Nervous about ending up with a mass produced junk box.

[brianosaur]

First timer ready to go to Hershey next week.
Looking into 27'-31' BH TT.

Reading & researching up the wahzoo for weeks now.

Floorplans, weight, towing, tow vehicle, ratings, GCVR, GWR, hitches, appliances, power, water, awnings, slides, hookups, dumping, aluminum or fiberglass, maintenance & storage, tires, cover, space to store at home, ect. .....aaaaaahhh!

Once I got past all the how to's, what to's and pretty surface stuff I got looked into construction and manufacturing.

Watched the Jayco speed build video on youtube and my jaw dropped.
It looks like a mass produced speed built junk box!

Reading thread after thread leads me to believe the following, whether it is true or not:

- Most TT are made this way.

- This is the industry standard, quality control sucks and that's what dealers are for.

- Reviews can be found on every manufacturer where some say they are horrible and others just love them.

- Repairs are part of owning an RV, suck it up and deal with it.

- Maintenance is key and due diligence will prolong the inevitable.

- Water damage is a 'when' not an 'if'.


So am I being paranoid?

[noteven]

The build quality / structural integrity RV owners want / oem ad promises:

Clicky

What the RV buyer gets for 20 years at $103 a month:

Clicky

[Walaby]

OP... Unfortunately, there is no avoiding ending up with a mass produced piece of junk. The only question really is, how bad of a junk pile is it.

It's unfortunate, but the way it is. Add to the equation that you TT is basically experiencing a rolling earthquake every time you get on the road, and things are going to break. Do the best you can inspecting everything you can. But, you won't catch everything. For example, a taillight that kept failing on a friends TT. After we pulled the taillight out for the second time, traced the ground and found a ground wire that was tied into the bundle with only a single thread of the wire left. Simple fix, but the builders don't care.

Just be prepared and you won't be disappointed.

Mike

[SidecarFlip]

Mortimer Brewster wrote:
For the OP: Before you sign any papers, check everything over very carefully. You should find very few problems unless it was built on a weekday.

I like your humor.....:B

[Mortimer_Brewst]

For the OP: Before you sign any papers, check everything over very carefully. You should find very few problems unless it was built on a weekday.

[SidecarFlip]

BizmarksMom wrote:
I'm a backpacker, too. Because you mention that.... what kind of campgrounds are you interested in? If your preferred campsites involve dirt roads, you'll want to steer clear of the ultra-lights. Those trailers are not meant to leave pavement. I beat the snot out of a Keystone Bullet before trading it in on my Nash.

I don't have a TT. I have a TC in a Ford F350 4x4 diesel crew cab that can get me way back in the woods if necessary. 90% of my camping is off pavement and usually in the woods. Mine is a pop-up, hard sided with a retractable top for clearance. I like the TC because I can take it anywhere and park it on the street in one parking space and not have to plate another unit and I keep it in the garage during the winter.

[drsteve]

toedtoes wrote:

brianosaur wrote:

John Wayne wrote:
AS a first You may dump a lot of money on a new unit then decide you don't like camping. go used for the first unit.

We've been tent camping for years and I have gone backcountry backpacking many, many times. (Backpacking is what real boondocking is all about. -LOL)

In fact, but forgive me, when I say -*tongue in cheek*- I dont believe RV'ing is really 'real camping' at all. 🙂 ...it's rv-ing

I doubt "movin' on up" to an RV's gonna discourage me!

I am just at the stage in my life that I'm done with all the work and prep involved in tenting.

I agree to an extent. When you move in increments (tent, tent trailer, small TT, etc.), then it's really not a big deal.

However, going from a tent straight to a large TT, you may find the change too big and you don't enjoy it anymore. You will find that you are much more closed off from the outdoors and you lose that "camping" feel.

You might try renting for a weekend and see if you like a large trailer.

A good friend and his wife went from a tent--a big tent, to be sure, with cots, heat, etc--to a 30+ foot TT. They love it and can't believe they waited so long to do it.

[Snowman9000]

drsteve wrote:

SidecarFlip wrote:

rjxj wrote:
Good reason to be paranoid and remember, a lot of people come on here with 2 or 3 year old rigs with water damage. It dint just start, they are just seeing the result of the leak that was always there. They are bound and determined to ride that Amish thing right into the ground aren't they!

Amish ride horses for the most part...or bum a ride from a Gentile.

English. Amish call the rest of us English.

Beat me to it.

[drsteve]

SidecarFlip wrote:

rjxj wrote:
Good reason to be paranoid and remember, a lot of people come on here with 2 or 3 year old rigs with water damage. It dint just start, they are just seeing the result of the leak that was always there. They are bound and determined to ride that Amish thing right into the ground aren't they!

Amish ride horses for the most part...or bum a ride from a Gentile.

English. Amish call the rest of us English.

[tatest]

It gets hard to create "quality" using the assembled box structures conventionally used in mass-production RVs. There are RVs built differently (look into Casita, Oliver or Bigfoot trailers) but these are relatively expensive, and the construction methods make it difficult to build the wide range of sizes and floorplan variations buyers are looking for.

[brianosaur]

BizmarksMom wrote:
I'm a backpacker, too. Because you mention that.... what kind of campgrounds are you interested in? If your preferred campsites involve dirt roads, you'll want to steer clear of the ultra-lights. Those trailers are not meant to leave pavement.

Hope to look into TT with flex suspensions and hopefully shocks if possible.

The one we usually hit a few times a year is 40 mins away. Flat highway driving to get there. Paved campground 'streets' and hardpack dirt sites.

Others, locally, have dirt 'streets' in and around the campground.
Will take it real slow when Im in there. But its usually 5 minutes off pavement to the site.

Prob eventually going to go out and about. Not looking into backroad dirt boondocking by any means.

Mostly, looking for a TT to visit family campgrounds so my DD(9) has campground friends to ride bikes, have watergun fights and go crazy on the playground with.

[BizmarksMom]

I'm a backpacker, too. Because you mention that.... what kind of campgrounds are you interested in? If your preferred campsites involve dirt roads, you'll want to steer clear of the ultra-lights. Those trailers are not meant to leave pavement. I beat the snot out of a Keystone Bullet before trading it in on my Nash.

[SidecarFlip]

Being an Eagle Scout many years ago, I spent many, many, many nights (and rainy days) in tents. I didn't particularly enjoy it either. Always seemed as though when I went to a camp out, it rained. Rain follows me so having an RV now, I can sleep without getting soaked, cook a meal without having to deal with wet wood and actually take a shower and go to the toilet without having to dig a hole. The luxury of it is outstanding...

Tenting is fine for youngsters, not so good for adults.

[brianosaur]

toedtoes wrote:

However, going from a tent straight to a large TT, you may find the change too big and you don't enjoy it anymore. You will find that you are much more closed off from the outdoors and you lose that "camping" feel.

Well, pretty much after our last 5 day-er in a tent we were done. It took a day to prep and load. Four hours to set up at the campsite. (...yeah I go overboard with the amount of everything we bring). Three hours to break down. A day to unpack, put away and clean.

I am guessing 16 hours of labor total?

That last trip made me done. We only went once this whole summer. In the end, the work load became more unbearable then the camping enjoyment. No way we could do that for a weekender.

The scales of work input vs. pleasure output tipped on the side of "No more".

Told the DW, it's either a TT or I am done for good with campgrounds.

...and neither of us wanted that. 🙂

[brianosaur]

toedtoes wrote:

Even with indoor storage, you can come back to a destroyed trailer. A leak found after one rainfall can be fixed relatively easily for the most part. A leak found after an entire winter of storms is a lost cause without rebuilding.


And yes, plan on maintenance and repair work. Just like when buying a house. Things break. Preventative maintenance is cheaper than repair. And so on.

I plan on parking it on the side of my house. Gravel parking area. Tires on plywood. Will get a cover for fall-early spring.

Repairs and maintenance I expect. I am home contractor and can pretty much fix anything and everything in a house. (...and YouTube is a wonderful thing if I cant). Pretty much I'm a hands-on guy, who owns most every tool. Not afraid to get my hands dirty or repair/maintain things.

That being said, I don't want to spend $25k on a huge p.o.s. that I have to constantly deal with. Minor repairs after a few years aren't a big deal to me. Major structural failure, like wall delamination, is.

If most everything can be tweaked and maintained to prevent huge issues, fine. I am pretty anal-retentive when it comes to my home maintenance, detail, and inspection; so I doubt I will be any different with an rv.

[toedtoes]

brianosaur wrote:

John Wayne wrote:
AS a first You may dump a lot of money on a new unit then decide you don't like camping. go used for the first unit.

We've been tent camping for years and I have gone backcountry backpacking many, many times. (Backpacking is what real boondocking is all about. -LOL)

In fact, but forgive me, when I say -*tongue in cheek*- I dont believe RV'ing is really 'real camping' at all. 🙂 ...it's rv-ing

I doubt "movin' on up" to an RV's gonna discourage me!

I am just at the stage in my life that I'm done with all the work and prep involved in tenting.

I agree to an extent. When you move in increments (tent, tent trailer, small TT, etc.), then it's really not a big deal.

However, going from a tent straight to a large TT, you may find the change too big and you don't enjoy it anymore. You will find that you are much more closed off from the outdoors and you lose that "camping" feel.

You might try renting for a weekend and see if you like a large trailer.