Rv show likes and dislikes

[Hammerboy]

Daughter and I went to the Rv show in Grand Rapids last night to check things out. Four hours of wall to wall people and countless Rv's was enough as everything becomes a blur after awhile. So anyway here are some of my totally random thoughts I came away with.

Class B vans. I love the idea of these things. You can park just about anywhere where there is a campsite, urban camping, etc. I remember going thru a few last year at the show but I took a closer look this year. They are much smaller in person than what it appears on YouTube videos. I am 6'4" and 220# and it is literally impossible for me to use the shower in these things. I stood in one and shut the door, it isn't happening. If I were single and wanted a van I would build my own and simplify it plus they are ridiculously expensive. The size and $$ pretty much eliminated any dream of owning one.

Slide outs. I noticed on some of the high end diesel pushers they have excellent slide out construction. The outer fascia/trim is one with the slide, in other words it appears to be built as one piece with no joints just all fiberglass. That may have not made sense but those that have them probably know what I mean. Wish they were all made that way.

Indiana construction pretty much all the same. High end, low end, so called good ones and the bad ones are all junk pretty much. Lippert I feel has way too much going on here. The "higher end" ones just have more expensive stuff but workmanship is the same I feel.

I wish there were some true full time rated manufacturers there and maybe there were some, I just not sure which ones are rated full time. All the units we looked at were pretty much made in Indiana, wish I could have seen Arctic Fox for example. I won't bash manufactures by name as I don't want to offend anybody but one really popular and fairly new manufacture that has become a rock star among buyers, I cannot figure out what the hype is. The construction methods and workmanship I didn't feel was any better than others in their category, it was in one of their high end line of 5ers that had the spongiest floor. I haven't figured out that one yet or drank the koolaid either. Another long time and well respected manufactures high end line of 5ers that looked impressive at first glance was sloppily built. I know that these two manufactures were recently sold so between that and building at a frantic pace to keep up with demand isn't helping matters. I always cringe when I see smaller manufacturers being sold out as more often than not it does not end well. Anyway, the Indiana way of building sucks. If I had to pick a favorite that I seen yesterday it would have been the Cedar Creek followed by Montana

Not a fan of the two door bathrooms in fifth wheels. That's always a deal killer for us, such a inefficient use of space. Why do we need a separate door into the bathroom from the bedroom just to save 1 step? I'm not saying all are this way but i'm talking about the ones that leave you with a small corner shower and a poor placement of the tv in the bedroom because of the bed/bath door. It's a popular design among manufactures. Thats one of the reasons we ended up with what we have, a real shower with a true pocket door into the bath from the hall.

So there you have it, a snippet of my $.02 and ramblings of my likes and dislikes at the show this year.:B

Dan

[gbopp]

The last time we went to the Hershey rV show I was surprised at the poor workmanship the manufacturers and dealers sent to the show.
The Hershey rV show is one of the biggest in the country. You would think the rigs they send would be flawless,. Nope.
The high pressure sales tactics were another turn off. One dealer wanted a deposit, then they would schedule a test drive.
We were just there to look. Even if we were buying, it wouldn't be from a high pressure salesman/dealer.

[ChuckV1]

Hammerboy

I have to agree on allot of what you say, a few years back when we bought our 5th wheel we looked at many high an low end units at a RV show here in the Northwest, construction across the board wasn't the greatest in most ...

What really made me wonder is that I saw trim out of place, lights not working, doors ajar an it made me wonder if the salesman or even the dealers even cared about the units they were showing ... When ask about the trim or lights the salesman would say that id we were to buy the unit they would fix any an all problems ... My comment back to them was if I want to buy a trailer I don't want to see any problems from the get go, the one salesman said "well you know there's been allot of people walking though this trailer" ... My comment back to him was "if your trailer can't stand a number of people walking thought it how is it going to hold up to someone using it for a year or two" ... he walked away, I wonder why ...

On the two doors to the bathroom we have such, we have tons of room an I like that one door can be closed an the bathroom still be used an you do not have to walk out into the hallway after using the shower which is large ...

Of course we all have different likes an dislikes an that's why they make so many different brands... I also agree on the big guys buying up the little guys, our 5th MFG was bought up a few years back buy the same MFG that makes Montana an now Air Stream ... I have not seen much of a change so far other than Management seem to change over the last few years an come over from other other trailer lines an MFG within the overall company an then leave a year latter ...

I also know that these companies in order to stay in business have to make a buck an thus are staring to buy a build with cheaper material more an more an rise the price point ... What our 5th wheel cost two years ago is now two to three thousand dollars more than what the MSRP was an I have to say not much has changed except they have moved stuff around, put windows were they shouldn't be but have learned to up grade the tires from E rated to G rated because of weight of the trailer ...

Safe Travels