NEW '21 Bullet Owner in PA

[craigboley]

Just purchased a new '21 Keystone Bullet 330BHS. I want to say so far, so good but we've encountered a few issues already (haven't had it a week). We purchased it at Camping World and do have an extended warranty. I've had older RV's in the past (mostly Airstreams) in the family, but this is the first I've owned.

Can't seem to get the water heater to work; have a constant drip coming from the front low point drain general area; the two passenger side power stabilizers don't come down on their own...the drivers sides will, but the others need physical coaxing. Thanks to any advice/recommendations before I take it back to service!

[flybouy]

come to the forum. Let's see if we can decipher some of this. I think the "front cold relief downspout general area;" may be the pressure relief valve. Does it have a small handle that you can pull up? That's hot water coming out of it if it is. Not unusal to get a drip from inside of that valve. You can open and close the valve and often that will stop the drip but remember that's hot water that will come out.

As for the landing gear, are you connected to shore power or operating off the battery only?

[sourdough]

Welcome to the forum from W TX!

Most new trailers have some little (hopefully little) issues we need to find and fix. Usually better than putting in the shop for months.

What's wrong with the water heater? What "won't work"? Is it a DSI unit (LP and electric), what brand (Atwood/Dometic, Suburban) and what size (6 gal?).
I don't guess I know what a cold relief downspout is. Are you talking about the little spouts at the corners of the roof for runoff? If so, have you been running the AC? It will drip out of those spouts. On those electric stabilizers, have you actually used them and stabilized the trailer? Put some blocks under the driver side that comes down so it hits them. It should stop and the other side start extending.

[craigboley]

Here are a few photos of what I’m dealing with. I’m not sure why the photos uploaded like they did but three of the photos are regarding the water heater. I have tried switching ON both electric and LP for the water heater, then independently. Can anyone tell me if my “winterize” and “bypass” valves are in the correct positions? The last photo is where the leak is coming from. It’s a slow (3 second). I actually think it’s coming from above the blue tube (low point drain). Maybe a leak somewhere inside? Gray tank?

[travelin texans]

Might want to post pictures of the yellow/white sticker on the drivers door post of your F150, I'm betting you have more rv than truck. That rv is nearing 38' long weighing in at 8800 lbs with a tongue weight of 1000+ lbs & being a bunkhouse that means there's more than 2 people loaded into it towing with a 1/2 ton pickup.
Not trying to rain on your parade just informing that you, like many others, have fallen into the same situation as many of us have before you.
Until truck manufacturer stop advertising the max tow weights of their trucks in an effort to one up the next truck company this will keep happening.
Also rv salesman spewing empty rv weights, this number means absolutely nothing to you. For a family buying a bunkhouse there is no such thing as a "half ton towable" rv regardless of what a salesman may say.

[sourdough]

That's an Atwood (Dometic) 6 gal. water heater. Valves appear to be in the correct positions. Reading on the tag on the door it says it is an LP water heater only. It also has instructions for lighting the pilot. Have you done that? It's been a long time since I had a trailer where I had to do that but generally you just turn the knob to pilot, depress a knob and then ignite the pilot (after the air purges). If you don't have it here is a link to your hwh; Nope - it wouldn't work. It's a pdf file that doesn't want to link. Read the instructions on the door and light the pilot or it won't work.

Hopefully the above works, it was acting pretty strange. The blue tube appears to be your fresh water tank drain. Is it leaking AROUND the base of it coming out of the foam, down the side of the tube or out of it? There could be water above the coroplast coming from that tank or something else. What plumbing is above or near that? The tank is probably right above it.

[Sarge2]

Welcome from South East Michigan...

[craigboley]

Thank you all for your help and advice. I spoke with a service tech who seems to think I’ve been doing everything correctly in terms of operation. All knobs pointing in the correct direction, LP on, LP switch on, etc. The water heater will light its pilot and stay on for a few minutes and then shut off. Water is ice cold.

As far as the TT being too large/heavy, you may be right. Camping World had us sold on another unit that was 2,000# heavier than this one. I did many calculations on the capacities for both TV and TT. Ford 3.5L w/ max tow has a max tow of 13,200. I added the weight distribution hitch and sway bars. 80% of the max 13,200 is 10,560#. TT dry is 7,088. Added ~700lbs of gear, battery, LP, new hitch, decor, etc. Let’s round up to 8,000 to be safe. 12% of 8,000# is 960lbs. On paper, I feel like I’m good with trailer weight, tongue weight, and even GVWR with ~550 lbs of human and dog and another 150 lbs of gear in the truck itself. It is a long TT but so far, so good.

Any cautionary tales?

[craigboley]

Originally Posted by sourdough

That's an Atwood (Dometic) 6 gal. water heater. Valves appear to be in the correct positions. Reading on the tag on the door it says it is an LP water heater only. It also has instructions for lighting the pilot. Have you done that? It's been a long time since I had a trailer where I had to do that but generally you just turn the knob to pilot, depress a knob and then ignite the pilot (after the air purges). If you don't have it here is a link to your hwh; Nope - it wouldn't work. It's a pdf file that doesn't want to link. Read the instructions on the door and light the pilot or it won't work.

Hopefully the above works, it was acting pretty strange. The blue tube appears to be your fresh water tank drain. Is it leaking AROUND the base of it coming out of the foam, down the side of the tube or out of it? There could be water above the coroplast coming from that tank or something else. What plumbing is above or near that? The tank is probably right above it.

It seems to be leaking from above the blue tube. There is another set of relief tubes towards the end of the TT...both hot and cold. This one up towards the front is just cold and there is no plumbing directly above it...it's a bedroom. However, the toilet and shower are but feet away from it.

[craigboley]

Originally Posted by travelin texans

Might want to post pictures of the yellow/white sticker on the drivers door post of your F150, I'm betting you have more rv than truck. That rv is nearing 38' long weighing in at 8800 lbs with a tongue weight of 1000+ lbs & being a bunkhouse that means there's more than 2 people loaded into it towing with a 1/2 ton pickup.
Not trying to rain on your parade just informing that you, like many others, have fallen into the same situation as many of us have before you.
Until truck manufacturer stop advertising the max tow weights of their trucks in an effort to one up the next truck company this will keep happening.
Also rv salesman spewing empty rv weights, this number means absolutely nothing to you. For a family buying a bunkhouse there is no such thing as a "half ton towable" rv regardless of what a salesman may say.

Camping World had us sold on another unit that was 2,000# heavier than this one. I did many calculations on the capacities for both TV and TT. Ford 3.5L w/ max tow has a max tow of 13,200. I added the weight distribution hitch and sway bars. 80% of the max 13,200 is 10,560#. TT dry is 7,088. Added ~700lbs of gear, battery, LP, new hitch, decor, etc. Let’s round up to 8,000 to be safe. 12% of 8,000# is 960lbs. On paper, I feel like I’m good with trailer weight, tongue weight, and even GVWR with ~550 lbs of human and dog and another 150 lbs of gear in the truck itself. It is a long TT but so far, so good

[Gegrad]

Welcome from another Pennsylvanian!

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by craigboley

Thank you all for your help and advice. I spoke with a service tech who seems to think I’ve been doing everything correctly in terms of operation. All knobs pointing in the correct direction, LP on, LP switch on, etc. The water heater will light its pilot and stay on for a few minutes and then shut off. Water is ice cold.

As far as the TT being too large/heavy, you may be right. Camping World had us sold on another unit that was 2,000# heavier than this one. I did many calculations on the capacities for both TV and TT. Ford 3.5L w/ max tow has a max tow of 13,200. I added the weight distribution hitch and sway bars. 80% of the max 13,200 is 10,560#. TT dry is 7,088. Added ~700lbs of gear, battery, LP, new hitch, decor, etc. Let’s round up to 8,000 to be safe. 12% of 8,000# is 960lbs. On paper, I feel like I’m good with trailer weight, tongue weight, and even GVWR with ~550 lbs of human and dog and another 150 lbs of gear in the truck itself. It is a long TT but so far, so good.

Any cautionary tales?

Now that we have ventured into weights...as you should;

What is the payload on your F150, it's inside the driver door along with another sticker that posts gross axle weight ratings front and rear? If you post those the picture becomes much more clear. As far as a salesman telling you are OK with abc, or telling you that you are "good to go" - they don't have a clue. Your max tow rating is just sales hype as well. Trailer gvw, truck payload is the place to start then gvw, gawr etc.

With a dry weight of 7088 and a max carrying capacity in the trailer of 1568 in a bunkhouse, indicating kids, you will max that out. Figure that in addition of the weight of full LP tanks and 2 batteries you, with a family with kids, will probably carry 1200 lbs. of gear- we do for 2 people. Then, with a TT you don't have much room in the storage area; in your truck you will have the hitch (120lbs), people and pup as you said (550) but then you should have tools, jacks, blocks and all kinds of misc. equipment to take care of you and the family say at least (200lbs.). With the family and traveling with "kids" you will not be without a lot of "paraphernalia" in the cab....add (50lbs.). If you are traveling with the kids what will you do when you get there? Bicylcles? Toys? Kayaks (yes I can't count the folks that have them strapped to the truck, bed, roof etc.) 200lbs.?

So many, so many, make the mistake thinking "I'm going to go light", "I'll only travel 100 miles", "I never need to load water", etc, etc. It's all just a way to rationalize buying a larger trailer than one should. Easy way to figure? GVW of trailer x .13% = tongue weight = 1118.bs. Folks, gear etc. in this case figure the above = 1120. Now we look at 2238 lbs. loaded on the truck. Realistically....safely. Now will that number be smaller? Let's hope so because those numbers are the maxed out numbers.

Post the numbers from the truck and you/we can discuss those things on a more specific level, but figuring "my 1/2 ton is good because I don't carry anything" is an expensive, and unsafe, route to travel.

[craigboley]

So I’m overly cautious and a little anal retentive. I weighed literally everything (down to the toilet paper) that went into it on to the RV. I installed a couple of TV’s with brackets as well. All tools, toys, and hoses are accounted for. I’m at roughly 700lbs (I’ll round up higher to 800 in case the wife snuck some extra junk in there) in the RV WITH full LP and one battery (for now). Human and dog weight in the truck are roughly 550lbs and add in 150 for luggage and other nonsense. I’ve been using 12% for tongue weight. Is 13% better? 13% of 7,888 is 1,025 lbs. plus the rest of the payload is about 1,725 lbs in/on the truck. Truck itself weighs roughly 5,000 with full fluids/fuel. GVWR max is 7,000. I’m at 6,725. In your eyes, how am I sitting?

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by craigboley

So I’m overly cautious and a little anal retentive. I weighed literally everything (down to the toilet paper) that went into it on to the RV. I installed a couple of TV’s with brackets as well. All tools, toys, and hoses are accounted for. I’m at roughly 700lbs (I’ll round up higher to 800 in case the wife snuck some extra junk in there) in the RV WITH full LP and one battery (for now). Human and dog weight in the truck are roughly 550lbs and add in 150 for luggage and other nonsense. I’ve been using 12% for tongue weight. Is 13% better? 13% of 7,888 is 1,025 lbs. plus the rest of the payload is about 1,725 lbs in/on the truck. Truck itself weighs roughly 5,000 with full fluids/fuel. GVWR max is 7,000. I’m at 6,725. In your eyes, how am I sitting?

According to the picture the max cargo carrying capacity is 1,670 lbs. According to your calculations of 1,725 you are 55 lbs over. I don't see where you added the weight of the hitch. A good WDH is around 100 to 120 lbs.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by craigboley

So I’m overly cautious and a little anal retentive. I weighed literally everything (down to the toilet paper) that went into it on to the RV. I installed a couple of TV’s with brackets as well. All tools, toys, and hoses are accounted for. I’m at roughly 700lbs (I’ll round up higher to 800 in case the wife snuck some extra junk in there) in the RV WITH full LP and one battery (for now). Human and dog weight in the truck are roughly 550lbs and add in 150 for luggage and other nonsense. I’ve been using 12% for tongue weight. Is 13% better? 13% of 7,888 is 1,025 lbs. plus the rest of the payload is about 1,725 lbs in/on the truck. Truck itself weighs roughly 5,000 with full fluids/fuel. GVWR max is 7,000. I’m at 6,725. In your eyes, how am I sitting?

I'm wondering; your 1/2 ton Ford with EB 3.5 and max tow pkg. only weighs 5000lbs.? You might want to check that. Was it scaled? I would think more along the lines of maybe 5500?

[craigboley]

Danny,

Weighed in recently at 4,987 (empty w/ a half tank of fuel, maybe 15lbs of things/equipment, no driver/passengers).

[sourdough]

That explains it. Fully loaded with a full tank of gas and folks it should push toward 5500 I would think, maybe a little less. Thanks for the info.