bogeygolfer wrote:
If some company could make a higher quality trailer and sell sufficient quantities at a profit, they'd be doing it.
Sir Lancelot wrote:
I totally agree. We bought a 2011 Earthbound Dillon (26') TT and it is built extremely well with very good quality materials (steel frame, aluminum superstructure, composite floor, roof, and walls, and no wood anywhere). BUT, and this is a BIG but, Earthbound built around 100 units, obviously spent too much on materials and labor, didn't charge enough to make enough profit (even though their least-expensive unit was almost $40K), couldn't afford to pay dealers for warranty work, and closed shop after about 2 years. They tried to "re-invent" themselves as a high end manufacturer with prices 2X higher than before, and I believe did not build one unit after supposedly taking quite a few orders. I guess no one would front them the funds after seeing they didn't make any money on those first 100 units?
Well there's much more to the story. Pilgrim RV, another "better quality" manufacturer, collapsed in 2008 and out of the ashes of that company former principals of Pilgrim formed two new separate companies, Earthbound and Evergreen, both also promising ECO friendly materials and better builds. Certainly the recession didn't help but Earthbound actually collapsed in 2013 when the City of Marion called a $2 million bond loan to the company. AFAIK Evergreen is still around, still building and selling higher priced RVs, so it's not just a matter of selling enough units but how well the company was funded in the first place.
