AnnaK
10-15-2012, 05:17 AM
We spent several hours this past Saturday doing a closer look walk-through of the trailer we're considering. The floor plan is perfect for us and the are many, many features about the trailer in general that we really like. The holding tank valves are readily accessible to the right of the slideout, no crawling under the trailer required. There's a great deal of storage space both inside and out.
There are, however, some oddities as well.
* New to us is that the battery is mounted on the tongue and does not seem to come with a lockable box. Is that common to Passports? How do you protect it from road dirt and theft? It sits behind the propane tanks.
* The kitchen stove exhaust fan is not vented to the outside which means that grease and cooking odors are blown back into the unit. Yes, there's a filter pad and it will trap some of that. We're checking into how much it will cost to retro fit an exterior vent.
* There is a good 2" gap at the top of the bathroom door, apparently to allow it to clear the ceiling mounted light fixture in front of it. Even with a vent in the bathroom I can foresee odors traveling into the living area.
* When the bathroom door is opened the door knob smacks into the refrigerator door. At the very least there should be a rubber cover over that door knob, or a door stop mounted at the top refrigerator molding.
* The trailer comes with a gas grill which is mounted in the back of the trailer above the bumper when in use. I can see some potential drawbacks with this:
- lack of space in a small campsite
- a really wet cook if it's raining that day
We didn't open the carton with the grill and don't know whether they supply a long section of hose so the grill could be placed on a table under the awning during inclement weather.
* There are two drawers installed in the cabinet next to the sink. Because of the space taken up by the sink those drawers are way low, near the floor. While it's great to have them, they're not easily accessible, especially if they hold cooking utensils. Moreover, they cannot be opened at all when the slideout is in.
* There's lots and lots of excellent storage everywhere. Loved the space under the seats of the U-shaped dinette! I'm really going to have to work very hard at not overloading the trailer. What was disappointing is that the openings of the exterior storage compartments aren't large enough to slide in a cooler or the generator. We can probably get the genny in if we lay it on its side when loading but finding space for the cooler will be a problem.
* There is no rear-mounted ladder to get up on the roof.
We are now checking into the costs of installing a 3-speed reversible FantasticFan in place of the little fan in the kitchen area and a Maxxair cover for it, a Maxxair cover on the bathroom fan, and venting the kitchen stove to the outside. That would make it pretty much perfect.
There are, however, some oddities as well.
* New to us is that the battery is mounted on the tongue and does not seem to come with a lockable box. Is that common to Passports? How do you protect it from road dirt and theft? It sits behind the propane tanks.
* The kitchen stove exhaust fan is not vented to the outside which means that grease and cooking odors are blown back into the unit. Yes, there's a filter pad and it will trap some of that. We're checking into how much it will cost to retro fit an exterior vent.
* There is a good 2" gap at the top of the bathroom door, apparently to allow it to clear the ceiling mounted light fixture in front of it. Even with a vent in the bathroom I can foresee odors traveling into the living area.
* When the bathroom door is opened the door knob smacks into the refrigerator door. At the very least there should be a rubber cover over that door knob, or a door stop mounted at the top refrigerator molding.
* The trailer comes with a gas grill which is mounted in the back of the trailer above the bumper when in use. I can see some potential drawbacks with this:
- lack of space in a small campsite
- a really wet cook if it's raining that day
We didn't open the carton with the grill and don't know whether they supply a long section of hose so the grill could be placed on a table under the awning during inclement weather.
* There are two drawers installed in the cabinet next to the sink. Because of the space taken up by the sink those drawers are way low, near the floor. While it's great to have them, they're not easily accessible, especially if they hold cooking utensils. Moreover, they cannot be opened at all when the slideout is in.
* There's lots and lots of excellent storage everywhere. Loved the space under the seats of the U-shaped dinette! I'm really going to have to work very hard at not overloading the trailer. What was disappointing is that the openings of the exterior storage compartments aren't large enough to slide in a cooler or the generator. We can probably get the genny in if we lay it on its side when loading but finding space for the cooler will be a problem.
* There is no rear-mounted ladder to get up on the roof.
We are now checking into the costs of installing a 3-speed reversible FantasticFan in place of the little fan in the kitchen area and a Maxxair cover for it, a Maxxair cover on the bathroom fan, and venting the kitchen stove to the outside. That would make it pretty much perfect.