Placed My Grandby Order

L

longhorn1

Ouch, that stings!
Joined
Nov 25, 2013
Messages
2,826
Location
Carmel, Indiana
Today I mailed my contract and deposit to Sean Dempsey. The camper is supposed to arrive in Wisconsin on a July shipment so I have a pretty long time to wait. Many of you have been a big help since I started this adventure. Rotti got me headed in the right direction after a post on RV.Net. Once I got into Wandering the West I was hooked. My first contact with FWC was with Terry Budd and later with Stan Kennedy. I usually got replies the same day with the many questions that I had. We spent over 3 hours with Sean Dempsey in Wisconsin and that visit convinced us to move up our order date from March 2015 to May 2014. Ted and Bill you have been a big help as well. My set-up is as follows:
Grandby - Front Dinette no inside shower or toilet). Mechanical camper jacks, 100W solar panel, solar plug on rear wall, 2-way fridge 80 liter, forced air furnace,DSI water heater/outside shower, powered roof vent fan, extra roof vent, 8' side awning/ with awning light, rear awning, rear steps, exterior LED lights, rear flood lights (LED), thermal pack, Aux. battery system, 2nd deep cycle battery, flush mounted glass over stove only, Ready-to-go package, 4 gas struts. FWC is leaving the large bottom cabinet doors and cabinet face off (passenger side rear) so that I have a larger storage area for the porta potti.

I plan on adding the following prior to camper arrival: Truck bed mat, portable air conditioning unit, porta potti, dry mesh under the bed, Tadis Brothers back-up camera, trailer hitch steps, and Milwaukee 2691-22 M18 cordless 2-tool combo kit. The extra wish list is the Wind Generator to supplement the batteries and solar, and the On-the-go water softener.

We have already planned 3-4 weekend trips in Indiana State Parks to break the camper in and a week in the Great Smoky Mountains in early October.

Hope to make trips to Montana and Colorado during the next couple of years.
 
Wooo Hoooo! Congrats.
Best Wishes for many years of enjoyment. Maybe I'll see you at the Overland expo east in early October its in Asheville which is on the edge of the Great Smokey Mountains.
Let the adventures begin.
 
Congratulations!
Glad to have been able to help bring you into the fold.
Great job on the option list......and you may be the first here with a wind mill?
 
Congratulations!

That is very, very exciting, and I am also looking forward to pictures and trip reports!! Sean Dempsey emailed me the other day to say that my Grandby is scheduled to arrive at his place in early June. However, I won't be able to get to Eagle to pick it up until late July, but I'm buzzing with excitement anyway. Perhaps yours will be in Eagle at the same time.

Our Grandby will be quite similar to yours, only with a side dinette and rear window air-conditioner. I also opted for the regular appliances, except for an 80 litre 2-way fridge but instead of a solar panel I'm getting solar plugs only on the roof and rear wall. We're also getting the aluminum roof-rack, but otherwise it sounds very similar to your specifications. We will be living in Pennsylvania after moving back to the States this summer, and are planning about a 7-week trip in the fall around the Southeastern States. We're also hoping for many, many trips, short and long, in the coming years.

By the way, my wife and I are 66 years old and hoping to get at least 15 years of use out of our Grandby and F-150 HD, health permitting, of course. But part of my figuring (call it rationalization, maybe) is that the more we get out there and enjoy life and nature, the longer we'll be able to do it!

Here's to meeting and comparing Grandbys somewhere down the road.

Ted
 
TZtraveler said:
Congratulations!

That is very, very exciting, and I am also looking forward to pictures and trip reports!! Sean Dempsey emailed me the other day to say that my Grandby is scheduled to arrive at his place in early June. However, I won't be able to get to Eagle to pick it up until late July, but I'm buzzing with excitement anyway. Perhaps yours will be in Eagle at the same time.

Our Grandby will be quite similar to yours, only with a side dinette and rear window air-conditioner. I also opted for the regular appliances, except for an 80 litre 2-way fridge but instead of a solar panel I'm getting solar plugs only on the roof and rear wall. We're also getting the aluminum roof-rack, but otherwise it sounds very similar to your specifications. We will be living in Pennsylvania after moving back to the States this summer, and are planning about a 7-week trip in the fall around the Southeastern States. We're also hoping for many, many trips, short and long, in the coming years.

By the way, my wife and I are 66 years old and hoping to get at least 15 years of use out of our Grandby and F-150 HD, health permitting, of course. But part of my figuring (call it rationalization, maybe) is that the more we get out there and enjoy life and nature, the longer we'll be able to do it!

Here's to meeting and comparing Grandbys somewhere down the road.

Ted
Click to expand...
Looking forward to meeting everyone that has taken time to encourage me and answer all of my questions. Pennsylvania is too far away.

Best to you.
John
 
I hope I can get in on the Grandby comparison game, especially because of the fact that I'm going
the roll over couch route and it would be cool to compare them side by side.
TZ your posts are reminiscent of my level of excitement when I was 17 and buying my first car. I believe if you maintain that level of enthusiasm about anything in life you will stay young forever. Good for you guys.
I hope we can all make it to the first east coast FWC rally in 2030 or so.
Keep on truckin,
Dan
 
Timothy McGowen said:
Congratulations!

Curious what A/C units you have been looking at.

Also you might want to look at this site for a wind generator if you haven't come across the site yet.

http://www.freespiritenergy.com
Click to expand...
Tim, The small A/C is a:

Koldfront 7,000 BTU Slim Design Portable Air Conditioner - White Model:pAC701W
Unit doesn't have condensation pan so there is no concerns with that, Window hose to go out tie-down door or at window if the window plate will fit.

Wind Generator is Free Spirit Energy. They have received several awards and Truck Camper Magazine has given them a very positive review. My plan is to have 1" threaded pipe with a welded base plate to be held to ground with tent stakes and the pole to be secured at the rear steps. Might have to have another secure point. I will have several 2' or 3' pieces of threaded pipe and the unit will be secured to the top piece and plugged into the port on the rear wall.
 
Is it possible to install an AC unit later on?
I have the rear window in my Hawk and wondered if anyone had ever added one on later?
 
DrJ said:
Is it possible to install an AC unit later on?
I have the rear window in my Hawk and wondered if anyone had ever added one on later?
Click to expand...
There has been a thread about installing the A/C either late last year or early this year. I don't remember whether they removed the window and installed or had the opening cut through the siding. I think there was something on a new build where they prepared the wall framing for later use. I will see if I can find it for you.
 
longhorn1 said:
There has been a thread about installing the A/C either late last year or early this year. I don't remember whether they removed the window and installed or had the opening cut through the siding. I think there was something on a new build where they prepared the wall framing for later use. I will see if I can find it for you.
Click to expand...
On page 10 titled FWC Modifications, click on the link in Ted's post and there is a post from Stan Kennedy about installing an after market A/C Unit. I would suggest giving Stan Kenndy a call or sending him an e-mail.

John
 
Thanks for the reply. I found the post. It looks pretty challenging to make that modification. It looks like it's best to do when you are building it from the factory.
 
DrJ said:
Thanks for the reply. I found the post. It looks pretty challenging to make that modification. It looks like it's best to do when you are building it from the factory.
Click to expand...
Our Grandby with front dinette won't allow for a wall mounted A/C. We will be purchasing a portable A/C unit.
 
Longhorn, when you get your camper, would you mind posting a report on how the portable ac works out? I'm interested in how you rig the exhaust hose. I'm going to order soon, I really like the front dinette, but can't go without an ac in Texas. If it works good for you, I might go ahead and get the front dinette.
 
Texan76 said:
Longhorn, when you get your camper, would you mind posting a report on how the portable ac works out? I'm interested in how you rig the exhaust hose. I'm going to order soon, I really like the front dinette, but can't go without an ac in Texas. If it works good for you, I might go ahead and get the front dinette.
Click to expand...
Sure will. We plan on doing 4-5 long weekend trips to Indiana State Parks with full hook-ups so the hot summer should be a good test for the A/C.
 
longhorn,

Congrats on your purchase! I also bought my Grandby through Sean Dempsey...in 2007. He provided some good advice when I bought mine, and it looks like he's done the same for you. Your Grandby has several nice options that were not available back in 2007. I have really enjoyed my Grandby the past 7 years. Sherri, and I, and our camper cat, camp in it about 2-3 months of the year, mostly out west, and everything is holding up very well. I store mine inside when not camping and apply some "303" protectant once or twice a year and I think that helps to keep it nice. We have camped in southern Indiana a couple times. I think Spring Mill S.P. is our favorite so far. I'm sure you will enjoy your Grandby. If you have any questions or want to compare notes, let me know.

By the way, did Sean give you the grand tour of their dairy operation?

Buzz
 
buzzman said:
longhorn,

Congrats on your purchase! I also bought my Grandby through Sean Dempsey...in 2007. He provided some good advice when I bought mine, and it looks like he's done the same for you. Your Grandby has several nice options that were not available back in 2007. I have really enjoyed my Grandby the past 7 years. Sherri, and I, and our camper cat, camp in it about 2-3 months of the year, mostly out west, and everything is holding up very well. I store mine inside when not camping and apply some "303" protectant once or twice a year and I think that helps to keep it nice. We have camped in southern Indiana a couple times. I think Spring Mill S.P. is our favorite so far. I'm sure you will enjoy your Grandby. If you have any questions or want to compare notes, let me know.

By the way, did Sean give you the grand tour of their dairy operation?

Buzz
Click to expand...
Thanks for your comments. We are really looking forward to getting our feet wet. We spent almost 3-1/2 hours with Sean, and didn't have time to see his operation. Hopefully we can down the road. We had a beer and he had great advise. Suggested getting the wind generator instead of a second solar panel and advised against a number of other options we were considering. We are trying to take the approach of adding things as we go and focusing on the big picture, camping.

John
 
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