Will pickup new Fleetwood Bayside in 4 days!

[arizonavol]

We will pick up our brand new Fleetwood Bayside in 4 days.  We ordered an AC unit and hope to take it down to Mexico on the beach from time to time.  We will also use it in the mountains, etc.  

We plan to use these forums to help us pick up tips about our new popup.  If anyone has anything they want to let us know right off the bat, let us know.  Thanks.  Looking forward to using this site quite a bit.[/COLOR]

[ilovecamping]

I just wanted to say welcome and congratulations on your new pup.  Hope you have many wonderful camping trips and make lifelong memories.

[beacher]

.... We ordered an AC unit and hope to take it down to Mexico on the beach from time to time. ......[/COLOR]

Congradulations!

Hope the beach you are planning to visit has electrical hookups!  If not, you will also be in the market for a small quiet inverter generator, the Yamaha EF2400iS is capable of running one of the efficient new 13,500 A/C units.

[AustinBoston]

We will pick up our brand new Fleetwood Bayside in 4 days.  We ordered an AC unit and hope to take it down to Mexico on the beach from time to time.  We will also use it in the mountains, etc.  

We plan to use these forums to help us pick up tips about our new popup.  If anyone has anything they want to let us know right off the bat, let us know.  Thanks.  Looking forward to using this site quite a bit.[/COLOR]

First tip: orange is too hard to read.  :eyecrazy:   If you must have orange, try bold orange.

Our 2000 Bayside has over 25,000 miles on it, has been used in 26 states from Maine to California and from Minnesota to Texas.  We spent eight weeks and 10,000 miles in it in one trip, and lived out of it for about 5 weeks when we moved from Massachusetts to Minnesota until we could close on our house here.

Next tip:  Watch for trailer sway.  Never tow on the road with water in the white water tank.  Always tow with the front storage bin fully loaded.  Consider using a sway stabilizer (a.k.a. sway bar).  It's not hard to make sure a Bayside is safe and stable, but if you don't, they can be dangerous.  I know this from experience.

Austin

[hatlet]

we just upgraed from a 1978 Viking mini gaser to a new 05 fleetwood tucson, can't wait to take it out for a shakedown trip

[wavemaker]

welcome,
i just want to say if you are goin camping in the next couple weeks let me know, we will come too...

Dean

[tlhdoc]

Congratulations to both of you.  Enjoy your new PUs and have a grand time camping.

[arizonavol]

First tip: orange is too hard to read.  :eyecrazy:   If you must have orange, try bold orange.

Austin,

Sorry about the orange, like it says in my username "Arizonavol" - (the Vol part refers to the Tennessee Vols) that I am a big Orange fan.  

We live in Arizona and we are planning on heading out over the Thanksgiving holiday to somewhere near Flag.  Three more days until we pick up our camper, we are very excited!  Thanks for the tip on the sway bar, we ordered one from the dealer along with an electric brake control.

[GeorgiaBoy]

Bought a brand new Fleetwood in June, camped twice.  Door handle broke before very first trip!  Had to drive 2 hours to dealer to replace.

Noticed separation between roof and trim after the first trip and caulked myself.  Camper is stored ourside.  This past weekend I took the camper to the mountains and the inside ceiling, right by where the roof and trim had separated, was all bubbled with water rot.  Will have to haul the camper all the way to the dealer again this weekend - another 2 hours.  Probably have to leave it there to get fixed and go back to pick it up - yet another 2 hours out of my weekend.

Not impressed so far.

[cyclone]

Congrats on the new camper!  Enjoy it and GO VOLS!  I started reading this thread wondering if I was the only one who understood why you were "orange".

[arizonavol]

I have been reading alot more on this forum and another one called "Popup Explorer".  I started to get very concerned about our tow vehicle (TV).  Our dealer did not even mention anything about weight concerns.  They asked us what we would be towing with and then told us we should get a sway control (which we did) and that electric brakes for the trailer were required (so we are having the dealer install those).  

     But, I am concerned with the GCWVR (?).  Our tv is a 2002 Honday Odyssey.  I called the dealer and told him of my concerns.  We are going to pick this thing up today and we do plan on going to Flagstaff and other mountainous places.  He said that we had no worries.  I said that I wanted him to check and see if our vehicle has the tow package because we bought it used with a trailer hitch on it.  He said they will check that for us.  If the Honday Odyssey has the tow package then it's tow rating is 3500 lbs. When I went to http://www.fleetwoodrv.com/brandtomodel/floorplan.aspx?brand=americana&m=Bayside, I saw that the GVWR is 3500 lbs.  I read that we should only be towing 75% of our tow capacity.  Is there anything we can do to help this situation?  We plan on getting the tow package for the tv if we don't already have it.  

Why would the dealer (who is a well known Phoenix dealer) say we are fine when it seems to me we may be towing more than we can handle.  Can anyone help?

Thanks.

arizonavol

P.S. Our other vehicle is a 2001 Mitsubishi Montero Sport and it has a low tow rating of 2300 lbs.  Yikes![/COLOR]

[TheViking]

I think you are over your head with those weights. What dealer did you go to? Little Dealer Little Prices? That sounds like their sales tactics. Keep in mind that 3500 lbs more than likely does not include stuff you load in the TV, including people. So, you are at a 3500# tow capacity, with a loaded 3500# trailer plus the weight of gear and passengers in the TV. Make sure you get the brakes, sway control, and I'd even spend the extra $$ for a weight dist. hitch set up.
My guess is that hill that tops out at Sunset Point on the way to Flag is going to be your mortal enemy. I had a Dodge with a V6 that had a 3500# tow rating,  I used it to pull my 2600# Viking and it was brutal on hills. I could have gotten out and walked up that  hill on the 260 that takes you up to the Rim faster than I was going. Good luck, but I think you may want to consider getting a little bit bigger TV for safety sake in the near future . Just my opinion.

[arizonavol]

Viking,

Thanks for your post.  I am concerned about this.  I went to a website that talked all about tow vehicles and copies this blurb about the Honda Odyssey.  It said:

Honda
This year the Honda Odyssey won the award for Canadian Truck of the Year at the Toronto Auto Show. With its 3.5L engine, you can tow 3,500 pounds of trailer. The Honda Pilot small SUV has the same engine and towing capacity.

Now since it says it can tow 3,500 lbs. of trailer, that leads me to believe that it does include passengers already.  Meaning, that it can tow 3,500 behind it.  Is that correct?  

I know that I am supposed to be most concerned with the Gross vehicle weight.  I am just wondering if the unloaded weight of the Bayside is 2635 lbs. and the GVWR is 3500 lbs. (the unloaded weight is 75% of the GVWR)  - then how can we safely load anything in our trailer if we should only tow 75% of our vehicles towing capacity (at best 3500 lbs).

You were right in your guess about the dealer.  We went to both locations and decided to purchase from the Phoenix location rather than the Mesa one.  I hope we are not making a big mistake.  We cannot afford to purchase anohter tv for awhile.  I am going to find to discuss this with my husband and find out what we should do.  

We haven't picked up the trailer yet, so I want to discuss all of this first.  The trailer has already been paid for in full though.  Maybe we will have to get a smaller trailer.  Or, do you think the hitch distribution would be enough?

Yikes, I wish we had known this ahead of time.  But, it might not be too late to talk with Little Dealer.  I will let you know what they say.  Thanks.

arizonavol

[meriflower1985]

Congratulations on your new Bayside - nice camper!  

Nancy

[zamboni]

Now since it says it can tow 3,500 lbs. of trailer, that leads me to believe that it does include passengers already.  Meaning, that it can tow 3,500 behind it.  Is that correct?

Usually, it goes like this.

Your vehicle can tow 3500 lbs.  However... in order to do it, there must be NO extra weight in the vehicle itself, and only a 150-lb driver.


To figure out what you can really deal with, you need to find out your vehicle's GCVWR (Gross Combined vehicle Weight Rating), or just GVWR.  Then, subtract off your vehicle's "curb weight"... not the DRY weight, because that does not include about 100 lbs of oil, lubricants, etc.  Or gas.

Suppose your vehicle's GVWR is 7,150 lbs.  Then, suppose the vehicle weighs 3,500 lbs, and the driver weighs 150 lbs.  THEN, you can tow 3500 lbs.

However, add in a 100-lb German Shepherd, a full tank of gas (15 gals * 7 lb/gallon), 300 lbs in passengers, a cooler and sodas weighing 50 lbs, and 50 lbs of "junk" (jumper cords, chains, etc)... and suddenly you have 600 less lbs you can tow!  You can now only tow 2900 lbs.