Our Mods So Far.... And Fixing Problems Before They Occur

WestCoasting

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2002
Posts
2,369
Location
West Coast
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.
 
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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.
Would you by chance have a link to Amazon for the ones that fit well?



2020 310GK - 2011 F350 SRW
 
Dining Chair Covers.jpg

The pictures are a before of our white chair and after with the cover on it.

If you go to Amazon and type in their search field, "Dining Chair Covers" you'll come up with a lot of sellers that sell the same covers. They are awesome covers, they stretch on, don't wrinkle, are inexpensive, and washable. They come in so many different patterns, even holiday patterns. If you don't find a pattern you like, just look at another seller, but be aware they all charge a different price withe the average price being about $24 for a set of four.
 
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

I love your proactive approach. I did kind of the same thing when I bought my Momentum. The dealer thought I was a little crazy when I had them drop the belly cover to inspect tank holders, holding tank plumbing, insulation, and then pull the hubs to inspect for grease leaking. All current problems with GD products at the time. Of course I paid shop time for all of this as it would not normally be part of a PDI. Wasted money? Perhaps, but I feel prevention is more efficient than repair.
 
Thank you for the post. Very informative. Im having a hard time with my door as well and can’t get the local dealer to call me back. Do you by chance have a picture of the striker plate? I think this may be the root of my problem. I noticed there is an “L” shaped piece that protrudes into the hole the factory cut out for the dead bolt and striker. Does this face towards the exterior or towards the interior?
 

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