27. Why Upgrade To The Brinky?

We did what we know you shouldn't do... buy a new RV and then trade it in 1 year later for another.

Our first RV was a 2022 Grand Design 150 series 278BH. It was a great first RV. We got it new for about $46,000. It had no issues on our trips, unlike the truck. That was the opposite of what we expected since people usually have issues with RVs early that they have to work out, while vehicles work well at first and deteriorate with time. It had a rear bunk for Jordan and we even tore out the top bunk so she had a real full room back there.

So why the swap? We knew when we bought it that it had a certain slide out type (where the wall shoots out to open up space inside) that was known for being problematic and failing. It also had it's plumbing done in a way that was likely to start leaking at some point, reportedly. The most important thing was that it didn't have a great cargo carrying capacity weight-wise, which we confirmed on the 2023 Utah & Arizona trip. We had to be very aware of the weight of anything we loaded in.

As we were starting to gear up for our big 2024 trip all the way to California and Alaska, we learned about a new RV company, Brinkley. They had a similar layout fifth wheel with the rear bunk, but it had 3 slide-outs that really opened up the rooms to feel like an apartment instead of a camper. The build was very high quality and had a much higher cargo carrying capacity, improved plumbing connections, and had a better slide out design type. It would address all of our concerns. Still, we said we would hold off and go through the big trip beating up the first RV instead. However, when we were going out to set it up for the season, the slide out didn't seem to be top notch and moved slower than we remembered, but still worked. Still, it made us nervous due to the extended trip we were about to embark on.

So, we debated some more and then went to the RV show in Vermont up the road to see the Brinkley in person. We loved it (not pictured here, but Jordan wanted to see it all).

We decided it wasn't worth the risk of a slide failure, which seemed likely from what we heard about that slide type and our perceived slower motor function (though it was cold, etc). It was too long of a trip to have that sort of failure, which would render Jordan's room unusable and severely limit fridge access. Risking wasting that much time off from work with a questionable RV wasn't worth it, so we went for the Brinkley. They gave us a good trade-in price on our Grand Design, so we made it official a few days later and got ourselves a Brinkley Z3110. Photos above show us dropping off the Grand Design and pulling into our driveway with the Brinkley for the first time.

We had very little time to customize it, but luckily it didn't need much. Bruce was able to mount an additional solar panel on top (photo above is pre-installation of a second 370W panel) and install an inverter and three 100amp lithium batteries (left side of front bay), plus an extra sewer tube on the bottom. Anjuli installed the in line water filtration system under the kitchen sink and organizational structures.

With the additional weight capacity, we didn't have to worry about our weight nearly as much, but still stopped at a CAT scale the first day out to double-check, and we were perfectly in line with where we wanted to be... enough under our max weight to be able to fill the fresh water tank and fill the 60 gallon water reservoir bag in the truck bed. This measurement included a TON of food with the freezer packed to the max since we emptied our freezer and fridge at home to shut those down for the trip. The pantry was fully stocked. [First weight is the RV plus truck, second is the truck alone.]

Within a few weeks of getting Brinky, we crossed our fingers and were off!