23ft RBK 2012 Visa

[Marvin]

Well we bit the bullet today and purchased a Visa RBK, we will take delivery next week sometime. Thank you to the ones that answered my questions prior to purchase. I know I will have some questions after I take delivery so hang on to your hats.

Thanks again,
Marvin

[DonMitsu]

Congratulations!

[toaobigal]

Ahhh, the new trailer smell... Congratulations!

[KristinU]

Congratulations!

We, too, have a 23 foot on order (the 23BHD) and take delivery in a few weeks.

Please post when you take delivery and let us all know how you like your new trailer!

Cheers,
Kristin

[brains77396]

Congrats! We have just 1 trip in our 23RBK, but everything was fine except the fridge door. A gallon of milk will completely cover the floor. When you close the fridge door, make sure you hear the catch drop into place. If it doesn't, spray it with some silicone lube. Better yet, check the door well before leaving the dealer. I know of 3 Visa's that have had the door come open. Nasty and Ugly.

Well we bit the bullet today and purchased a Visa RBK, we will take delivery next week sometime. Thank you to the ones that answered my questions prior to purchase. I know I will have some questions after I take delivery so hang on to your hats.

Thanks again,
Marvin

[Marvin]

We picked up our Visa on Friday. We noticed the trim around the wheel on the right side was broke and the license plate holder and lite was damaged. Asked the sales rep what happened and he said another trailer blew into it when the storm went through the other night. The sales rep from Gulf Stream was there and he said they would ship new parts right away.

We had a good visit with the sales Rep David Andrews while waiting to take delivery. My drive way is kind of steep so I asked him about a lift kit, he said they are available. I want to install vent covers so asked him if the roof would support my weight and he said yes just don't slide off. I installed the vents today and roof never gave while I was installing the one over the bed.

One thing I do not like is the way you drain the fresh water tank. It looks like you need to crawl under the trailer to remove the plug and then get away quick before you are soaked. Will have to see if there is a way to change it.

We hope to get out in a couple weeks to see how we like it. Will let you know.

Marvin

[brains77396]

Go to Gulfstream Visa Owners Community on Facebook and there are photos of a battery cut-off switch, 23RBK hose holder, Maxaair vents, lift kits and drain kits. Also several other mods.

[brains77396]

Here is the battery cut off switch and hose holder.

[Marvin]

Thanks for the info on face book but we do not do face book. I will change the fresh water drain.

Thanks again
Marvin

[toaobigal]

I checked the Facebook page (thank you for the info) and I already bought the material to modify the drain on the fresh water tank. There's a few other mods I found interesting and I will probably go for it.

[Marvin]

Yesterday I ran a pcv pipe to the front of the trailer through the hole in the frame, installed a ball valve and secured it to the frame, no longer need to crawl under the trailer to drain the water tank. It is out of the way so will not be snagged on anything, out of site but still handy to get at.

Thanks for the pictures.
Marvin

[Marvin]

Today I sanitised the fresh water tank and then flushed with baking soda and then with fresh water. Having the drain shut off up front and handy sure made life easier than crawing under the trailer getting soaked. I can only believe Gulf Stream saved a few bucks by doing it the way they did, it sure wasn't for conveience.

[Marvin]

We went camping this week for the first time with our new camper and all went well except it rained both days. Fridge worked well on all three- 12 volt, gas and 120. Fridge didn't fall out and the fridge door stayed latched so no milk flying around. Bed was comfortable but kind of short. I am a short person and my feet hung over the edge of the mattress unless my head was almost touching the head board.

I am concerned some with the swaying. I have the weight disb/equalizer hitch so I wasn't expecting any sway with tandem axel and good hitch setup. I had the water tank full and both propane tanks full, these are both in the front of the camper. Grey and black tanks were empty with very little weight in back. I don't know if this was the problem. Coming home all tanks were empty and it did trail better but was not impressed. I drove between 50 -60 mph. I am towing with a 03 Olds Bravada that has the tow package.

Any Ideas? I am going into the dealer tomorrow to see what they have to say.

Thanks

[brains77396]

Just a WDH, esp one that only uses chains to hold up the trunnion, will not help your sway problem. You need to add a sway bar on one side, and on some, you can put one on both sides. I just purchased a Reese SC WDH which has built in sway control. Only pulled our T/T once on the way home from the hitch dealer and it wasn't too steady. After arriving home, we adjusted it three notches to tighten it up. The front of the truck was going up about 5 inches and after the adjustment only 1/4 of a inch. Big, big difference. Thought #2. You might try replacing the shocks on your T/V with something like a Bilstein shock. Pricey at around $100 each, but a lot of quality and control. I'll give a follow up on the Reese next month as we plan on making a 1,000 mile trip.

[Marvin]

The hitch they put on does not have the chains, there is a bar on each side of the hitch which is supposed to act as a sway bar if I heard them right. Will check with the dealer today or Monday. The Bravada has the tow package and also has air shocks.

Thanks

[jandmz]

The hitch they put on does not have the chains, there is a bar on each side of the hitch which is supposed to act as a sway bar if I heard them right. Will check with the dealer today or Monday. The Bravada has the tow package and also has air shocks.

Thanks

That sounds like the same E2 setup that we have. Our dealer set it too low, and it bounced us all over till we moved the brackets up a notch. The perches for the torsion bars attach to brackets on the a-frame. the perch brackets come off with two nuts on each side, and can be moved up or down to adjust torsion bar tension. Try moving the perches up one notch. It made a big difference towing with our S-10 Blazer (mechanically basically the same as your Bravada)

[brains77396]

The E2 setup is the same as our Reese. The people that installed the hitch had it so loose that you you put the bars on by hand, making them useless. Ours adjust on the hitch end and after a three notch adjustment, everything leveled out nicely, putting a lot more weight on the anti-sway part of the setup. The way the installer set it up, it would not keep a swing in a bird cage from moving. According to the instructions, measure the height of your T/V, front and rear. Hook up the trailer and and remeasure. The height should be the same or as close as you can get it. Lifting the bar does two things. First it put more tension on the anti-sway part of the hitch which in turn lifts the rear of the T/V, keeping it from sagging by shifting the weight from the rear wheels to the front wheels. The added tension on the bars will increase the sway damping. To make it easier to set the bars in place, couple the trailer and use the tongue jack to raise the rear of the T/V. Set the bars and raise the jack and you are ready to go. Electric jacks are nice for this part. Or, pull the rear wheels of your T/V up on the blocks you use to level your T/T. Much easier on the little hand jack. Always, and I mean always stand as clear as possible when releasing the trunnion bars as there is a lot of pressure on them. That is where lifting the tongue relieves some of that pressure to help in setting and releasing the bars. Hope I didn't confuse anyone. :?

[Marvin]

Thanks for the replies. I have the E2 hitch and installed a electric jack for ease of hooking and unhooking. I have heart problems and don't thing it would like all that cranking - up and down. I was into the camper place this morning and they suggested installing a E4 hitch which has 4 point control rather than 2 point. I then went to Ultimate Trailers, all they do is trailers of all kinds. He suggested lowering the hitch a notch, his thought is too much weight on the vehicle and not enough on the rear axel of the trailer. I am going to try changing the hitch before I spend another $80 or $90 to upgrade the hitch. The trailer had very little cargo in it so I don't thing weight location in the trailer is a problem. Will have to wait and see.

[jandmz]

The E2 hitch should work well for your Bravada and 23RBK combination. If you hitch it up and the front end of your truck comes up, you need more tension on your torsion bars. Once it is adjusted properly, the Bravada should sit pretty much level. and you will notice a big difference in the stability towing.

A friend of mine spotted the problem as the front of the Blazer was coming up about 3-4 in. We changed the bracket height in 10 minutes in a parking lot and it made a big difference.

[Marvin]

Well Saturday we traded the Bravada in for a 2011 Dodge Ram 4x4 with towing package, electronic stability control and 5.7 Liter V8 Hemi, we also upgraded our hitch from a E 2 to a 4 point equalizer/sway control. I am anxious to see how it will pull. We hope to get out next weekend for a couple days, will let you know how it goes.

[brains77396]

Happy towing. I noticed tonight at our local VISA dealer that someone had traded in a 2011 23RBK. They want $15.9K for it. Good deal for someone looking for a slightly used VISA. Also noticed they had sold our MPG 183 trade-in.


Well Saturday we traded the Bravada in for a 2011 Dodge Ram 4x4 with towing package, electronic stability control and 5.7 Liter V8 Hemi, we also upgraded our hitch from a E 2 to a 4 point equalizer/sway control. I am anxious to see how it will pull. We hope to get out next weekend for a couple days, will let you know how it goes.

[Marvin]

Well I had the dealer readjust the E4 hitch. We hooked up the Visa to the Dodge Truck and headed out to see how things would go, between 55 and 60 the trailer began to sway so kept speed down. Coming home we drained the fresh water tank, was able to drive 55 to 60 with no problem. The fresh water tank is in front so weight is over the hitch so didn't think that should be a problem being the bathroom, kitchen cupboards loaded with pots, pans groc, and fridge are in the rear. Dealer said they think there wasn't enough weight over the axels. Any thoughts out there? Thanks

If you want to contact me direct my email address is ([email protected])

[jandmz]

I am not that familiar with the E4 hitch, but it sounds like you still don't have enough tension on the torsion bars. The torsion bars should be set up to keep the truck fairly level with the trailer hooked up. Sway is usually an indication that you have not transferred enough weight to the front wheels of the truck. Check the instructions for the hitch, and it will probably tell you how to increase the tension on the torsion bars. It should be a simple matter of raising the torsion bar perches a notch.

[KristinU]

We tow our 23BHD with an Equal-i-zer (the original 4 point model)...we have towed over 2,000 miles so far, many of which at highway speeds and we've had no sway issues. I realize that our trailers might be slightly different in the weight distribution, but they shouldn't be that far off. We've towed with the freshwater (under the bed in the front) at nearly empty, about 1/3 full, and at about 2/3 full and didn't notice a difference.

What size is your hitch? Ours is the 1,000/10,000...I wonder if you have one that is too light? Or if it is not set up exactly right? I know you've been working with your dealer, but maybe look on the Equal-i-zer web site for another hitch dealer in the area and see what they think of your setup? Perhaps even a regular trailer place, not an RV dealer. I know our installation needed a bunch of washers to get the right distribution.

Best of luck!

[DonMitsu]

We have an Equalizer WDH with sway control and it makes the trailer really solid on the freeway and in wind. The Visas have a lot of square footage exposed to the wind for only one axle

[brains77396]

We pull a 23RBK with our crew-cab Titan using a Reese WDH with built in sway control and have no problems. When it was installed, it wasn't adjusted with enough tension on the trunnions and did no help much at all. 30 minutes of playing with the adjustments made all the difference in the world. Ours have the 600 lb. bars. The Reese has a lot more friction area than the E-2.