BYO power cord to closing?

[philiprmcgovern]

Newbie question: We will be picking up our new 2016 HC 353RL soon and plan to spend our first couple of nights at a campground this is adjacent to the dealership. We need to know whether it will be necessary to bring our own shorepower cord. Those 50 amp cords are pricey and I'm hoping that they are included with a new unit. What about hoses or anything else that we need to bring along - other than a bucket of money, of course? Many thanks.

Phil

[andylparish]

Ours came with power cord, and nothing else. You need water hose and sewer hose. And cable for TV if park offers it.

[1retired06]

Your unit comes with necessary power cord. Rest is up to you. Some dealers provide a basic starter kit for other basics, most do not.

[bncinwv]

quote:Originally posted by 1retired06

Your unit comes with necessary power cord. Rest is up to you. Some dealers provide a basic starter kit for other basics, most do not.

I would strongly suggest to the dealer that he throw in the basic necessities that are required for camping. Sewer hose, water hose, and whatever else they would be kind enough to supply. I would not think any reputable dealer would refuse.
Bingo

[philiprmcgovern]

Thanks for the good news, y'all.

Phil

[TLightning]

As noted, power cord is OEM. If the dealer's a good guy/gal, he/she will furnish, water and sewer hoses, a water pressure guage...and mine tossed in a couple of dogbones.

[philiprmcgovern]

Great! The news just keeps getting better. I'll let you know what happens. So far, we are very pleased with the dealer, Walnut Ridge Family RV in suburban New Castle, IN. I'm pretty confident they will do the right thing. This forum is the greatest!

Phil

[jlb27537]

There is a "RV starter kit" some dealers include. Most of the stuff in it are items you would not normally buy. Maybe a couple of electrical things and a roll of TP.

You will want to obtain a "white" RV water hose. Or 2. Some sort of water pressure regulator, If the park is on a well it will not be needed. Something to test the water pressure, to determine if you actually need to use a regulator. Later a water filter of some sort, I use a whole house filter from Amazon on the inlet hose.

A 30A to 50A "dogbone" A device that lets you plug your 50A cord into a 30A plug at a RV park pedestal. Later you will want to buy a 50A to 30A adaptor for the plug on the rear of the trailer and a couple of 25' or a 50' 30A cord.

You will want to buy a RhinoFlex (brand) sewer hose. It collapses to about 4' but extends to 15'. And build a tube for storage for it after using it.(I used a 6" PVC pipe, put cap and threaded end on it and attached to bottom of frame. Buy a couple of 10' sections of plastic rain gutter, cut in half, makes excellent sewer hose support.

Depending on your house set-up, maybe a good 12 gauge extension cord and adapters to get it to connect to your new rig. (it takes about 12-24 hours before the frig is cold enough to actually put things in.) Also, the rig needs to be reasonably level for the frig to work properly)

Later, figure out TV, (Dish is RV friendly) (Direct is NOT RV friendly) You will need a cable for park cable, or later a Dish Tailgater for TV in parks with no cable (like NFS, COE) but they have electricity.

Do not go crazy at the RV dealership. Everything is available on Amazon, check prices and go from there.

A side note, you can use Scott Extra Soft toilet paper,(from W/M, some local grocery stores) instead of the very expensive "RV Toilet Paper". Take a single sheet, put it in a tea class with 1/2 full water. Cover top with hand and shake 2-3 times. The TP will dissolve if RV friendly, if it becomes a "clump", do NOT try and use it.

Good luck and have fun.

Jim

[Dam Worker]

Usually the starter kit that the dealer gives you has the very cheapest items included. Usually a extremely cheap and short sewer hose, a very short fresh water hose and a few tank tablets etc. I recommend that you buy a quaility septic hose and extension, a 30' long high quality fresh water hose. I have saved the starter kit items for emergency use, like when your neighbor at the RV park has an issue and needs something right now. :-) I would also recommend a cheater power hook up (30a & 20a) male ends going to your 50a cord. As for an extra power cord Walmart has probably the best price. You can look online and they will ship it to a Walmart store near you. You can pick lengths from 15',25' & 30' if I remember correctly.
Happy camping to you.

Tom Marty

[sambam]

While the starter kit is typically low-end stuff, it is fine until you upgrade to something better. Don't wait too long on the sewer hose though, and don't ask me how I know. My dealer gave us all the stuff AND a bottle of wine. Guess they couldn't wait to unload this unit!

[h2ojocky]

Welcome to this great forum. Don't forget to read up on PDI. Pre delivery inspection. Don't take possession until everything is fixed.

[rames14]

Good luck with your new unit. In addition to the basics, think about a surge suppressor. Also, toilet chemicals. I agree that the starter kit is usually cheap. Your dealer will probably give you a discount on the items you buy in their store. One (two is better) 25 ft water hoses. A clear sewer elbow and a 90 degree elbow with 20-30 ft of sewer hose. A good toilet paper that is septic safe. You will probably need a nozzle for your outside shower, but it should come with the blue hose. A coaxial cable if your park has cable. Did you get two batteries? If not, have them upgrade that. The new fridges take a lot of power. We got four golf cart batteries for ours. Down the road, you may not want to wrestle the Anaconda (50 amp cord) when it gets cold. We have a 50 ft 30 amp cable that we take in addition to the Anaconda. If it's real hot or real cold, we want 50 amp. Otherwise, we generally use the 30 amp cord. Also, get a 50 amp to 30 amp pigtail for the occasion where you are camping and there is only 30 amp available. Don't forget chairs and a grill. Some of us use a water filter. I disagree with the Dish/DirecTv comment. We have been very happy with DirecTv at home and on the road. Whichever flavor you have at home will work in your RV. If you look in an RVer's basement, you can tell how long they've been at it. Newbies have very little. The people at it a few year's have everything. Those who have been at it a long time have a well organized, full unit without the frills. They'll have every screw connector, tool, and bulb you can think of. Have fun with your new rig. (Tools is a whole other subject. Don't forget a torque wrench and socket for your tires, a socket for your water heater anode, and for your spring and shackle bolt torque). A cordless drill, sockets, wrenches, some spare fuses, a meter, some electrical tape, etc.

[Overlord]

quote:Originally posted by philiprmcgovern

Great! The news just keeps getting better. I'll let you know what happens. So far, we are very pleased with the dealer, Walnut Ridge Family RV in suburban New Castle, IN. I'm pretty confident they will do the right thing. This forum is the greatest!

Phil

Bought mine from them and picked it up in Oct.2008,it included the 50amp power cord. It was great to deal with them and we got a terrific deal from them. Don't think that I got any extras, but for the price that we paid, I didn't ask for any freebies. They did give us a one-time discount at their store/parts dept., but can't remember exactly how much. It was something like 20% off, or perhaps 20% over their cost, not sure as it was quite some time ago.

They provided two free nights at their on-site campground for a shakedown campout to check for things missed in the PDI, and took care of a couple minor fixes before we towed it back to the West Coast. We had a nice long vacation and saved quite a lot of money, even after buying 5,000 miles worth of diesel fuel.

Over-all, I was extremely satisfied with my Walnut Ridge buying experience.

[jlb27537]

Ron brings up a very good point.

You will need a Hydraulic Jack and related socket, extension, break-over bar, torque wrench to change a tire on the trailer. Hopefully you will never need to actually use it.

When you get it home, crawl under it and check axle U-bolts for correct torque, (60-65lbs) and wheel torque. (120lbs in 3 steps 80-100-120)

http://www.suspensionspecialists.com...nformation.pdf

Harbor Freight is your friend....

Jim

[philiprmcgovern]

Thanks, Russ and Linda. We will pay close attention. In fact, since we both suffer from CRS disease, I plan to video it. One thing we really like about the dealership is that they include two nights of camping at their adjacent campground right after you take possession. That should give us a chance to figure out how things work and to get the small stuff fixed before we head off into the sunset. Wish us luck.

Phil

[boat391]

I hope the new unit comes with a better matress. Our 2014 was awful so we got rid of it went to a sleep number. Just haven't had a chance to try it out yet. Good luck with your new unit . I hope yours was built like ours no problem that I couldn't handle. Happy camping.

[philiprmcgovern]

Great stuff, Ron. Thanks for taking the time. Amazingly, we either have, or have ordered, nearly everything you mentioned. Having spent the last several winters living aboard a sailboat, we are used to living in a 12 volt world, having tons of spares and tools and dealing with funky toilets.

I think the RV only comes with one 12 volt battery and a small (1000 watt?) inverter, so my plan is to dump the old-ish starter battery in my truck, put the truck's nearly unused inverter battery, which is not deep cycle, in its place. Then, I'll install the new RV battery in the place of the truck's inverter battery and, then, get 4 golf cart batteries for the RV as part of a future solar system. I have 2 150 watt panels that I bought for the boat and plan to get two more, a decent charge controller and a 2000 watt inverter-charger. I'm also concerned about the draw of the "residential" fridge, but haven't yet found out what the draw actually is. I'm hoping the Honda 2K will enable us to do some boondocking until the solar system is done.

Thanks again for your help and stay tuned....

Phil

[tooth ferry]

Dish vs Direct? Direct cost nothing extra since you can take your control box from home and connect it to a Flex antenna. Flex antenna cost is similar to Tailgater'

[boat391]

We use dish pay 7.00 a month for a HD reciver get all the same channels we have at home I have a dish on a tripod and am very well versed in pointing it can be up and running in about 5 minutes. Very happy with our choice hope this helps. Happy camping

[philiprmcgovern]

This forum is amazing! Thanks to everyone for taking the time to share all the great suggestions and ideas. We look forward to being out there amongst you before much longer, although we'll probably hang around central Indiana for a while until we get our bearings with the new unit (and the new lifestyle). Once it starts to get cold, though, we are totally outa here and will be heading for warmer climates. Woo hoo!!!

Phil