Buying an "Orphan"?

[brookside]

We have been looking for small, around 20', travel trailer and came across one we like, the Evergreen I-Go. When I tried to google the company, I found they went out of business, how sad for the workers and owners of their product.

The deals are attractive, but I realize that there will be no factory support and only dealer support. Has anyone dealt with this? I am really torn as to whether to go with it or choose something else especially since quality control at the factory can be poor.

Thoughts? Maybe simply play it safe and go for a company in business paying a little more?

[rvnut777]

My orphan Sunland RV turned out to be ok but I had trouble finding manuals for it. I finally found them at a site called motorhomemanuals.com. It helped a lot. Looks like they have lots of others too.

[Steve_B_]

I bought my trailer out of Vancouver, shipping it to NY state back in '01. The company went belly up after building about 25 of the units. I wouldn't have had any service from them anyway but it was the trailer that I had to have. Local trailer dealers have serviced it for me without a problem. If you find the trailer that is right for you, and you've inspected it or had someone knowledgeable take a look at it and it's ok, then grab it.

[SoundGuy]

Canadian Campers wrote:
The dealer offered a one-year in house warranty on all appliances.

:h Appliance warranty comes from the manufacturer of that appliance, usually 2 or 3 years in the case of a fridge, air conditioner, furnace, etc so what's the point of this "in-house warranty on all appliances"? These same appliance manufacturers also offer (at a cost of course) extended warranty coverage on their products, nothing to do with the trailer manufacturer or dealer at all.

[Canadian_Camper]

We just recently bought an I-Go. The dealer was upfront about the Evergreen company having gone bankrupt. The dealer offered a one-year in house warranty on all appliances. We have no structural warranty, but if something ever failed structurally, it would go through our RV insurance policy anyway. We saved a lot of money buying this unit, and we loved everything about it, except for the lack of a propane oven, which we can work around.

[Tundra2084]

We bought our Evergreen 5th wheel about a month before they folded, not knowing they were going to fold. A little pissed at the dealer who we think knew. BUT in the end, as has been said before......every unit becomes orphaned once the "factory warranty" is over, usually a year and if you are handy, then you will fix most of what others send their units to the factory for. As for major body work etc. It has been my experience that after market places actually do better work and can fabricate almost anything that is required. We love our Evergreen Bay Hill and have found that the quality is actually higher than our last couple of units. having said that though, our present unit is considered a full time unit and they seem to be a lot sturdier

[doc_brown]

Not a problem if the unit is up to your standards and the price is right. My 2004 Country Coach class A was orphaned 7 years ago. I bought it new. I never took it to the dealer or factory for maintainence, I use truck terminals for chassis servive and DIY for house issues.

[SH]

After having several RV's some used others factory ordered, we eventually went shopping for an "orphan" (Alpenlite). Ended up with a 2001. This worked very well for us...the best rig we have had thus far.

[4x4van]

SoundGuy wrote:

4x4van wrote:
If you are any kind of a DIYer, then an orphan RV is a non issue, as 99% of what's found in and on all RVs are common across the board.

A complete fallacy ... ask the owner of a Coleman / Fleetwood folding trailer (of which there are still hundreds of thousands) about getting parts to repair their trailers which were orphaned when the company went out of business in 2011 and you'll get an earful. :E Simply put, there's very little left, even Beckley's Camping Center which purchased most of the remaining stock at the time of bankruptcy is running low. Buy one of these Coleman / Fleetwood folding trailers and you'd better darn well hope you don't ever need parts for it. :R Want a tank cover for your R-Vision trailer that is molded to match the trailer's front wall profile? ... good luck with that, start searching the wreckers. :W No thanks, I'll hedge my bets and stick with a non-orphan. 🙂

No, it isn't a "complete fallacy". Most of what is in/on those folding trailers is common to ALL trailers and RVs. Do you actually think Coleman/Fleetwood manufactured their own stoves? Ovens? Water heaters? Water pumps, furnaces, refrigerators, cabinet hinges/latches, LPG tank & regulators, taillights, hitch coupler, stabilizer jacks, light fixtures, toilet, black/grey valves, water lines, faucets, converters, monitor panels, fuse centers, switches, etc, etc, etc? Yes, the 1% that is proprietary can indeed be problematic, but is the exception, not the rule. Some body panels, cabinets, etc, but even most of those can be repaired or duplicated by good body shops, woodworkers, or DIYers, and those parts are by far the minority of what typically breaks down and needs repair/replacement.

If I was buying new, then obviously I would want a non-orphan for the factory warranty. But used RVs don't have a factory warranty anyway, and ALL RVs can and will become orphans in time. There are thousands of old orphan RVs on road right now; they aren't junked/crushed simply because a proprietary part was unavailable at some point in time; they were fixed. 27 years of driving orphan RV(s), and it was never an issue for me.

Is an orphan the right choice for you? Well, do you fix a leaky faucet in your S&B home, or do you call a plumber? There's your answer.

[colliehauler]

When mfg change models they only have X number of spare parts for that model. When they run out they do not mfg more. They all become orphans at some point.

[tinner12002]

broark01 wrote:
Look, unless you trade up every few years you will have an "orphan". Companies, styles, interiors and exteriors come and go but the guts of campers pretty much stay the same. If you are a DIY'er don't worry about buying an "orphan". If you depend on the dealer for every issue, then do not buy an orphan.

I agree with that 100%

[tinner12002]

I inquired about an evergreen product that has been discontinued and the dealer said they were selling with a 2 yr warranty at no additional cost so that might be something to look at also.

[Lantley]

I agree with soundGuy above. 99 percent of parts maybe available.
But it is the 1 percent that is unavailable that will cause the grief.

[SoundGuy]

4x4van wrote:
If you are any kind of a DIYer, then an orphan RV is a non issue, as 99% of what's found in and on all RVs are common across the board.

A complete fallacy ... ask the owner of a Coleman / Fleetwood folding trailer (of which there are still hundreds of thousands) about getting parts to repair their trailers which were orphaned when the company went out of business in 2011 and you'll get an earful. :E Simply put, there's very little left, even Beckley's Camping Center which purchased most of the remaining stock at the time of bankruptcy is running low. Buy one of these Coleman / Fleetwood folding trailers and you'd better darn well hope you don't ever need parts for it. :R Want a tank cover for your R-Vision trailer that is molded to match the trailer's front wall profile? ... good luck with that, start searching the wreckers. :W No thanks, I'll hedge my bets and stick with a non-orphan. 🙂

[Stranger]

Don't.