Manufacturers - How Do You Answer This
This is one aspect of why I am leery of an aluminum framed camper, not to mention a newer, expensive camper. Of course the extremely poor quality craftsmanship could be duplicated in a wood-framed cam...
Forum Discussion
Dave Pete,
I can see why you are so touchy about quality coming off a very bad experience.
We haven't had any such issues except for one RV unit of the many. Since 1965 we've had many TT's, a class B, 2 - class C's, 3 - 5th wheels (all Carriage's), 3 - Class A's (2 were big Allegro's), 8 - truck campers (last 3 were Lance's). Only one of the 8 was poorly built and had quality issues and was certainly not one of the Lance's. The "bad" TC is in the next paragraph. 2 of our 3 Lances have gone to Alaska etc and one was also driven in every US State but Hawaii and all but 3 Provinces of Canada and over 140,000 miles on the road. All 3 have been used/slept in Canada and the U.P. of Michigan in the dead of winter in lower than -10F and nothing has ever frozen up and very warm and comfortable at night. We've constantly had a min of one TC owned as they are so versatile and we'd tow a boat (16' to 27') so often in summer as Michigan is a true "Water Wonderland" with over 11,000 inland lakes and more than 3200 miles of Great Lakes shoreline! CG's, Harbors and boat launches everywhere! No one RV type is best for all use and that's why we always had 2-4 different RV at any time since adding our second RV in 1968.
Our problem TC! The purchased new 11-1/2' Caribou truck camper. Looked nice but leaked bad around the door from the roof on down and didn't know it until the rear frame rotted out in only 6 years. Then switched to Lance and what a difference and so easy to see why they always sell many times the TC units than their nearest competitor! The Caribou also had constant intermittent electrical problems and very poor insulation. The dealer really did his best but Fleetwood simply thumbed their nose at us even at Edgerton, OH at the factory where it was built and them seeing the extreme rot. All our many RV's were purchased new except for one TT and nearly all were cash purchases.
The rest including our 2007 Sunline Solaris TT that we sold a couple months ago had ZERO quality or structure problems. None of our Carriage 5th wheels or our Lance TC's ever needed or had any repair done other than replace light bulbs.
One Carriage 5th wheel was owned and used for 16 years - 1991 Carriage 36' Chaise model with 3 axles and a 18,000 lb GVWR before a tree fell on it and totalled it. Not hardly Carriage's fault! Never needed or were any repairs done to the RV and it was used extensively in summer and was then parked on acreage we owned in Northern Michigan in the national forest with full hookups we installed for fall and winter. It was used nearly every weekend for a getaway and/or snowmobiling etc.
We are in Florida in our 29' custom built 5th wheel by Carriage presently and I doubt we'll ever sell it but our kids migghht! A long story as to why it was custom built but I'll just say it was built to my specs as agreed to by Clarence Yoder the founder and owner of Carriage before he sold it in about 2000. It's first and a one of a kind and insulated etc the way I wanted! Call it: "The experimental unit" as that's what is was and was the tested in a thermal chamber unit and I'll leave it at that.
Not one repair done until last spring after a tornado went over us in Florida the end of Feb and some large branches fell butt end first and ripped the rubber roof in 6 places. Patched it to get home and our ins paid for the roof totally.
Big differences in entry level RV's and high end RV's and so true with most manufacturers. Some are poorly engineered, designed, and built and aslo with materials used. You usually get what you pay for! Yes, there are some manufacturer's building junk but it's so easy to weed them out and reputation, word of mouth, and your full visual inspectation is huge! One thing to always bear in mind is that a manufacturer who only sells in small numbers should have a very small number of complaints while tha high volume manufacturer by the same standard would likely have so many more due to pure volume. There's a reasonor reasons a sales leader and especially one who has been the leader for decades remains the sales leader! It sure wouldn't be because they put out poor quality and have competitive high prices. Pay less, expect less!
Hope you find what you want but you may well not!
I can see why you are so touchy about quality coming off a very bad experience.
We haven't had any such issues except for one RV unit of the many. Since 1965 we've had many TT's, a class B, 2 - class C's, 3 - 5th wheels (all Carriage's), 3 - Class A's (2 were big Allegro's), 8 - truck campers (last 3 were Lance's). Only one of the 8 was poorly built and had quality issues and was certainly not one of the Lance's. The "bad" TC is in the next paragraph. 2 of our 3 Lances have gone to Alaska etc and one was also driven in every US State but Hawaii and all but 3 Provinces of Canada and over 140,000 miles on the road. All 3 have been used/slept in Canada and the U.P. of Michigan in the dead of winter in lower than -10F and nothing has ever frozen up and very warm and comfortable at night. We've constantly had a min of one TC owned as they are so versatile and we'd tow a boat (16' to 27') so often in summer as Michigan is a true "Water Wonderland" with over 11,000 inland lakes and more than 3200 miles of Great Lakes shoreline! CG's, Harbors and boat launches everywhere! No one RV type is best for all use and that's why we always had 2-4 different RV at any time since adding our second RV in 1968.
Our problem TC! The purchased new 11-1/2' Caribou truck camper. Looked nice but leaked bad around the door from the roof on down and didn't know it until the rear frame rotted out in only 6 years. Then switched to Lance and what a difference and so easy to see why they always sell many times the TC units than their nearest competitor! The Caribou also had constant intermittent electrical problems and very poor insulation. The dealer really did his best but Fleetwood simply thumbed their nose at us even at Edgerton, OH at the factory where it was built and them seeing the extreme rot. All our many RV's were purchased new except for one TT and nearly all were cash purchases.
The rest including our 2007 Sunline Solaris TT that we sold a couple months ago had ZERO quality or structure problems. None of our Carriage 5th wheels or our Lance TC's ever needed or had any repair done other than replace light bulbs.
One Carriage 5th wheel was owned and used for 16 years - 1991 Carriage 36' Chaise model with 3 axles and a 18,000 lb GVWR before a tree fell on it and totalled it. Not hardly Carriage's fault! Never needed or were any repairs done to the RV and it was used extensively in summer and was then parked on acreage we owned in Northern Michigan in the national forest with full hookups we installed for fall and winter. It was used nearly every weekend for a getaway and/or snowmobiling etc.
We are in Florida in our 29' custom built 5th wheel by Carriage presently and I doubt we'll ever sell it but our kids migghht! A long story as to why it was custom built but I'll just say it was built to my specs as agreed to by Clarence Yoder the founder and owner of Carriage before he sold it in about 2000. It's first and a one of a kind and insulated etc the way I wanted! Call it: "The experimental unit" as that's what is was and was the tested in a thermal chamber unit and I'll leave it at that.
Not one repair done until last spring after a tornado went over us in Florida the end of Feb and some large branches fell butt end first and ripped the rubber roof in 6 places. Patched it to get home and our ins paid for the roof totally.
Big differences in entry level RV's and high end RV's and so true with most manufacturers. Some are poorly engineered, designed, and built and aslo with materials used. You usually get what you pay for! Yes, there are some manufacturer's building junk but it's so easy to weed them out and reputation, word of mouth, and your full visual inspectation is huge! One thing to always bear in mind is that a manufacturer who only sells in small numbers should have a very small number of complaints while tha high volume manufacturer by the same standard would likely have so many more due to pure volume. There's a reasonor reasons a sales leader and especially one who has been the leader for decades remains the sales leader! It sure wouldn't be because they put out poor quality and have competitive high prices. Pay less, expect less!
Hope you find what you want but you may well not!
