Posting this for anyone interested. We just completed a 4700 mile trip (our first long one in 20 years) and thought I'd list what happened and what I need to address after returning with the new 2022 310GK-R. We dry camped and had full and partial hook-ups. Most of the issues were screws breaking or loosening, but see below:
1) B&W Gooseball was gouged upon return despite white lithium lube. It was also loose in the factory puck and gave us a loud clank on start/stop. Sent pics and video of movement to B&W and they are sending me a new ball.
2) All the screws holding the lower pax side cap broke before we reached Sioux Falls. The local dealer there (PleasureLand) was very nice and their service mgr walked me out to one of their new Solitudes which had the same problem as delivered from the factory. He gave me a pack of screws on the house (nice customer service).
3) Found two screws lying on the bedroom floor near the closet - no idea where they came from, but looking up at the closet slider frame on top was missing a bunch and had one stainless crew started but sticking out about a half inch which prevented the closing of the closet door.
4) Can't pull the under-bed storage/seat open - think a screw has loosened and jammed. Will probably let the dealer extract that.
5) Opened the larger kitchen island drawer and then couldn't close it as it was hitting the back island frame. Should have been 4 screws attached to the 1/8" luan/plywood drawer sliders. Only one left. One on the floor and two missing. I will probably put a short stainless screw/nut combo in that even though nothing heavy was in the drawer.
6) Two screws holding the shower baskets broke in transit - the baskets were empty for travel.
7) The installed washer/dryer are not mounted and bounced against the frame and door the entire trip.
8) We hit some construction bumps that were so hard that the lid on the dresser in the bedroom popped open and the ball from the shade got wedged behind the dresser - the entire dresser is now pulled away from the wall. Note exactly sure what to do with that.
9) One window shade was not cut clean and strings became wrapped around the retraction mechanism preventing the shade from retracting.
10) DO NOT TRY TO COMPRESS GARBAGE WHILE CANS ARE IN KITCHEN DRAWER. I did and then couldn't close the drawer because I had bent the slider brackets - had to re-screw in the slider brackets.
11) Tanks took over an hour to dump unless I set the 310 nose high.
12) Missed in PDI that hydraulic fluid was about 1.5 qts low so CAT additive is on the agenda.
On the plus side, EVERYTHING worked (though I don't trust the tank LEDs) from furnace to AC to Heat pump (which I highly recommend - only one time to turn on propane at 38F except for initial water heater), to solar, res refrig, generator. We were at 95F in Sioux Falls and only needed one AC to cool. We survived multiple severe T-storms, tornado alert, hail, downpours, high winds and awful roads. Overall, not a disappointment at all with manageable fixes that I can perform. Now just need to clean the bugs off the front cap.
On the way, we met new Solitude owners that had everything break on them in first 6 months but thankfully we did not experience what they did. We stayed at state parks (pretty empty), harvest host locations (loved them and will add more on next trip), KOAs (crowded, expensive, tight, and not level at all), and private campgrounds (many full-timers but very nice and clean and much less expensive then KOA). I used RV Trip Wizard and booked all reservations a month in advance (had to change dates on last three). Did not have a problem at any location and a lot of empty sites except for KOAs.
Happy camping - time to prep for longer trip in August!
1) B&W Gooseball was gouged upon return despite white lithium lube. It was also loose in the factory puck and gave us a loud clank on start/stop. Sent pics and video of movement to B&W and they are sending me a new ball.
2) All the screws holding the lower pax side cap broke before we reached Sioux Falls. The local dealer there (PleasureLand) was very nice and their service mgr walked me out to one of their new Solitudes which had the same problem as delivered from the factory. He gave me a pack of screws on the house (nice customer service).
3) Found two screws lying on the bedroom floor near the closet - no idea where they came from, but looking up at the closet slider frame on top was missing a bunch and had one stainless crew started but sticking out about a half inch which prevented the closing of the closet door.
4) Can't pull the under-bed storage/seat open - think a screw has loosened and jammed. Will probably let the dealer extract that.
5) Opened the larger kitchen island drawer and then couldn't close it as it was hitting the back island frame. Should have been 4 screws attached to the 1/8" luan/plywood drawer sliders. Only one left. One on the floor and two missing. I will probably put a short stainless screw/nut combo in that even though nothing heavy was in the drawer.
6) Two screws holding the shower baskets broke in transit - the baskets were empty for travel.
7) The installed washer/dryer are not mounted and bounced against the frame and door the entire trip.
8) We hit some construction bumps that were so hard that the lid on the dresser in the bedroom popped open and the ball from the shade got wedged behind the dresser - the entire dresser is now pulled away from the wall. Note exactly sure what to do with that.
9) One window shade was not cut clean and strings became wrapped around the retraction mechanism preventing the shade from retracting.
10) DO NOT TRY TO COMPRESS GARBAGE WHILE CANS ARE IN KITCHEN DRAWER. I did and then couldn't close the drawer because I had bent the slider brackets - had to re-screw in the slider brackets.
11) Tanks took over an hour to dump unless I set the 310 nose high.
12) Missed in PDI that hydraulic fluid was about 1.5 qts low so CAT additive is on the agenda.
On the plus side, EVERYTHING worked (though I don't trust the tank LEDs) from furnace to AC to Heat pump (which I highly recommend - only one time to turn on propane at 38F except for initial water heater), to solar, res refrig, generator. We were at 95F in Sioux Falls and only needed one AC to cool. We survived multiple severe T-storms, tornado alert, hail, downpours, high winds and awful roads. Overall, not a disappointment at all with manageable fixes that I can perform. Now just need to clean the bugs off the front cap.
On the way, we met new Solitude owners that had everything break on them in first 6 months but thankfully we did not experience what they did. We stayed at state parks (pretty empty), harvest host locations (loved them and will add more on next trip), KOAs (crowded, expensive, tight, and not level at all), and private campgrounds (many full-timers but very nice and clean and much less expensive then KOA). I used RV Trip Wizard and booked all reservations a month in advance (had to change dates on last three). Did not have a problem at any location and a lot of empty sites except for KOAs.
Happy camping - time to prep for longer trip in August!
). It makes one wonder why screws would vibrate loose; especially one rig versus another.
