Grand Design Solitude 310 GK.
We have been thinking about making the change back to a 5th wheel for a while and decided to go for it at the beginning of this year. We ordered our new Grand Design Solitude 310 GK, at an RV show in January and picked it up from the dealer mid-February.
We did a lot of homework and there were many “must-haves” in making the decision. We didn’t want to give up a lot of the things we loved about the motorhome. But after looking around, we discovered there would be a lot of new amenities included in the new 5th wheel. Fun things like a fireplace/heater, kitchen island, tons of storage, larger oven (I like to bake/cook when we are traveling), a pantry, larger refrigerator, more seating room to entertain family and friends, and even more floor space than the larger motorhome.
One downside I will admit, we lost a lot of outside storage from moving from the motorhome to the 5th wheel, and John had to decide what we didn’t need to take on our travels when downsizing. And you can’t get up and get snacks while driving – I’ll have to plan ahead and pack a snack bag while traveling.
We loved the convenience and space in the motorhome but decided that a smaller rig would be better for us, so we were not in the market for the big 40′ 5th wheels. But we didn’t want anything too small as the plan someday (after my retirement) is to travel the United States and a trip to Alaska one summer. Plus we tend to do our local trips with friends and family and wanted room for everyone inside.
We didn’t want to give up our space, our king-sized bed, our washer & dryer … I know, not camping, but glamping is our speed. We had a lot of “wants” when looking. And I love the new floor plans with the kitchen island. The storage space inside is huge – I have a lot of empty cupboards still! And did I say I have a huge kitchen and pantry in our new 2020 Grand Design Solitude 310 GK! 😁
As I stated, we did a LOT of research and visiting with people in the campgrounds (the best kind of research) and it took us to look at the Grand Design. We visited with a lot of very happy Grand Design owners. We also wanted a well-insulated, good quality, open floor plan design. That is why we choose our 35′ Grand Design Solitude 310.
We were lucky to be able to get one trip in before everything was locked down and all our reservations canceled – our photo above we are on the Sacramento River at the Delta Marina RV Park.
Now with the Covid-19 outbreak, we have only had it out this once. Our other reservations were all canceled, but trying to look on the bright side, it gave us the opportunity to get the warranty work done (yes no matter how good of a company there is always that). I’m hoping this is the last of what needs to be done for a bit – and I have to say a lot of it should have been caught at the factory and at the dealer during the PDI, but both have been great in making the repairs, so I can’t complain too much.
We originally were going to use our older Ford F-250 to pull our new 5th wheel, but when doing research, we decided to upgrade to an F-450 dually, and when we start going over the large grades we’ll be glad we did. The weight of the Grand Design Solitude 310 GK is 12,100 before we add our stuff.
I still have several trips to finish blogging about that we took in the motorhome, but I had to share about our new toy!!