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Old 05-19-2016, 07:22 PM   #1
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New Member, first time buyer!

We are currently in the market for a Kodiak TT. Specially the 306BHSL. I was relatively sure on Kodiak until reading this site. Haha.

Seems as though lots of problems with the Dutchman brand. Is this common place with new TT, or does Dutchman/Kodiak have quality control issues?

Anyone with a 306BHSL can give us a personal review or Kodiak owners in general?

Thanks in advance, first time buyer of my own TT. Spent my childhood at the lake in my parents TT, looking forward to making my own memories.
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Old 05-19-2016, 08:52 PM   #2
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Originally Posted by jonesark View Post
We are currently in the market for a Kodiak TT. Specially the 306BHSL. I was relatively sure on Kodiak until reading this site. Haha.

Seems as though lots of problems with the Dutchman brand. Is this common place with new TT, or does Dutchman/Kodiak have quality control issues?

Anyone with a 306BHSL can give us a personal review or Kodiak owners in general?

Thanks in advance, first time buyer of my own TT. Spent my childhood at the lake in my parents TT, looking forward to making my own memories.
Welcome to the forums!

Every manufacturer makes a piece of junk every now and again. Dutchman has gotten better, but how much better is anybody's guess. Just do a thorough inspection of the trailer PRIOR to putting your money down and don't be afraid to walk away if it has too many major issues. Make sure you know how everything works and that it works prior to leaving the dealer's lot. Once you leave you don't have much leverage to get things fixed.

I see by your name that you are from Jonesboro, Arkansas? I lived there for a few years back in the late 1960's. My dad was a professor at Arkansas State. We lived over on Kay's Hill. If memory serves me our address was 212 Driver Ave. Haven't been back there in years, but may get a chance next year if we get the contract to work on the Frito-Lay Plant.

Good luck with your search and let us know what you end up with.

Aaron
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Old 05-19-2016, 08:59 PM   #3
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Welcome to the forums!

Every manufacturer makes a piece of junk every now and again. Dutchman has gotten better, but how much better is anybody's guess. Just do a thorough inspection of the trailer PRIOR to putting your money down and don't be afraid to walk away if it has too many major issues. Make sure you know how everything works and that it works prior to leaving the dealer's lot. Once you leave you don't have much leverage to get things fixed.

I see by your name that you are from Jonesboro, Arkansas? I lived there for a few years back in the late 1960's. My dad was a professor at Arkansas State. We lived over on Kay's Hill. If memory serves me our address was 212 Driver Ave. Haven't been back there in years, but may get a chance next year if we get the contract to work on the Frito-Lay Plant.

Good luck with your search and let us know what you end up with.

Aaron

Thanks for the reply.

I figure you can get a lemon regardless of the brand, just seems like reading these forums more bad than good.

Any advice from current owners only benefit us.
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Old 05-19-2016, 09:06 PM   #4
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We bought a Kodiak 240BHSL a couple months ago and have had great luck (knock on wood). We've taken it out about 5-6 times. The only concern that we've had at all is that on our last trip the Fridge didn't switch from electric to propane when we shut the generators down, but I'm not even 100% sure how it's supposed to work. We're newbies to TT's so we plan on looking further into that this weekend.

Keep in mind that the problem with a forum is most of the time people don't post to say 'everything works great' ... it's more to troubleshoot the issues.

I absolutely love our Kodiak. Had I known how awesome of a 'glamping' experience we would have, I'd of bought one years ago!
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Old 05-19-2016, 10:15 PM   #5
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Anyone can get a lemon car or camper. Just don't have expectations of perfection and you should be fine. I had several near heart attacks as I demand perfection from myself and everything I buy. After getting everything sorted out, and actually enjoying it on a few trips, we love it.

Owning a camper will also make you a handier person.
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Old 05-20-2016, 01:18 AM   #6
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Thanks guys. Good point about coming to a forum to troubleshoot.

Being our first TT I just want to make sure we cover our bases. I'm beginning to learn the pre-buy inspection is very important. I download a guide for things to cover during the inspection. I'm sure the dealer is gonna love that!

The place we will be buying from is about 5 hours away, so any work needed to be done will be a drive.

Any other info on the 306BHSL or advice for a first time buyer is greatly appreciated.
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Old 05-20-2016, 04:07 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by jonesark View Post
Thanks guys. Good point about coming to a forum to troubleshoot.

Being our first TT I just want to make sure we cover our bases. I'm beginning to learn the pre-buy inspection is very important. I download a guide for things to cover during the inspection. I'm sure the dealer is gonna love that!

The place we will be buying from is about 5 hours away, so any work needed to be done will be a drive.

Any other info on the 306BHSL or advice for a first time buyer is greatly appreciated.
I wish the term PDI would be used in the correct context. PDI is what the dealer is supposed to do when the camper arrives on their lot. They are supposed to be Pre-paring the unit for Delivery to the customer.

The day you go to pick up your new camper, is when your Pre-delivery Orientation is done.

When you buy a car, the dealer goes through the vehicle to set it up for the local market and ensure that if there are any deficiencies, they are corrected before the customer drives off the lot.

The RV dealers treat the process more like the final walk through of a new house. You walk through the house with the builder and look for deficiencies that you require to be dealt with before your sign the final papers. They rub their hands together with glee when they sneak one past you.

During camping season all the dealer wants to do is get those units off their lots as fast as they can. You take a camper off the lot while it has issues, you will hear every excuse in the book. Waitng for approval from Dutchmen, waiting for parts, having to schedule the work, which can take months.

Do all delaers operate like that? No, but unfortunately you usually don't find out until after the fact.
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Old 05-20-2016, 09:21 AM   #8
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We have had our 300BHSL for just over a year and love it. Yes we did have some minor problems with the trailer that cropped up after we had taken delivery but luckily nothing I have not been able to fix myself. We bought our trailer from a dealer in Ohio (10 hr drive), but don't plan on driving back for servicing; will be using a local dealership that I have used for the past 10 years that I trust.

As others have stated, yes you do see a lot of folks on the site write about problem and very rarely do you see post of positive feedback but this forum is awesome for the amount of information, experience, and camaraderie that everyone shares. Folks here generally write about their problems so that they can learn from other ways to resolve it. Everyone here is so very helpful in providing advise and recommendations.
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Old 05-20-2016, 08:21 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by Crazycamp View Post
We bought a Kodiak 240BHSL a couple months ago and have had great luck (knock on wood). We've taken it out about 5-6 times. The only concern that we've had at all is that on our last trip the Fridge didn't switch from electric to propane when we shut the generators down, but I'm not even 100% sure how it's supposed to work. We're newbies to TT's so we plan on looking further into that this weekend.

Keep in mind that the problem with a forum is most of the time people don't post to say 'everything works great' ... it's more to troubleshoot the issues.

I absolutely love our Kodiak. Had I known how awesome of a 'glamping' experience we would have, I'd of bought one years ago!
Quote:
Originally Posted by hddecker View Post
I wish the term PDI would be used in the correct context. PDI is what the dealer is supposed to do when the camper arrives on their lot. They are supposed to be Pre-paring the unit for Delivery to the customer.

The day you go to pick up your new camper, is when your Pre-delivery Orientation is done.

When you buy a car, the dealer goes through the vehicle to set it up for the local market and ensure that if there are any deficiencies, they are corrected before the customer drives off the lot.

The RV dealers treat the process more like the final walk through of a new house. You walk through the house with the builder and look for deficiencies that you require to be dealt with before your sign the final papers. They rub their hands together with glee when they sneak one past you.

During camping season all the dealer wants to do is get those units off their lots as fast as they can. You take a camper off the lot while it has issues, you will hear every excuse in the book. Waitng for approval from Dutchmen, waiting for parts, having to schedule the work, which can take months.

Do all delaers operate like that? No, but unfortunately you usually don't find out until after the fact.

Sorry for the misuse of the term, I think you guys get my point.
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Old 05-20-2016, 08:23 PM   #10
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We have had our 300BHSL for just over a year and love it. Yes we did have some minor problems with the trailer that cropped up after we had taken delivery but luckily nothing I have not been able to fix myself. We bought our trailer from a dealer in Ohio (10 hr drive), but don't plan on driving back for servicing; will be using a local dealership that I have used for the past 10 years that I trust.

As others have stated, yes you do see a lot of folks on the site write about problem and very rarely do you see post of positive feedback but this forum is awesome for the amount of information, experience, and camaraderie that everyone shares. Folks here generally write about their problems so that they can learn from other ways to resolve it. Everyone here is so very helpful in providing advise and recommendations.
I have strongly considered buying from a place 10+ hours aways for the best deal, since I couldn't get it serviced any closer than 5 hours anyway.

Would love to buy local, but I can't find many dealers in my area selling Kodiaks or Aerolites.
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Old 05-20-2016, 09:03 PM   #11
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I bought from a dealer that was over 350 miles away. Had a 1 1/2 hour walk through and never needed to go back for warranty work. Was the best price. Local dealer was $5,000 more. My water pump failed under warranty. I installed a better one at less cost then the fuel would have cost to tow round trip to my local dealer.
No RV is going to be perfect but the time spent out RVing with it is priceless.
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Old 05-20-2016, 11:36 PM   #12
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Sorry for the misuse of the term, I think you guys get my point.
We all misuse the term, it's easier to say PDI, than PDO. It just grates that the dealer calls it PDI and I go to pickup my new camper and the obvious defects haven't even been touched.
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Old 05-21-2016, 12:06 AM   #13
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I bought from a dealer that was over 350 miles away. Had a 1 1/2 hour walk through and never needed to go back for warranty work. Was the best price. Local dealer was $5,000 more. My water pump failed under warranty. I installed a better one at less cost then the fuel would have cost to tow round trip to my local dealer.
No RV is going to be perfect but the time spent out RVing with it is priceless.
I'd drive 350 miles for $5K, I wish I would have after the experience I had with the local dealer that I bought from. That 5K would have payed for a bunch of nice upgrades.
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Old 05-21-2016, 12:57 AM   #14
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Originally Posted by Crazycamp View Post
The only concern that we've had at all is that on our last trip the Fridge didn't switch from electric to propane when we shut the generators down, but I'm not even 100% sure how it's supposed to work. We're newbies to TT's so we plan on looking further into that this weekend.
Did you have the switch set to Auto?

If the switch is on auto, it may have gone into lock-out mode, due to air in the propane line. You will find a reset switch in the outside access panel, if you press it the fridge should go through the startup proceedure again.

It is not uncommon to have to do the reset proceedure 2 or more times before the fridge purges the air and fires. I usually have to do the reset first time out for the season, or after an extended period on 120V.
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Old 05-21-2016, 01:06 AM   #15
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I drove over 700 miles for mine. The closest dealer wanted my old camper plus $5000 over what I paid the dealer 700 miles away with no trade. Needless to say I went with the dealer far away and sold my other camper locally. All totaled, I came out $13500 to the good. Would do it again in a heartbeat. I've had a couple of issues(A/C and water pump) but I fixed them myself. Even if I had to pay someone I still would come out way better.
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Old 05-21-2016, 02:41 AM   #16
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We all misuse the term, it's easier to say PDI, than PDO. It just grates that the dealer calls it PDI and I go to pickup my new camper and the obvious defects haven't even been touched.
You can call it what you want, but it is a PDI, cause I ain't a gonna take delivery until I inspect it.

I do agree that the dealer should be doing an inspection prior to the customer doing an inspection. But dealers that seem to do that are few and far between.

Our dealer royally screwed up and left a folder in our unit with all kinds of paperwork that we never should have had... including an inspection list that they made when the unit was delivered from the factory. Most of what they noted was cosmetic, some we caught during our inspection and was corrected, a few other items we missed that were on their list. But it is very obvious that they DID NOT correct the list they had generated prior to sale. Fortunately I am not as worried about cosmetic stuff and I am about whether stuff works like it is supposed to or not, I tested EVERYTHING and everything that I noted was repaired prior to our taking possession. Only one item was outstanding on my list when I left the dealer and that was a bad A/B switch on the outside television. They shipped me a replacement with in a week and I replaced it. There are still a few items that need attention but none of them keep me from using and enjoying the camper.

Aaron
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Old 05-23-2016, 07:48 PM   #17
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Cool

Quote:
Originally Posted by hddecker View Post
Did you have the switch set to Auto?

If the switch is on auto, it may have gone into lock-out mode, due to air in the propane line. You will find a reset switch in the outside access panel, if you press it the fridge should go through the startup proceedure again.

It is not uncommon to have to do the reset proceedure 2 or more times before the fridge purges the air and fires. I usually have to do the reset first time out for the season, or after an extended period on 120V.
Figured it out (And can't believe I'm going to admit this on a public site ! It was working.... I thought an 'amber' colored light meant there is an issue. Apparently Amber & Red are very different. Red = issue, Amber = running on Gas, Green = Electric. Learning as we go

Thanks for the info, I'll keep it in mind for the future!
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Old 05-23-2016, 10:32 PM   #18
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Originally Posted by Crazycamp View Post
Figured it out (And can't believe I'm going to admit this on a public site ! It was working.... I thought an 'amber' colored light meant there is an issue. Apparently Amber & Red are very different. Red = issue, Amber = running on Gas, Green = Electric. Learning as we go

Thanks for the info, I'll keep it in mind for the future!
Crazy,

That nothing, lots worse on here. Like the guy that leaned his camper up agaist a tree, not that I would know anything about that.
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Old 05-24-2016, 02:30 PM   #19
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Before we finally purchased our new camper we looked at just about every manufacturer and did our homework for months and landed on Dutchmen as our preference. As many have said before, you can end up with a lemon no matter what manufacturer you buy from. We were dead-set on getting an Aerolite but ended up with a Kodiak Express because we stumbled upon a great deal we couldn't pass up. It certainly doesn't have all of the bells and whistles that the Aerolite's and Kodiak Ultimate's do but we truthfully couldn't be happier with it. You'll be happy with whatever it is you choose. Good Luck!
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Old 02-03-2018, 11:22 PM   #20
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HW heater,elec. fire

We ran into a “fluke” with our new, 2017 Coleman lite after three use’s . The 110v wires to the Hotwater heater hot rod shorted out against it self and burned a hole in the cover. Luckily we were in the unit, turned on the hot rod, and 20 minutes later smoke and fire. We extinguished out the obvious after Turing off the thumb switch. The repairs were over $200.00 our cost because our insurance is $500. Deduction. No offer from Dutchman after reporting it to them. They really did not seam to be overly alarmed which bothered us because we know people who turn there hot rod on and leave the unit.
We still like the unit otherwise.
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