New High Country - Montana Owners Club

gelswick · 04-03-2012, 06:07 AM

Just picked up a new High Country 34' yesterday and immediately took it to storage for a week or two. My swimbo is having knee surgery at the moment and won't be able to enjoy it for a while. Any suggestions for a total newby? Pulling it with a GMC 2500 HD 6 Liter Gas

Gary and Nancy
(when she wakes up)

seahunter · 04-03-2012, 08:18 AM

Welcome to the forum Gary and Nancy!

Hope Nancy heals quickly. I would just start following the threads here. You can go to a specific category, or just use the search function if you have a specific question or topic. There are a lot of very knowledgeable, friendly folks on here who are more than willing to offer advice if you have questions. Enjoy that new trailer.

CamillaMichael · 04-03-2012, 09:18 AM

Where you go is likely to be a personal decision, but no matter where you go, enjoy your new Montana!

**DQDick** · 04-03-2012, 11:47 AM

Congratulations! Hope your new rig helps you make many lasting memories. When you have questions, just jump in and ask. Everyone was new at one time and this forum is all about helping folks and sharing.

1retired06 · 04-03-2012, 01:55 PM

welcome and good luck with the new fifth wheel!

gelswick · 04-03-2012, 02:01 PM

Since I posted earlier have been reading many other posts and learning a lot. Since we just returned from Moab a few weeks ago am really enjoying the moab posts. (possibly the impetus behind purchasing the Montana....) Nancy's surgery went well and she is resting now.

subra1228 · 04-07-2012, 05:11 AM

We have a high country and really enjoy it. Safe travels!

Bill-N-Donna · 04-07-2012, 05:37 AM

Congratulations on the new high Country
and welcome to the forum!

southern thunder · 04-09-2012, 05:49 AM

Congrats.

CORattler · 04-09-2012, 01:59 PM

Congratulations and welcome to the MOC! I can sense your excitement... savor it. It only comes along evry so often. Hope you have many trouble free miles and lotsa smiles!

okierver · 04-09-2012, 02:47 PM

enjoy your high country we have a 2011 high country 323rl and love it
we put about 2800 miles on it last year and have been out once this year already.. enjoy this is a great place for all kinds of info. and great people to.

gelswick · 04-10-2012, 02:58 AM

Just finished our shakedown cruise with just a couple memorable moments. Have some questions but will ask in the respective areas. Can anyone identify with these: Unhooking the fifth wheel for the first time at dusk never having done it before. Didn't have a flashlight to read the directions sticker and the tech at pickup time just had me back up to it and it magically was hitched. Now what? After an hour or so finally got it unhooked by luck.
Was going to make my infamous baked beans on the campfire. Would have helped if we had a can opener.
The tech said he filled the fresh water tank and it was ready to go, now no water, just a dribble out of the faucet. after several trips to the closest outhouse and buying gallons of water to drink and cook with, noticed a switch that said "water pump", Hmmmmm.... wonder what that does?
OK, now we have water but no hot water, the water heater light is on and after waiting all night no hot water. Turns out the circuit breaker was off.
Packed up to leave successfuly and got it back to the storage area with no problems. The slot we were assigned seemed to small to me but hey, what do I know, it is only 39' long? After what seemed like an hour of trying to back this thing in an isle that is to narrow into a slot that is to small compunded by the tt next to it having fallen off its block at an angle and now taking up 2' more feet of precious backing area we don't have the owner noticed we were having "difficulty". He decided to put us in a slot more in line with the fifth wheel size rather then in with the 15' tt's.
A lot of lessons learned and never to be forgotten and only said "Golly!!" (or the expletive deleted equivilent) a few times.
We had lots of fun, met some nice people and can't wait to do it again with our new found knowledge.
Gary and Nancy

**Rondo** · 04-10-2012, 03:40 AM

Three questions..... 1. Were you boondocking or at a campground? 2. Where you hooked up to shore water on your shakedown cruise if at a campground? If so, you should have had water but I don't have a new unit and don't know the exact procedure when hooking up to shore water with the convenient center. There may be a valve you have to turn. IF you were not hooked up to shore water then the pump would have had to be engaged to get water. You found this out however. 3. Was your water heater full of water when you turned on the breaker? If not there is a possibility that you may have burned out the element for heating the water with electricity. Check in the unit and see if there is another switch that says something to do with water heater and see if that heats your water also. It should be next to the water pump switch. That would be the gas switch for heating the water. IF you did not have any water in the water heater tank that could be the reason you did not have any hot water also. Hopefully, there was water in the tank for either case. Not a good situation if there was no water in the tank. I'm surprised the dealer(tech) did not tell you about the water heater and how it operates.

mhs4771 · 04-10-2012, 05:04 AM

Another possibility with the hot water, do you know if the unit is in Water Heater Bypass mode? As for not being shown all those little things from the Dealership/Tech, I'm not really supprised as it seems lots of those folks have never camped, they just sell-um and work on um and don't have a clue of how to operate one. Good luck and if any more questions, just ask. Seems just about any question that comes up, someone has been there and done that, so they can steer you in the right direction.

**Rondo** · 04-10-2012, 01:13 PM

One additional thing to check is the switch outside on the water heater itself. It is on the face of the water heater as you take the grill off frpm the outside. I'm not sure where the water heater is on your rig but mine is right next to the entrance door. Take the grill off and see if you see a regular electric switch on the face of the water heater just on the lower left side of the unit. That could also be off IF the breaker was also turned off. It's a safety deal so you don't burn out your element if you turn on the breaker and have no water in the H2O heater tank. Just make sure you have water in the water heater tank first however. Just another thing to check! Let us know what you find!

gelswick · 04-12-2012, 12:12 PM

Yes the water heater had water in it, just didn't have the circuit breaker on. The tech did a 2 hour walk around inside and out at delivery. Not surprising I did not remember everything he said the following weekend.

seahunter · 04-12-2012, 10:44 PM

Haven't camped for a while, but if the water heater light is ON, then it is not working. The light comes on and then goes off when it is working - isn't that correct?

**Rondo** · 04-13-2012, 03:49 AM

Greg-- I don't know what year your rig is but it is not that way with ours. If the red water heater light is on then that means it is on gas for heating the water. If not on it's heating with the electric element. The switch must be turned on by someone to put it on gas. The breaker on the panel must be on and the switch on the water heater on the outside of the unit behind the removable panel must be on for the electric to work. Hopefully, you have water in it or it will burn out the element on electric and if on gas I've heard it can damage the heater also if no water is in the tank. Can you clarify your statement on your light?

seahunter · 04-13-2012, 08:48 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by Rondo

Can you clarify your statement on your light?

This was on our SOB travel trailer. When you hit the switch for the water heater, the light came on when it was trying to light. Then once it was lit, the light went out indicating it was working. If the light was on, it meant it didn't light. Now we sold this a couple years ago, but I'm pretty sure that's how it worked...

**Carl n Susan** · 04-13-2012, 04:43 PM

Actually, Montanas have two lights for the gas operation system. The red rocker switch illuminates when the switch is turned ON. Just to the right of the illuminated switch is a tiny red led. It goes on when the rocker switch is turned ON and remains on (red) until the burner ignites. Once the burner ignites the light goes out (this is good). The gas water heater control board will make three attempts to light the burner. If no flame is sensed after three tries it quits trying and must be cycled OFF/ON to try again.

You may also like: