Forum Discussion

Camper_G's avatar
Camper_G
Explorer
Sep 19, 2016

Thoughts on new coachmen Catalina trailers?

Hey yall,

My wife and i are considering a new coachmen Catalina travel trailer. I'd like to hear from folks that have a newer model of this rig. The good and the bad. Seems well built to me, except that the roof is osb and not plywood on the Catalina line.

Thanks
G
  • I really like the Coachmen trailers, good quality units. Of course like any other, not perfect. But overall quite acceptable, IMO. The Azdel walls are a really nice feature, pretty much zero chance of delamination if you ever get a leak.
  • Thanks for your thoughts. The Catalina has aluminum sides so i don't think it has that material in it. I don't like the osb roof, but i checked and the bed and dinette bottoms are plywood and not isb.

    Hard to believe the coachmen and wildwood xlite are both Forrest river products, the xlite has osb in those areas.
  • the catalina is more comparable to the wildwood and salem line,we looked at the catalinas before we bought our shasta and they are your typical mid level aluminum trailer just like our shasta.
  • Ok thanks. We looked at a Shasta on Saturday and they seemed nice also, we just preferred the catalina
  • Camper G wrote:
    Hard to believe the coachmen and wildwood xlite are both Forrest river products ...


    Why? The Catalina is a Coachmen RV product, built alongside Freedom Express and Apex trailers, with no relationship to any other Forest River products which are manufactured by other different companies under the FR umbrella which is owned by Warren Buffet. Coachmen RV is it's own entity and makes it's own decisions regarding product lines offered and processes used to manufacture those products.
  • SoundGuy wrote:
    Camper G wrote:
    Hard to believe the coachmen and wildwood xlite are both Forrest river products ...


    Why? The Catalina is a Coachmen RV product, built alongside Freedom Express and Apex trailers, with no relationship to any other Forest River products which are manufactured by other different companies under the FR umbrella which is owned by Warren Buffet. Coachmen RV is it's own entity and makes it's own decisions regarding product lines offered and processes used to manufacture those products.


    Actually, Coachmen was bought by Forest River in 2012 IIRC. While it maintains it's own identity, it is and does now fall under the FR umbrella.
    We looked at the Catalina when we were looking for a replacement for our totaled unit. The local dealer had very good prices,but told us it would be 6 weeks to 3 months before the model we were interested in would be shipped. By then we were looking at mid-December 2014.
  • Camper G wrote:
    Hard to believe the coachmen and wildwood xlite are both Forrest river products ...


    SoundGuy wrote:
    Why? The Catalina is a Coachmen RV product, built alongside Freedom Express and Apex trailers, with no relationship to any other Forest River products which are manufactured by other different companies under the FR umbrella which is owned by Warren Buffet. Coachmen RV is it's own entity and makes it's own decisions regarding product lines offered and processes used to manufacture those products.


    gaymeadowsman wrote:
    Actually, Coachmen was bought by Forest River in 2012 IIRC. While it maintains it's own identity, it is and does now fall under the FR umbrella.


    Exactly what I just said. :R Coachmen RV is a separately run company under the FR umbrella, has it's own management, makes it's own decisions. Products it manufactures have nothing to do with products from other FR companies. And FWIW, Coachmen became part of the Forest River group of companies in Dec 2008.