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Michelle21's avatar
Michelle21
Explorer
Jul 18, 2018

Did we buy a lemon

Did we get a Lemon?

We purchased a brand new 2018 Rockwood ESP 1970 tent trailer 3 days ago. It was towed from dealership to our home (5mins away) when we we excited to open our new toy it wouldn’t work on one corner. Looked underneath and this is what we see.


Photo 1

Photo 2

Mod Edit: Fixed your photos into links
  • Lemon? No, one defect does not make a lemon.
    RV's are put together like junk and this sort of thing is common.
  • Michelle21 wrote:
    Did we get a Lemon?

    We purchased a brand new 2018 Rockwood ESP 1970 tent trailer 3 days ago. It was towed from dealership to our home (5mins away) when we we excited to open our new toy it wouldn’t work on one corner. Looked underneath and this is what we see.


    Photo 1

    Photo 2

    Mod Edit: Fixed your photos into links


    Why didn't you look under the trailer at the dealer? Did you open the trailer at the dealer? Do you take any responsibility?
  • Inspect and test everything at dealer’s before signing.
  • Not a lemon. Just an RV that needs repair.

    May want to revisit the full sequence to open the top. Most RVs have systems that will break or rip something apart if a certain manual check sequence is not followed.
  • SidecarFlip wrote:
    SidecarFlip wrote:
    All I have to say is... Forrest River quality assembly.... not.


    I do wonder how long the untreated OSB floor will last when driving in the rain. That OSB will deteriorate quickly into a soggy mess.

    OSB has to be by far, the worst sub flooring material available...cheapest too.


    AND the electrical wiring that is running threw the frame with no support, or grommets.. How long will it take to create a short ?
  • I have a 2017 Rockwood 1970ESP. I bought a pop-up because your always throwing money into maintenance of a trailer and am tired of it. So, I downsized from a 35' trailer. (Which I still have an use as a ManCave). I paid around $10,500.00 for the pop-up - so if I get 5 years out of it, it is worth it to me. I've had some problems with it - like loose screws and the tac welding that holds the steps on, in the front one let loose - so we bolted it on. Other than that so far so good, until the next problem. Hope you get yours squared away.

    Bill
  • Sidecarflip can attest, he knows the whole story. The condensed version. Ordered a Rockwood Roo from factory. When it arrived at dealer it was a total POS. Needed $5K worth or warranty repairs before signed on the line, and all were authorized. Npw were talking a trailer with an MSRP of 31K that the deal was 20K. Thats 25% folks. Rejected it. Ordered another, took 4 months, and the 2nd was almost perfect figuratively speaking. Now on its 3rd season and sort of happy with it.

    Its very much the luck of the draw but Forest River is off the list next time.
  • ford truck guy wrote:
    SidecarFlip wrote:
    SidecarFlip wrote:
    All I have to say is... Forrest River quality assembly.... not.


    I do wonder how long the untreated OSB floor will last when driving in the rain. That OSB will deteriorate quickly into a soggy mess.

    OSB has to be by far, the worst sub flooring material available...cheapest too.


    AND the electrical wiring that is running threw the frame with no support, or grommets.. How long will it take to create a short ?


    LOL: My 10 year old OSB floor looks like new, same as the OSB floor looked in my last 2 travel trailers. They're all made like cr@p.
    The electrical wiring has the same grommets my previous 2 travel trailers had. They're all made like cr@p.

    Somebody forgot to unlatch a corner before raising the roof, that's all. Doesn't make it defective or a lemon, just an oops but either the dealer or buyer should have noticed this before taking delivery.

    Adam
  • Learn to repair it yourself, its a simple job, most dealers will have it for up tp 3 months for a simple repair and might not get done very well, save the warranty if any for the big repairs, also welcome to the RV life if you are a newbie, these toys need lots of maintenance if you want fun.
  • A lemon is something that can't be made right after many attempts to repair. What you have may be a manufacturing defect that needs repair. It is not a lemon until it cannot be repaired.

    Or it might be an engineered solution to a functional issue you don't understand. Does the popup not pop up, or does it work OK and the details just look strange to you?