The Kodiak's last shot at me

Last June we bought a Kodiak 279RBSL TT. It was my first RV. The day after delivery, the belly pan was filled with water. The plumbing had three large leaks. The dealer informed me that they fixed one other leak before the PDI. Not a great start. During the season we discovered that the thermostat was miscalibrated so that the AC cut off when the room was 85 degrees, even though the thermostat was set to 65. The cabinets over the couch had a large gap between the facing and the cabinet itself. To top it off the shower leaked from the beginning. It turns out that the shower pan was not leveled by the factory.

All of these defects were corrected by the dealer. We have a great dealer. Last month we decided to trade up and get a fiver. The main reason was our fear that the Kodiak had more issues in store for us.

The past weekend we took the cover off the Kodiak and began getting things in shape for the trade in. We opened the slides and moved stuff from the kitchen and bathroom. On Sunday I went to close the slides. The kitchen slide worked as expected. The large slide only moved on one side. The other side remained extended. I called the dealer and explained what happened. The service manager thinks a shear pin may have broken. In any case it isn't something I can fix. Because the dealer is so great, he is sending one of his techs to my house later this week to fix it and then drag it back to the dealership. That saves us having to haul it back for the trade.

I can't help but wonder what I would do if that happened at a campground in remote Washington. It doesn't matter that the problem is covered by the warranty. What in the world could I do in this case?

Up until now I have been pretty mellow about the numerous issues. We enjoyed our season and I find I like being a RV'er. But the truth is that our Kodiak is seriously flawed. The engineering is marginal at best. This isn't entirely the fault of the manufacturer. People want light weight trailers they can haul with their light trucks. Building a 27 foot trailer with two slides and lots of features that weighs only 6,000 lbs. requires using light materials and closely spec'd components. It doesn't help that the TT was built to hit a price point as well. Combine that with Indiana's notoriously sloppy workforce and each ultralight is a disaster waiting to happen.

As you probably know, Dutchmen is no more. Its brands have been folded into the Keystone organization. Keystone is marginally better, but still suffers the same problems as the rest of the industry.

Now I have a fiver, unfortunately built in Indiana, but this time no weight or cost compromises have been made in its structure. It cost nearly three times as much as the Kodiak, but it's worth it.

I think the Kodiak knows we are getting rid of it. It gave us the RV finger by having the slide fail at the last minute.

One very good thing came out of our first season: we discovered that we have a great dealer. We could have saved a few bucks on each of the trailers. There are lower prices out there. But that is more than covered by the amazing service we get. The sales and finance organization went out of their way to help us get exactly what we want. The service department has gone above and beyond to help us. How many dealers come to your house to pick up your TT when it is in trouble? We have been dealing with Fife RV and using its Bonney Lake Washington service center. Thank you for rescuing us!

tim_and_amy
Explorer
Mar 01, 2014
I have owned a 32BHSL Kodiak, 2013 model. We had several issues out the gate. many people on here said to calm down and deal with it. The truth is, the only real major problem is the poor design of the kitchen slide bottom. They put the same material as the siding between the rollers and the slide. Guess what, on summer of use and the rollers cut right through it. The dealer had to pull the entire slide out to repair it and add more rollers. But other than my nit picking other small things, it is and has been a great trailer. But these things are like cars in the respect, that you can get a lemon. It is up to you to keep your foot in the butt of the dealer to push Kodiak to fix them. But don't count your chickens, because dealing with Kodiak and waiting for parts, is like buying a Ducati and waiting for parts. If just frustrates you. But overall, I would buy another Kodiak. However, they now make the same exact floor plan in their sister brands at a lower price point.
MM49
Explorer
Mar 01, 2014
One thing I've never seen on the front door of a RV manufacture is a quality certification. Every automotive supplier I’ve visited have a lobby showcase filled with certifications and awards. The RV industry doesn't care period.
MM49
3_0charlie
Explorer
Mar 01, 2014
This summer will be #3 for my Kodiak 263. No warranty work done, nothing loose, no leaks. I did three 'repairs' since I did not like the design and manufacturing: 1. the external electrical box, right behind the A-Frame. Unprotected galvanized steel is not the proper material, and upon replacing it with an external weatherproof box I found a loose marette - on the main 12V line. 2. The shower pan was not structurally supported around the drain. I built a wood support around the p-trap. 3. The same shower pan and walls were not sealed at their base. Quick bath silicon treatment took care of that.

Other than that, all other equipments are working as intended (AC, electrical, slide-out, plumbing).
colliehauler
Explorer III
Mar 01, 2014
People shop price not quality.
canoe_on_top
Explorer
Mar 01, 2014
Interesting post. Over the years, there have been many posts about shoddy work and poor QC. It seems a fact of life that RVs in general are made pretty cheaply. It also seems that most of them function pretty well and some from just about any manufacturer are total lemons. I don't think it is reasonable to compare RVs to cars or trucks or watches. The construction is completely different. We are currently residing in our '08 Arctic Fox during significant rain storms in San Diego. After towing it here from Denver in brutal crosswinds, snow, rain and bumpy roads, I was reflecting on how it is more remarkable that RVs work as well as they do than that they have problems. To build something that is, essentially, a house with heating, plumbing, cooling and electrical systems as well as doors and drawers that have to function in an environment light enough and flexible enough to tow down the highway seems pretty remarkable. The fact that many of them do this for many years is even more so. Of course they require some maintenance, (did you ever own a boat?), but I expect my TT to continue to function with reasonable upkeep for a number of years to come.
Bears_Den
Explorer
Feb 28, 2014
I have had my 279 for about a year now, no warranty work had to be done. The only thing I was saying in my earlier post is that both complaints I have read on this model came from the west coast. Not to say that the east coast hasn't had problems with this model, I just haven't read any.
bodyshop_bob
Explorer
Feb 26, 2014
Great thread. The OP is correct about the appalling quality in most (if not all) RV manufacturers. However, factories produce exactly what the buying public wants. I laugh out loud every time I walk thru a new unit on a sales lot and I see the fancy poster describing in great detail how well the unit is made and how awesome the materials.
I learned by trial and error that when hiring auto body repair techs if they talk about their work quality they usually don't have any. When a tech held me accountable in the interview and wanted to know what tools and assets we had that would make him more productive, I usually had a tech that delivered quality repairs. I don't want to know about your warranty program. If you built stuff that worked your warranty costs would be pretty low.
Seattle_Lion
Explorer
Feb 26, 2014
westend wrote:

FWIW, the removal and installation of a slide shear pin is not that difficult. It is a matter of driving out the sheared pin with a drift and driving in the new one with a hammer/drift. Repair time is not that great, on the order of an hour. Kudos to the dealer for handling it like they did.

Easy to replace a shear pin if you know where it is and can access it.
RTrider
Explorer
Feb 26, 2014
You can't judge quality by the price you pay. Three friends that have high end 5'th wheels ($75,000 to $100,00) and they all have some major to very bothersome problems, some the manufacturer dispite trying can't fix. Also have another friend with a $700,00+ motorhome that is just getting back from having the whole roof replaced and all the interrior wood mouldings near the ceiling replaced as well.

I think it has more to to with luck than anything else.

My lightweight trailer has had a few minor plubing problems, but was able to fix them myself witha little effort.

Good luck with you new purchase!
westend
Explorer
Feb 26, 2014
I don't think you can lay quality control issues entirely on one Mfg or one model of TT. Yes, the OP's experience would indicate to him what names he'll avoid in the future but there is at least one owner of the same, in this thread, that is having good luck.

I've worked at fixing or repairing things for over 50 years. My conclusion is that anything and everything made by man can fail in some regard. It is the interval between failures or problems that denote quality for most.

I'm in agreement about the overall state of affairs with quality from RV mfgs. In most cases, this is driven by the market. Truth is, very few folks would, or do, pay a premium for RV's. We are conditioned to buy by price. If a mfg. can speed construction or use marginal materials resulting in a lower price, he's going to sell more units. Hopefully, the choices made in mfg. will give the owner a few years of satisfaction and there won't be a blemish on the company name.

I own a TT that is 43 years old, next month. If modern sealants would have been used in it's construction, it would have been like new when I bought it. Most of it was. At what point in the lifetime of the item is the failure of a component enough of an issue to label it of poor quality? What severity of failure is big enough to label a whole State, a workforce, or an industry to blame?

FWIW, the removal and installation of a slide shear pin is not that difficult. It is a matter of driving out the sheared pin with a drift and driving in the new one with a hammer/drift. Repair time is not that great, on the order of an hour. Kudos to the dealer for handling it like they did.