Experience needed: New RV delam bubble on rear wall

Soundguy, thanks for the great info and pics. I wasn’t mislead, just not completely informed. A thread and discussion like this may help someone in the future.

Cajunwoodsman wrote:
I tried not to post the brand but didn’t realize it made a difference. This new TT is a 2018 Coachmen Freedom Express 231RBDS.

I hate to be the bearer of this news but your new Coachmen Freedom Express only uses Azdel on the side walls and none on the rear at all. If you were told otherwise you were misled.

Here are a couple of pics I took myself at my own Coachmen dealer of Freedom Express which was in the shop for a new rear wall ... different model than yours, earlier model year, but your wall won't be any different - no Azdel.

Bobndot, thanks for the response. Very thorough. You’re right, it’s not ideal, but I hope the manufacturer will make it right. I did email the manufacturer service rep the same day I notified the dealer as a matter of record. No response yet, but hopeful and will call if 72 hours goes by without a response.

Sure, having to wait for repair is disheartening, but we saved for 3 years while serving overseas for this layout and put faith in this brand. Now back in the states, sure we’d hope to spend a couple of weeks this summer seeing some cool sites, but waiting a little longer for something we’d like to keep for the long haul is not always a bad thing.

I tried not to post the brand but didn’t realize it made a difference. This new TT is a 2018 Coachmen Freedom Express 231RBDS. The rear wall is the aft end of the rig and not a sidewall. The aft wall does not appear to have waves when looking at an angle, only the bubble. The shower is the only item opposite the wall of the bubble. I’d be grateful to know if the aft wall of this coach is not made with the same material as the sidewalls for this brand/model.

Completely expect the manufacturer warranty to cover it. But don’t know what to expect in terms of type of repair and time of repair.

The dealer should have found this and did something about it before he sold it to someone.

I'm sorry this happened to you . I have been down this road 4x and this is what I found on a positive note. I think it will be resolved for you but there is going to be some down time.

IMO, you have only had this a week and that's a major factor to reduce the chance of the mfg trying to wiggle out of a warranty claim by trying to put the blame on you.
This will be taken care of, the dealer or mfg will repair it by replacing the entire wall which will take time if it has to be returned to the mfg. It would be transported both ways at their cost. It can take a few weeks or a few months.

The process:
In a perfect world the dealer will contact the mfg with your VIN# to make this repair ....or have them 'authorize' the repair 'IF' he can do it himself.
If that's the case where he makes the repair himself, he would need to wait for materials to be shipped and this is where a time issue could arise for you.
The mfg.'s like to combine martials for various jobs on one truck and this might take some time to make up an order large enough to be cost effective. It costs more money to make a separate shipment and they do not like to do it.

What I found : Depending on what kind of relationship the dealer has with the mfg. will depend on their reply.
Depending upon the reply, if you have to, you will make the phone call yourself to the mfg yourself to demand action to be taken. They tend to respond better to the customer who complains opposed to the dealer yelling at them , where they hang up on him.
I do not think this will happen in your case, but just in case, I figured that I would give you all this info in one blast.

I know this breaks a person heart to have this happen to a brand new unit but I think it all will turn out to be repaired back to 100% at no cost to you .
I wish you the best.

B n D

You don't mention the brand. When most claim "Azdel" what they don't bother to mention is where they used Azdel. Hardly any use it everywhere. It's a lot of marketing hype. You also said "rear wall". On a lot of trailers the rear wall is not a laminated assembly like the sidewalls but simply a layer of filon hung on a substrate. You can go on dealer lots and if you look at a slight angle you'll see the waves in the rear wall which is how it left the factory.

Now if you're talking about the rear area of the sidewall, look inside in that area for a cabinet cleat or something else mounted in that location. They often use to long of a screw and it pushes the assembly apart, if it doesn't come all the way through.

If it is delam on a new rig the only true fix is having it returned to the factory for wall replacement. Anything else is a band aid fix and I for one would not accept it on a new rig.

It was sold as a new not used 2018 TT from the dealer. RV was delivered to dealer Jan 2018 and purchased by me 8 days ago.

Completely expect the manufacturer warranty to cover it. But don’t know what to expect in terms of type of repair and time of repair.

Is the a new tt or just “new to you”? If the former then manu. should cover it. Did dealer gave any kind of warranty not a new one?

If it’s typical glue failure, what’s the process to fix?

Typical delam. Glue failure. Fix? Open it up and look. Could be water leak or simple glue failure. There is no way of knowing until you look.