So, what do you HATE about your Born Free?

[stevek]

Maybe Hate is too harsh of a word. More like DISLIKE may be more appropriate.
For me, keeping the Exterior Overhead Bed Clean.
I am talking about the OUTSIDE fiberglass. Oxidation/ bugs/ dirt/ etc.
Hard to reach. Hard to do a good job w/ wax and stuff.
I use that Rejex Wax, seem to do a pretty good job of a slick finish and getting bugs off.
They advertise it "So Slick, Bugs Won't Stick", may be an a exaggeration, but all in all it does pretty good. I haven't found any wax better for that area of my BF.
Thanks

[Ray]

Yes - I think hate is to strong. Because if I realy hated the RV I would get rid of it instead of just constantly complaining, bitching, and bashing like some do.

And obviously there are allot more things I like than dislike.

But I do have a couple - please note that I have a 2001 and allot of issues have been taken care of in newer models.

#1 - Storage, I dont want to bash the design engineer - but I will.

There is allot of wasted space that could be utilized and help with storage - I am not talking huge space's. But a inch here or a few inch's there.

I learned from boating - if there is any interior space that is not being utilized its poor design.

A drawer that could be a inch higher or deeper - plumbing that could be rerouted to accommodate deeper storage, heat ducks that were installed for ease of installation instead of storage consideration, storage behind couch's/chairs.

Anywhere there is a void space not being occupied is a opportunity.

And store smart - configurations that can be modified/adjusted to fit the user's needs - Like/think what are the owners going to want to bring with them and where are they going to put it.

Where do I put my fishing poles. my golf clubs, my pet Alpaca's water bowl? Really ------ it should be customer centric design - not from the office/computer, but from the field/customer.

Ok - You got me kinda on a roll here cause its one of my pet peeves in boating and RV'ing

There are a ton of opportunities in my 2001 - I am slowly working on them

Sorry, for the rant...... Ray

[Roger]

My 1999 24RB has the bathroom lavatory drain piped into the BLACK water tank rather
than the GRAY water tank! Caused me a bit of bother before I found this out.

[oliverpsmile]

"Take care to get what you like or you will be forced to like what you get" - George Bernard Shaw

1. Did anybody force you to get your BornFree?
2. I like my BornFree and if I have a problem I deal with it. I call it a minor deficiency.

No whining!

[Ray]

Oliver - Please dont think I am whining - or complaining - or that I dont absolutly love my Born Free

If I did not I would not have bought it - or the second one - or kept either.

But, Could there be a little improvement? - you bet - Thats kinda why there are new models each year.

I just brought it up cause the question was asked

[harrisgowing]

Amen, Oliverpsmile. We are finishing a 3 month trip in our new 2015 Splendor with a slide, having sold our 2004 RSB that had 125,000 miles last spring so we are probably not totally objective, but maybe instructive. We have had some minor new coach issues that the factory has dealt with very responsibly and promptly. Thank you Kim!!

What do we love:

Most all of the improvements from our 2004: the improved lighting and heating and cooling systems, the gauges for the tanks that really work, the flooring that doesn't show dirt even when it is dirty, the beautiful furniture and wood surfaces, the HUGE amount of room with the wider and higher body and the slide, the larger rear side bed that we both sleep in comfortably. We cannot list everything - just clearly a major step in every feature above our old coach, which we loved, but we could not be happier with this upgrade. We would not have bought a new coach without the many clear upgrades from our old one. Thank you Born Free!

What we wish were different:

We HATE the blue lighting in the Dometic refrigerator! Whose bright idea was that at Dometic?
Please, someone, prevail upon Dometic to change this, and give a new lighting option to all of us who are suffering with refrigerated fresh food that looks like spoiled garbage!


We cook every night, and we are not convinced that the induction cooktop is suitable for frequent cooking. We enjoy the cooktop but think it may not be as practical as a propane cook top if you cook every night.

We might have asked for 50 amp service if we had known how much the AC limits other activities when it is on.

In summary, we hope our comments are constructive and might help stem the bickering among the boys on this forum. Enough, already.

[Dallas Baillio]

Over time I have learned to live with any shortcomings or made revisions.

[dowellcj]

We really liked having the bathroom sink drain into the black tank, and that was done by design. The black tank was larger to accommodate this. Having a bit more water, and even soap added to the black tank, to my mind, makes for better flushing out when dumping. It was a function of the locations of the sink and toilet in the 24RB
I also don't like the horrible blue light in the new Dometic fridge.
We are pretty pleased with everything on our 2015 Splendor, no slide. We too, had a few issues that the factory resolved quickly, but no where near the number of issues friends have had with a new NON Born Free RV.
We are still undecided about whether we would get the induction cooktop and on-demand water heater again. They are working for us, but we've not done much boondocking yet. Most of what we disliked about the old coach (carpet, older lighting and electric) were eliminated by getting the new one.

[CuJo's Pride]

We love our Born Free. The only thing we would change is if she could get 25 mpg.. Wouldn't that be wonderful. She's still more enjoyable than any hotel and worth every penny to travel in.. Just my 2 cents..

[96rsbowner]

i wish the company had centered the toilet in its allotted space. As it is, its against one side wall and there is 6 inches or so between the other side and the shower .

[John S.]

Just wish my arms were longer to be able to wax the cab over. Other then that it is pretty nice and works well. I will have to replace this one with a pickup chassis next to get rid of the dog house.

[whemme]

John,

Here is how I easily reach the sloped cab over area to clean and wax it.

http://www.bornfreervclub.org/bulletin_ ... f=18&t=496

[DianaL]

We picked up our new 2014 Born Free Triumph in October from Lazy Days in Florida. It's our first RV and we spent years researching and renting. And in March we spent 3+ weeks in Arizona and Utah so we've had a chance to work out the kinks. We've had a few minor issues that have been quickly taken care of.

I agree with others about the blue light in the fridge. That's pretty obnoxious. And not any fault of Born Free. And I think we'll be looking into getting one of the scaffolding ladders for cleaning and waxing. The other thing that bugs us are the batteries.... we boondocked for a couple nights several times and the batteries don't last very long, nor do they recharge very fast. And these were brand new because the ones that came with the coach were bad (the warranty replaced them with no trouble). I think Born Free should be supplying AGM batteries with the coaches and offering a Lithium upgrade. I think we'll do a Lithium upgrade ourselves pretty soon.

Other than those things, we love our Born Free!

[harrisgowing]

It seems that there has been a consistent problem with the house batteries in the new coaches. We had to have one of our batteries replaced after a three day trip home from the factory. So far, after that, they have been working well, although we have not boondocked, but we did leave the coach for 3 days with the frig on, only, and it was fine. We did turn the inverter off while the coach was sitting alone. I have wondered if the batteries and the inverter are not that compatible.


Judy Harris

[whemme]

Diana,

Assuming that your BF is equipped with a Progressive Dynamics 3-stage charger/converter, it should be able to recharge a mostly depleted set of hours batteries to the 90% level within 3 hours using either shoreline power or your generator. You don't say what you were all running off of your coach batteries while boon docking for 2 days. The appliance that takes the most energy out of your batteries is the furnace if that was running often. Of course if you were running several of your lights and TV during the day, that and the furnace could result in discharging your batteries in less than two days. AGM batteries may or may not actually have more amp-hour capacity than you already have in your present lead-acid batteries.