Was discussing RV's with a friend's son who works at a CW in South Carolina and we were taking about RV's in general with no particular brand discussed...
He told me that quite a few units come in on trade that have water intrusion issue because owners never maintain seals. He told me that most of them go to thr wholesaler because of the cost to remediate and a good percentage of those are beyond repair and eventually get scrapped.
We discussed some easy ways to determine water intrusion without actually removing things like carpet. I showed him my trick, if you will, of using a non-contact IR thermometer to inspect the interior walls and note the temperature differential (usually 3-4 degrees) between areas with water intrusion and dry walls. Rotting frames and water logged insulation grow mold in dark enclosed spaces and the mold generates heat and an IR thermometer will show that, much like a thermal imaging camera will but at a lower cost.
We also discussed the current lack of quality in all RV's. He told me he sees numerous obvious defects in newly delivered units and they are swamped with warranty issues, hence long waits for issues to be addressed.
He said there is an acute lack of qualified RV techs, asked me if I was interested in working at a local CW in as much as I'm pretty well versed in not only finding issues but repairing them. I passed, I'm retired.
We also discussed the CW affiliated Seal Tite System where an RV has a positive pressure applied to it and seal failure can be determined. I strongly recommend it at least yearly.
2015 Backpack SS1500
1997 Ford 7.3 OBS 4x4 CC LB
