Evergreen Bay Hill ?

[vinecat]

The hot water heater is in and after our first trip with in our 295RL we are HAPPY CAMPERS. The best decision I've made was removing the Attwood tankless and insert Attwood 10 gl gas-elec unit. Plenty of very Hot water within seconds of opening the faucet, what a relief knowing it'll be hot every time. We use far less water and the gray tank won't fill as fast. I recommend tankless for homes but not my choice for RV use, and also will use less propane when hook-ups are available.

[long trip]

Good morning from Newfoundland. It has been quite a while since my last post but I have been following, and benefiting from reading this valuable and instructive thread. My wife and I retired on 4-30-15 and promptly left on an 84 day trip in our 2014 Bay Hill 320RS. We have been on prior trips but not like this. I would say we are putting our Bay Hill through a gauntlet of challenges and for the most part we have had a good experience but there have been a few issues that have come up.

We started from Comfort, Texas which is very close to San Antonio and have been slowly making our way north visiting many places we have not had time to see previously due to limited vacation time. My wife and I are also minor league baseball park fans and we have managed to include a few new ball parks on this trip.

Our route has taken us south to Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. As we got closer to I-95, which we both agreed we should try to avoid, we veered north and detoured through West Virginia, Pennsylvania and upper New York before heading into Canada and visiting the provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick, PEI, Nova Scotia and our ultimate destination, Newfoundland, where we plan on staying four weeks.

We try to avoid overnight stays, but getting out of Texas is always a two day effort and there have been a few other places where we have chosen to stay only one night. Most of our stops however have been 2-4 night stays in order to get a feel for the areas we are visiting. The roads have varied from interstate to very rural roads. The weather has also been varied. We are currently camping in Lewisporte, NFL and the temperature is around 45 degrees F. Rain has been frequent but not to the point that it has altered any of our major plans.

As far as the Bay Hill, here is a list of our minor problems:

*the roller shade by the dining area came unscrewed, no doubt due to some of the rough roads. It is a fixable problem, but it takes a lot of time and effort to get it working again.

*On cold days we have to adjust the water heater in order to have hot showers, but otherwise we are very happy with our tankless water heater.

*We are experiencing problems with our DVD player. We can hear the sound but cannot get a picture. Kind of disappointing since we have barely used it since we have had the Bay Hill, but since we don't use it much anyway, it's no big deal.

As far as major problems go we only have had one that is still unresolved. The kitchen-side slide (refrig, stove, entertainment system) will close on the back side, but the front end stops closing just short of fully closed (approx 1.5 inches unclosed. When closing, the front and and back ends do not close at the same rate and the back end will clunk/thump 3 times between halfway closed and fully closed while the front end stops closing just short of fully closed. Due to the different closing rates, sometimes it will stop and we have to open/close it fully and try again. We have opened and closed the slide several times in an attempt to reset, but so far no luck. Also one of the nails/screws at the edge of the slide has started to scratch/gouge the vinyl flooring in front of the refrigerator. The bedroom slide works perfectly and the fuse is good (we had it tested). We suspect the motor may be going out but being in rural Newfoundland, finding an adequate place to repair it may be problematic.

That's it so far. We are, for the most part, satisfied with our Bay Hill. It is probably fair to say that it is an above average RV that should satisfy most individuals. Certainly not the best, but we are fine with our purchase.

I will update any future problems/concerns that may arise but I would prefer to post that all is well. I hope this report is useful to anyone who is interested in acquiring a Bay Hill or is considering a lengthy trip. I will also try to answer any questions should there be any.

[JOHNRRR]

Long Trip,
I have issues with slideout timing on my Lippert slide on the Bayhill 340RK. I went to the Lippert website and found some excellent videos that let me quickly retime the slide. Hope this will help.
JOHNRRR

[long trip]

Originally Posted by JOHNRRR

Long Trip,
I have issues with slideout timing on my Lippert slide on the Bayhill 340RK. I went to the Lippert website and found some excellent videos that let me quickly retime the slide. Hope this will help.
JOHNRRR

Johnrrr,

Thank you for your suggestion.

Unfortunately, we spoke with the dealer who sold us our Bay Hill yesterday and he tried to work us through resolving our problem. In the end, it made matters worse and we now have a fully extended slide, that will not close and is tilted downward. This is not a reflection on our dealer, I think they are a good company and the individual who walked us through the process was trying to be helpful. It is hard to offer technical advice on the phone.


So now, instead of the slide not retracting completely, we have a fully extended slide that does not want to retract. The bottom section does not extend out quite as much as the top section so it is fully extended and tilting downward by about 5-6 inches. We spoke with the company that makes the slides (Lippert) but they were not able to help. In the end they said we need to take the RV in for repair. That would be wonderful if only we could. We followed their instructions but because of the way the slide is tilted and the fact that the part that needs to be pushed in is higher than we can reach, we are not able to apply force where it is needed. It would appear that with this type of slide, there is no way to manually retract the slide if it gets to the point that ours is in. Their videos are useful but they don't address our situation. In any case, that is where things stand. Since we are in rural Newfoundland finding a company that offers mobile repair services may prove challenging.

I sent Evergreen an email explaining my predicament so maybe they will offer a solution. I will also contact Lippert again and see if they can offer any additional suggestions.


On the bright side, I can think of worse places to be stranded and in dire straights than Newfoundland. This is a beautiful place and all the stories about people being friendly and genuine are true. I had five "strangers" trying to help push in the slide yesterday evening and one of them offered to help build a scaffold in order to better access the part of the slide that needs pushing in. Keep in mind the temperatures today are expected to be in the 50's with strong wind and rain.

I will post any developments.

[mmasters]

Frig display indicated "Lo DC". I checked the 12v on the back of the frig and it indicated 10.83 volts. I checked the voltage at the battery and it indicated the same, 10.83 volts. Bought a trickle charger at WalMart and within seconds the voltage was back to 13.48 Volts, I guess I could have done the same thing with a set of jumper cables and the truck as the source.

[drfife]

Is your converter working?

[long trip]

Well, we were finally able to get the living room slide back into our Bay Hill. Thanks to those of you who sent me encouraging personal notes. I truly hope that my situation was a result of a factory defect and no one reading this blog will ever have to face this situation; however, if you do, this is what we did to resolve it. I have attached photos so that you can see what the slide looked like and especially, the angle/tilt it was in.

1.) We notified both Evergreen and Lippert about our situation and sent them pictures of what the slide looked like. They both responded via email and eventually I spoke with technicians from both of them. Lippert was especially sensitive about our situation and asked that we keep all receipts in case they determine that our warranty will cover the cost to repair. Evergreen indicated they had received our pictures and would insert them in our file. Our dealer was very responsive and is probably the reason that Evergreen reached out to us, no complaints there. The reality is that when you are in this type of situation, you are on your own. We were quite fortunate to resolve our problem as expeditiously as we did and we owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to the individuals at the campground in Newfoundland who provided assistance.

2.) On Thursday, June 18th, we were able to get an RV service company to send a technician to our remote campground and "look" at the situation. He spent four hours working on the problem but he was not alone. Three other campers who had the type of expertise necessary to provide assistance helped. As a matter of fact, there were more helpers than there was room for individuals to push the slide in due to limited surface area on the slide. One older gentleman actually apologized to me for not being able to help out because he had just had heart surgery. I cannot stress enough how hard it was to push the heavy slide in. There is no way that the one technician could have done this without a lot of help from the other campers, myself and even my wife who pushed as hard as any of the men did.

3.) The technician and other individuals had to remove part of the seals, then remove the motors, jack up the slide (one side at a time), push in as far as it would go, insert some spacers under the slide inside the RV to keep it from destroying the floor, then repeat the process until the slide was completely retracted. Once that was done, the slide had to be blocked so that it wouldn't slide back out while we travel. It looks like the motor casing on one side broke and the roller on the other side twisted. Basically, the slide is unusable until we get it fixed, which won’t be until we get home because no one has the parts here in Newfoundland (10 day wait for parts) and we won’t be anywhere for enough days to get it fixed on the way home. Although we have less room, we can still use the RV (except for the cabinets under the sink) so we are going to continue our trip as planned -- inconvenient as that might be.


4.) The RV company doing the repairs charged us around $525. I wanted to pay something to the gentleman in charge of maintenance at the RV park who spent a great deal of time and effort helping out and actually came up with the plan for solving our problem, but he refused to take any money. He instead asked that I make a contribution to the local children's hospital that the Shriner's help fund. He is a Shriner and the park is run by the local Shriner's. I contributed $100 to their fund.


5.) The technician at Evergreen indicated that he had seen what we described only one time before but it was not a Bay Hill. I am interpreting that as meaning that this type of problem should not typically happen to someone operating a Bay Hill, so our situation was unique or at least highly unusual. In any case, it appears that we just happened to draw the wrong sized straw.

6.) We are now in St. John's, Newfoundland where it has been sunny and warm for the past three days. We have been told that we are very fortunate to be experiencing this type of weather. It would appear fortune is smiling on us again in spite of having to spend the next six weeks in a truncated Bay Hill.

7.) I will post any other issues that come up and will let everyone know how Lippert and/or Evergreen respond when I forward our costs for reimbursement and more importantly, when I take the RV in to get the slide fixed.

[Ineedsun]

So, we are in Oregon as I type this. The outside temperature is 97 and the inside temperature is 88°. What on earth?

We have a 2014 Bay Hill 295RL fifth wheel.

I am beyond frustrated. We only have one air conditioner and this RV is 34 feet long. I'm wondering if one unit is not sufficient? At this rate, it's going to be a very long summer! Oh, it also keeps tripping the breakers and I have to keep resetting it.

Has anyone else had this problem and if so, solutions?

[bonabob]

I have the 385bh and when we first looked at it at the dealer it only had one air conditioning unit. The dealer is in West Palm Beach, Fl. After being in the unit for about 30 minutes I asked the salesman if the unit had one or two air conditioning units. He assured me it had 2. Well it was getting warmer and warmer as we sat in the unit going over pricing. I stepped outside and asked where the 2nd air conditioning unit was because it is usually over the front bedroom and there was nothing there on the roof. The salesman apologized and corrected the fact that it only had one. Here is where I made my mistake. This was a brand new unit and I asked how can you possibly sell a unit like this in Florida with only 1 a/c unit. He said some people only want one and this gives you the option for 2. Now I should have realized what a dopey answer that was. Maybe if you are selling the unit in February in Florida, but then you will be in for the big surprise in June. As we were sweating over this discussion I said the only way I can consider this is with a 2nd a/c unit. He said no problem, I'll just add it into the price. What I didn't realize is that when the dealer adds it in, it does not get attached to the central air system. It is a stand alone in the bedroom with vents to the front an back of the bedroom blowing from the unit. It is also only a 12500 btu unit not the 15000 unit attached to the duct system. I should have demanded that and I should have insisted on a heat pump system to keep us warm on the cold nights, ok cool nights in February. I purchased the coach and they installed the 2nd a/c unit. Both units keep it cool in the coach. It's a little noisy in the front bedroom, but my wife likes the noise. It is also a little cooler in the front bedroom as all 12500 btu's come out those 2 vents. However, we are experiencing a very warm spring/summer in south Florida. It hit 100 degrees this weekend and I don't have to tell you about the humidity. The coach kept an even 75 degrees with 7 people in it. As a matter of fact I had to break out blankets in the evening for some people.
My advice is to go get that 2nd a/c unit even if they don't attach it to the duct work. The coach will balance out and you will be as cool as a cucumber. The coach has been pre wired for it, so it's just a matter of cutting a hole in the roof and hooking it up.
Bob

[lkern56]

Mr I need sun, Ive been an owner rv owner 30 years and was a top salesman at a large so. cal rv dealer (keystone mostly). The a/c is designed to cool down no more than 30 degrees from outside temp assuming you insure all windows and shades are closed, you dont go in an out often and humidity does zap some capacity. Use the quick cool blow down and not the vents for the first 30 mins. To get cooler air in the bedroom you need to close some of the living room vents. As far as the 2nd a/c, I was in the business 2010-2012, I never heard of the bedroom a/c pumping throughout the coach. All were designed for bedroom only with a stand alone thermostat, factory or after market install. I would contact evergreens bayhill rep and ask him. You can get his # through corporate. If you try all this and it only cools 10-15 degrees, i bet there is something wrong with it. Overall how do you like your rig? I am looking at the 320rl for purchase next spring - comparing to a Crossroads Cruiser 322rl. We had a holiday rambler alumiscape 32rkt from 2000-2014, sold it to our daughter. Great rig, used alot.

[Ineedsun]

Thank you for your two responses. I appreciate it. Yesterday it was only 9° colder inside than outside but we are sitting in the sun with no shade. I'm thinking a second unit might be in our future.

My husband and I really do like our fifth wheel very much. Nice and roomy and lots of amenities. We do not regret purchasing it. :-)

[livinglife]

I live in Oregon the dealer I first went to told me I would never need 2nd unit.
My husband said we can't buy one without 2nd unit. After reading info on this site.
We went to Texas and bought one there. We love our 2014 Bay Hill 295RL fifth wheel.
This weather usually is not that hot here.


Good luck.
Living Life

[texascowboy]

I agree with all, I feel you should never buy a new 5th wheel without 2 A/C units on it. Im sure the shorter more open floor plans might not be too bad but if you use your coach for extended trips in any way, or actually travel in it (which most of us do here) it is important to be prepared for hot weather cause it can get pretty miserable if the coach heats up every day. I have had quite a few days so far this year over 100° and with the 2 A/C units, the inside rarely gets above 71, in fact i believe the hottest its gotten was 74° but I was in and out alot. I know people farther north probably never need that much cooling so manufacturers dont make it standard but ya never know where your travels will take you. I can see putting 1 unit on smaller "recreation" trailers that might be used once to three times yearly and have more "open" space but our 5th wheels are built for longer stays and a more "home" feel inside. Just my 2 cents..........Stay Cool And Travel On!

[camr]

Our first 5th wheel had only one AC as well. It is rare for a Canadian dealer stock unit to have two AC's. I would bet the two reasons are to keep the retail cost as low as possible, and in most cases a second AC is not required. We managed just fine for the first year, then we attended a rally in Iowa....109F!! The following spring we had a second unit installed. If I as doing a factory order I would always spec a second AC.