Factory Phot Tour

[gbkims]

I'd sure like to see Grand Design put together a photo factory tour of the fifth wheel / trailer assembly.
I'd by chance found someone's tour of another brand and sure was interesting seeing what's under / behind the finished product.
Good reference too.

Thanks,

Gene

[TucsonJim]

They won't even let anyone take photos. They consider many of their processes proprietary.

Jim

[RamGunner]

The photos I'd really like to see would be during construction, take one "example unit, your unit may differ" of each model number, when the interior walls are not done, pause the line for a few minutes and take a 360 in each room showing the plumbing and the electrical in the walls. Also show the underside of the trailer before the belly is sealed, and what's under the roof.

That would at least give owners an idea of where the wires generally might be found, what the runs look like, if wires are secured to the studs anywhere, and what the plumbing would involve and what they might encounter when they find the location in their unit. If they would provide that, I believe that it would satisfy nearly all of the requests for information. If I don't feel like I'm working completely blind, it's a major benefit.

I believe it would also mitigate their concern over revealing "proprietary processes" such as laminating, etc.

[Dalek20]

Good in theory.... However they don't have a schematic of the wiring, as they may be wired slightly different according to the builder.

[gbkims]

The photos I'd really like to see would be during construction, take one "example unit, your unit may differ" of each model number, when the interior walls are not done, pause the line for a few minutes and take a 360 in each room showing the plumbing and the electrical in the walls. Also show the underside of the trailer before the belly is sealed, and what's under the roof.

That would at least give owners an idea of where the wires generally might be found, what the runs look like, if wires are secured to the studs anywhere, and what the plumbing would involve and what they might encounter when they find the location in their unit. If they would provide that, I believe that it would satisfy nearly all of the requests for information. If I don't feel like I'm working completely blind, it's a major benefit.

I believe it would also mitigate their concern over revealing "proprietary processes" such as laminating, etc.

RamGunner,
Agreed, would help when we're trying to figure things out.
GD already has the Construction page for the units, they just need to flesh the pages out with some pictures during manufacturing.
https://www.granddesignrv.com/showro...n/construction
https://www.granddesignrv.com/showro...m/construction

I would guess our trailers internals look pretty much like most others, but I'd like to have GD give us some actual photos so we'd have a better idea of what's where/under/above.
Adding some photos like this:

would be nice along with their graphics:


Gene

[RamGunner]

Good in theory.... However they don't have a schematic of the wiring, as they may be wired slightly different according to the builder.

Hence my disclosure recommendation of "example unit, your unit may differ"

Having an idea of how the wiring looks in the walls, and what the plumbing looks like, would give you an idea of what is possible. Let me give you an example.

There are two lights in the ceiling of the main bathroom in our trailer. My wife has commented that sometimes it would be nice to be able to turn on a specific one rather than both. I'd like to add a second switch to do that. There is one wire coming to one terminal on the switch, and two others off of the second.

You might figure that one is the supply and the two others go to each light. They don't. It looks like one supply tied to another wire at that point (I believe to the lights in the bedroom), then another wire up to one of the lights that must them go from one to the other.

What I've been tempted to try is to take one of the ceiling lights out, then see if the wire running from the switch to it can be pulled up. Could I tie two wires onto it, and use it as a pull wire to get the two new wires up there, and accomplish my purpose? If I had a photo of the inside of that wall and ceiling, I'd know of they tend to staple/tie wires at any point, or of they are free, which would make that possible.

When I've had homes built in the past, I go and take photos of EVERY stage of the process. I have photos after plumbing and after electrical before the wallboard is up. That way, I know exactly what is in there. Photos are detailed enough I can count studs and say "There is one pipe here, and wires here" and know I'm right.

We wouldn't get that because the photos would be of a "typical" unit, but they would get you in the ballpark so that you are not totally blind

[RamGunner]

RamGunner,
I would guess our trailers internals look pretty much like most others, but I'd like to have GD give us some actual photos so we'd have a better idea of what's where/under/above.
Adding some photos like this:


Gene

Exactly! That shows, for example, that the AC wiring may go above the racetrack. That little detail is nice to have. Wiring diagrams would be fantastic. Wiring diagrams plus some photos like this of a "typical unit" of each model would be perfect.

We are planning to keep this trailer for many, many years. When we had a wiring issue, our model was already discontinued. They had to go talk to the guys on the floor to see if they remembers how they typically did that wiring. Fortunately they kind of remembered (enough to get me in the ballpark). Having this would mean that in 10 years we would have a pretty good idea, versus hoping that someone knew someone that might remember something.