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Old 05-01-2013, 09:08 PM   #1
BlindGuyNAR
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Location: Arkansas
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Few things I wish where diff on 2013 346lbq

2013 346lbq

Kinda wordy ...

Not a bashing thread! i love this trailer!

After owning for a few months and a trip or two here is a list of things I wish were designed better from keystone.

1. Hot water heater - gas on/off is inside coach, but elec on/off I have to travel out to WH and flip switch inside cover. should be on panel for gas and elec.

Fix: I'll probably add a switch to panel.

2. Black tank flush only seems to rinse front black tank and not rear black tank.

Fix: Should just need to tee into front tank flush and add flush to rear tank.

3. The rear black/gray hose connection are separate so there isn't a way to flush hose with gray after dumping black. I actually have three separate hook ups. (Front blk/gray and rear black and rear gray). There is a pipe and valve to i think equalize front and rear gray which is nice.

Fix: Not sure yet on how to redo this.

4. Rear jack is operated at the front of coach so it's hard to hear when it hits ground.

Fix: Should be able to add rocker switch to rear to power jacks.

5. Fresh water tank drain is really far under rear of coach. It's just a hose with a plastic cap. I'm certain it will freeze.

Fix: Need to think about this one since I just noticed it.

6. Rear bedroom door won't open if sofa is made into bed. I assume bunk option rather than sofa doesn't have this issue.

Fix: door Needs to be switched to open other way when bed option is ordered.

7. Front bedroom heater vent has like no air flow while back bathroom could bake a cake.

Fix: I have an in line duct fan that is 12v. Need to tap into heater control for trigger on/off with a relay and wire in some resistors to get air flow from motor perfect. I added aux heat to front AC, but don't always have ac power.

8. No way to turn on hitch light from outside of trailer.

Fix: Since 2013 did away with easy set remote. I'll add a switch with diode to prevent to dual power on issues.

9. Gas line was ran along underside of frame.

Fix: I Had to relocate it for JT strong arms. (Steady-fast would have been better option)

10. Four sets of keys. One for each of two entry doors, one for front under pin storage doors, and one for slam doors/outside kitchen. At the least both entry doors should be the same.

Fix: I'm thinking keyless entry for entry doors or at least same key set.

11. Propane quick connect is at rear bumper instead of beside outside kitchen.

Fix: Doesn't bother me enough to fix

12. Living room tv doesn't have audio output to stereo so it doesn't play through surround sound.

Fix: I'll be moving the current tv permanently to front storage and replacing with led with audio outputs correct.

13. No real good spot to correctly store rear loft bunk ladder for travel. Except on bed then it can be hard to reach. Afraid to hang it on rail as wood might scratch up.

Fix: I think I can mount a ladder hanger near the top of the back wall to hang it on.

14. There is a front assist bar for going front steps, but not for rear entry.

Fix: Added rear assist bar.

15. No easy set remote system. Keystone did away with it after a certain vin# in 2013 models.

Fix: I actually think I could add this if I found a set up cheap enough on eBay or at a used parts/salvage dealer.

To be very clear there are 100's of things I love, but these are the only things I've found I didn't like and wish keystone had done differently. If only 15 bad things out of 100's that's not to bad. Most are just inconvenient and easily fixable. Makes me wonder why Keystone didn't do it from the factory.

Any other 346 owners out there have better ideas on these fixes or other things that bother them?
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Old 05-01-2013, 10:13 PM   #2
Festus2
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It seems as if you are well on your way to fixing all of those 15 "bad things". Once you've accomplished this, the 346 will be perfect and you'll have nothing to do - at least for a short time.

There's always a "To Do" list pinned to the fridge no matter what model you have.
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Old 05-02-2013, 05:07 AM   #3
rconkin
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I have had mine for a year now and have a lot of the same issues
Quote:
Originally Posted by BlindGuyNAR View Post
2013 346lbq

Kinda wordy ...

Not a bashing thread! i love this trailer!

After owning for a few months and a trip or two here is a list of things I wish were designed better from keystone.

1. Hot water heater - gas on/off is inside coach, but elec on/off I have to travel out to WH and flip switch inside cover. should be on panel for gas and elec. Definitely agree with this one and haven't done anything about it since the water heater is right next to the convenience center and just remove cover and flip switch when hooking up water hoses. Adding a switch to the panel is a good idea. I have found out that if you run them up too tight it blows the inline fuse pretty quickly.

Fix: I'll probably add a switch to panel.

2. Black tank flush only seems to rinse front black tank and not rear black tank. I had thought about just adding a Tornado to rear tank and mounting the connection on the frame at the rear. I would think that putting a tee in would reduce the pressure and wouldn't clean as well.

Fix: Should just need to tee into front tank flush and add flush to rear tank.

3. The rear black/gray hose connection are separate so there isn't a way to flush hose with gray after dumping black. I actually have three separate hook ups. (Front blk/gray and rear black and rear gray). There is a pipe and valve to i think equalize front and rear gray which is nice. Both of my gray tanks are plumbed to the front hookup. There is a small pipe on the rear one, but, it is for the outdoor kitchen sink which doesn't go to any tank so if I used the sink there was always water in the line when I removed the cap to hook up the hose. I put a twist on gate valve to eliminate this. I went ahead and put one on the front connection also just to eliminated any possibility of getting a "surprise" when removing cap. My problem right now is that the galley gray tank valve is coming open when travelling.
Fix: Not sure yet on how to redo this.

4. Rear jack is operated at the front of coach so it's hard to hear when it hits ground. I have the remote so I don't have this problem. I can see where this could be an issue without the remote and adding a switch would be the only cure I could think of.

Fix: Should be able to add rocker switch to rear to power jacks.

5. Fresh water tank drain is really far under rear of coach. It's just a hose with a plastic cap. I'm certain it will freeze. I worried about this one after draining the water tank when winterizing. I went ahead and put the cap back on after winterizing and it didn't freeze over the winter. I was afraid it would if it didn't drain completely and some water was still at the valve. It didn't. I may tape some insulation over it next time.

Fix: Need to think about this one since I just noticed it.

6. Rear bedroom door won't open if sofa is made into bed. I assume bunk option rather than sofa doesn't have this issue. I changed my door to swing into the living area within a month of picking ours up. I used a pry bar to remove the jambs and switch them after removing the door. Remove the screws from the part of the hinge attached to the jambs to remove the door leaving the hinges on the door then remove the just the jamb material since these screws go through the jambs into the 2x's behind it. After doing that, I found out that the door will come open when travelling sometimes so I always check it after running the living area slide about 1/2 way out. It is open most of the time and would really do some damage if the trim around the slide caught the door handle. I actually sent an email with pictures to Keystone but have noticed it still swings into the bunkroom on newer units I have looked at online. I would have preferred to change the swing of the door also but the way I did it was easier.

Fix: door Needs to be switched to open other way when bed option is ordered.

7. Front bedroom heater vent has like no air flow while back bathroom could bake a cake. We use two small electric heaters and don't use the furnace very much. We do not have a heat vent in the main bath and it was a problem getting heat to the front when we do use the furnace. I have noticed the same thing in the back bath.

Fix: I have an in line duct fan that is 12v. Need to tap into heater control for trigger on/off with a relay and wire in some resistors to get air flow from motor perfect. I added aux heat to front AC, but don't always have ac power.

8. No way to turn on hitch light from outside of trailer. I have the remote so I don't have this issue.

Fix: Since 2013 did away with easy set remote. I'll add a switch with diode to prevent to dual power on issues.

9. Gas line was ran along underside of frame. I was wondering about this when looking at the JT's. I'll look at the Steadyfast now.

Fix: I Had to relocate it for JT strong arms. (Steady-fast would have been better option)

10. Four sets of keys. One for each of two entry doors, one for front under pin storage doors, and one for slam doors/outside kitchen. At the least both entry doors should be the same. This is a pain and I wondered why at least the entry doors weren't keyed alike. I had thought about rekeying them but haven't done anything yet.

Fix: I'm thinking keyless entry for entry doors or at least same key set.

11. Propane quick connect is at rear bumper instead of beside outside kitchen. Hadn't really thought about this one.

Fix: Doesn't bother me enough to fix

12. Living room tv doesn't have audio output to stereo so it doesn't play through surround sound.I had noticed that surround sound only worked when playing DVD and just hadn't thought much about it.

Fix: I'll be moving the current tv permanently to front storage and replacing with led with audio outputs correct.

13. No real good spot to correctly store rear loft bunk ladder for travel. Except on bed then it can be hard to reach. Afraid to hang it on rail as wood might scratch up.Same problem. The expansion anchor holding the "clips" into the end of the metal ladder that came with ours broke within a month of having them. I would think it was from me using it since I'm about 260. How are you supposed to make the bed without using it? I trashed the metal one and made a wooden ladder. We use the wooden ladder from the kid's bunk beds at the house for the flip up bunk which just happened to be at the same height. The hanger sounds like a good idea.

Fix: I think I can mount a ladder hanger near the top of the back wall to hang it on.

14. There is a front assist bar for going front steps, but not for rear entry. I added an assist bar also. Boy, talk about a pucker factor drilling holes into a brand new camper. I measured about 10 times before drilling.

Fix: Added rear assist bar.

15. No easy set remote system. Keystone did away with it after a certain vin# in 2013 models.We have the remote and I like having it. There has been an issue with it not working good, cutting in and out, with the landing gear. I took it to the dealer and they changed the board and of course it worked good there but starting messing up again as soon as I got home. It seems to work fine if I move the remote around and seems to be a signal issue. Funny how everything else but the landing gear works fine though.

Fix: I actually think I could add this if I found a set up cheap enough on eBay or at a used parts/salvage dealer.

To be very clear there are 100's of things I love, but these are the only things I've found I didn't like and wish keystone had done differently. If only 15 bad things out of 100's that's not to bad. Most are just inconvenient and easily fixable. Makes me wonder why Keystone didn't do it from the factory.

Any other 346 owners out there have better ideas on these fixes or other things that bother them?
Like you, there are still many things that I love about mine and can put up with these things and it gives me something to tinker with. One thing I had a problem with was the rubber gas line kinking when the kitchen slide was in cutting off the gas to the refrigerator and stove when the slide was in. Keystone sent the dealer a longer hose which seems to have taken care of this.
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Old 05-05-2013, 11:37 AM   #4
michael
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I put my bunk ladder on my bed and throw a heavy blanket over it so it stays put.
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