Forest river travel trailers

We factory ordered a '16 Coachmen Freedom Express last year. We did the 2 hour PDI thing with our very helpful dealer and was surprised to only find two issues. Both of which were petty really, but my wife is very detailed lol.

-There were very faint scratches in the bathroom mirror. Coachmen replaced the glass.

-There were a couple of greasy fingerprint on the fireplace surround that wouldn't come off. Coachmen replaced the entire surround including the frame.

We're heading towards 7,000 miles on it and haven't had any issues since then. Seems like a well built trailer. Their after sales support is top notch.

I just sold my 2013 Salem TT. I owned it for almost 4 years and it was a good trailer. I had a few things come up in the first year that were fixed under warranty and then it was pretty much trouble free.

Buying any trailer at this price point is a roll of the dice.... statistically, you're much more likely to get a unit with few/minor problems but there are always exceptions. These are what you read about on the net over and over again.

The best defense is buying from a good dealer that is close to you. Also, really look the unit over and do a solid PDI. In the end don't let a few internet horror stories scare you away from any brand.

RvingSailor wrote:

IDoMyOwnStunts wrote:
We have a 2014 Shockwave. We like it, but we have had a couple of issues that needed warranty work. The most annoying one was that the leveling jacks were only put on with these small self-tapping screws. The Wood Village Camping World actually stepped up for us on this one and fought with FR on my behalf to put actual bolts on.

Would you happen to know the size and the amount of bolts used to secure the jacks to your RV? Thank you.

Originally, there were two self-tapping screws for each jack, probably 1/2" heads on them. I don't remember exactly. I noticed them because a couple of heads popped off and were lying on the ground at my camp site. There are still only two per jack, but they are 3/4" head stainless steel bolts with nylon thread lock nuts now. I feel that's sufficient to ensure I don't lose a jack.

We had a Forest River pop-up for 5 years and never had a single issue with it. About a year ago we decided we wanted something bigger and went with a Forest River Wildwood 28DBUD. Managed to do 30 nights of camping in 2015 over 6 trips and a few thousand miles of towing. So, one year into it, here are my thoughts so far.

Hits: Love the trailer and the floor plan, it really fits us perfectly. The quality, fit and finish of the cabinets, countertops, doors, windows, etc. is excellent. We have had zero issues with any of the systems like heat, a/c, fridge, slide out, water heater, converter, cooktop and microwave. The wiring (both 12V and 120V) seems to be very neatly bundled and secured. Looks better actually than what the electricians who wired my house did! So far it is holding up very well in all areas, ie. despite all the use it got last summer, there are no areas showing signs of wear or things falling apart/wearing out, etc. With proper care and maintenance, I feel confident that this will continue to be true for many years to come.

Misses: Although the unit was delivered to us spotlessly clean in all accessible areas, once you start digging around in areas that require removing screws to open a panel (like under the fridge where the water pump is located, the furnace compartment, and around the water heater) I found tons of sawdust and construction debris they never bothered clean up. On the first trip we encountered a few minor plumbing leaks due to fittings at the faucets and sink drains that were never properly tightened at the factory. Luckily these were easily fixed by tightening the fittings by hand and they have given us no issues since.

Bottom line: Despite a few little complaints, we love it overall and would buy it again in a heartbeat. I feel that it is excellent value for the money and am confident that with proper care, it will last for many many years.

IDoMyOwnStunts wrote:
We have a 2014 Shockwave. We like it, but we have had a couple of issues that needed warranty work. The most annoying one was that the leveling jacks were only put on with these small self-tapping screws. The Wood Village Camping World actually stepped up for us on this one and fought with FR on my behalf to put actual bolts on.

Would you happen to know the size and the amount of bolts used to secure the jacks to your RV? Thank you.

We love our FR Rockwood Windjammer. Zero issues (or very minor) after nearly 3 years. We found the fit and finish to be outstanding. We just might have gotten lucky though!

We have been happy with our 2013 Rockwood, which we bought new in 2013.

It has been a good trailer overall, and I will consider FR again when we buy our next trailer. I'm not extremely brand loyal, however, and will also consider other manufacturers.

We just bought our Coachman in October and it seems to do fine. Only been camping in it a couple of times and everything does what it should. Most all trailers have issues unless you get into the real expensive units. The forest river forum is a good one. You will get honest answers

We have a 2014 Shockwave. We like it, but we have had a couple of issues that needed warranty work. The most annoying one was that the leveling jacks were only put on with these small self-tapping screws. The Wood Village Camping World actually stepped up for us on this one and fought with FR on my behalf to put actual bolts on. An overhead panel scratch in the bedroom and non-working USB charge ports were the only other issues (both fixed). I haven't had any complaints since those have been fixed over a year and a half ago.

I did have a generator fire while I was doing the monthly run. Carburetor on the Onan 4k was leaking fuel. I saw the fire right away. Put it out before it did any damage. Just melted some wire covers. There's a good reason to start your generator locally instead of remotely.

The good things are how well insulated it is, how well it tows, and how much room it has (toy hauler) even without a slide out.

We had a '15th Greywolf 26dbh for most of a season until a fire at a storage lot... Anyway, from the start, the slide trim and frame hardware kept backing out and would not stay sealed. The blue led strip under the cupboards over the sink never worked. Not impressed by the lack of black tank flush. Black tank clogged easily, I think because of the way it was plumbed. Floor was soft by the main entry door, stepping on the stairs was unnerving. No issue with the bathroom stairs. Other than that, we loved the floorplan. Had a great time with it while we had it. Used the fold down storage on the rear bumper a couple times, but never on road, just for in campsite use.