the ribs that help keep a shoe from (hopefully) slipping off the top stair was installed upside down. Fixing that today.
9) Reinforcing the roofing material at the top front of the RV where it meets a trim piece. Many of the RVs are having a problem with the roofing material flying up during travel as it appears to have been cut too short and also not secured very well.
10) Installed a RV Door Lock. We like this a lot.
11) Going to make this mod before we leave on our 3-4 week trip in August: Many folks are having problems with the kitchen island falling off the base during traveling. Found out the island is secured to the base with just 2 short screws at each end. Solution is to take off the end panels (which is easy) and to add some more and longer screws.
12) Securing the wood trim strips above the slides with more screws/nails as they are falling during travel for many folks.
13) Hoping to get these three areas secured (in our 310GK) with some strong decorative screening secured to keep out animals: Bottom back wall at the floor of the pantry has an opening; Under the 'coffee station' has an opening visible when sitting in the recliners; Shoe storage under the stairs is open to the back. All areas where pipes enter (under the sinks).
14) Will install the 'RV AirFlow' system, or might follow a YouTube video and make one for our two ac units at about 90% less cost.
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