I went to visit my motorhome yesterday. The paint appears to be complete and it looks nice from what I could see. They had the water running on the roof again. I have to say that they are doing lots of testing, which is good. The real test of how it will keep water out will come 6 months or a year down the line after it has been driven a lot and the front end has had plenty of opportunity to twist and flex. I hope the changes they made will stand the test of time. I will certainly monitor the situation as time goes by. Because of the water running, I wasnโt able to go inside but from looking through the front window it appears that they have not started the interior finishing work but that shouldnโt take long. We are VERY anxious to go camping!
CT51 wrote:
I removed the trim piece and all was dry, but the insulation was missing, so someone was in there indicating it must have leaked at some point. CT51
If that insulation is gone, your are correct that you have had water at some point, which means that the bunk deck has also been wet. While you have that piece of trim off, peek inside at the front of the bunk deck and see if you have any mold there. Mine had a lot of black mold on it, and if you see it on the outside then you can bet it is also on the inside. That deck is hollow. Black mold is nothing to mess with, especially in a small, enclosed area like a motorhome. Check it out. Its a hard area to see. I found mine by using a camera to shoot back against front of the bunk deck. (See Picture.)
CT51 wrote:
Just wondering how the repairs came out?
Thanks for asking because tomorrow will make 9 weeks that my Leprechaun has been in the shop. It is still there. I spoke with the dealer yesterday and they are starting to paint and do the finishing stuff. After 5 fix attempts and close to a cumulative 4 months in the shop, I hope they finally have it right. Part of the problem with mine is that it leaked so much that there was water damage that needed to be repaired. Pretty sad for a coach that I bought new in March. I sometimes wonder if this was the last coach that came down the line and they just used what was left over.
My suggestion for you is to keep a very close watch on the area above your cab. On the front side of your bunk deck there is a piece of vinyl covered trim that that connects the bunk deck with the front wall. It is maybe 6 or 8 inches wide and is only held in place by a few screws. Take those screws out and leave them out. (See picture.) The trim will stay in place without them. Each time it rains, drop that piece of trim down and it will expose the bottom inside of the front fiberglass cap. There is some fiberglass insulation in there. That is where the water pools and once it gets deep enough it seeps into the bunk deck, filling it with water and ruining it. Even it the cap is sealed around its edge well, I think that the normal flex causes it to open up and there is nothing to stop it. The best thing you can do is inspect those seals and monitor the cap for water. It is either a very poor design or very poor workmanship or poor quality control or all three. I hope you don't have an entertainment center in the cab over. I don't know what would happen with that. After my warrantee is up I seriously think I will install a drain plug in the bottom of the front fiberglass cap so I can drain it like a cooler. If that water doesn't pool up and just runs through it wouldn't cause nearly as much damage.
There are a lot of these Leprechauns out there I am sure and you are lucky to be aware of the problem. My dealer has told me they have had several and they have to work on them before they go out. I feel sorry for the owners that discover it a year from now. They will be told that it is their fault for not doing proper roof maintenance is my guess. If you know other Leprechaun owners or potential owners, let them know.
I apologize in advance for this long post. Yesterday I went to visit my Leprechaun in the dealers shop. As of yesterday it has been there 7 weeks. That is 2 payments to Bank of America and 7 missed camping weekends. On the bright side, I do think they are doing it right this time. When I got there I found my coach outside the service area with a lawn sprinkler running on top of it. I spoke with the technician who has been working on it and he told me that they have been watering it since Thursday and they intend to let it keep running the rest of the weekend. I noticed that the final seal of the trim has not been done and he explained that he was testing the putty tape seal because that is the primary seal, and after he is satisfied that it is holding he will do the finishing seal that makes it look pretty. That way if the outside seal fails, the inner seal will still keep the water out. I went inside and inspected the inside of the cap and it is bone dry. The one thing that this sprinkler test does not test is how everything holds in a driving rain, like it is when you are driving, but at least they are trying. The young man working on my coach seems to want to make it right and I appreciate that. I think there is a good possibility they will have it ready for me to pick up next weekend but I could be wrong. I donโt want them to rush it through the finishing stages since I have waited this long. I want it right. Next Saturday will be 8 weeks in the shop this trip.
The dealer received notification that I am filing a claim under Floridaโs Lemon Law this week because I received the return receipt, so I assume that Coachmen received theirs too. According to my attorney, filing that claim is important even though it appears they will fix the water problem. If that problem reoccurs in the future we will be able to go to arbitration at that time. I hope we donโt have to do that. In a lot of ways I feel fortunate that this water issue manifested and I discovered it when I did. I honestly believe that this is a wide spread issue in this coach that most folks wonโt discover until they are out of warranty and they will face this on their own. If I was paying for this repair I have no idea what it would cost, but I am sure it would be thousands.
Two weeks ago the dealership approached me about trading the Leprechaun for a like new used class A they have, and I considered it. I looked at the class A, which is nice, but it has a 75โ bed that doesnโt work for my 6โ5โ body, so I declined that offer. They also carry Tiffin products at one of their other locations. Tiffinโs are nice coaches and they all have 80โ beds, so I put together an offer where they would give me in trade for the Leprechaun exactly what I paid for it, and then in a second transaction I made an offer on a new Tiffin. The offer on the Tiffin was somewhere around 25% off of the MSRP which is probably low but it was a place to start. My expectation was that they would make a counter offer of some sort but instead I received an email from the general manager where he stated that I was looking for them to buy back the Leprechaun for what I paid for it and then some. Well duhhh, I wasnโt looking for more than we have in it, but exactly what we have in it, and why wouldnโt I? I bought a new product from him with certain expectations that have not been met as of yet. It was after that response from him that I filed the Lemon Law complaint.
