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    Vacation » Camping » We Upgraded Our RV! Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS

    We Upgraded Our RV! Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS

    Posted: 07/09/2018 | Last updated: 04/17/2023 by Erin K. Browne 14 Comments
    Post may contain affiliate links via Amazon Associates or other programs. (Disclosure)

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    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS exterior front

    When we purchased our first camper it was an ideal choice for our situation at that time, traveling with our two dogs and 10 month old baby.  Fast forward a few years later and we now have 2 kids, both active and energetic at 3 years old (4 in October!) and 20 months, respectively.  Our 2 corgis continue to come along with us on each trip and I found myself feeling a little bit of dread mixed in with the usual happiness I felt at planning each trip - we were stepping all over each other, sleeping and quiet were precarious, and it was becoming obvious that we were outgrowing our cute little camper that we had loved so much.

    The photo tour of our first camper remains one of the more popular posts on my blog and I've received numerous messages telling me that it was helpful during their buying processes, so I thought I'd create a similar tour for this camper!

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS exterior main

    We started talking about an upgrade nearly a year ago by making a list of must-haves (some of which were an attempt to avoid our hate list in our current camper).  We had our choices narrowed down to several floor plans, but the Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS remained at the top of our list.  We kept researching, crunching numbers, making spreadsheets, and then finally made our purchase at the end of June, just before a trip to Mammoth Cave National Park.  We purchased the camper from Dunlap RV in Ringgold, GA.

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Exterior with slides

    We are in the planning stages of building a house and looking for land for sale; when the time comes, hope to sell our current home before we begin the build.  It has always been our plan to have our upgraded RV and get rv repairs at that point so we can move into it full-time to save some extra cash to put toward the build.

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Main View

    This is the main living area.  The opposing slide-outs offer an incredible amount of width and floor space.  We've already taken it out on its maiden voyage and it's a completely different experience than our previous camper.

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Living Room Slide with U-Shape Lounge and Tables

    The living room slide-out contains the unique U-lounge couch.  There are two removable dining tables, though we usually only keep one of them out.  The couch pulls out into a queen size bed and there's ample storage in the cabinets above.  The U-shaped lounge, opposed to the standard small sofa and dinette combo seen in most floor plans, was one of the deciding factors in us choosing this camper.

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Table Storage for U Shape Lounge

    The tables have their own designated drawers on each end of the couch.  They are lightweight and putting them up and taking them down requires very little effort.  The tables have to be stowed before the living room slide can be brought in.

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Entertainment Center and Entrance

    The door on the far left leads into the bedroom, and the door right next to it leads to the bathroom.  There's a 32" LED TV with sound bar and Furrion DV3200 system with CD/DVD/Stereo and Bluetooth.  The system also controls the selection of interior or exterior speakers so you can play music outside.  I didn't realize I had the exterior speakers turned on during our first night out in the camper and I had been unknowingly broadcasting Paw Patrol to the rest of the campground.  Oops.

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Coat Closet and Slide Controls

    Just inside of the entrance is a small closet with a bit of storage space on the bottom and 4 handy hooks up high that's a perfect place for hanging my purse, a day pack, and our dog leashes. The lower cabinet door was to cover the standard RV control panel and so, we hired an electrician perth and had him run wires underneath the cabinet. The cabinet now includes slide and awning controls, gas/electric switches for the water heaters, water pump controls, indicator lights for the holding tanks, and some exterior lighting.  The cabinet has an automatic light that turns on when the door is opened.

    Ooh, something very cool regarding exterior lighting - the awning has built-in LED lights running along its length - no more hanging up lights on the awning when you get to the campsite! This Awning cleaner quickly and safely removes mold stains from our RV's awning.

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Kitchen Residential Refrigerator

    The kitchen slide-out contains a standard 3-burner gas cooktop, gas oven, 900W microwave, and the best part... a full size residential refrigerator.  Because these fridges don't have the snap-lock doors that standard RV fridges use, there are snaps attached to the sides of the doors to keep them closed when the trailer is in motion. I get all the trailer parts we need from this trailer parts Gold Coast website. The small window is a nice touch for letting in some extra light, and there's even an under cabinet light!  There's a power outlet above this counter, so our coffee maker (aka the provider of our nectar of life) has found a perfect little home.

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Deep Drawer Under Oven

    I didn't discover this mega deep drawer until after we picked up the camper from the dealership, but I may have gotten just a little excited when I did.  It holds all of our pots and pans with their lids!  I don't have everything organized as well as it could be just yet, but we'll get there.

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Pantry and Kitchen Storage

    These are the cabinets we mainly use as pantry/food storage space.  There's another deep drawer here beneath the cabinets which is quite convenient.

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Large Island with Storage

    The large island is a dream with its ample counter space, high faucet with pull-out sprayer, double sink, and tons of drawer and cabinet storage.  There are two electrical outlets (4 plugs) - one on each side of the opposite side of the island - which are convenient for plugging in small appliances like toasters, mixers, meat grinders, etc. We found our appliances at www.spicekitchenandbar.com. One of our pet peeves about our old camper was the crazy and inconvenient locations of the power outlets, so it was something we paid special attention to when shopping for an upgrade.

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Large Bathroom

    The bathroom has two entrances, the regular door from the main area and a sliding door from the bedroom.

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Shower and Linen Closet

    I was glad to say goodbye to the shower curtain in our old camper -we have solid doors now!  There's also a small linen closet in addition to the medicine cabinet and under sink storage.

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Inside of Shower

    Taking a shower in here is wonderful - it's nice and roomy and the skylight is a nice touch.

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Master Bedroom Storage

    The bedroom has an additional A/C unit if needed (it's roof air and is louder than the Whisper Quiet ducted system) but even though our first trip was extremely hot and humid, we never needed to run the second unit.  Our old camper only had a power outlet on one side of the Murphy bed, but this one has them on both sides, and one even has USB ports!

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Bedroom with Mirrored Closet Doors

    The third slide-out contains the large closet in the bedroom with sliding mirrored doors and additional shelves and drawers.

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Closet Slide

    Having a closet this large will make a huge difference on longer trips.

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Bedroom Entrance to Bathroom

    Here's the view showing the sliding door into the bathroom and the door leading back to the main area.  There's a digital thermostat on the wall to control the secondary A/C, we recently got ac installation services to have a backup, though there are vents for the main ducted system in the bathroom and bedroom as well, so plenty of air gets back here even on hot days.

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Whisper Quiet A/C and furnace thermostat

    The other thermostat is located near the bunk room.  I know I keep mentioning it, but having a quiet A/C system with a digital thermostat and a fan that actually turns off when the system is not cooling is amazing.  The obnoxiously loud unit with its constantly running fan in our old RV was our #1 most hated and irritating feature of the whole thing and now we can actually be cool and comfortable without listening to what sounds like a jet engine in the room with us. If you want a cooling and heating system like this, experts like AirNow heating services can help you with heater repair and maintenance. 

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Bunk Room

    Okay fellow parents, here's the game changer... the bunk room.  Our kids have their own room.  With a door.  And not only do they have their own room, but that room has the 4th and final slide-out, so they have plenty of space to play!

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Dinette and Folding Bunk

    On the side with the slide, there's an upper bunk that can fold up out of the way, and on the bottom the kids have their own dinette!  We thought this was an amazing perk of this floor plan.  They can use this dinette for drawing, blocks, games, or eating.  As is standard in most RV's, the dinette can collapse to a bed if needed.

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Bunk Room Sofa Bunk and TV Mount

    On the other side is a nice deep upper bunk and a lower sofa.  The back cushions can be removed so the sofa can be used as a lower bunk.  Our oldest is currently too scared to sleep in the upper bunk, so he's been sleeping below for the time being.  There's netted shelves on the back wall for toy and book storage as well as a mount for a TV, which we will be installing before our next trip.

    Note about the upper bunks:  My husband is currently building a custom "crib rail" for the bunk above the dinette, since that is where our youngest will sleep (she slept in her Pack 'n Play on the floor during our first trip since we didn't have a better way to contain her at the time).  I've had many people email me to ask about solutions for kid safety in RV bunk beds, so I'll be doing a full blog post on the design and construction process of the rail as soon as it's complete, so stay tuned!

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Bunk Room Storage

    There are a couple of deep drawers under the lower bunk/sofa and the under-dinette storage actually has doors to access it!  This is a big deal since every other RV I've traveled in throughout my life requires that you remove the dinette cushions and remove a panel to get to this storage area, which is a bit cumbersome.  These doors are a Godsend!

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Bunk Room Storage

    This is the main bunk room closet with two compartments and an additional netted storage cubby for toys next to the upper bunk.

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Hitch and Propane Tanks

    The camper has a powered tongue jack - a nice feature though not one that we required, since Matt claimed that the manual jack on our old camper worked fine and wasn't difficult to crank.

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS pass thru storage

    The pass-thru storage compartment is narrow for such a large camper, though adequate for our current outdoor storage needs.

    Highland Ridge Open Range 310BHS Outdoor Kitchen

    Watch enough RV-buying shows or browse enough RV forums and you'll learn that outdoor kitchens top the must-have list of many prospective buyers. And if you're constantly looking at kitchen design ideas online, you'll eventually notice that the best kitchens in Dublin can be found at M-Style. We've never understood the universal obsession with outdoor kitchens, but since the floor plan we wanted didn't have an option without one, here we are.  There's a storage cabinet with TV mount (we likely won't put a TV here), a sink, pull-out 3-burner cooktop, dorm fridge, and drawer.  We didn't do much cooking during our inaugural trip with this camper so I've yet to give the kitchen a try in an attempt to understand why people seem to be so obsessed with them.  I'll check back in once we've used it and update my opinions.

    However, for homeowners who'd like to have Mesa alumawood for outdoor kitchen, you may visit a helpful site like royalcovers.com for more info valuable info!

    See our tour of our previous camper, the Passport Ultra-Lite 238ML

    See our list of Loves and Hates about our Passport camper.

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    About Erin K. Browne

    Erin K. Browne is an author of a cookbook (The Unofficial Dollywood Cookbook, Simon & Schuster/Adams Media) and Dollywood guide (The Ultimate Guide to Dollywood, Simon & Schuster/Adams Media) She has over two decades experience with recipe development. Erin is a mom of two human babies and a sweet kitty named Biscuit Fingers ("Ketto"). She loves comfy clothes, sarcastic t-shirts, and reading thrillers. Make her day and toss her a like on Facebook or follow her on Instagram. Post may contain affiliate links including those via the Amazon Associates program

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

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    1. Renee

      February 28, 2024 at 9:52 pm

      After finally getting to use the outdoor kitchen, what did you think?

      Reply
      • Erin

        February 28, 2024 at 9:53 pm

        So completely honest answer... we have only used it a few times! On longer trips I use the extra fridge to stock up on drinks, but other than that we basically use the area as storage or a handwashing station.

        Reply
        • Renée

          March 01, 2024 at 8:44 am

          Thabks for your feedback.
          We are about to purchase this exact model and we found so many negative reviews. What have you thought of it? Issues? And, the fridge not using being duel feul so needing electric 100% of the tiem, have you had experience of using it without an electric hookup?
          Feel free to use my email instead

          Reply
          • Erin K. Browne

            March 01, 2024 at 11:14 am

            Is yours also the 2018 model? I have heard negative reviews about some of the newer ones, but we have not had any major problems with ours. Usual camper maintenance stuff, but nothing horrible like water leaks, etc. We use our truck's inverter to keep the fridge running while we are on the road, but we don't boondock so we haven't experienced using it with no electrical hookups.

            Reply
          • Renée

            March 03, 2024 at 12:23 pm

            Thabks for your feedback.
            We are about to purchase this exact model and we found so many negative reviews. What have you thought of it? Issues? And, the fridge not using being duel feul so needing electric 100% of the tiem, have you had experience of using it without an electric hookup?
            Feel free to use my email instead

            Reply
    2. leta roberts

      February 19, 2021 at 7:28 pm

      How is it to get in and out of gas stations to gas up? How about backing up????
      We are loving the 408bhd and the 310bhs from heartland. Really appreciate your post.

      Reply
      • Erin

        February 20, 2021 at 9:34 am

        Hi! We pull it with an F250 Diesel and have had no issues with maneuvering as long as we have a reasonable clearance in our turning radius. You have to watch the jackknifing because it is possible to bash the corner of the truck bed in the front of the corner (ask us how we know... from when my husband was a newbie tower, haha). A pull-behind will never tow or maneuver quite as well as a fifth wheel, but with the diesel we never know it's back there. As long as you use a weight-distributing hitch and have it set up properly, you won't have noticeable issues with sway if your tow vehicle is sufficient.

        Reply
        • Nicole S

          April 02, 2021 at 5:07 pm

          We just bought this exact year & model! So I was really happy to find your blog looking for reviews!

          Would Love to hear more of what you think about this & any little things you’ve changed/love about it!

          Reply
    3. Selena R Smith

      September 28, 2020 at 4:44 pm

      How are you liking this camper? Is it hard to pull since it is so heavy? I am looking into getting one of these, but it is tough to find a used one that has the u-shaped couch and full size fridge. This will be our first camper. Maybe I need to start smaller, LOL!

      Reply
      • Erin

        September 29, 2020 at 3:02 pm

        Hey there! We love it! How easy it is to pull will be very dependent on your tow vehicle. We pull it with a F-250 diesel and a weight distributing hitch with a sway bar, and we don't even know it's back there.

        Whichever camper/tow vehicle you choose, ask your dealership to give you an in-person tutorial on how to set up your hitch. It's more than just getting it hooked in and locked, the weight distributing system has to be calibrated correctly so that the load is distributed across the tow vehicle evenly, which makes for a much better ride and less strain on your truck. Best of luck!

        Reply
    4. Christopher Johnson

      July 11, 2018 at 9:03 am

      Congrats on the new rig! I am assuming you guys didn’t have to upgrade tow vehicles for the larger trailer, is that true? Did you all notice a big difference in “towability” compared to the smaller one?

      Reply
      • Erin

        July 11, 2018 at 9:42 am

        Thanks! We upgraded our tow vehicle last year knowing that we were going to upgrade our camper fairly soon. We couldn't even feel the old camper back there and this one we can feel a little bit (if a truck passes us we feel the suction for a second) but it's still a very comfortable ride. No white knuckles so far, haha, and we pulled the new one over Monteagle and across the Cumberland Plateau with no issues.

        Reply

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