Under body rust on a Brand New 5th Wheel?

There’s rust and there’s RUST. Which is it? In SoCal however it shouldn’t be much.

Why not disclose brand? The brand police are in disarray.

Depending upon where you RV dealership is located and where the trailer was manufactured, it's possible rust might have started forming already on the frame of the camper. Salt on winter roads, and in the air from ocean front locations will wreak havoc pretty fast.

In my opinion, nothing is better than Rustoleum. It has a rust inhibitor in it. It's more than just paint. You can paint or spray it directly on rusty metal and it penetrates and stops the rust as well as paints.

I've used black spray Rustoleum on all my campers, on the frames. After 5 years, I just did some touch up on my A-frame and exposed metal and steps on my Outback TT. Yes, I used the oil-based black Rustoleum. And this will last for years and years, as it has in the past on previous campers.

Just be glad your dealership and manufacturer agreed to do the paining for you and you didn't have to do it yourself. In about 5 years, you'll need to touch it up.

Yes, rust is normal.

I ran across the same thing. A dealer had the floorplan on a new 5er we wanted. But upon looking, the entire underside metal was covered in rust. Dealer said it was delivered during snow event around factory on salted roads and they would sandblast and repaint. Went shopping and found the exact same model/floorplan at a different dealer a little farther away. No rust at all. And they offered it at a lower price. Bought it. That was 11 years ago and it still has minimal rust.

Our new Arctic Fox is/was so rusty underneath that it's dripping rust and staining the concrete it's parked on.
I've cleaned up some of the most obvious area's and repainted - something I should never of had to do. I used Rustoleum Professional and I used a wire brush on a drill first to remove as much rust as possible. Just spraying over the existing rust will only look good until the warranty is up.
I don't think these manufacturers have any pride in their junk.

Rust happens. Low quality steel in the frame and low quality coating on that frame, probably started rusting before it became an RV.

I like Rustoleum product as well, but I use the catalytic primer, Rustoleum rust reformer first, and then Rustoleum automotive black on top of that. Testing Rustoleum rubberized undercoating inside the wheel well area, in the hopes it stands up to abrasion from road debris better than the enamel paint.

Sounds like a keystone product from all the problems .

Just cause the trailer says new could have a frame up to two years old thats been sitting out in a field waiting to be used

Normal for trailer delivered in winter.

newman fulltimer wrote:
Sounds like a keystone product from all the problems .

Just cause the trailer says new could have a frame up to two years old thats been sitting out in a field waiting to be used

Or a Forest River brand, or Northwood, Grand Design, Lance, Winnebago. To even imply one is somehow better than the other when it comes to build issues is absurd. The unit that popped out the factory door at 9 could be issue free, the one at 9:30 may be a POS. Pick your poison.

If you have a Lippert frame, which most do, it's going to rust fast. They call their paint "E coating". It's watered down paint applied about 1 mil thick by some nose picker hired through a temp labor agency.

Ralph Cramden wrote:
If you have a Lippert frame, which most do, it's going to rust fast. They call their paint "E coating". It's watered down paint applied about 1 mil thick by some nose picker hired through a temp labor agency.

Isn't it also absurd to imply the paint was applied by a temporary worker?
And, if it was applied by a temp worker and it's watered down paint, who is at fault, the manufacturer or the temporary nose picker? :)

Black Rustoleum is your friend. Fortunately, they must match it with the color used on frames as you can hardly tell the difference. I used to hit my old pop up yearly with little touch ups. No problems... And, yes, on my new one I've had for about a month, lots of little light rust places particularly around the welds I am noticing. Lippert frame. You wonder why they put their sticker on it, like they are proud or something.