Our maiden voyage

We made our maiden voyage last week and overall everything went well. We took a short trip to Jellystone RV park. It is a great place for kids. We did not have a towed vehicle, so we stayed at the park the whole time.

We arrived at the park thursday evening. The park was not crowded at all. The kids were able to enjoy the pool and other facilities without much of a crowd. However, friday night they started filling up and on saturday it was a mad house. We do recommend Jellystone RV parks. The staff was mostly work-campers and they were all nice folks.

We ended cutting the trip one day short for a couple of reasons. We had four of our kids with us. The two youngest (18 & 33 months) took turns not sleeping well. The youngest slipped in between the space between the wall and the couch while he was sleeping. That really freaked my wife out. We have to get the younger kids adjusted to camping. Our two girls (11 & 15) handled the trip good. They slept on the couches fine.

Problems: the 6.5k onan died once on the road. We had both AC's running. It appears to be running a little rich. The compartment door covering the genset flew open going down the road. I think we are going to have to repair about half the compartment doors. Some of the wood backing has some rot. I think it is a common problem with some of the coachmen. The water heater took a few tries to light, but it worked good when it did light. The fridge seems to cool much better when running on gas. The awning ripped a little.

Rolling down the highway it was fine, but it reminds me of driving a Uhaul truck. One of the front tires had a little vibration to it. Im guessing that because it is bias style tire? We where able to cruise at 70 on the highway.

Overall, it was a success. Learning points: I think a towed vehicle will be necessary for us in the future. If we keep this rv, we might build something over the drivers seat to improve the sleeping arrangments. We need to work on our camp area design. We need some external lights, a grill, external trash bag holder, and maybe a cooler for longer stays.

All in all it sounds like a good trip.  Certainly, as you gain more experience you will discover other items to purchase or change, but you have covered the major bases. 

You guys are in for a great summer.

I had the Onan 6500 with 2 ACs in my last rig and when i bought it it had the same problem.  For us replacing all of the filters (Fuel, air and oil) and the controller board fixed the problem.  The previous owner was paying for the repairs because of the way the sales contract was written and he wanted to attempt a less expensive repair than the controller board before shelling out the bigger bucks.  The dealer handling the consignment recommended Dinosaur controller because of the longer warranty and he felt it was a better board for less money.  I agreed about the warranty and said the off brand would be fine.  (He also put a Dinosaur board in the water heater at the same time.)

Try the filters, we replaced them in the following order:
1. Oil filter and change (no change in gen run but good service makes me feel better!)
2. Air Filter (the gen didn't draw down do low under load after this change but it wasn't enough)
3. Fuel Filters one in the line and one at the gen.(The gen would at this point run both ACs most of the time with a huge draw down when the second one kicked on and only die sometimes.)

4. replaced the control board Problem solved.

I mentioned the incremental changes made during the repair because I'm not sure just replacing the board would have solved the problem.

Jeff Brown

Thanks geodrake we are looking forward to more trips. My wife insist that the next destination be on a beach somewhere. 

jeffbrown: Thanks, I will try your suggestion. I think the air & fuel filter needs to be changed and maybe the plugs. I am not sure about the control board?