Shocked at lack of quality

I attend the Hershey show about every year, and yes, OP, you're expectations are too high. Even at the higher end, trailers still boil down to varying degrees of junk. Airstream comes to mind as one I thought seemed of higher quality, but the proof there would be in the pudding as well. Some of the things we all take for granted as "just the way it is" are many times just poor execution rather than downright junk. Everything is hurried and slapped together, but truthfully there's only so much "quality" you can expect at the typical price point. It's still a trailer that gets dragged down the road. After 6 years and many miles our entry level is still holding up pretty well, but we've had several issues, too. No one is immune.