RV Problems
I see a lot of posts on this site and others about problems that folks have with their "new" campers (of all classes). I wonder how much of this is unrealistic expectations on the part of new RV ...
Forum Discussion
toedtoes wrote:
I think the problem is with the inconsistency of the quality - not the lack of quality.
With other purchases, you have a pretty good expectation as to where the weaknesses will be in the quality of the item. With RVs, there is nothing to base your decisions against - the issues aren't consistent throughout a brand or a model. They are all over the place.
X2
I am an engineer who has worked on setting up assembly procedures.
Cars and Trucks are made on fixtures and jigs which ensure every vehicle is made almost exactly the same, assembler-independent.
RVs are one-offs where the assembly quality is almost entirely assembler-dependent.
The relatively low number of each RV sold pretty much make it not cost effective to create expensive fixturing for assembly.
As long as this is true, there will never be consistency of quality from one trailer to another.
Imagine two identical trailers. Both assemblers have a staple gun and pound away with it as fast as possible. One of the trailers has 30 of the 50 staples actually go into the hidden support behind the piece they are stapling on. The other trailer has only 10 of the 50 staples hit their target. Guess which one will hold up longer?
The materials that arrive at the assembly factories are actually pretty well designed. As others have stated, it's the assembly that is the wildcard here.
I have wondered if it would be a good idea to sell a "kit" to those of us who would assemble our own trailer. The kit would include all necessary parts to build the trailer. Then we could decide to upgrade fasteners, etc as we deem necessary during the assembly we are performing. We could do extra steps, like putting truck bedliner coatings on frames for example.
Steve
