Big Sky 4 days later - Montana Owners Club

Verle and Sue · 07-03-2007, 05:33 AM

Well, we have survived the "shakedown cruise". The Big Sky itself was in fantastic shape, fit, finish, condition, etc. We stayed at the dealer's campground for 3 days and "worked" our tails off doing inspections, tests, runs to Walmart, etc. so we decided to stay an extra night to just have a day and night to relax and enjoy the beast. Had a few issues with the dealer's service center, they failed to get and install the MaxAir vent cover (they will send it to us) and failed to install the heat strip for the 2nd air and didn't even notice or tell us (fortunately, after all the great advice and PDI's etc. on here, it was one of the things we checked out.) The final was that they would order it and send it to us, but then a service guy showed up at our door, they "found" the ones they had in stock and he installed it right there at the campsite. Also were very disappointed that apparently we didn't communicate with our dealer well enough that we THOUGHT we were getting a Surge Guard 50 amp installed (and assumed it would be hardwired). It was completely over looked and when we questioned it, were told, no, that's not hard wired, it's just one you plug between the Elec. Box and the 50 amp cord, and THEN went out in the store and got us one. We had already paid for all 3 of these items and if we hadn't caught them would have walked away without them.

Other than that, all was great, everything worked as it was supposed to. We will have a bit of a learning curve learning all the systems and the how to's for us (the largest thing we've ever towed is a popup, with a mini van), but we're learning and haven't hit anything yet, knock on wood.

Now we're on our way home, as I type this, and then have a month to get it completely outfitted for travel. We have 4 10-16 day trips planned before the end of the year, so we'll be busy, but having fun. Thanks, again, for all the help, advice, suggestions, etc. Sue and Verle Castle

rldriver · 07-03-2007, 08:18 AM

Glad all went well and you will be home soon. I have a list of a few things that I need the dealer to take care of but in no rush to have them done.

I hope you enjoy your new Big Sky as much as we do ours.

Dick

David and Jo-Anna · 07-03-2007, 10:03 AM

Sue.

Glad to hear you are enjoying your Big Sky - we love ours. We began full timing on Sunday, July 1. We are now in Columbia, SC and leave tomorrow for Georgia.

Jo-Anna

vabluebird · 07-03-2007, 01:44 PM

Sue, Enjoy your new Big Sky. It sure is a beauty isn't it? We love ours. Looking forward to end of Aug when we head for SD, then FL.

judyuk · 07-03-2007, 08:27 PM

We have a big sky on order and also ordered a 2nd air conditioner....but I don't know what the "heat strip" is. Could someone tell me so I'll know to check for it when our unit arrives?
Thanks.

kwolff7 · 07-04-2007, 08:00 AM

Congratulations Sue. Sounds like things went well. We were at the dealer's 4 nights waiting for things to get done. We also had things missing that we had ordered, like the max air vents. I have been somewhat disappointed with all the problems we have had since we have been on the road. Nothing has been really critical that would cause us to go home or sit at a service center during this busy time of the year. Our main problem was the shower door breaking. We have a long list of items to be fixed. Keystone Customer Service is arranging for us to get all the items fixed when we get home. All in all we still like it though. I am just glad we are putting these 6000 miles on it and finding the problems in the first year.

We were just in Illinois a week with family. Probably was during the time you were in Indiana picking up your unit.

Verle and Sue · 07-04-2007, 02:40 PM

Judy, the heat strip turns the bedroom air conditioner into a small heater if turned on, it is installed inside the air conditioner unit. Won't heat the whole trailer, but would keep the bedroom okay on a cold night, from what we understand (if you have electricity)

.

Karen, we may have figured out part of the problem with the shower doors (just our opinion). When we first started to open the shower door, we "automatically" grabbed the easiest "handle" which is actually the towel rack and isn't designed to be pulled on. It is just attached to the door through 2 holes and working with stained glass, I had immediate images of what that pull and uneven stress would do to that glass. The actual "handle" to open the shower door is along the side of the shower door. We immediately removed the towel rack and filled the holes with clear silicone as it isn't worth the possible breakage and injury. We also wrote to Mike Spencer with our idea of what "MAY" be causing these breakages. Otherwise, there truly hasn't been a single "problem" with our Big Sky (knock on wood and keeping my fingers crossed)

Sue C

judyuk · 07-04-2007, 04:52 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by SueC2

Judy, the heat strip turns the bedroom air conditioner into a small heater if turned on, it is installed inside the air conditioner unit. Won't heat the whole trailer, but would keep the bedroom okay on a cold night, from what we understand (if you have electricity)

.

Karen, we may have figured out part of the problem with the shower doors (just our opinion). When we first started to open the shower door, we "automatically" grabbed the easiest "handle" which is actually the towel rack and isn't designed to be pulled on. It is just attached to the door through 2 holes and working with stained glass, I had immediate images of what that pull and uneven stress would do to that glass. The actual "handle" to open the shower door is along the side of the shower door. We immediately removed the towel rack and filled the holes with clear silicone as it isn't worth the possible breakage and injury. We also wrote to Mike Spencer with our idea of what "MAY" be causing these breakages. Otherwise, there truly hasn't been a single "problem" with our Big Sky (knock on wood and keeping my fingers crossed)

Sue C

Thanks Sue. How do I know whether there's a heat strip or not?
This is all new to me, so I don't know what to look for. Does it automatically come with the factory installed second a/c unit?
(I think I need to hire an experienced Montana owner to do the walk thru with us

)

kwolff7 · 07-04-2007, 07:07 PM

Sue you are probably correct that pulling on the door handle caused the shower door to break, but that is not the only cause. Ours had a magnetic strip and a corner block that will not stay in place and when you pulled our door it would not open. When we get a new door we will glue it in place. I will need to look at Bill Collier's note to me to see if he pulled on the towel bar to open the door since his broke like ours did. I also noticed a defective spot on our shower door before it broke which may have also caused a problem.

Mike Spencer has been out for a week or so. The factory closed down for the holiday.

clutch · 07-05-2007, 06:07 PM

Congratulations on your new purchase and successful shakedown trip. Enjoy it.

sreigle · 07-08-2007, 10:13 AM

Sue, if it has the heat strip there will be a setting for heat on the control panel. I'm not sure how it's labeled but it should be obvious.

Verle and Sue · 07-10-2007, 01:11 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by sreigle

Sue, if it has the heat strip there will be a setting for heat on the control panel. I'm not sure how it's labeled but it should be obvious.

Hi Steve, we just ordered it on the added bedroom 2nd AC and although the "controls" were there, it never turned on, just blew cold air. So we started asking questions (that's why we spent 3 nights at the dealer's campground) and found out they hadn't installed it, so they came to the campground and installed it then. We're starting to do some of our "very minor" (compared to many of you, LOL) modifications and take off on our first REAL trip the beginning of August. Thanks, Sue C

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