Need Help With Brand Decision

[G-Strad]

Been looking for a TT toyhauler. All have been between 25-28 feet. Here are the brands:

Forest River - Shockwave and Sandstorm
Eclipse - Attitude and Stellar
Pacific Coach Works - Sandsport, Powerlite and Rage'n

All have similar floorplans, weights and specs.

I am wondering which of these brands have the "better" reputation for a quality build. I understand they are all fairly similar in construction. I am preferring the glass sided trailer. Would this be a good decision or would the aluminum sided be a better way to go? Looking for any and all opinions with reasons.

Pacific Coach Works appears to be the smallest company of the ones mentioned, any positive to this?

I have also looked at the Genesis Supreme, looks like a nice trailer and have read good things about this small builder. Thoughts?

Thanks for the time in helping me out.

[otrfun]

OP, don't think you can go wrong with any of these brands. We were looking at all of these in 25-28 ft. bumper-pull versions over the last two months. IOO (in our opinion), the Genesis Supreme and Eclipse had a slightly better fit and finish than their competitors.

Aluminum siding is less expensive upfront, easy to dent, harder to clean, and cheaper/easier to repair. Smooth fiberglass siding is easier to polish/clean, more dent resistant, more expensive upfront, and more expensive to repair. Choose your poison.

In the end we decided to pass on the bumper-pulls and went with a small 32 ft. 5th wheel toy hauler for about $10k more.

[G-Strad]

Well, we happened on an Evergreen Amped 27FS. Hadn't seen them before. We had a really good look at it. Very nice. Frame is what they call a Z-frame. Front bedroom has a step up too it, and to my surprise, I could stand up without bending over, and I am 6'1". Huge amount of head room, only thing, in bathroom, I can't even reach the vent to open it. Guess a remote fan-tastic fan would be installed. Lots of storage due to stepped frame. Lots of cabinets inside. Seem to run a little more that comparable trailers, not as proud as the Lance 2612, but more $$$ none the less. Anyone have more insight on the Evergreen product??? They also make the Reactor line in a standard style frame configuration.

[ThomasFour]

Mrs. O'Mordha wrote:

ThomasFour wrote:

Mrs. O'Mordha wrote:
We have a Pacific Coachworks TH, the Powerlite 27 FXBL and I cannot say how happy I have been with the customer service. We had a few issues with the cabinet doors warping, snap on window covers failed and the fuel pump gears swelled up. We didn't want to take our TH to the dealer to have the work done (3hr drive) so Pacific Coachworks shipped me all the items I needed to replace them myself, and on my own time. The warranty items were all very minor as well.

Your comment about "fuel pump gears swelled up" caught my eye. We are in Phoenix area and our fuel pump does not work (locks up and blows fuse) when its hot. As soon as the weather cools, the pump works fine again. I've never bothered to explore the cause much because I just deal with the fact I can't pump out fuel when its over 90 or so.... Any insight from your experience?

Yeah, it's a very common problem with the gears as they are plastic, it happened on our last TH as well. It's only like $20 for new gears and not hard to replace, there is a ton of information on these forums if you do a search, which is where I learned of the fix. I think I also read that the red fuel stabilizer is believed to cause more swelling than the green?? I think your problem sounds different though, when our gears swell, the motor still runs and fuses are all good just no fuel comes out.

Interesting. Thank you!

[Mrs__O_Mordha]

ThomasFour wrote:

Mrs. O'Mordha wrote:
We have a Pacific Coachworks TH, the Powerlite 27 FXBL and I cannot say how happy I have been with the customer service. We had a few issues with the cabinet doors warping, snap on window covers failed and the fuel pump gears swelled up. We didn't want to take our TH to the dealer to have the work done (3hr drive) so Pacific Coachworks shipped me all the items I needed to replace them myself, and on my own time. The warranty items were all very minor as well.

Your comment about "fuel pump gears swelled up" caught my eye. We are in Phoenix area and our fuel pump does not work (locks up and blows fuse) when its hot. As soon as the weather cools, the pump works fine again. I've never bothered to explore the cause much because I just deal with the fact I can't pump out fuel when its over 90 or so.... Any insight from your experience?

Yeah, it's a very common problem with the gears as they are plastic, it happened on our last TH as well. It's only like $20 for new gears and not hard to replace, there is a ton of information on these forums if you do a search, which is where I learned of the fix. I think I also read that the red fuel stabilizer is believed to cause more swelling than the green?? I think your problem sounds different though, when our gears swell, the motor still runs and fuses are all good just no fuel comes out.

[ThomasFour]

Mrs. O'Mordha wrote:
We have a Pacific Coachworks TH, the Powerlite 27 FXBL and I cannot say how happy I have been with the customer service. We had a few issues with the cabinet doors warping, snap on window covers failed and the fuel pump gears swelled up. We didn't want to take our TH to the dealer to have the work done (3hr drive) so Pacific Coachworks shipped me all the items I needed to replace them myself, and on my own time. The warranty items were all very minor as well.

Your comment about "fuel pump gears swelled up" caught my eye. We are in Phoenix area and our fuel pump does not work (locks up and blows fuse) when its hot. As soon as the weather cools, the pump works fine again. I've never bothered to explore the cause much because I just deal with the fact I can't pump out fuel when its over 90 or so.... Any insight from your experience?

[Mrs__O_Mordha]

We have a Pacific Coachworks TH, the Powerlite 27 FXBL and I cannot say how happy I have been with the customer service. We had a few issues with the cabinet doors warping, snap on window covers failed and the fuel pump gears swelled up. We didn't want to take our TH to the dealer to have the work done (3hr drive) so Pacific Coachworks shipped me all the items I needed to replace them myself, and on my own time. The warranty items were all very minor as well.

[ThomasFour]

We have owned our 2008 Sandstorm for 7 years. It has not had an easy life with a family of 4 with big dogs. We have probably pulled it 20,000 miles and exposed it to every kind of camping you can imagine. We have had no major problems and I would not hesitate to buy another one!

[eDUBz]

I have a 2013 powerlite we love it. The only issue we had was the head unit wasnt playing dvds, sent it back to the dealer and they swapped it out to the newer style unit with bluetooth etc. Other than that this TH has been problem free. We have the smooth fiberglass siding its still nice and shiny except the front cap is a lil dull but nothing to worry about, its easier to clean and wax. I beleive the sandsport and powerlite is aluminum construction and the rage'n is wood. Just like idomyownstunts mentioned about the sandstorm and shock wave being twins, same as rage'n and powerlite.

[AzRocket]

I just traded in my 2010 Keystone Energy for a 2014 Genesis. Only had it 2 weeks & out for a weekend trip. So far, quality seems to be pretty good. This thing sure has some "wow" factor to it. Time will tell how it holds up, but the family is enjoying it so far.

[IDoMyOwnStunts]

I have the Shockwave and not much has changed for the new ones. We really like it. We had a couple of warranty issues when we received it. It had a scratch in the bedroom ceiling, the stabilizing jacks weren't affixed to the frame very well, and I had a USB charger go out. Those have all been fixed. Had a small leak on the black tank wash flush (freshwater side) that I just tightened. That's it.

The tankless water heater is a love/hate relationship. It's finicky to adjust, but once you get it right, it's nice to not worry about running out. It's definitely noisy. You can opt for a regular 6 gallon.

If I had to do it again, I would've got two benches instead of the recliners. But we love the room in the kitchen and the walk around queen. The toilet's a little tight. The shower is awesome.

I haven't had any issues towing it other than my tow vehicle being blown around, which I'm in the process of rectifying.

The Sandstorm and Shockwave are twins. If you have any other questions about them, let me know.

[Dick_B]

I'd search this Forum for the brands mentioned AND contact the RV Consumer Group, www.rv.org, for their more objective reviews.

[jandjbaums]

We have the stellar, nothing fancy and all has been good so far. Good luck and enjoy!

[Got_Dirt_]

You're all set as far as a TV is concerned. I'm the original owner of a 2005 Attitude TH. Still own it and still riding strong. That said, I can also tell you about all the problems I found in it as well. New ones should be so much better these days as the company was only like a year or two old back then.

[G-Strad]

Most of these have a GVW of 10k lbs. This should be ok for my truck. Have a 97 F350 with the 7.3, did some towing mods on transmission as well as trans cooling. Only has 62k miles on it. GCWR for truck is 20k lbs.