Redwood by Thor

[Mr redwood]

On the tv surround sound all you have to do is add cable. I was amazed it did not come with it.

[Dutch Star David]

Originally Posted by Mr redwood

On the tv surround sound all you have to do is add cable. I was amazed it did not come with it.

I added the cable but it needs to be "fished" through an area I don't know how to access.

[Mr redwood]

I just complained about,that cable ,you would think if this is the ultimate 5 er. It would have that cable.Was your surround sound wired wrong when you got it?

[Dutch Star David]

Originally Posted by Mr redwood

I just complained about,that cable ,you would think if this is the ultimate 5 er. It would have that cable.Was your surround sound wired wrong when you got it?

DVD (not Blueray!) player was wired to surround, but not TV.

[MariannRobin]

On a side note, we have noticed that "Blueray" did not take off like was expected. Most people seem to have stuck with DVD - shades of Beta vs VHS there! But I certainly agree that the wiring should have been done for the TV as well as the DVD. Was it just an OOPS! or are they just chintzy that way? I agree with Mr Redwood that the ultimate 5er should have the proper wiring!

[Dutch Star David]

Noticed trim piece on right (outside) coming loose. Hopefully it will stay on for 900 miles to the dealer.

[Mr redwood]

Which trim piece exactly?

[Dutch Star David]

Originally Posted by Mr redwood

Which trim piece exactly?

1 1/2 inch wide; length of slide rub strip. That's the best I can describe it.

[lgarroutte]

My wife and I are looking to sell our 09 Montana 3400RL and go with the Redwood. I have found a couple of dealers that have great prices, but won`t get right on the trade. A service tech at the dealership we bought the Montana from and also sells the Redwood told me they have had a large amount of small issues with the Redwoods. He said they see this kind of thing in a new production line like the Redwood. They had one that had a side tracking problem that had to go back to the factory. I love the looks and feel, but when you live in one like I do, it`s a real pain to have to have lots of warranty work done. Larry

[ashmoreg]

We picked up our new Redwood 36FL last Friday, doing a shakedown this week before hitting the road for the first time. We are very excited about the unit, great layout with the front living room, materials seem to be a good quality and the design of the mechanicals seem to have a lot of thought in them. So far so good, only a few minor issues that need repair.

Keyless entry on rear door not working, water line under sink keeps getting caught in the slide out and pinched, even showing up outside the slide once, one of the rear jack stands is leaking hydraulic fluid, the washing machine will not start, it has an error code that is not in the user’s manual, caulking on shower is almost non-existent, paint under front slideout is flaking off. The ACs are both in the rear to reduce noise in the front living room I guess, but the thermostat in the LR is always hotter than the rear thermostat and thus one of the units never shuts off and the front of the coach seems hot all the time, checking the vent temp shows a consistent temp with the rear unit but not cooling the space as efficiently. The carpet seems to be of low quality and will wear out quickly so we are buying rugs. The closet space is really small for full timing and the external storage consists of only one medium size compartment. But the space is abundant in the kitchen, bathroom and living room. The stairs are great, five-steps all the way to ground and evenly spaced. The awning is large and fast extending/retracting. The bed mattress was very thin and had to be replaced; under the bed only has two small drawers. I ordered two 40Gallon propane tanks and it showed up with 20 gallon but the dealer traded them out. The generator works great and is very quiet.

As I have zero experience pulling a 5th wheel so I cannot rate it yet, but my first impressions are it is really HEAVY (16000lbs) and I am very glad that someone on this forum suggested a Dual F350, I can imagine how much chucking my truck would be doing with only a SRW in front.

I will continue to drop notable items here as I discover them, if you have any questions feel free to email me.

Happy Trails!

[Dutch Star David]

Congrats on your new rig. Watch your turns; the fiver will track inside the truck. Just pay close attention to your mirrors and go SLOW around curves in most campgrounds.

[Dutch Star David]

Ours in the shop for its first round of warranty issues. Your caulk problem is the same as our's. There was just the faintest hint of caulk around the top of our shower. It came nowhere close to filling the gap between the shower top and the wall.

[teresar2007]

I am so excited for you and your new Redwood Front Living purchase. We are in the process of selling everything for us to go full time. We are very interested in the Front Living also. Are you going to live in the Redwood full time? I noticed that you said the storage in the bedroom was very small. How are you coping with that fact? Also, I did not seem to understand what you were talking about when you talked about the medium external storage? Does the front living not have the large basement area like the others?
Please keep us posted on your experience with the front living. I liked the idea of the dining room on vinyl flooring. I loved the idea that the front living seemed more like a home. What upgrades did you add to your pkg? What do you wish you had added to the pkg? Where did you purchase your RV? Approx. how much did it cost?
Any other information that you would like to share would be much appreciated. My email is teresar2007@mail.com. Thank you. Teresa Rhinehart

[ashmoreg]

Hello Teresa,


Yes we are going to be full-time as soon as our house sales, but that could be another year in this economy....but we are excited to start it. I do not know if you have looked at the unit in person, but if so you will notice that the closets are very small, about two feet wide in each section and the 6 drawers below are very shallow to allow for the slide out to overlap the end of the bed when closed up. Normally the bed lifts up for a large open storage area but in this model it only has two slideout drawers on the side. I think it is enough for regular vacation traveling but for fulltiming when you need all-weather type clothes we will not fit. We have not figured out what to do yet, normally we could bulk storage the extra clothes and shoes in the external storage or other cabinets, but we can not find any extra for that just yet.

I said the external storage was only a medium storage unit because it only has ONE external compartment for tools, chairs, hoses etc and it does not even pass all the way under the coach to the otherside as most 5ers do. I believe it is due to the 5 slides hardware and plumbing. The external storage or lack of is the ONLY complaint we have so far. for fulltiming we need to be able to carry a lot of hardware and supplies for all occasions and conditions, I am still trying to determine how we will fit it all in. (maybe using my truck for most storage I am thinking).

We ordered from the factory and had them add the generatator, the washer/dryer, the extra propane tanks, the highend airbag hitch pin and all the wiring for the sattelite TV system installed, I wanted these items added at the factory so it would all be covered in the basic warranty and not as an add-on item. The only thing I had the dealer add on was the Direct TV dish on the roof. the order only took 3 weeks instead of the dealers inventory unit.

I do not have any regrets yet on ordering anything else, maybe upgrading the tires would be the only thing but only time will tell if I needed them. As far as price, I will email you directly about it, I bought it from ExplorerUSA in Kyle Texas and I am happy with the price, I have been looking at 5ers and mobile homes for almost two years and this one really stood out as the best value and quality for the price range. The only risk is that they are a new company only 15 months old so no long history to tell what will happen with warranty issues and if the company will still be around in 2 years. but the managment team is a very experinaced group and they have a lot of investment in the company so I decided it was worth the risk. The only other unit like this with the front living room we considered was the Montana, but it was really cheap materials and even less internal storage and the final price from two different dealerships came out higher than my final price on the Redwood.

Please email me if you need more info and I will be happy to share it with you.

and yes, we call this our Rolling Apartment due to the great layout inside.

Happy Trails!

Gary