dougrainer wrote:
1. RVIA sets certain standards. They do NOT signify or quantify QUALITY. The RVIA seal is NOT about QUALITY
2. Lets talk quality. How about ALL the SAFETY recalls out there in the Automotive world????????
3. Yes, If you disassemble almost all RV's there will be things that would surprise you. These are NOT cookie cutter built RV's. They are NOT built like Automobiles.
4. The OP's complaint is valid, but just using a $10 can of spray foam would have fixed his problem, NOT spending $500 and all that time and labor. I KNOW this because I have been a Dealer Service Tech for Tiffin for 35 years and have fixed dozens of Tiffins with the OP's complaint. You just have to know where and how to install the foam and silicone. You do not have to spend more than 1 hour doing this including test drives.
5. I AGREE that quality has suffered in the RV building process. I have been involved in RV's for 40 years. 5 building them (towables and motorhomes) and 35 years as a Tech fixing them. They are much more complicated and have so many more features than just 25 years ago.
6. People ask me if I own an RV. NO, I work on them and the idea of spending my free time fixing MINE does not appeal to me.
7. I will state that IMO, the most satisfied class of RV'ers are fulltimers or RV'ers that use the unit more than 6 months a year. WHY?
Because they USE the RV on a daily basis and find all those small problems that always seem to happen on each trip in the first few months of ownership. They find and get those problems fixed and then enjoy the rest of their RV'ing. The biggest complaints we get are the occasional user that forgets and has no idea how the systems work, because they do not USE the RV enough.
8. I will bet if you really looked at complaints, a LOT of issues have nothing to do with the OEM builder, but the Appliances. Appliances are not built by the OEM, but people group those type problems with the OEM complaints. CHASSIS items rarely are the fault of the OEM RV builder, but get looped in with the overall complaints. Doug
First, I would like to thank Doug for posting. He always has very good insights. His comments on quality are right on the mark.
Second, many buyers do very little research to purchase quality. Most are focused on features, not quality. It is understandable that the companies fulfill the desires of a majority of buyers who buy features rather than quality.
Third, our coach is not perfect, but it has been quite reliable over ten years and 45,000 miles. Let me outline some of the steps that I took to attempt to buy quality in 2005.
a. Factory tours of both Monaco and Newmar in 2004. DW choose Monaco for décor and floorplan, but I knew how the factory operated.
b. Winter build in January and February of 2005. I knew a former supervisor in a vehicle factory. He said that the best vehicles are built in January or February because the first team is there – none on vacation or deer hunting. In addition, by seven months into the annual build cycle, all of the manufacturing “fixes” are done for that model year. Because motorhomes are built by hand, this is important.
c. Shakedown trip of 3,000 miles after delivery and return to the factory for maintenance the first 90 days and the first two years. The factory had to adjust the slides and replace the inverter.
d. Purchase a midline coach from a (at the time) strong manufacturer. This coach is built in reasonable volume and therefore has a better chance of good quality.
e. I have replaced the Norcold cooling unit with an Amish unit, the water heater, the water pump and installed a flat screen TV. In my view these and other smaller maintenance items are reasonable for our usage.
Overall, I think that it is possible to purchase good quality for a reasonable price – if that is your objective.
Crespro
