New Hero Owner

[K7PWZ]

Evening.

So this week we pulled the plug and purchased a 2025 Cougar Hero 364BHL.
We'll be finalizing paper work in the morning and doing a walk through.
While were not new to camping - travel trailers this is our 1st 5th wheel.
For reference I've been in the HVAC industry for almost 30 years, so I'm quite handy and knowledgeable with mechanical, electrical, structural etc. etc.
Is there anything to look out for or to pay extra attention to when doing our walk through before taking possession of our new camper?
Oh, "HI" I'm a new member lol

 

[jsb5717]

Welcome aboard! You’ll enjoy the towing experience of a 5th wheel.

Make sure you do a thorough PDI BEFORE signing the paperwork. Any corrections/repairs that need to be made will be faster if you hold off on signing until they are completed. And if you’re not satisfied with the rig or the work done you can back away from the deal.

You will want an adequate tow vehicle. The payload of your truck is more critical with a 5th wheel since there’s more weight going ON the truck, not just behind it. At 14K lb GVWR you’ll need a payload of about 3000 lbs plus the weight of the hitch, people, and gear. You might find a 3/4 ton with enough payload but you’ll be better off with a 1 ton.

Good luck with the process. Put that beauty to good use!

 

[rlsmith17]

Welcome! Nice looking camper you have there!

 

[wiredgeorge]

The OD green exterior is very unusual... looks like the GI model hehe welcome!

 

[NH_Bulldog]

Nice looking rig!

Although you didn’t mention your truck, as noted above, it is a lot of trailer and realistic pin weight will be about 3,220 lbs. so with hitch, people and gear in the truck you are well into 1 Ton truck territory so hopefully you have that already in place.

As for your walkthrough, I have always arranged for the dealer to have the trailer inside their service bay and made my intentions clear ahead of time so they can be prepared. I bring a pad of Post-It notes and mark everything that needs attention. I start by doing the exterior walkaround, looking, touching, poking, running my hands over things, etc. Then I get down on a mechanics creeper and roll around underneath checking everything, axles, nuts, bolts, underbelly, seals, etc. Then up on the roof, checking seals, making sure everything is secure up there, checking the membrane field for dings, cuts, tears, etc. Finally on to the inside. All lights, slides, doors, drawers, flooring, appliances (not just on/off, but do they actually work). Water pump pumps water? Furnace blows heat? AC blows cold air? etc. etc.

I typically spend at least 2 hours on my inspection and I catch quite a few things that the service manager has a tech already coming behind me and working on. Working in the trades as long as you have, all of this should be in your wheelhouse, but some people like to either phone-a-friend or hire a third party inspector to do it. Either way, once you hand them a check you lose a measure of leverage, so make it clear that the deal hinges on your initial satisfaction. Also be prepared to walk away (at least temporarily) if necessary until things are done to your satisfaction. Nothing sucks more than getting your brand new RV home, loaded and set up, only to have sit at the dealer a few weeks later when it goes back for repairs.

 

[spicercars]

Welcome from northern MN.

 

[jxnbbl]

Welcome from NH, great looking 5th wheel.

 

[DutchmenSport]

Welcome to the forums. By now, you should have taken delivery of the camper. It's assumed the PDI went well for you. I hope you are enjoy your new toy! Congrats and happy camping.

(I do have to agree, that pea-green color is VERY unusual!). That will get you lots of attention when you pull into the campgrounds!)

 

[K7PWZ]

Thank you for the tips.
As of today... still no camper
We found several issues and the kitchen slide was tweaked to where it was wedged in place.
They are awaiting parts from Lippert to fix it (slide rails under it were warped causing the slide to bind up)
The service tech doing the deliver walk through wasn't too happy with me getting on the roof but that's where I found several areas where the roof sealing needed to be redone and all the awnings weren't sealed correctly on the top side.
Service manager isn't very good at communicating with us, thus the GM got involved and they are assigning someone else to handle it.
So hopefully we'll get it this week!
The pictures don't do the green any justice, it looks really great in person and we really like the matt finish.

Paul.

 

[NH_Bulldog]

I am sorry you didn’t pick it up yet, but happy that you did a thorough walkthrough.

 

[rlsmith17]

Oh my that stinks! Hoping they get you all fixed up this week!

 

[K7PWZ]

Quick update...
Our original service advisor... well didn't advise much in fact he wouldn't return my calls....
That said, after a chat with the GM of CW we had a new service advisor and she has been on point! (I never seen our original guy again)
Camper had some issues that prevented us from taking delivery as the kitchen slide was mis-aligned and had bent rails, CW got this fixed and the slide works as it should, the "warranty" stuff that should of been done before leaving the factory got approved (lots of missing roof sealant)
Took it back for the warranty stuff and to have the 3rd AC installed a couple weeks ago.
Next weekend we'll finally take it on its maiden voyage!! (we've had it at the house several times to load, clean and configure everything) so hopefully we're ready for our trip.
I did ditch the two 95AH lead acid batteries and installed a 560AH Lithium.
Got our Starlink mounted along with the 2M/70CM antenna for our HAM radio.
Due to family stuff, work and just life in general we have been too busy to do a trip, things have settled down enough where we can do a weekend trip, while it'll be a nice get away for the wife I'll be volunteering (communications) to make sure some crazy people running a 50mile foot race through the mountains of Payson are safe.