Issues & Advice for 2013 Sprinter TT 320BHS

[katiegreeniz]

Hey campers, just wanted to share some info on our new 2013 Keystone 320BHS Travel Trailer, purchased brand new in Sept 2013 here in MA. I myself found this forum when doing a google search for our model number, and the info I found here on this forum was invaluable, so I thought I'd share my experiences so far with our trailer for anyone else looking for the same model or floor plan.

We purchased our TT from Flagg here in MA in early September of 2013. It had only been on the lot a couple of months and had not been to any shows. It was in near perfect condition and there was only an issue with some peeling paper in the bathroom, which was documented for warrantee purposes should it get worse.

Like every good camper knows, you won't know your issues until you get out there and start using your camper. Below is a list of negatives, or issues or mods needed or things overlooked. Hope it helps!

1. Outside TV bracket is not reinforced and when you attach the portable arm mount and television to it, it starts to pull away from the side of the camper and is also pulling the vinyl away. The TV and Mount were both part of the camper package, no after market installs or upgrades. We are currently waiting for Keystone's Warrantee Dept. to approve the repair.

2. In the event of power loss, the Dometic Fridge does not switch to propane automatically and will not run on gas at all. It only functions when plugged in. I have tried every possible trick that I've found online and nothing has worked. The service department could also not get it to work, so it wasn't just us. We are currently waiting for Keystone's Warrantee Dept. to approve the repair.

3. The cable quality in the camper is terrible. Makes your vision a bit shaky on football sundays and not from the beer. And while it may be an isolated case, it is still worth looking into before you leave the dealer. I tried switching out the cable line connecting the trailer to the campground splitter, i even switching out the splitter itself. I also had a neighbor with a 15 year old trailer try it, and it worked perfectly on his, so I know it must be internal. I checked and tightened everything I could on my end, and now… We are currently waiting for Keystone's Warrantee Dept. to approve the repair.

4. There is nowhere, and I mean nowhere to place your toilet paper dispenser safely. We finally gave up and bought a free standing floor one.

5. The first weekend out, the sprayer on the kitchen sink hose broke. The plastic piece attaching the sprayer to the hose is so thin and not secure, so that moving it from side to side with normal use cracked it. We replaced it with a cheapie white one from Home Depot, but… We are currently waiting for Keystone's Warrantee Dept. to approve an original replacement.

6. The Mattress: get yourself a new one before you take this thing out. You'll thank me later. The included 7' innerspring was so bad, I slept in the bunkhouse a few nights just to get a decent night sleep. I woke up every morning feeling crippled and I have no problem sleeping on the ground in a tent. I would have probably been better off sleeping on the plywood bed support, lol.

7. The Master Bed Frame: Picture it… First night in the new camper. I come in to go to sleep and sit on the end of the bed to take my shoes off. Ooops, bad idea. The bed frame is attached to the slide out, so when the slide is in fact out, the end of the bed is raised off the floor about 1.5"-2". My sitting on the end of the bed (and I'm of average female size) pulled the screws clear out of the wall and now the bed wobbles head to foot. There was nothing Keystone could do about this and we had already paid in full for the rest of the season, so we've took care if it ourselves and installed some reinforcements in the way of wall mounted L-brackets and wooden dowels to keep it better supported at the bottom without ripping up the rug every time we put the slide in or out.

8. There is no light at the exterior bathroom door. Watch your step when it's dark. While we could fix this, it's not really on our priority list.

9. There is no ladder to the top bunk, and really nowhere to put one considering the big armoire at the end, hope your guests can climb, lol.

10. Like most models, the fold out sofa is in the slide out. Unfortunately, when the slide is out and the sofa bed is open there is a huge gap of space that needs to be filled at the end of the bed where it hits the floor of the camper. Unless we find something to attach to the steel bar of the bed frame, our guests will be sleeping in a jackknife position. If anyone has any input I'm try anything.

11. A minor thing, but one I wish I knew. The electrical outlets in the kitchen are built in to the upper cabinet, so the cords for most regular countertop appliances are apx. 6" too short to plug in. I've purchased some extenders, and they're just the right length.

12. My last and most frustrating gripe is with the Dometic 9100 Power Awning. No matter what we do, it shoots straight out and there is no way to lock it into position. Every little breeze sends this thing dancing and since it shoots straight out off the camper and can only be lowered about 6 inches, it doesn't provide you with much shade. We never recieved any documentation on it, so I've been scouring the internet looking for a solution or modification. Again, any ideas or tips for this? (It is electric, but not "all weather" so it does not have the rain and wind sensors to pull it in automatically.)


I feel like my list was longer than I thought, and we really LOVE our camper, so don't let this list deter you. These things are so minor, especially considering some of the horror stories we hear from fellow campers about their new rigs. If I had to go back and do it again, I would most certainly get another Keystone. Hope my list helps you, and I welcome any advice or expertise!

(this was posted in the wrong sub-forum by accident. trying to figure out how to delete the other thread.)

[rode2nowhere]

Sounds like you have a few prblems but it still is a nice camper.

[katiegreeniz]

Originally Posted by rode2nowhere

Sounds like you have a few prblems but it still is a nice camper.

It really is a fabulous camper, thanks!! I just wish i knew these kinds of things before I took it home.

[GaryWT]

Hi, nice list, hopefully everything will get fixed for you. Our first trailer the rv's we fuzzy etc and we brought it back and the fixed some connections that were behind the wall. Last year on vacation I hooked up the cable and the rv's were real bad, I started changing cable and running around to try to fix it when suddenly I remembered that the previous trip there was no cable and I left the booster to the antenna on, once I shut it off all was good. As for your mattress, very few trailers come with good ones. Take care.

[katiegreeniz]

Originally Posted by GaryWT

Hi, nice list, hopefully everything will get fixed for you. Our first trailer the rv's we fuzzy etc and we brought it back and the fixed some connections that were behind the wall. Last year on vacation I hooked up the cable and the rv's were real bad, I started changing cable and running around to try to fix it when suddenly I remembered that the previous trip there was no cable and I left the booster to the antenna on, once I shut it off all was good. As for your mattress, very few trailers come with good ones. Take care.

Thanks Gary! I did check the booster every time, both on and off just to be sure, but it didn't fix it. And I was prepared enough that the mattress would be adequate but not long lasting, I wasn't prepared for how bad it really was, lol.

I'm sure I'll see you around, we're both MA campers, right? Any good trips planned this season?

[GaryWT]

Planning trips this weekend MiTeJo, Bayview and Pemi River to name a few. How about you?

[katiegreeniz]

We'll be at Sandy Pond again in Buzzards Bay/South Plymouth through Memorial Day. Super busy time for us at work, so keeping it there for the spring makes it easier to get a lot of time in without traveling a lot, setting up and breaking down.

Then we'll be headed to the OOB KOA in August, Lake Pemaquid in early Sept and Mount Chocorua KOA in the White Mountains for Fryeburg Fair & foliage in early October. June and July are still open as the places I really wanted booked up faster than I planned. Not familiar with MiTeJo?

[GaryWT]

MiTeJo is in Milton Nh close to Maine. We go there Memorial Day, nice place.

[J&A]

Wow, you have a long list. We had a similar issue with the TP holder. I eventually screwed it onto the inside center rail of the sink cabinet door. Not sure if you have that type of door panel. If you don't you can easily glue a piece of wood on the inside of the door panel as your sacrificial board and screw it onto it. Out of sight, out of mind.

Our bunk beds didn't come with a ladder either. I though about building one but I decided to buy a universal Stromberg-Carlson bunk ladder from Amazon. This one had the length I needed. They have other models for taller/smaller bunks. Below is a picture.

Simple to assemble and easy to customize to the needed length using a hacksaw per their instructions. Couldn't be happier except for the added cost. Bunk beds should come with a bunk bed ladder. Period.

Good luck on your travels and solving for your requirements. It is a nice rig.

[RikChar]

Originally Posted by katiegreeniz

We'll be at Sandy Pond again in Buzzards Bay/South Plymouth through Memorial Day. Super busy time for us at work, so keeping it there for the spring makes it easier to get a lot of time in without traveling a lot, setting up and breaking down.

Then we'll be headed to the OOB KOA in August, Lake Pemaquid in early Sept and Mount Chocorua KOA in the White Mountains for Fryeburg Fair & foliage in early October. June and July are still open as the places I really wanted booked up faster than I planned. Not familiar with MiTeJo?

While you are up at Mount Chocorua KOA try heading over to the Sandwich Fair in Sandwich N.H. which is on Columbus Day weekend ..great take. We camp at Terrace Pines in Ossipee Center that wwekend and Sandwich is closer than Fryeburg. Great area to be in during foliage season

[djarvis]

2013 Sprinter cooper canyon. My wife was putting the main slide out this morning and did not realize that the bedroom door had somehow opened. It caught the slid and stopped one side. Now the slide will not go out but half way. But will close just fine.

[katiegreeniz]

Here is an update to my issues... Hopefully it will help others like this forum has helped me.

OLD ISSUES MENTIONED IN FIRST POST

1. Outside TV bracket: was covered under warrantee. They put some additional silicone around it. Not sure how well it will hold up, but it has been noted.

2. Auto setting on fridge: there was a valve that was not turned on from factory. The techs found it, turned it on and it is fixed.

3. The cable quality: the tech's tightened up the cable wires behind all the plates and it seems to have fixed the issue.

4. Toilet paper holder placement: we hung it under the bathroom medicine cabinet. I found a couple of toilet paper holders from the dollar store that are slim enough to fit in the narrow space under the cabinet. I hung up both, 1 for TP and the other for a hand towel. See attached picture-they're working out great, easily reachable and out of the way.

5. sprayer on the kitchen sink: part has been ordered, but the cheapie one from home depot seems to work better, so we might just install a residential faucet instead.

6. The Mattress: ordered a tempurpedic one, takes 6 weeks for delivery. In the meantime, I've got 2 egg crates to get me by, lol.

7. The Master Bed Frame: the hubby reattached/reinforced the frame to the wall and we put a thin piece of wood at bottom of bed. When camper goes in for warrantee work, they are going to install the rollers that were supposed to be installed when the camper was built.

8. leaving the exterior bathroom door light for now. not really an issue as the outside scare lights are bright enough.

9. not doing anything with a bunk ladder either. it hasn't been an issue yet, but your tips were great and when we need to add one we'll get the one mentioned.

10. fold out sofa: there was no way for us to fix this on our own. when folded out both ends are substantially lower than the middle and there is a huge hump that would surely cripple someone if they tried to sleep on it. see NEW ISSUES below...

12. Turns out that it is not a Dometic awning like we were told. It is a Solera. Unless I want to install a manual awning or tie it down, I'll just deal with it the way it is and never leave it open unless I'm under it and watching it like a hawk.


NEW ISSUES SINCE ORIGINAL POST

13. Our furnace broke. The camper was brand new when we bought it in September 2013. We've only used it 7 weekends. After a bit of hassle, we got the tech out here today. There was a Defective Fan Relay on the Control Board on the furnace. Would have been a $200 part plus labor, thank god for warrantees. The AC worked, the fan worked, but when you tried to turn on the heat, the thermostat would make a faint click and the fan and heat wouldn't turn on. We had some cold 40° mornings up here in New England.

14. The bottom half of the rear window in our master bedroom fell out. Yes, it fell out! It was hanging on by 1 screw in the corner. They have to replace the whole window because of it and it will get fixed when it goes in next month.

15. Our main push out it out of alignment and there is a huge gap underneath it where it is supposed to lay flush on the floor. We noticed it today when the tech was out and looking at the issues with my fold out sofa (see #10 above). Another thing for them to repair when it goes in for work next month.


On a side note-and this made me VERY happy... Our hot water heater switches to electric so we don't use so much propane! When we did our walk through before leaving the dealer, we were told that we did not have that feature. Well, we were doing some exploring around the hot water heater when the furnace went out the other day, and in fact we DO have the electric option, it was just hidden under a safety sticker. It works far and away better than the propane did. I can get a full shower now without having to turn the water off and on and off an on.

Hope my updates have helped!

[katiegreeniz]

forgot to post the pic of the TP holders, just love them! lol

[Tbos]

Originally Posted by katiegreeniz

forgot to post the pic of the TP holders, just love them! lol

Where did you find the TP holders.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[katiegreeniz]

Originally Posted by katiegreeniz

Here is an update to my issues... Hopefully it will help others like this forum has helped me.

OLD ISSUES MENTIONED IN FIRST POST

1. Outside TV bracket: was covered under warrantee. They put some additional silicone around it. Not sure how well it will hold up, but it has been noted.

2. Auto setting on fridge: there was a valve that was not turned on from factory. The techs found it, turned it on and it is fixed.

3. The cable quality: the tech's tightened up the cable wires behind all the plates and it seems to have fixed the issue.

4. Toilet paper holder placement: we hung it under the bathroom medicine cabinet. I found a couple of toilet paper holders from the dollar store that are slim enough to fit in the narrow space under the cabinet. I hung up both, 1 for TP and the other for a hand towel. See attached picture-they're working out great, easily reachable and out of the way.

5. sprayer on the kitchen sink: part has been ordered, but the cheapie one from home depot seems to work better, so we might just install a residential faucet instead.

6. The Mattress: ordered a tempurpedic one, takes 6 weeks for delivery. In the meantime, I've got 2 egg crates to get me by, lol.

7. The Master Bed Frame: the hubby reattached/reinforced the frame to the wall and we put a thin piece of wood at bottom of bed. When camper goes in for warrantee work, they are going to install the rollers that were supposed to be installed when the camper was built.

8. leaving the exterior bathroom door light for now. not really an issue as the outside scare lights are bright enough.

9. not doing anything with a bunk ladder either. it hasn't been an issue yet, but your tips were great and when we need to add one we'll get the one mentioned.

10. fold out sofa: there was no way for us to fix this on our own. when folded out both ends are substantially lower than the middle and there is a huge hump that would surely cripple someone if they tried to sleep on it. see NEW ISSUES below...

12. Turns out that it is not a Dometic awning like we were told. It is a Solera. Unless I want to install a manual awning or tie it down, I'll just deal with it the way it is and never leave it open unless I'm under it and watching it like a hawk.


NEW ISSUES SINCE ORIGINAL POST

13. Our furnace broke. The camper was brand new when we bought it in September 2013. We've only used it 7 weekends. After a bit of hassle, we got the tech out here today. There was a Defective Fan Relay on the Control Board on the furnace. Would have been a $200 part plus labor, thank god for warrantees. The AC worked, the fan worked, but when you tried to turn on the heat, the thermostat would make a faint click and the fan and heat wouldn't turn on. We had some cold 40° mornings up here in New England.

14. The bottom half of the rear window in our master bedroom fell out. Yes, it fell out! It was hanging on by 1 screw in the corner. They have to replace the whole window because of it and it will get fixed when it goes in next month.

15. Our main push out it out of alignment and there is a huge gap underneath it where it is supposed to lay flush on the floor. We noticed it today when the tech was out and looking at the issues with my fold out sofa (see #10 above). Another thing for them to repair when it goes in for work next month.


On a side note-and this made me VERY happy... Our hot water heater switches to electric so we don't use so much propane! When we did our walk through before leaving the dealer, we were told that we did not have that feature. Well, we were doing some exploring around the hot water heater when the furnace went out the other day, and in fact we DO have the electric option, it was just hidden under a safety sticker. It works far and away better than the propane did. I can get a full shower now without having to turn the water off and on and off an on.

Hope my updates have helped!

NEWEST ISSUES AND REPAIRS AS OF 9/14/14

5. 8/15/14 - Fold out sofa not level. When folded out, the head area by the window is too low and the foot area is too low and there is a high peak in the middle. It is unusable in this state.
[ 9/14/14 - Slide was realigned, but fold out sofa is still not level. Even when physically holding the bottom of the folded out bed level, the head of the bed is still significantly lower than the foot. There is a high pitch in the middle and the foot of the bed is at least 3 inches lower than the center crease, with the head of the bed appx 1.5 inches lower than the center crease.] This issue was brought up with our dealer back in May-so it has been an ongoing frustration.

6. 8/15/14 - After our furnace was repaired this spring, it now makes a very loud "pop" noise when shutting off.
[ 9/14/14 - After dealer tech repaired and replaced our defective fan relay in May, we are having more issues with the furnace. At first it was just making a loud pop noise when turning off, but now it has progressed to a constant high pitched whine, constant little pops, constant clicks like it is trying to re-light, low air pressure of heat coming out of vents, and it also shuts itself off after 10 minutes, even when on auto and before it reaches temperature. It also has a terrible smell of gas, which fills the inside of the camper as well as the outside front. So much so, that camper neighbors have complained to us how strong the smell is. It is now unsafe and unusable]


We also have 2 new issues, 1 of which dealer tech documented when he was out.

7. The opposite RV pitch arm is also on the brink of snapping and needs to be replaced like the other one. Tech took pictures of this when he was last out. The new arm that he just replaced works better than it did when we first bought it.

8. The ceiling light in master bedroom has broken. I had it on last weekend and when I went to switch it off, it actually burnt my finger. The whole light fixture was so hot to the touch that I switched it off immediately. The light was not on for more than 30 minutes and I couldn't figure out what the problem could have been. When I went to turn it on in the next morning the switch was melted into place, the plastic around the switch is slightly warped now and the light is now is not usable. This scares me into thinking that it could have easily caught fire and makes me worried every time I switch on any of my ceiling lights.


On a side note- the dealer replaced my whole kitchen faucet with a brand new goose neck style-which I love and is so much easier to use. They also replaced with whole rear awning pitch arm and they replaced the back window with a whole new one. They also adjusted the main slide so the bottom wood trim isn't bowing out anymore.

Do all of these issues sound a bit much for a brand new camper? We purchased it 1 year ago this month. Thank goodness we got the extended warranty- but I'm so frustrated with all of these problems! I spend more time emailing, contacting, following up, and taking days off to drive down the campground for service, I feel like I should be on their payroll.

[Jhanemann]

It's been a while since you posted this and I hope all had been fixed. We have a 2014 320bhs that we purchased brand new October 2015. (The dealership we purchased from buys his inventory with cash from Keystone, so his prices cannot be beat, but he may not always have the most current model. So we purchased our brand new camper cheaper than the used ones I was looking at!) Anyway, we have a few "warranty" things to be fixed as well. I know it can be frustrating, as I am myself. But when we were looking to purchase brand new, some advice I received was to be very diligent in getting any issues taken care of as soon as we find them while it is under warranty.

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