Fiberglass Cracking on my 2015 Montana

[omextreme]

Well my shop just called. My rig is been in for repairs for a broken wall support for 13 weeks and they just found another issue. They found a series of horizontal cracks in the fiberglass above the bedroom slide. They have not assessed them yet but I am curious what yall think. Cosmetic or more serious?

[LarryJM]

omextreme wrote:
I posted this on the Montana forums as well,

Just to update the group. Keystone has not returned my calls however they did call the shop. They want the shop to cut into or cut out (not sure which) the fiberglass and patch the cracks. I am horrified by this idea but the shop says it is not a big deal, they have body guys and a paint both large enough for the whole unit to go in to be repainted.

I think I have to let them at least try the repair, they need 10 days to do it so we shal see.

In the mean time I think i need to get my ducks in a row on the laws concerning "Lemon" Status.

My question is what states lemon laws prevail, Purchase state or registration state? I am assuming the state where i bought it (Florida) Not my state (Georgia) Also does it matter that I have not actually registered it yet? We bought it in September and by the time the Title arrived the unit was banished to the RV shop so I have not had the motivation to get it Titled in GA and pay the registration fees and Taxes.

Thanks
Adam

1. AFAIK lemon laws DO NOT apply to vehicles like trailers

2. You better double check on this whole lack of titling and registration thing. You might discover you're in trouble here for failing to register and title the vehicle withing the prescribed time frame after you acquire it. You local/state tax laws might also be an issue. These entities don't really care if you drive it or not, they care about the time you have actually owned the vehicle.

Larry

[laknox]

Veebyes wrote:

mileshuff wrote:
Before fixing I'd like to know the root cause of failure. There must be a reason why it cracked. Not fixing that cause is heading for a repeat.

X2. Fiberglass panels do not simply crack without a reason.

As I said before, the whole front needs to be skinned to find out the =real= reason that it's coming apart.

Lyle

[Veebyes]

mileshuff wrote:
Before fixing I'd like to know the root cause of failure. There must be a reason why it cracked. Not fixing that cause is heading for a repeat.

X2. Fiberglass panels do not simply crack without a reason.

[mileshuff]

Before fixing I'd like to know the root cause of failure. There must be a reason why it cracked. Not fixing that cause is heading for a repeat.

[omextreme]

I posted this on the Montana forums as well,

Just to update the group. Keystone has not returned my calls however they did call the shop. They want the shop to cut into or cut out (not sure which) the fiberglass and patch the cracks. I am horrified by this idea but the shop says it is not a big deal, they have body guys and a paint both large enough for the whole unit to go in to be repainted.

I think I have to let them at least try the repair, they need 10 days to do it so we shal see.

In the mean time I think i need to get my ducks in a row on the laws concerning "Lemon" Status.

My question is what states lemon laws prevail, Purchase state or registration state? I am assuming the state where i bought it (Florida) Not my state (Georgia) Also does it matter that I have not actually registered it yet? We bought it in September and by the time the Title arrived the unit was banished to the RV shop so I have not had the motivation to get it Titled in GA and pay the registration fees and Taxes.

Thanks
Adam

[Veebyes]

Nobody likes bad publicity. Make the Montana owners goups aware of it. Make Keystone owners groups aware. Make you better business or chamber of commerce aware of it. Make Keystone aware & the dealer aware that if resolution is not reached by a set deadline all of these groups will be informed of the situation & copied in on the history of it.

That should get some attention.

Right now that unit is unusable dead money to you.

[topjimmy]

I have had 3 Montana's a 2004, 2012 and my 2015 and all have been great 5er's and no way is this normal and has be taken care of by Keystone, instead of this forum you should vent your concerns on the Montana Owners forum... http://montanaadministrator.forumco.com/ with about 12 thousand great knowledgable long time members and they will give great advice and the right folks to contact about addressing this problem,Keystone kicks out about 4-5 thousand JUST Montana's a year and it sounds like you got a bad one. good luck and go to the right Forum that might help ya

[eDUBz]

Lemon law it. They have to figure out why its cracking not just fix it as it comes. My buddy recentley hadsimilar situation the trailer was just all tweaked the door the slides etc on bumper pull. the dealer fixed it and the problems kept happeing, he had to get very aggressive with thr dealer he ended up with a brand new fifth wheel at a very heavy discount, like some one mentioned you have to make it your hobby to get this straightend out.

[blofgren]

DutchmenSport wrote:
Last time I had to use a lawyer, (for a non-RV related matter) ... they charged $250 and hour. To give a simple answer as "Go get a lawyer!' IS NOT the answer for some folks. It does not take very long to rack up $3000 - $4000 worth of lawyer expenses .... REAL FAST! (I know, been there, done that!)

The OP needs to work the dealership. Sounds like the dealership IS trying to fix the problems!

x2. As long as they are trying to fix it, be persistent but polite. Honey attracts more bees than you know what.

[NHIrish]

omextreme wrote:

NHIrish wrote:
Sorry...but allowing them to sit on this for 13 weeks has not helped your situation. You need to get very assertive, very fast.

Thankfully the unit has not been sitting waiting for 13 weeks. This unit has actually been in the shop a total of 17 weeks for 3 major slide/structure/wall related repairs. I have several dozen emails back and forth between keystone.

The total time approved so far on my unit from keystone is almost 60 hours of shop labor before the latest crack... Most of the time lost seems to be waiting for the shop to hear from keystone, waiting for parts etc...

Quite frustrating ordeal.

It sure is...I would suggest that you contact Keystone directly. They are a lot like an onion...the first couple of layers of customer service reps have to be peeled off before you get anywhere. I learned that it is very important to get to a decision maker and to hold that person accountable. You may be quite surprised once you get a management type that is authorized to resolve your issue without red tape and bs. Hope it gets better soon for you.

[omextreme]

NHIrish wrote:
Sorry...but allowing them to sit on this for 13 weeks has not helped your situation. You need to get very assertive, very fast.

Thankfully the unit has not been sitting waiting for 13 weeks. This unit has actually been in the shop a total of 17 weeks for 3 major slide/structure/wall related repairs. I have several dozen emails back and forth between keystone.

The total time approved so far on my unit from keystone is almost 60 hours of shop labor before the latest crack... Most of the time lost seems to be waiting for the shop to hear from keystone, waiting for parts etc...

Quite frustrating ordeal.

[NHIrish]

Sorry...but allowing them to sit on this for 13 weeks has not helped your situation. You need to get very assertive, very fast.
Yes... I too have had major Keystone issues. Took over a year, but they traded me out of it. In our case, they agreed to pay transport to and from the factory...and still couldn't resolve the issues.Get names, dates, call everyday...know what you want and tell them clearly...it is an uphill battle but you can win be being firm but reasonable...good luck.

[Veebyes]

Gelcoat & those fiberglass panels are very thin & very brittle.

My guess is that it is caused by stress. Stress caused by frame flex. Frame flex caused by? Well the whole thing will have to be taken apart to search for frame faults. Very labour intensive.

Continue to play nice as long as you can but if this has been going on since last year IMO it should have been resolved one way or another long ago.

By now I think that I would be expecting replacement or full refund.

[TopSlink]

I have a 2005 with no issues except decals, but in your case I would give it back to the factory for replacement my personal opinion is you have a frame or body frame problem or maybe both good luck