Picking Up Our 2020 230RL this Friday!

[MJMCCAND]

After 10 wonderful years with our Jayco 23B Hybrid Travel Trailer, we (my lovely wife and our mutt, Maggie) are upgrading to to our fist Fifth-Wheel, a 2020 Grand Design 230RL!

We're going to tow it with a 2019 Ford F-250 Short-Bed, using the Andersen Ultimate Fifth Wheel Hitch.

Excited and nervous as I've never towed a fiver before!

Looking forward to learning about the 230RL and would appreciate any advice on the pre-delivery inspection I'll be doing this Friday!

Thanks.

[howson]

After 10 wonderful years with our Jayco 23B Hybrid Travel Trailer, we (my lovely wife and our mutt, Maggie) are upgrading to to our fist Fifth-Wheel, a 2020 Grand Design 230RL!

We're going to tow it with a 2019 Ford F-250 Short-Bed, using the Andersen Ultimate Fifth Wheel Hitch.

Excited and nervous as I've never towed a fiver before!

Looking forward to learning about the 230RL and would appreciate any advice on the pre-delivery inspection I'll be doing this Friday!

Thanks.

Congratulations!

With a decade under your belt you're not a NEWB by any stretch but I'll emphasize two areas. Problems in these areas are not common and I'm not writing to alarm you. However, I have read instances where there's been problems.

1) Crawl under the trailer and inspect the frame. Don't accept it if it's a severely corroded. (Yes, I've seen instances where people get home and when they finally see the rust they are shocked. If the dealer doesn't wash the undercarriage after being towed over salted roads bad things can happen underneath the trailer.)

2) Inspect the roof. If there's cracks in the sealant, get them fixed immediately. Rare on a new camper, but if there's something significant there could be water penetration which is a major cause of damage to an RV.

I spent 7.5 hours going over my trailer, in July, in the middle of Georgia. It was not fun. But I knew there wasn't anything significantly wrong with my new trailer when I left the dealership!

Good luck, and please don't hesitate to ask questions in the Technical Forum if you have any.

[Country Campers]

Congrats and welcome to the forum and Grand Design.

I have towed bumper pulls for a long time. We got our fifth wheel in Oct. 17 , first one ever. The tow a lot better than the bumper pulls , in my opinion. Backing up is a whole different process though. The fifth wheel will take a little longer to manipulate when backing up , it seems to have a slow response time , but when it does respond you have to be ready to react before it gets ahead of you. The other item with a fifth wheel is the trailer tracks inside a little more on a turn than a bumper pull.

In regard to the PDI , do a thorough job. If you have used this dealer before and they have treated you right then you might not have to take very long. If they are less than stellar then you may want to take you time and check everything and ask lots of questions on how stuff works. Being as this is not your first time you probably already have a list of questions to ask.

Brian

[Randall Lee]

You shouldn't have any problems moving from a TT to 5er, I found that I had to adjust my backing some after years of boats and one in TT. That will take a couple of tries or it did me to adjust to the new pivot point but you will love towing it down the road.
Congrats!! Get out and run the wheels off it enjoying it.

[Barefootchelle]

Welcome to the Grand Design family! I haven't towed any kind of camper, but from years of being Country Campers' co-pilot, I will say that backing a 5th wheel up is a different experience. Just practice saying "I'm sorry for what I said while i was trying to back onto the site"