New owner questions

[Bvanslyke]

Hello everyone! I am new to this forum (you can check out my new member introduction) and looking for some input. We are seriously considering upgrading our 2008 Jayco 23B hybrid into a new 2018 Gulf Stream Conquest Lite 268BH. I understand that these are low-midrange level travel trailers. You get what you pay for, and I am not looking for the comments about staples being visible, the cheapness of the microwave, the fabric on the couch is bad, the cabinets are cheap, etc. I am looking for people that have had experiences, good or bad, with the construction of the trailer. Did you have water leaks? Were there huge problems right from the get go? Was everything acceptable on delivery from a "holy crap, this problem is gonna wreck the trailer if it's not dealt with!" standpoint? And if not, how did Gulf Stream deal with it? Do they stand behind the product within reason or not? Thanks in advance, and glad to be a member of the forum!

[exjay]

Welcome! We bought ours (though not a Conquest) new over a year ago and have had no leak issues or real issues with overall construction but YES, if you buy new you will want to go over your new unit really well before using it and getting stuff moved in. What I've found on ours as soon as we brought it home (and was expecting to do this anyways as preventive measures from previously owing a used TT) was to re-Dicor any iff looking seals on the roof, touch up any silicone on the exterior siding/lights etc, though ours was good, checked the AC roof mount (done from inside) and check and snug up all the drain/water fitings for the sinks, tub, toilet. We found a loose P-trap on ours and a few barely finger tight water fittings on the sink. Oh, something else we found on ours (you should check it anyways) was the flexable drain line for the fridge was about 3' too long and shoved up behind the fridge and not allowing condensation to properly drain outside, that was a easy fix. Only issue we ran across to where it warranted a trip to the dealer was the water pump went bad and wanted it replaced while it was still under full warranty which they did and actually upgraded it to a better Sherflo unit. Again, I believe water it the #1 killer of trailers so if you get a new one make sure the roof and seals around eveything up there looks good and touch up as needed and every year and you should be good to go. Good luck and happy camping!