About to Buy the 311

[car3628]

Greetings:

We did our second walk through of a 2018 311 and the family has displayed an all thumbs up. By the way, my wife and I have zero experience related to any form of RVing, but excited to jump in. We would like to pose a few questions that we have been pondering, prior to purchasing. We are really interested in opinions outside the dealership environment. So, we would be grateful if there were any comments or suggestions regarding the following topics:


-We are in Eastern PA, when should we buy? If we buy now, it will probably go into storage due to the weather. If we wait, will inventory be down and demand high in late winter early spring? Makes no difference? Thoughts?
-Any ball park figures on yearly maintenance costs (not a deal breaker for us)? We heard $200 - $300/yr.
-Is the Dodge RAM 3500 stock 5th wheel hitch more than sufficient to meet the needs of a 311? Or, should we order w/o hitch and install an aftermarket?

Really impressed with the site and excited to start this journey with my family.

All the best. Bill

[FT4NOW]

One thougt on when to purchase. I would arrange to take delivery in spring whether purchasing something on the lot or a special order. This way your warranty clock isnt running while the unit is in storage. You will have a hard time identifying any issues if you arent using the unit. Issues will likely be minimal, but no reason not to have them fixed for free during your first year.

I cant speak to Dodge's hitch, i have a Ford. I can say, that you should ensure your truck has the 5th wheel prep package whichever hitch you decide on.

Annual maintenance costs will be variable depending on what you plan on doing. I dont track it dollar for dollar, and sometimes there might be more cost one year compared to the next. For example, the first year might include the purchase of tools or items that make maintenance easier, but you wont have that included in subsequent years.


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[Barbara & Dave]

Hi Bill, and welcome to the GD family!

What is the rating on the stock RAM hitch? You'll need at least 14000 lbs. I chose a Reese Elite 16K to have a bit of margin.

Maintenance costs will depend heavily on how much you do yourself. Repacking wheel bearings (one axle) could run $150-200 at a dealer; do it yourself might be $50, including all new bearings and seals. Roof inspection for cracks and loose caulking is similarly expensive.

I'd say that $200-300 is on the low side; $500-1000 would be more like it, unless you do virtually 100% of the work yourself.

Dave


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[Keebler]

I think Dave hit on the two big items regarding annual maintenance; repacking bearings and and roof inspection/reseal. Other VERY minor item is winterization. I will say that I am only moderately mechanically inclined, and I have a shop do the bearings; I do the roof and winterization myself and it is not that bad (although I am not crazy about getting up on the roof).

For me, other big cost of ownership is storage as I live in a subdivision with very restrictive covenants.

[AustexGP]

I agree with Dave. I would check with the dealer and see if they will keep it on the lot until spring. If so then you will have to pay them for winterizing, but it gives you a chance to see how it's done. If they do keep it for the winter, then I would put the cost of storage that you are not paying (with ours, we paid the dealer $25/month and the storage that we are using was $55/month) toward extras. You will have to purchase pots, pans, dishes, sheets, quilts, bed spreads, bathroom supplies, leveling pads, drinking water hose, waste water hose, tv cable, chairs, folding table, tools and whatever else the DW says she wants. Remember you are furnishing another residence - even if you're only taking weekend trips. As far as maintenance it is very important not to let things linger. When we return from a weekend trip we wash the trailer, dust and vacuum the inside and look for anything that needs repairs (inside and out). Winterizing is not that hard (probably harder in PA than Tx) but the secret is getting the water out of the lines and making sure that you have enough anti-freeze in the lines (be sure to drain water heater and blow out with air). Our big cost is storage and taking it to the dealer each year in February to have them do a quality check (axles, inspection, a/c check, etc) cost a little more but I have piece of mind for the summer.

Hope this helps. Our grand-girls are always ready to go "glamping" with Grandpa and Grandma.

[jasonl78]

First of all, you're doing the right thing by looking at the Grand Design family of products! I considered the 311 as well but ended up going with the 28BH for my first camper. So many things to like about both plans. I have a 2017 Ram 3500 with the Ramboxes so I was a bit "limited" with which hitch I could use but ultimately went with the Andersen Ultimate hitch rail mount version. As far as the best time to buy a camper, we usually have camper shows here in the spring where they have good deals and good financing offers but you're "competing" with thousands of others looking to buy campers as well. I bought my 28BH about a month ago even though camping season MN is nearing it's end. I felt I still got a reasonable deal and good financing. One of the reasons I chose to get it now instead of in the spring was that I wanted to try it out before I really got into the camping season. I wanted to work out some of the kinks early. Also, because I live in a northern climate and if I took delivery of a new unit coming from the factory in late winter/early spring, I'd worry about the thing getting covered in road salt and causing rust issues. That might be a bit of a stretch but I know what road salt does to my vehicles so it was a factor for me. Good luck with your purchase whenever you decide to make it happen. Ultimately you'll make the right choice for you and your family.

[Tatom427]

Hello,
I know its months after this thread started but I can answer some of your questions. I also purchased my 1st RV this year with no real experience and it was a 311bhs. We purchased ours at Schaeffers RV in Eastern PA (Shoemakersville to be exact) and have had great luck with them. The RV was prepped well and our walk through was excellent. They spent all day with my wife and I going over everything and were in no rush to get rid of us and our questions. After our first couple trips camping I took it back for a couple minor issues, (1 side of theater seats would not light up, some trim loosened up and 1slide needed a minor adjustment) and the service department was excellent. I also pull it with a Ram 3500 pick-up. I use the Andersen hitch on top of the factory goose neck prep package. We pulled our 311bhs over 4K miles our first year and the family loves it. You will be happy if you get one, or congrats if you already did. We had very little maintenance costs at all. I did decide to upgrade the brakes myself this fall to disc brakes for peace of mind and much better stopping power (about $2800.00 total cost).

[ace85340]

You can get different rated hitches for the Ram 5th wheel prep. I got the largest one which is 25k so I can tow any trailer I might buy. I don't know what the 311 is but my unit is 20k max weight and that's about as heavy as they get.
There is no reason to go aftermarket. They don't come out as easy. The RAM unit is super easy to put in and out. I do it by myself although a crane or hoist would be handy. You can take the head off of it with 2 quick pins and it just about splits the weight in half.

I don't live in a cold climate and I have an RV garage so I don't know about winterizing but I spend over $1000 per year just washing mine.
If you dry camp a lot, the generator service will be a few hundred per year. They guzzle the gas too if you run both air conditioners. I go through the whole 30 gallon tank in 2 days if I camp during the summer. (that was actually on my old unit but it had the same generator)

All in, I average about $3000 per year spent on mine. That includes tires, oil changes, generator gas, bulbs and fuses, vacuum bags, wash/wax, hoses, etc.

There are tons of variables though, the biggest being how many miles you tow it (tires) and how often you dry camp.
I was only getting about 2 years out of the tires (6 of them) until I stopped buying the crappy level that they put on them and upgraded to a much better brand. It costs quite a bit more up front but after 2 years they still looked like new.

I usually try to do at least 2 big trips per year - that is at least 500 miles away from home and stay out for at least 3 weeks. In between those we do about 4 or 5 weekend trips in the desert.

[Bamaman]

I would wait until closer until you are going to use it. See if the dealer can reserve a production date in the Spring and to ahead and place the order. If you get it now, the warranty date starts. Many states expensive advalorem taxes accrue costing you to take possession of the RV now.

[pengland01]

I am looking to get a complete rig, trailer and truck. You look to have experience with the 311BHS with both the Chevy 2500 and 3500. Was there an issue with the 2500 being able to pull well? Why did you upgrade to the 3500 truck?