My experience trying to buy a motorhome

lfrese wrote:
The motorhome smelled like cheap chemicals and the upholstery they use in those Cruise America rentals is awful.

Your comment about the smell of chemicals brings back a memory I had in early 2007 when visiting a local RV center having a big tent sale. They actually had a really big tent with two rows of brand new motor homes parked inside it. I had just decided on purchasing a Phoenix Cruiser but wanted to make sure there wasn't something else to consider. There were a few brand new class A's with price tags on the wind shield at $48,000. I thought "Wow" I should check them out. I wish I could recall the brand but I cannot.

I stepped inside and immediately noticed a "new construction" smell, but it was a bit different than I am familiar with. Checking out the interior, I quickly noticed the inferior construction in materials and workmanship. As I was strolling around inside, I noticed my breathing was getting strange and my head getting a bit dizzy, but I continued to tour inside. At one point I held my breath and ran out gasping for air. I had wondered what was inside there doing that to me.

A few years later, we attended a family wedding down in Kentucky where my cousin was kind enough to put us up at his home. He owned a 5th wheel at the time which was over 5 years old, maybe closer to 10 years. Parked in his driveway, he offered it up to us as our bedroom. That night laying down for bed, I noticed that smell again. Though much less, my body was starting to get that same feeling. We immediately turned off the a/c and opened all the windows and all was well because there was a nice breeze coming in. But I woke up the next morning with a very very bad headache.

I generally don't get headaches so whatever is inside some motor homes, it's life-threatening to me. And whatever it is, it doesn't go away as a new construction smell because my cousin's 5th wheel was a number of years old.

I understand chip board is made with a lot of formaldehyde which is hazardous if exposed to in quantity. There was some concern in news reports a long time ago that houses made with a lot of chip board, can be a health hazard. Google "chipboard formaldehyde Emissions". I wonder if that was the cause of my experience. I understand formaldehyde by itself has no odor which has me perplexed about those two experiences.

All the wood inside our Phoenix Cruiser was plywood with one exception. There was one sheet of chip board used as the bed platform but I soon replaced it with a smooth sheet of maple plywood. I didn't have any chemical reaction, just being overly cautious....and the mattress doesn't snag on smooth maple.

This picture of our Phoenix Cruiser taken soon after we purchased it, still shows the chip board on the ceiling of the outdoor compartment. With it replaced, I think we are down to 0% chip board.