Any brands out there you would totally avoid?

kodiakcanuck wrote:

Not sure you can compare hand built trailers to Bugatti's :B I'm pretty sure the RV industry pays their labours fairly low rates and I can imagine they are under a LOT of pressure to pump out high volumes of trailers. That has to be the only explanation how a lemon can be pumped out more often then the auto industry pumps out lemons.

Sigh. Then I woke up, crawled out of bed, wiped the sand out of my eyes and read this. Oh, the reality of it all. :(

kodiakcanuck wrote:



What I have seen from the manufacturing process, and those pictures above, it amazes me that trailers even stay together when being pulled down the road...just a metal frame with a bunch of thin walls screwed together...:B

You are so right, but screws? Sure, there are some screws, but a lot of luan is just barely hanging on with those little staples they like to use everywhere. DW had a bunch of stuff on the shelf inside our wardrobe closet and a few days ago, the shelf collapsed. Upon inspection, there were only a few staples holding it in place. Grrr.... On the upside, it will be give me the opportunity to rebuild it with some nice adjustable shelving. Pfft.

I'm pretty sure they hire a lot of one-eyed monkeys working with one hand in their pockets. And I'm pretty sure they use their thumb for a plumb-bob and eyeball straight lines (with one eye). That's the only rational explanation why cabinetry and walls can be so far out or like wavy gravy. I've done lots of cabinetry mods now and things are rarely square, plumb, level or straight. It can be very, very frustrating.

There are a few manufacturers that build better products. Nash and Outdoors RV come to mind and there are a few others. Then there's the rest of them that are all about in the same category that turn out RVs with similar problems on an on-going basis. A BIG problem with the RV industry is the total lack of standards and regulations. RIVA is useless for this. RV manufacturers and their suppliers can build whatever they want and not be accountable to anyone. Did they under-design your frame for example? Too bad, so sad, it's your fault, not theirs. Electrical problems? Plumbing problems? Oh well, get used to it, that's just the way it is. Another thing that isn't good is the lack of any quality control standards such as the ISO series of standards.

It's also not just the quality of a TT, it's also the "quality" of your dealer and what factory support is like.