2015 Rockwood (not what they use to be)

[HFMJ]

We bought a new Rockwood 2715VS. At first we loved it. But that lasted till we arrived at our first campground. One slide out didnt work. Then the doors inside wouldnt stay latched. Our left rear turn signal kept blowing fuses on the truck. But after some rigging I got the slideout to work and all seemed ok. Well I stopped at the dealer and they dealt with the slide power issue (blown fuse in a hidden location I didnt know about) and the taillight seemed ok. Well next trip out just to mention a few the taillight shorted again, a hinge fell off of its frame, the microwave stopped working and the couch would stay folded up. While inspecting the couch for the problem I found evidence of a leak in the slideout. Well we made a list of 16 things and took it back to the dealer. I was not a happy camper (no pun intended). I was ready to return it. Id spent the extra money to buy what I thought was a quality product and clearly I hadnt received one. My dealer told me that the warranty could not be transferred and that dropped the value alot. I had owned this thing for 1 week! Well the dealer took care of the issues and all seemed good. Well I got home and the brake/blinker was now a dead short. After an hour or so I isolated it to the trailer and not the truck or the pigtail that plus into the truck. So I decide to run a new wire for the light. As I used the old wire to pull the new one from the light to the belly of the trailer I found the problem. There was a 3" piece of the wire that was completely exposed with no insulation. So I replaced the piece of wire and NOW all is good. The moral of the story I guess is "Nobody makes a GOOD Quality trailer anymore" Some just dont suck as bad as others". One note, my dealer was very helpful and I dont lay any blame on them . But this isnt the "Rockwood Quality" I bought 12 years ago on my first one.

[mtofell1]

I've been in my current Salem TT for about 3 years (same folks that make Rockwood btw) and while it's had some problems, it's turning out to be a pretty good unit. My wife wants a bigger trailer with more bunks for the 4 kids and my biggest fear isn't the $$. It's threads like this with real world experiences of people getting a lemon and hassling endlessly.


I've on here numerous times that pretty much all new mainstream brand RVs are a toss of the dice.... some are great, most are okay, some are terrible. This pretty much sums it from what I can gather hanging out here.

[Ron3rd]

We have a 2 year old FR Rockwood Windjammer and it's been fabulous. Overall, Rockwood quality is normally pretty good but they turn out some problem children from time to time.

[spoon059]

I guess I agree with you. They are built cheap and fast, trying to crank out as many as they can. It seems to me that RVing is becoming more popular too. 3 or 4 years ago we had no problem finding spots in Florida over the winter. We can't get a spot in our favorite park for next February... they are FULL from December through April.

I think that as it becomes more popular again, build quality will suffer as manufacturers attempt to increase output.

It is what it is... I'm satisfied with my Jayco, although there are a couple little issues that will need to be fixed under warranty. I bought a carport to park under, so hopefully I can keep it out of the elements and it will last longer.

Still beats camping in a tent or making hotel reservations!!! My daughter LOVES camping and I am hoping my son will love it too when he is old enough to figure out what is going on. It provides our family great experiences that we would not have otherwise. I can put up with a less than perfect trailer because I know how much our family gets out of it.

[Dog_Trainer]

Our Flagstaff 831Ress has been a good unit so far very little to squable about. The worst problem was the 3500lb electric tongue jack went out I went out and bought a much more robust jack and Forest River is making an adjustment in the form of a monetary compensation. I owned my last Airstream MH for many of its 22 years and I do agree that much of what was in that unit was of a higher quality than what I see. We have put about 6,000 miles on the TT this year without much problem

[2012Coleman]

You won't be upset about this for long - something else will break and take your mind off of it.

[HFMJ]

Thanks for all the feed back. Didnt mean to condemn the whole industry or offend. But rather vent some frustration. When will workmanship and pride in doing a good job become common place again in our country. Thanks again to all!
Rick

[GMandJM]

HFMJ wrote:
After an hour or so I isolated it to the trailer and not the truck or the pigtail that plus into the truck. So I decide to run a new wire for the light. As I used the old wire to pull the new one from the light to the belly of the trailer I found the problem. There was a 3" piece of the wire that was completely exposed with no insulation.

Wow - kudos on the diagnostic skills.

Who knows how long and how many trips to the dealership it might have taken to figure that out.

When the dealership techs couldn't find our wiring issue (and said we didn't have one) we got charged shop-rate for their time. No identifiable problem = no warranty payment.

Fortunately, we were reimbursed by our OEM when the problem was figured out by the factory techs.

By doing it yourself, you probably saved yourself a gazillion dollars and alot of frustration.

Good on you. Nicely done!!

[rbpru]

I just watch a program on the Travel Chanel about RVs constructed of 2x4s, 4x4s redundant bracing; that even had a house like appearance and a sleeping loft. Tumble Weed will build you an 18 footer for a measly $57,000.00.

The theme in the RV industry seems to be; build them as fast as you can, the best you can. They sell over 300,000 TTs and 5vers every year. They must know what will sell.

It is not that quality RVs are not out there, people just do not want to pay the price.

The car industry was that way until the consumer demanded better quality. However that increase quality carried an increased price.

[nephi007]

In general the RV industry is all sizzle and no steak. My point of contact as a consumer is with the dealer. What do I see? Inexperienced, high pressure novices who are untrained in the basics of the product they are persuading me to buy who don't give a darn whether my families safety is being compromised by their ineptitude and lack of product knowledge. "Oh yeah you can pull that trailer with your half-ton pick up". The responsibility is on us to do our homework and know that basically buying an RV is a **** shoot at best. Heaven knows what goes on at the factory where they build these things. Buyer beware!

[3oaks]

jmtandem wrote:

The moral of the story I guess is "Nobody makes a GOOD Quality trailer anymore" Some just dont suck as bad as others".

So you purchase one new RV out of the thousands produced this year and you can generalize that 'nobody makes a good quality trailer anymore'?????? Not Airstream, not Arctic Fox, not nobody???

I don't know about Airstream, but HFMJ is right. Apparently you haven't been reading much on other RV forum sites. Even owners of older model Arctic Foxes say they would not part with them for newer models because the quality has slipped so much.

[jmtandem]

The moral of the story I guess is "Nobody makes a GOOD Quality trailer anymore" Some just dont suck as bad as others".

So you purchase one new RV out of the thousands produced this year and you can generalize that 'nobody makes a good quality trailer anymore'?????? Not Airstream, not Arctic Fox, not nobody???