Coachman Leprechaun 319DS

I have 2013 Leprechaun 317SA and do like it, however I have had serious water leak issues that required it to be is the shop 123 day the first year I owned it. The 319 is basically the same unit, especially in the cab over area. That is where the water intrusion problem seems to be in these motorhomes. I have had communication with quite a few other Leprechaun owners with the same problem, plus the technicians at my dealer had told me in confidence that the issue is wide spread and continuing. If you are serious about buying one of these used, insist on inspecting the inside of the front cap for wet or missing insulation and damage to the bunk deck. That is the easiest way to tell. I would also be skeptical of this unit on such a fast trade off. The person may have bought it, discovered the water problem and decided to quickly cut his losses. I finally have mine water tight, or so it seems, but if I had known then what I know now I would have run the other direction. If you need more information please feel free to email me directly at Larry.r.hobbs@gmail.com.

NekkidFish wrote:
Gary, I did research the the other side as well, and found a lot of people who have been very satisfied and have had no problems.

Okie dokie..thanks for the response.


Gary Haupt

Gary, I did research the the other side as well, and found a lot of people who have been very satisfied and have had no problems.

You have read the experiences of others, as posted on here. You appear to have decided to roll the dice. because, my friend, that is what you are doing. Not that the analogy doesn't apply to most any purchase, but in this case, you have several people that are, right now, themselves, having huge issues with the Leprechaun they bought and the absolute lack of manufacturers willingness to address serious and ongoing water ingress.

I understand people buying them,..people that haven't done any research and bought..but you have done research. You have found them to be lacking and yet, you are going to buy. Please explain that to me. You have involved your spouse in this too, right? They know what others have experienced?


Gary Haupt

My parents had a Leprechaun many years (like 30) ago. They drove it all over the country for about 10 years and never had a problem. But that's a long time ago, and Coachmen may be owned by different folks by now.

I never try and bash any product. We all love our units and no manufacturer is immune from having production issues. I have friends who have had a Leprechaun for 4 years. The last two years they have had ongoing fresh water plumbing/pump issues which for whatever reasons have not been resolved satisfactorily resulting in constant leaking and an inability to have running water in the unit. Were it not for the fact they have a dealer winterize it for them I might suggest that may have contributed to the issue. As for me and my Sunseeker, I navigate issues as they come up as well. It is not a perfect world.

Interesting info Tatest! Thank you!

Coachmen has sold a lot of C motorhomes into the rental market, where operators have enough experience that they will avoid products that have engineering defects or consistently bad build quality. I think complaints about RV problems represent a small proportion of the examples sold and in use. If anyone was building everything badly, they would not long be in business.

What is more important to a manufacturer's reputation is how well they step in to take care of the occasional problems, which are more often with purchased components than with basic structure. That would be during the warranty period, and if price preferences have you buying out of warranty, then warranty service is no longer relevant.

There are a few brands, mostly low volume manufacturers, that are consistently better in build quality, better in service and support, and even a few that build radically different structures from mass production C's (Coachhouse, BornFree, Lazydaze). Their methods are higher cost, and for something of equivalent size, price premiums might be 30 to 100% new, and tend to increase as the RVs get older because the buyers seeking these know their value. Note that for two of these three, slideout rooms are not an option; this keeps most buyers from considering the brands, but the manufacturers believe that slideouts are a serious enough compromise of structural integrity that they will not change the way they build a RV in order to accomodate the feature.

Off that soapbox. You have to figure out your price point, what you want with respect to layout and features, and shop for the model and age that meets your price point. If what you want is mass production, it doesn't matter a whole lot whether it is Forest River, Jayco, Winnebago, Coachmen before it was Forest River, Gulfstream before they got out of the business, or one of the several Thor brands manufactured by Thor's Fourwinds company before it got reorganized as Thor Motorcoach. All of these brands have been used in the C rental market, where value for money, and durability in hard use, determine what gets bought.

It is a lot like buying cars for use as taxicabs, or pickup trucks or vans for fleet use. A number of manufacturers produce adequate products at a similar cost. Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge, Nissan, Toyota all build something suitable. Somebody can find something to complain about in each. But they all get the job done.

NWnative wrote:
We like ours and have had no major issues. Tho floorplan was the deciding factor for us. Used it 2 seasons now so its broken in and going strong.

That is great to hear!

I just joined the Good Sam Club, and will be looking into getting an extended warranty, since it won't come with the dealership warranty.

I do wish I could find more online reviews, but I do appreciate your input, and glad you are enjoying it!!

We like ours and have had no major issues. Tho floorplan was the deciding factor for us. Used it 2 seasons now so its broken in and going strong.