New Passport is home

[campertime]

Well after years of looking at trailers at RV shows here in Michigan we finally made the decision to replace our Jayco Kiwi. Saturday we picked up our new 2015 Passport GT 2400BH from General RV in Birch Run, MI.

I had heard a few horror stories about General RV so I stocked up on information from this forum and a few other across the web. I have to say that the buying experience was a good one. The only complaint I have was that I was more knowledgeable about trailers and the model we purchased than the salesman. When I had detailed questions pop up the salesman always had to go find out from someone else.

The PDI was great. The tech that took us through the unit before our purchase was named Mike and he went over everything very well. He was able to answer all our questions and the trailer passed our inspection. We used the PDI page from this site. Thank you to whoever created and posted it.

Now that we've had the camper home for a few days, we've found a few issues. The entry door (which was open for the whole PDI) is hard to open and close. The metal plate on the door latch is hitting the metal plate on the door frame creating friction. The other issue is that there is a screw missing on the plastic skirting around the wheel opening. I have put a call into our salesman this morning. Hopefully the fix experience goes as well as the purchase

Can't wait.... one more week and we're off on a 10 day trip

[antiqfreq]

Congrats to you on your new camper.

It sounds like the issues you have found are fairly minor in nature and I hope your dealership can fix them ASAP so you can load up for your upcoming trip.

Keep us posted about your dealer, repairs and of course - the trip!

Jo

[Kristi]

Congrats! Hope you get the issues sorted out & you can get out & enjoy your new trailer!

[audio1der]

Congratulations!
You'd be surprised how many screws, especially those skirt screws, work them selves out over and over. I've replaced a number of mine with small bolts with a nut on the back side, to hold them securely.
That door does sound like it needs some attention though. Hopefully they get you fixed up.
Hope it serves you well for many years!

[campertime]

Thanks guys. Bolts sound like a great idea

First mod complete. I put some of those spring clips in the front storage compartment to hold the broom and the stabilizer jack tool.

Next is to come up with something like a shelf or crossmembers with notches in them to hold pie irons, cooking forks, fire poker, etc. in the front storage space. or maybe use an under the bed rolling Rubbermaid container. Not doing much inside until we camp in it and figure out how we are going to use things

[Triplespool]

Congrads on the passport. I like the new color.

[BirchyBoy]

Originally Posted by campertime

Thanks guys. Bolts sound like a great idea

First mod complete. I put some of those spring clips in the front storage compartment to hold the broom and the stabilizer jack tool.

Next is to come up with something like a shelf or crossmembers with notches in them to hold pie irons, cooking forks, fire poker, etc. in the front storage space. or maybe use an under the bed rolling Rubbermaid container. Not doing much inside until we camp in it and figure out how we are going to use things

Do you have any pics of how you mounted the spring clips?

[{tpc}]

Congrats on the purchase! I have your fix for the door, I think. After dealing with this for quite some time, I spent a day a week ago looking into why the door won't shut smoothly.

I went so far as to remove all the striker and latch plates and polish them out to a smooth shine with my dremel tool as well as the part of the door latch mechanism that contacts the striker when the door closes.

What I found out is that for some reason the screw heads on the striker plate protrude too far, making contact with the latch plate (on the door side). I am guessing that either they used the wrong screws (round head instead of flat) or they were supposed to flush mount the latch plate on the door and did not. I ended up filing down the heads of the bolts slightly so they would clear better. Yes, I was too lazy to go to home depot and get replacement flat head screws or round ones with smaller heads.

Mine closes a lot better now. I wouldn't call it perfect....my buddy who has a rockwood, his door closes like butter, but I think thats due to a tighter spring on the latch mechanism itself.

I also had to slide the striker plate out a bit so the latch can close all the way without a "double push" of the door. There seems to be a fine line of how far out you want to go though before the sealing of the door may suffer. I opted for it to be just a little tight.

Hope this helps! Enjoy! I like the idea of the spring clip for the broom. I might borrow that.

[campertime]

I did not take any pics, before taking the trailer to the storage yard. I'll get some on our trip next week.

My sticky door seems to be on the door side plate. Looks like the screws were driven to close together which caused a bow in the plate. the door plate hits the plate of the doorframe. may try to fix it myself so I don't have to drive it an hour to the dealer

[PKONolan]

Congrats on the new 2400BH. We got the identical unit in May here in CO from Windish RV in Lakewood (suburb of Denver). Great sales experience as well and tech review was thorough too. However, I had a similar problem post inspection. The stairs were deployed during the inspection and I never really inspected them closed. A few days later, I noticed they had clearly been tagged (probably were down when they moved the trailer). The bottom cross member weld was broken and the stair bracket was pushed over an inch. I was disappointed that I missed it but an hour of tweeking and it was back to normal.

Otherwise, we love the trailer and the kids especially love the bunks (they fight over the top one). It snowed and dropped to the windy 20's for three days after we got it. It had been de-winterized so we ran the heat. We even stayed in it the first night. Very comfortable (beats the hell out of our former pop-up.

It tows great even behind a 6 banger Tacoma. I added an Anderson No-Sway WD hitch which has performed superbly even across the windy southern plains of CO. Wednesday, I get to see how towing it up Monarch Pass (11,000 feet elevation or so) to Gunnison goes.

[{tpc}]

Originally Posted by campertime

I did not take any pics, before taking the trailer to the storage yard. I'll get some on our trip next week.

My sticky door seems to be on the door side plate. Looks like the screws were driven to close together which caused a bow in the plate. the door plate hits the plate of the doorframe. may try to fix it myself so I don't have to drive it an hour to the dealer

Ya, I'm sure you can fix it yourself. For mine, the first attempt at fixing was a rubber mallet and just a little tap on the frame side plate. This helped a tiny bit but it wasn't enough. When I removed both plates to polish them, I made sure they were flat.

It was only after the install, that I was sure I had done everything I could, and it still didn't fix it, did I notice the length of the heads of the screws on the frame side plate, and the witness mark, primarily on the bottom screw where it was contacting my freshly polished plate on the door side.

I then ran a straight edge over them and sure enough they were protruding out past the edge of the frame side plate.

Anyways, an easy and almost fun fix. If you do take it apart and aren't sure of the seal on the door, you can always spray water at it.

Frankly I don't like how the seals of door are installed nor do I like how well they seal, but from near as I can tell, no water ended up inside the trailer when I tested it. Plenty on the inside of the frame itself however, but there is a small lip that looks to keep it from getting inside.

[tech740]

We purchased our camper from General RV in Birch Run also. Joe was our salesman. He was awesome. We have also had the trailer in for warranty work twice. They are always honest with quick service. I would buy from them again. Good luck and have fun camping.

[campertime]

Well our first trip was a success!

We camped for 10 days in Mackinac City, MI. My gas mileage was about 2mpg less than what we got pulling the Jayco. The passport is longer, taller, and wider so I didn't expect it to be any better. Spent a lot of time touring the area. We kayaked pictured rocks Nat'l lakeshore, spent a day on Mackinac island, toured Mackinac city and Fort Mackinac, relaxed, relaxed, and relaxed.

We loved every part of camping with this new trailer. Much easier set up and the outdoor kitchen (which we thought we wouldn't use) got used every day for cooking or grabbing a drink from the fridge. The power slideout and awning are such nice conveniences

The things we found that annoyed us were:
1- the fan is loud and seems to have only one speed.
2- the mattress was hard as a rock.
3- there is only one quick connect gas line at the rear of trailer so you can't use the stove and grill at the same time.
4- the outdoor grill mounts on a swing arm off the back bumper (very conveinient), but the hose that came with the grill is too short to make the connection.
5- had a little trouble getting the trailer unhooked and then hooked up again. The tongue sticks to the ball. Had to hit it with a piece of wood to get unhitched and had to pull truck forward a little with trailer wheels chocked to get it to drop on the ball all the way. Never had a problem like this before.

All in all a good family trip with the famly

[campertime]

Oh here are my first three "sort of" mods.

Installed spring clamps for the broom and jack tool in the front storage compartment and added a piece of pipe insulation to the outside fridge to keep it open a bit while in storage. That way the inside will stay dry and not mildew while in storage.

[dbrinklow]

On the hose to the grill being too short turn the removable part of the mount over and it should fix this issue.

[campertime]

Ordered a 10ft quick connect lp hose, BAL xtended fit xchocks, and a battery shut off switch through amazon yesterday

[campertime]

Update: Installed the Marinco 701 battery quick disconnect kit (pic shows test fit with one screw) Using the switch is much better than having to take the lid off the box and disconnecting the wire

Purchased on Amazon for $20


I also purchased the FloJet - 1/2" Hose Barb Elbows, a 1/2" hose clamp, and 10ft of clear hose to hook to the water pump to draw antifreeze right from the bottle during winterization. Total cost $12

Trailer is all cleaned up, winterized, and in storage for the winter.

[bign1976]

General In Birch Run is awesome. Great group of people! FYI I have a 245rb with the same battery box. Mine was collecting water. I drilled a few small holes in the low spots on the bottom of the box. Problem solved.

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by bign1976

General In Birch Run is awesome. Great group of people! FYI I have a 245rb with the same battery box. Mine was collecting water. I drilled a few small holes in the low spots on the bottom of the box. Problem solved.

Drilling holes in the floor of your battery box will drain the water, but keep a close eye on it, if your battery should start leaking or overcharge and push some acid out the vent holes in the caps, it can collect on the bottom of the box. If there are holes, that acid can leak out, pool on your trailer frame and start eating away at it. You can do some pretty significant damage to your trailer tongue and the battery support brackets with leaking acid. Just keep a watch on things.

[dakota51]

Campertime

Did you need to purchase extra battery cable for the disconnect switch? I plan on ordering the same switch.