Community Forums

ndienes · 01-28-2017, 09:28 PM

Anyone have any pro's or con's on the following 5th wheels? We have possibly narrowed our selection down to one of the following. Cedar Creek Champagne or Grand Design Solitude. Like them both so wanting a feel if anyone know about reliability. Leaning towards the Cedar Creek. Thank you for any info you can provide.

dblr · 01-29-2017, 08:02 AM

We owned a Cedar Creek and was very pleased with it and the support from our dealer and the factory, the Champagne was on top of our list for a upgrade but Forest River brought out a new line the River Stone Legacy which is what we ended getting. I know there are a lot of very satisfied Cedar Creek owners out there. Also have good things about the grand Design but know they offer little to no changes in their build. Good luck on your decision.

Riverc · 01-29-2017, 10:21 AM

I would go with Cedar Creek compare the Rear Caps on both.Maybe it's just me but I do not like that flat back cap that Grand Design or any company that use it on there higher end 5th wheels.I work Rv parks so I see lots of RVs.

Cumminsfan · 01-29-2017, 02:46 PM

I like the hung walls vs the bonded on the Grand Design. Rear cap is a bonus too. I would look further than just the beauty of each and delve into the suspension, frame and holding tanks. Also look at the roof, flooring and slide out builds.

cruzbill · 01-29-2017, 02:55 PM

Put on your must have list; Disc brakes. I had a 30' 5ver and on a trip to Colorado, I lost all braking twice-once in Nevada and once again in Colorado. No brakes and 7 tons of trailer, not fun. Got home and installed Kodiak discs with a Dexter actuator-end of brake troubles! I wish the trailer industry would step up and bring the leaf spring, drum brake suspension into the 21 century.......

jtbuilds · 01-30-2017, 12:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ndienes

Anyone have any pro's or con's on the following 5th wheels? We have possibly narrowed our selection down to one of the following. Cedar Creek Champagne or Grand Design Solitude. Like them both so wanting a feel if anyone know about reliability. Leaning towards the Cedar Creek. Thank you for any info you can provide.

I'd to go with the Cedar Creek. Last time I looked the Cedar Creek uses a bigger I beam for the frame.

The CC is a laminate wall...lamination is done on the side of the trailer. It is the same process that Carriage Trailers used for years.

CC tanks are not that big.

I'm not a fan of the CC screwed and glued alum frame though.

If your using it below freezing the alum frame on any trailer will be an issue but CC has more alum since the frame is 16 O.C..

jimcumminsw · 01-30-2017, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ndienes

Anyone have any pro's or con's on the following 5th wheels? We have possibly narrowed our selection down to one of the following. Cedar Creek Champagne or Grand Design Solitude. Like them both so wanting a feel if anyone know about reliability. Leaning towards the Cedar Creek. Thank you for any info you can provide.

I honestly think the Cedar Creek Champagne is a step above the Grand Design Solitude 5th wheel. The Solitude is more on scale with the Cedar Creek Hathaway models, at least in price class.

Now would I buy a Solitude or a Cedar Creek Hathaway model? Yes, I would buy the Cedar Creek model, which I did.

When we were looking to update I reviewed both of the Grand Design models and a couple of other trailers, before deciding on the Cedar Creek Hathaway model. This had all of the features we wanted and offered the best value for the money spent. Such as 10” I beam frame with a welded 2” tube on top for a total of 12”. The trailer comes standard with the wet bolt suspension and bronze bushings, G rated 14 PLY tires. Auto leveling is provided in one of the packages and this was a must have feature. The storage bay has a flat floor vs the raised style in most trailers which limits storage space, 100 cubic feet more in the Cedar Creek Hathaway model. The unit has day/night roller shades vs day/night pleated shades, which have pin holes in them. One feature that we really like is the ducted AC which makes for a quieter experience in the RV with the AC on.

DJNCJ · 01-30-2017, 09:41 AM

Happy CC owner here too...

C.B. · 01-30-2017, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJNCJ

Happy CC owner here too...

Double that !!!!!

VERY,VERY Happy with my CC 36CKTS

C.B.

450Donn · 01-30-2017, 10:01 AM

12+ years with my CC with only normal wear and tear items.

Wolffox00 · 02-06-2017, 07:56 PM

What is this, the Cedar Creek forum? LOL I thought I would give the OP a different perspective.

We just purchased a 2017 384GK-R 40 1/2' 16K Solitude in December 2016. We researched 5th wheels for over 8 yrs. before purchasing. I've looked at the CC's and every other brand out there. Our Solitude has G rated ties, never fail bushings, a 8 x 7 flat floor storage compartment (which is huge), 8 track AC duct work, hide away furnace grills, auto hydraulic leveling jacks, 2 quite AC's that I can hardly tell they are running, an actual wood truss roof.

IMHO, Solitude is "one" of the best quality built 5th wheels we looked at and we looked at a lot. On our POI I went through our Solitude with a fine tooth comb. I opened compartments that were screw shut and inspected water connections, plumbing, electrical. I looked at trim, doors, seals, windows. I got on the roof and inspected seems and seals. I was under the unit looking at everything and I can tell you GD lived up to their reputation. I did not find one flaw, one thing that needed to be fixed or replaced.

There are a lot up 5th wheels on the market that look real nice on the outside and at first glance they look every impressive. But, if you start looking close at the fit and finish you start to see things that make you wonder who they hired to put them together and how did they ever make it on a dealer’s lot. I can remember in November we were looking at a brand (I won't mention the name) that had a MSRP of 135K. Every time I walk past the bed I got scratched on the leg form the way the particle board under the mattress was cut...LOL, particle board on a 135K 5th wheel. Oh, it looked great until I started looking close. The trim looked like a monkey cut and put it on. I've read and heard some real horror stories with some manufactures. The lack of quality control, the lack of care, lack of pride in the work and the way the customer was treated or I should say lack of customer support.

The reason we went with Grand Design was from what we read, heard, looked at/inspected and talk to those that owned them... and that was GD's quality control and customer support after the sale. We have a lot of friends that camp. We have friends that own Montana's, Cedar Creeks, Grand Design Solitude's and others.

I can tell you first hand that Grand Design's reputation for awesome Customer Support, Quality Built Product, and Quality Control is still there since Winnebago bought them out last July. I have a feeling, GD will be influencing Winnebago rather than the other way around and I think that was the reason for buying them...let's hope so

Let me share our experience. We ordered our Solitude through a dealer in another state. A week after ordering I got a call from GD Area Representative, introducing himself. He gave me my build date and gave me his number and told me to call him, if I had any questions. Two days later I called him, he had just gotten out of a meeting and got approved the new Thomas Payne furniture that we wanted. A month later I had a question, so I called and left a message. A couple of days went by and I hadn't heard back from him. I called and left another message for him a couple of days later on a Friday after noon. On Monday evening I still didn't hear from him, so around 8:45 PM went on the GD web site and typed in a message on the customer support part of the web site and asked if they could have the area rep contact me. Within 2 minutes my cell phone rings... I answer it and it is the Head of Marketing for Grand Design. Let me tell you, he was not a happy camper and assured me I would be hearing from the Area Rep by morning. He was very apologetic, very professional and helpful. Within 2 minutes I had another call and it was the Area Rep... He had been out of town at a GD Rally and hadn't checked his messages at the corporate office. He apologized, answered my questions and gave me his cell phone number and told me to call anytime. Well needless to say my wife and I just looked at each other and thought the same thing..."Now, that is customer service".

One more example... We did our POI on 12/26 and took our Solitude home. The next day, we were moving items from our motor home to the 5th wheel. I started feeling sick (no, I wasn't faking to get out of work). I went to bed that night and was in bed with flu like symptoms for 3 days. My wife would do a little bit off and on in the 5th wheel and it was rain some. That night, without us knowing we had some severe thunder storms and tornadoes roll in. We hardly ever have tornadoes here. Hurricanes yes... tornadoes no. Well short story is our awnings were out and my wife didn't know any better and I was out of it with the flu...needless to say a tornado came close enough to twist our 18 awning into a pretzel. Due to my Insurance deductible, insurance wouldn't cover it. That day, still sick I had to remove the awning, since we were taking a shack down cruse on a 1500 mile trip.

When we got home a week later, I called Grand Design customer support to see if they could help me with the parts I need to get it fixed. Well, because my 5th wheel is still in warranty they could not sell the Care Free arms directly to me. I would have purchased them through a dealer. Grand Design, worked it out with my dealer, to where I would pay for the arms through my dealer and have them dropped shipped to me, all at dealer cost. Within a week I had the awning arms on my front step. They didn't have to do this; they could have had me go through a dealer that would have charged me more for the arms. GD customer was helpful and prompt and I could not be happier.

Now, I'm sure other manufactures do similar things, but just Google a brand that you are thinking about buying with "reviews" behind the search and find out what owners say about the quality of the units they bought and how helpful or not the manufacture was.

Most people are partial to the unit and brand that they purchased. They may even say that they think theirs is better than brand X, Y or Z without ever owning, actually seeing and inspecting brand X, Y or Z and I understand that. I can only share my actual experience with others. I would tell the OP like I would tell others that ask me about a particular brand... Research, Research and Research some more. Go on Grand Design Owner Forum and ask others that own them how they like them and any issues they have had. Go on Forest River Owners Forum and ask owners how they like them, about the quality and customer support and then form an opinion.

On our shake down cruise we found one of the hydraulic jacks leaking a little. Our dealer ordered a replacement for it and it was shipped within a couple of days. Most manufactures are just installing parts that are made by others and those parts will fail from time to time. It's hard to blame a RV manufacture that installs a refrigerator made by another company in their RV and it fails.

To me it boils down to this... quality control, the quality of the manufacturing process and customer support after the sale. That is what is important to me... not all the eye candy and fluff on some brands. It's your money and your decision. Don't let anyone else tell you what to purchase...Oh yeah, did I mention... Research?

Oldelevatorman · 02-06-2017, 11:02 PM

We've been looking at 5th wheels for over a year now and we're going to be in it fulltime. We're down to GD and Vanleigh but I think with the Tiffin name behind them it might end up being the Vanleigh. There aren't any around us in Sacramento because they're selling so well. We will look at it one more time when one comes in before we decide for sure. They are stunning inside and are warranted for full time as is GD!