This is a picture of something I havenโt seen in a while. It is my motorhome sitting on its pad at my house! I was notified that I could pick up my motorhome on Wednesday, December 11, 102 days since I dropped it off the last time. Because we have to work, we arranged to pick it up yesterday, on Saturday.
We have had a little rain so I went out to the motorhome this morning and pulled off the front bunk trim so I can keep an eye on the inside of the front cap. We didnโt get a lot of rain but I am delighted to report that as of this moment it appears that I am dry! I will continue to monitor it as time goes by. The test will be if it remains watertight after it has been baked in the sun and flexed by driving. I have my fingers crossed.
I asked the dealer what they actually found and repaired on the roof to correct the problem and really didnโt get a clear answer. I do know that they remounted the front cap with some sort of sealant under it this time and repaired several areas along the side rails that they located with the pressure machine. I think that this has been such a long process and has probably involved enough people that I will never know everything they did.
I still have a couple of things that I need to get squared away. The plastic trim that goes around the front bunk cut-out area looks pretty sad because it has been taken in and out a lot, so I really want that replaced. They also did a small amount of damage to the vinyl trim on the dinette. Iโm sure that happened during the inside repair work. We will just start another punch list I guess, but those things are minor as long as the leak is fixed. I think where we are at now is just the normal little bugs that need to be worked through on a new RV.
One thing that has my wife very upset is the awning. She is religious about putting it out and drying it when it gets wet so it doesnโt mildew. (She is the one who gets stuck cleaning it.) Once she saw all of the water testing that they were doing on the motorhome she said that they need to be drying the awning out, so I relayed that message to the dealer. Well, when we picked it up yesterday the first thing we did was put the awning out and it has several pretty large areas of mildew. Not good.
On the good side, one of the other problems we had with the motorhome was the shades that were in it. They simply would not hold a pleat. Coachmen has replaced those with an upgraded shade that I believe will work much better look great. I had also mentioned to Coachmen that I wished we had ordered our coach with the side by side recliners that are an option rather than the sofa, and I was surprised to find out that Coachmen did ship those recliners to the dealer and they were installed on Friday which was very nice and I do appreciate. They will be nice.
I work in an industry where customer relations and communication is critical, and I think that lack of communication has been the biggest downfall in my experience so far, both from Coachmen and the dealer. When a problem like this is in the works, so much can be avoided by keeping the customer in the loop and letting them know what is going on. When the customer hears nothing, he always assumes the worst.