Aluminum Camper Forum

I saw Charlie M discuss this issue and his excellent fix on the forum back in 2016. I was ready to   implement the fix as soon as I got my 2017 21RBS.  To my surprise, the LL folks monitored this site and implemented many of the ideas for improvements on my 2017 model including this one for the coupler.  I have around 35K on the camper - including back and forth from Alaska with no issues.

This is a great modification.

Thank you,
Bill

Great article. I use a single 100 Watt solar panel to charge 2 deep discharge 12V lead acid batteries. We boon dock occasionally. We have gone couple of times for 5 days at a time. We attach our solar panel via a long (20ft or so) cord so we can move it to where the sun is.   This set up works great for us.  The solar panel charges the batteries to full during the day and we drain it down some at night. It worked well even when we were in Alaska with cloudy skies.

I did modify the refrigerator IAW an article on this site (probably 3 years ago). The fridge had no way to turn off the defrost heater in the door.  The modification cuts a wire inside of the fridge light cavity that permanently disconnects the defrost heater. According to the schematic, this heater runs on 12V and 24/7 and is a big drain on the battery.

We have traveled this way for 3 years and it works great.  The solar panel is made to fold up like a suit case. We store it the same place we put the table in our 21RBS.

Thanks again for the article,
Bill

Quote from: Paul on February 07, 2017, 10:35:36 PM
I really like the aluminum cabinet. I have the azdel one in mine. It's nice what they did with the . What is your opinion on the new roof?

Well the new TPO roof doesn't leak. We have had it in a few good rain storms and it held up fine. There is a 12 year warranty of some sort on the roof. My thinking is it must be pretty good since all of the other campers use it as their roof material. Time will tell.

Quote from: JazzyPigsGA on February 07, 2017, 10:11:43 PM
Great summary we ordered one from Southland mid January and are still waiting to hear about a delivery timeline. We agree the staff were great thus far though!, how long did it take after you ordered? Where did you camp for your initial shakedown?
Cheers


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We ordered out unit on Nov 2, 2016 and it came in on Jan 10th. More or less 2 months and that includes Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. I would guess yours should be ready by mid March at the latest based on our limited experience.  We camped at Stone Mountain campground for two nights to shake it down. Stone Mountain is a nice campground.

I forgot to mention we also had them install a LP quick connect gas line on the side of the camper so we can hook up our grill. They did a great job installing that mod too. We also purchased a e2 anti sway bar system which they installed. The camper pulled great.

Hope that helps

Our new 2017 Camplite 21RBS

We picked up our 2017 21RBS from Southland RV in Norcross GA last week. First, let me say Southland RV is an excellent place to do business. They specialize in selling quality products like Camplite, and Airstream. We ordered our 21RBS from the factory. The salesperson Shonn answered all our questions and kept in contact throughout our purchase process. Paul from maintenance did an outstanding job of showing us all the systems and making sure everything worked properly before delivery.  The whole team at Southland RV worked well together and made this an excellent buying experience.

The 2017 model is the first to do away with the aluminum floor. We were somewhat skeptical about this change. Good news, the new floor is not wood. As I understand it, the new floor is an aluminum frame sandwiched between fiberglass and azdale. I've seen complaints about the 'old' aluminum floor being cold. After picking up the camper, we spent 3 days camping in Georgia before heading back home to Florida. The outdoor temperatures were cold (by our standards) and dipped to 30 degrees one night.  We never noticed the floor being cold. So, from my limited experience, the new floor looks like an upgrade.

We ordered our camper with the aluminum cabinet, and dinette options. In my opinion these are very worth while additions.  The aluminum cabinets are in place of the standard wooden cabinets. They eliminate wood, and also add positive lock doors with piano hinges. These are very nice cabinets. 

The dinette works much better than the couch for us. You can sit at the table and face each other to talk or play cards etc.  The dinette is really a two person dinette. We took the table down at night and made it into a bed. The dinette bed can be used like a sofa/love seat to watch TV.  The dinette seating arrangement seams much better than the couch for our needs.

I was very surprised to see our 2017 21RBS included numerous upgrades/ fixes suggested in the Camplite forums. The last 21RBS we looked at was made in mid 2016 and did not have any of these upgrades. Below is a list of some of the changes we have detected so far.
1)   Aluminum cabinets – they are new for 2017
2)   Floor – not solid aluminum (I'll call this an upgrade for now)
3)   Dual Closets/wardrobes – one on each side of the bed
4)   The back bumper is now 4X4 – they added a 2x4 aluminum frame
5)   They added protective covering for sharp corners inside
6)   Cabinets over the bed open sideways – they use to open up making them hard to hold open
7)   They added padding between the spare tire and the block of aluminum holding it on – prevents scuffing of the rim
   New stationary omni directional TV antenna – no cranking up or turning
9)   Larger battery box capable of holding two batteries
10)     Extra bolt attaching hitch to frame to prevent bending
11)    Improved Sewer hose container
12)    Moved USB charger away from stove to near TV / stereo area – the old placement was very bad
13)    Added USB charge station to bed night stand
14)     Added blue light behind bed headboard – cool glowing mood light

We spent three nights camping and have yet to find any issues. The quality seems to be very good. Overall, we are extremely pleased with our camper and the purchase experience. 

DocktorJJ,
My wife (Joy) and I purchased a 21RBS back in October. It is still being built. We are expecting it any day. Anyway, I see you purchased a 2017 RBS too. We also live in sunny Florida. We bought our camper in Atlanta since we couldn't find any dealers in Florida. Did you buy yours in Florida? Also, do you have some issues with Thor we should know about?

Thanks in advance,
Bill