I remember a couple of years ago someone made the comment that campers built in the early part of the year had more quality issues than those built at other times. Their reasoning was manufacturers have to hire temporary labor to meet the demand for extra campers since most RV shows occur in the early months of the year.The Cyclone we had a few years ago was built during the winter and the quality was terrible. Many, many shoddy quality issues. But that may have been just a coincidence. I truly don't know.Here in NC, the Greensboro and Charlotte shows are in January and the Raleigh show is in February. We'll be going to at least Greensboro and Raleigh and maybe even Charlotte looking for our next toy hauler. But does it sound logical to be a little leery of buying a toy hauler built right before the shows or is this just over-reaction?

I was at the Hershey RV Show a couple years ago. I was surprised at the poor quality I saw. And these were units sent to a major RV Show to represent the manufacturer.Hopefully things have improved.I don't think hiring temporary workers will improve the quality of the units.

Well ... my little Springdale was built in the summer. A little delam in the nose, quickly taken care of by dealer and Keystone. Since then, 3 1/2 years and 100+ nights camping and no issues.

We have 45 nights straight in our 16 hideout. Only issue manufacturing wise was screws holding cabinet doors on.

Pure hogwash. Think of it this way, if you were a dealer/manufacturer displaying your wares would you put your best out their or your worse? If I were a dealer I would put my best out there and make sure my guys went through it with a fine tooth comb to make sure every little thing was beyond reproach. But in fact, I doubt if there is any difference at all; but one sure way to lose is to put an inferior product in a show when even one other guy is putting their best foot forward.

I would think that the worst time would be when the manufacturer was changing between model years, particularly if there is a big change. That would make the worst builds (depending on manufacturer) in July and August.I don't think the manufacturer sends particular units to an RV show; it is the dealers at the show that choose from their stock. We have run into quite a few dealers at RV shows who don't fix anything but promise to "fix it if you buy it." We avoid those dealers. We have run into broken trim, broken slides, ripped floors... and they still sit on the showroom floor. Some dealers just won't put any effort into showing their products at their best. Other dealers do. We shop there.

Camper Show RVs | Good Sam Community

spoon059
Explorer II
Dec 10, 2015
Fact of the matter is that even when they hire additional part time employees to handle an extra load (if they even do that), they still have full time employees making rigs.

I've been to RV shows and seen shoddy quality stuff plenty of times. Seems to me that if I was the dealer showing these things, I would spend a little more time making things perfect. The dealers rarely do though. I've seen doors horribly misaligned, missing hardware, crooked trim, missing trim, unfinished or poorly finished interior pieces.
Bob_Vaughn
Explorer
Dec 10, 2015
A few years ago we went to the Tampa RV super show and the Holiday Rambler factory had a 5th wheel on display as I was looking at it I realized that the inside wall was bowed badly. When I pushed on it it went back against the studs. I pointed it out to the factory representative there. I thought he was going to have a cow. He was on the phone immediately berating them for sending a unit with such an obvious flaw. It is no wonder that they went under again.....
lawnspecialties
Explorer
Dec 09, 2015
goducks10 wrote:
The worst time for quality is M-F when the doors open for work.

:B
goducks10
Explorer
Dec 09, 2015
The worst time for quality is M-F when the doors open for work.
dahkota
Explorer
Dec 09, 2015
I would think that the worst time would be when the manufacturer was changing between model years, particularly if there is a big change. That would make the worst builds (depending on manufacturer) in July and August.

I don't think the manufacturer sends particular units to an RV show; it is the dealers at the show that choose from their stock. We have run into quite a few dealers at RV shows who don't fix anything but promise to "fix it if you buy it." We avoid those dealers. We have run into broken trim, broken slides, ripped floors... and they still sit on the showroom floor. Some dealers just won't put any effort into showing their products at their best. Other dealers do. We shop there.
bid_time
Nomad II
Dec 09, 2015
Pure hogwash. Think of it this way, if you were a dealer/manufacturer displaying your wares would you put your best out their or your worse? If I were a dealer I would put my best out there and make sure my guys went through it with a fine tooth comb to make sure every little thing was beyond reproach. But in fact, I doubt if there is any difference at all; but one sure way to lose is to put an inferior product in a show when even one other guy is putting their best foot forward.
Hideout17
Explorer
Dec 09, 2015
We have 45 nights straight in our 16 hideout. Only issue manufacturing wise was screws holding cabinet doors on.
TomHaycraft
Explorer
Dec 08, 2015
Well ... my little Springdale was built in the summer. A little delam in the nose, quickly taken care of by dealer and Keystone. Since then, 3 1/2 years and 100+ nights camping and no issues.
gbopp
Explorer
Dec 08, 2015
I was at the Hershey RV Show a couple years ago. I was surprised at the poor quality I saw.
And these were units sent to a major RV Show to represent the manufacturer.
Hopefully things have improved.
I don't think hiring temporary workers will improve the quality of the units.

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