Is the 2009 Holiday Rambler Presidential still one of the "good" years? Any help would be appreciated.

I think 09 was the year Monaco declared bankruptcy. We had an 05 HR motorhome and it was good. What I read about the motorhomes was they were good up thru 08 but there was some decline in quality as bankruptcy approached. I would guess that was subjective opinions so not sure how much stock I would put in it. It does make some sense though.All I know is about the motorhomes as I had a vested interest at the time. I think the towables were produced at a different location. Since they are not as complicated as a motorhome with a drivetrain, I would just ask questions and inspect it thoroughly. Our traveling friends have an 07 and they have had very good service out of it. They seem to be very well made. A bargaining point would be that it is now an orphan.

Too bad what happened to the company they were a great Mfg I had a 1994 class A and they were the best out there, My first time out Rving We parked next to Presidential And just loved it and wanted one BAD but could not afford one,then like was said before Monaco fell on hard times and they dropped the Presidential and just went with the Aluma-scape and Savoy ,I would not think a 2009 Presidential would be any better or worse than any other brand in 2009 Now they have the New high end Presidential but they do not promote it much.........Too bad

I own an 06' 37RLQ Presidential Suite that I purchased brand new off the dealers lot in Oct. of 07. It's a beautiful rig. I've replaced a front leg jack only because I didn't know how far up or down one should extend or retract it, (live and learn, I know now:))....It has a king size bed and a beautiful livingroom with sliding glass doors to close it off from rest of 5er. It came with two Carrier A/C's, two fantasti fans....It has 4 slides with toppers, electric awning and everything still works great. We've added a Splendid washer/dryer combo and also a Winegard HD roof satellite. Paint still looks great and all the dual pane windows are still sealed and work fine. Has a convection/microwave and two 40# propane bottles..HUGE amounts of cargo space in the basement. All tanks are heated.We still get compliments at campgrounds on how nice it looks, inside and out...We love our's and figure it'll be our last one...It'll be 8 years old in June and again, longivity and how well it looks and everything still works speaks volumes of how well this one was built.hope this helped...any questions, I'd be glad to try to help out.ON EDIT: Since I can't type what I mean, (thanks Rick:)...GVWR on my 5er is 16,950. Last time I weighed it, (last week), it weighed 15,920#, with a pin weight of 3340#. I've had it as heavy as 16,050 with a pin weight of 3350.I think I got it right that time Rick:)Jim

NC Hauler wrote:Ours has a GVWR of 16,950#....I weighed it last week and it was 18,920# (has been up to 19,050#...pin weight was 3340#.....Jim:H Coming from the weight police no less :B

45Ricochet wrote:NC Hauler wrote:Ours has a GVWR of 16,950#....I weighed it last week and it was 18,920# (has been up to 19,050#...pin weight was 3340#.....Jim:H Coming from the weight police no less :BDANG IT!!!! You right, how embarrasing...I STILL wrote it down wrong....Rick, don't take my stinking badge, PLEASE, it's ALL I got.Let me try this ONE MORE TIME>GVWR of my 5er is 16,950...last time I weighed it, it was 15,920# with a pin weight of 3340#. I've loaded it to 19,050# and pin weight was about 3350#.If Rick wasn't here for me, I don't know how many of these "typo's" I'd make:B Thanks buddy.

2009 Holiday Rambler Presidential | Good Sam Community

20 Replies

duaner1
Explorer
Mar 21, 2014
We currently have a 2009 Alumascape 33CKT that we absolutely love purchased new in August of '09 and at a ridiculous discountdue to the fact of no factory warranty. Only thing we've had to repalce has been the microwave. Certainly not HR's fault. One thing that did bother me is the amount of saw dust, screws, nails and general trash left in the hidden areas throughout the unit. Probably a result of things going down hill...But, fit and finish on the unit as expected very good. No issues with the structure and mechanicals either.
NC_Hauler
Explorer
Mar 19, 2014
Mine is identical to Dave's ^^^^^. As Rick stated, mine has 7,000# rated axles by Dexter.
byronlj
Explorer
Mar 19, 2014
Buy the '09. It is probably better built than most any brand made today. I bought mine in '07 and have never regretted it.
Dave
45Ricochet
Explorer
Mar 19, 2014
You have a " follower " Jim :B Glad to get him off my back :W Hope the Canadian border is far enough north :E
Oh yeah to stay on topic, 6k, 7k then the 8k axles where available to all manufactures from Al-Ko and Dexter in that time frame. Not sure about HR spec's but my little camper came with 7K tandem axles.
FishOnOne
Nomad
Mar 19, 2014
kakampers wrote:
We owned a 2007 Alumascape...a step down from Presidential. We had so many problems with it, it was gone in 10 months. Cabinets came loose from the wall, leaks, slide motors kept breaking and the last straw was the rear axle ripped off the frame while backing into a site.

Think they went down hill alot sooner than 2009...JMHO.

We have a 06 HR Alumascape that's stored in a shop. It's been a great trailer with very few problems. I remember looking at the axles on different brands at the time and the HR always seamed to be the largest. All interior and exterior items are in great shape.

IMO I always thought the HR products were some of the best built trailers utilizing very little wood.
NC_Hauler
Explorer
Mar 18, 2014
kakampers wrote:
We owned a 2007 Alumascape...a step down from Presidential. We had so many problems with it, it was gone in 10 months. Cabinets came loose from the wall, leaks, slide motors kept breaking and the last straw was the rear axle ripped off the frame while backing into a site.

Think they went down hill alot sooner than 2009...JMHO.

Wow, guess it goes to show that I've yet seen a manufacturer make all their rv's perfectly. Sort of found that out just over the years I've been on this forum..Some of the most expensive higher end 5er's even have had issues. I've never had any of the above issues, and Lord willing, I won't..never had a leak, axles still in place, no irregular tire wear, Mine will be 8 years old and again, is in almost as good a shape as the day I purchased it....guess we've really been fortunate.

to the OP, I would say it would be hard to "guess" what year they started making "less quality" 5er"...seeing as how, over the years, even the best manufacturers will make a bad one every once in a while....

If you like it and it checks out good, buy it...if you have doubts, walk away from it.
cummins2014
Explorer
Mar 18, 2014
kakampers wrote:
We owned a 2007 Alumascape...a step down from Presidential. We had so many problems with it, it was gone in 10 months. Cabinets came loose from the wall, leaks, slide motors kept breaking and the last straw was the rear axle ripped off the frame while backing into a site.

Think they went down hill alot sooner than 2009...JMHO.

According to some on this forum most rv's have never been close to the top of the hill .

Owned a older Holiday Rambler travel trailer, that was as good as they get, but that is JMHO.
kakampers
Explorer
Mar 18, 2014
We owned a 2007 Alumascape...a step down from Presidential. We had so many problems with it, it was gone in 10 months. Cabinets came loose from the wall, leaks, slide motors kept breaking and the last straw was the rear axle ripped off the frame while backing into a site.

Think they went down hill alot sooner than 2009...JMHO.
tompatty6670
Explorer
Mar 18, 2014
Good info everyone. But still no answer to my original post. I think the quality dropped dramatically either in 2009 or 2010. I'm sure 2008 was still a good year.
NC_Hauler
Explorer
Mar 18, 2014
JTrac wrote:
NC Hauler wrote:
You may be right...I just went to their website and they show there TT's and 5er's along with a 2014 Presidential 5th wheel, but again, maybe they decided not to go back into the business after all.

The one I have is solid as a rock and has held up extremely well for a unit that has been towed through the mountains of NC, SC, TN, VA and WV....to me, it's a quality built unit.

I probably did this wrong but here is the article:

http://rvdailyreport/industry/monaco-towable-division-shuttered/

No, you did it right, appears they WILL NOT manufacture any more towables...Oh well, I hadn't planned on buying another anyway and my warranty has been gone for a while...