Roof seals, window and slide seals & caulking

[farmer_s_daught]

I bought a 24' Forest River Evo trailer last April, used it last summer and had it winterized by the dealer end of August,brought it home & parked it in my driveway. I had debated whether to buy a cover for it, but after looking on the forum and around my neighborhood, decided not to. In a 1/2 mile radius of my home there must be at least 20 trailers; only 1 was covered for the winter. Last weekend I noticed that the paint on the front was peeling, as well as the decals. Upon entering the trlr, I discovered a big puddle of water on top of the slide, water on the countertop, evidence of water damage on the walls, and on the floor. Also a foot of the seal on the outside on top of the slide is not there (non-existent.)I called the dealership; they said to bring it in. Then they told me that the buyer is responsible for checking all seals and caulking every 6 months and they're not responsible, but that they'll contact the manufacturer. I think I'm screwed! I purchased a warranty; apparently it doesn't cover seals/paint! At no time did they tell me the seals had to be checked every 6 months, or I would've had them do that. At the time of winterization they didn't mention it either. Now my brand new trailer that cost me $40K may have to be taken down to the studs to fix! The service mgr. said the manufacturers can't crank trailers out fast enough; and they don't care about the little man like me; only the millionaires who buy the huge 3/4 million dollar motor homes. Do I have my head in the sand, or has anyone else had this happen? I feel sick to my stomach. . .Thanks for any and all input. I'm a 63-yr.old female, teacher, single. My dream has always been to own a trailer and camp. Now what??

[farmer_s_daught]

Thanks for your responses. You have to allow the manufacturer and dealer to rectify any problems. If they fail to do so, then one would have to seek legal counsel I guess. I attempted to contact the manufacturer directly at the beginning, but was told by someone at FR that I needed to pursue it through the dealer. Later on, when the dealer was becoming frustrated in their attempts to communicate with FR, it was suggested that I try to contact them. This time I was given the name and phone number of the person in the claims department that the dealer was trying to contact. He was actually very insulting. He informed me that he was waiting for the dealer to submit a 'web claim.' Then went on to say, "You know--web--as in internet--as in world wide web.' Tell them I need them to file a web claim with story and pictures." Yes, I DID purchase a brand new trailer a year ago, and I really think they should have just totaled this one and given me a new one--but the mfgr is choosing not to go that route. You'd think it would cost them way more to sent the trailer back and rebuild it. I really don't have a choice. Unfortunately this is an unregulated industry and there are no lemon laws.

[Paul_Clancy]

She should be happy to not be paying many thousands in repairs. I would be. Nice that FR stepped up. The only thing I would do differently is contact manufacturer directly. Dealers often don't act in the buyers best interest. That has been my experience.

[JimK-NY]

farmer's daughter wrote:
..... I'll basically have a brand-new trailer. I am very surprised and pleased.

This is a sad commentary. You recently bought a brand new trailer. Unfortunately it was poorly engineered and/or poorly built. You have gone through an experience that should never have happened but is all too common. And you are "happy"?

[farmer_s_daught]

Update 3 months later: It's taken 2 1/2 months, but I finally have been offered a solution. The dealership had submitted a claim for extensive water damage to Forest River. 2 weeks ago I was told that FR will address all damage and rebuild my trailer. They said I should go ahead and use is this summer, making note of any more problems, and when I'm done, contact the dealership, take it in, and they will ship it back to Indiana. I'll basically have a brand-new trailer. I am very surprised and pleased.

[winnietrey]

I think the challenge will be for the OP to establish, that it was a manufactures defect, as opposed to damage she caused. You would think the dealer would be of help, in that regard. If so, I would think the forest river warranty would cover that. (defect in manufacturing, for a 1 year period it says) If it was indeed the case where the OP hung the slide up un something, and ripped the seal off perhaps her own insurance would cover it. If that were the case one would think the rip would be jagged, with some other damage.

Don't know, just a thought

[ken56]

The slide rubber gasket is different from caulking/sealant on the seams. She stated that the gasket was short. That just does not happen unless it came from the factory like that. I say go ahead and see what the dealer will do...THEN contact that help line if they will not address the issues that are warranty related....like that short gasket.

I said earlier in my previous post that even if you have the dealer do your service work you see how they try to wiggle out of responsibility with "yeah we checked it and it was ok when it left our lot" so the problem happend after you got it back. Yep, pure BS but they all do it. Things like winterizing they charge $$150 to do and it takes me $5 in anti-freeze and 10 minutes to do on my unit. Outrageous. Its such a huge profit center and a lot of people pay it and get taken IMO. Learn to do some of the maintenance yourself. Utube has plenty of instructional videos and I am sure you could find a helpful someone to show you a few things.

[spoon059]

I'm sure if you read your manual, it specifically states that you must visually check your seals every X months... usually every 3-6 months depending upon manufacturer. Unfortunately, that liability is yours and yours alone once you drive it off the dealers lot.

In regards to a piece of sealing tape on the slideout that is missing, I agree with just about everyone else here... that sounds like a manufacturing defect. Shame on the manufacturer for missing it, shame on the dealer for missing it... ***IF*** it is in fact a defect from the manufacturer.

I would take pictures of the missing sealant on the slide out and send it to the dealer and see what they say. If that doesn't work, I would send those pictures to customer service at Forest River and push them to fix everything.

The manual is very specific about maintaining the seals that are there... I don't think its fair to expect a customer (especially a first timer like you) to know where a seal is missing and properly maintain one that ISN'T there.

I hope you get this fixed and enjoy your camper for many many years. Remember the enemy of campers is water. If you can keep water outside, your camper will last for many years. I know how important this is for the life of your trailer, which is why I spent $2400 getting a Carolina Carport installed in my yard, to keep as much water off the roof as possible. This is also why I will be installing Eternabond Tape over all my seams now that my 2 year warranty has expired. Good luck, please keep us updated about how FR handles this issue.

[westend]

The sad truth is that the RV mfgs nor the dealers care about your post-sale experience that much. It would be assumed that an owner knew about maintenance items before purchase and had a schedule in mind to deal with that. Even your vehicle dealer doesn't call you or care when you need your oil changed or if you want service to any item. Of course, vehicle dealers are happy to do scheduled maintenance and will advise owners when that is appropriate but it in no way assures an owner that everything is maintained or checked at every service interval.

The lower RV dealer maintenance items are dissimilar to vehicle maintenance since there is typically no reference as to a maintenance schedule or an assumed storage condition.

One thing I do know about your RV is that you won't be getting a new one even if your Brother is the AG of your State or is Scott Pelley. You really need to do some research on the care and maintenance of RV's and become proactive on that. As a start, you can contact the Mfg and ask for warranty enforcement but sealants not always included.

If you wish to do some of this maintenance DIY, just ask on this Forum. There are many owners that will help you with that.

[Mortimer_Brewst]

Sealant does not just "come off." As a matter of fact, it's very hard to scrape it off. I can't imagine how a foot of gasket would get torn off. Have you taken pictures? Please post them. This is definitely a warranty issue. I would keep after the dealer to find out how the manufacturer responded. If you aren't satisfied with his response you could always contact Forest River directly. It would also be of benefit to others on this forum to know the name of this dealer who won't stand behind his product.

[farmer_s_daught]

Thanks ken56 and garyemunson. I really had no idea about caulking and seals being checked every 6 months; if they'd told me that I would have had the dealership check that. The svc mgr asked, "did you specifically request that we check the seals when you brought it in to be winterized?" Well, no, because 1) I didn't know to request that and 2)I had no idea the manufacturer put in caulking that wouldn't last more than a few months. Apparently winterizing is simply draining lines, the water heater and putting antifreeze in. When I take my truck into the dealership to be 'serviced', they check everything that needs to be checked for whatever season--winter or summer. Doesn't it make sense an rv dealership would do the same? Why would you want to sell so many trailers and not help your buyers take care of them properly? The svs mgr, when I told him about the foot-long section of seal missing from the top of the slide, said, "Well, did you check to see that it was there before? Maybe the slide caught on something and the sealant came off." It clearly looks as though the guy at the factory ran out of sealant/caulk and never finished the job, but who can prove that? He said Forest River doesn't take care of their buyers and that the dealership is just the middle man. I'm waiting to hear what their response is. I feel like I should get a new trailer. If I'm not happy with their answer, I may contact our local news station; they have a "Help Me" reporter. Businesses do NOT like to have their poor customer service on the evening news. Especially when there's such competition among the dealerships--we have at least 6 locally.

[garyemunson]

Since it is not yet a year old, your damage should be covered by warranty. I'd demand to see it in writing on something you signed or was furnished about the 6 month seal check garbage (although that's a REALLY good idea to do). Especially since you took it in and had THEM service it, I'd look at what their 'winterization' service is supposed to include. If the slide seal was cut too short by the mfg., that is certainly a warrantee item.

[ken56]

Unfortunately its a sad reality. Trailers are high maintenance and I know I am always going over my unit for bad caulking and cracking sealant. You must be able to do this kind of work yourself or it will be very expensive to have a dealer do it for you and even then there is no guarantee that things were sealed up properly. As diligent I am in trying to keep up with things on my unit I still got a spot of delamination that showed me I had a leak somewhere. It only takes a small hole to let a lot of water in. Its a constant battle. I hope things turn out for the better for you.