New 2017 21RBS review

[campingwjoy]

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. 

[pjcd]

Nice, its about time they added the wardrobe. And the rear bumper is a nice touch. Good Luck and enjoy!

[rideandfly]

campingwjoy,

Welcome and congrats on your new 21RBS!!!! 

[gbpack]

Congratulations and thanks for sending the pics. Looks like a great rig. You'll really like it. We enjoy our 2016 21BHS very much and it would be nice to have the composite floor and aluminum cabinets (which they would not do for us at that time in late 2015 when we ordered it). But we do have the aluminum roof, so I guess we can't complain too much! Have fun and happy camping!

[tinkeringtechie]

5)   They added protective covering for sharp corners inside

Are the door corners protected? The cabinet corners have always been protected, it's the door corners that cut you (until you file them down  )

[Merlin]

Welcome and great photos. I envy the 4X4 bumper, as that will be an extra expense for me this spring. I also envy your good dealer. Those are like unicorns. I look forward to hearing about your adventures as you camp.

[JazzyPigsGA]

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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[Paul]

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?

[campingwjoy]

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


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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

[campingwjoy]

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.

[charliem]

The coupler bolts and bumper reinforcement are excellent as are the return of the aluminum cabinets and good latches. I also think the composite/aluminum floor is a good thing. All good steps toward the return of the original Camplite concept. Now if we could get the aluminum roof and dual axles, at least on the 14s and 16s, we'd be back home. 

[BFoust]

When ordering from the factory what Kind of price discount did you get?

[Paul]

Is it confirmed that all bumper now comes 4X4 and are strong enough to hold bikes? I am currently in the process of ordering a 21BHS

[DavidM]

Paul:

I had a close look at the double bumper on Chuck's new TBS at the MWP meetup. Unfortunately as others have opined, it is not installed well. It is simply another length of tubing that is tacked on to the existing one. It does not weld the new member to the frame, just to the standard bumper. It does have a strengthening plate welded to the bottom, joining the frame to the new member. But since it is on the bottom and all of the heavy loads you put on the bumper will stress the top joint, it doesn't do much good.

Like I told Chuck, if you welded a similar plate to the top to tie the new member to the frame, then you would have a pretty good double bumper.

So, either do it yourself with a local welder, have a local welder strengthen the joint with a plate or preferably, convince LL to do it right in the first place.

David

[Paul]

Paul:

I had a close look at the double bumper on Chuck's new TBS at the MWP meetup. Unfortunately as others have opined, it is not installed well. It is simply another length of tubing that is tacked on to the existing one. It does not weld the new member to the frame, just to the standard bumper. It does have a strengthening plate welded to the bottom, joining the frame to the new member. But since it is on the bottom and all of the heavy loads you put on the bumper will stress the top joint, it doesn't do much good.

Like I told Chuck, if you welded a similar plate to the top to tie the new member to the frame, then you would have a pretty good double bumper.

So, either do it yourself with a local welder, have a local welder strengthen the joint with a plate or preferably, convince LL to do it right in the first place.

David

Hi David. This is good to know thank you!