Arctic fox: you should be ashamed of yourselves!

[westkill]

I have an 01 1150 model for the last few years
. Love the unit and have done repairs such as rebuilding the entire bunk area to fix the balsa wood, scotch tape and bubble gum the factory used. It no longer sags and rests on the roof of my truck. This year I tackled the giant belly under the slide out. I disassembled and removed the 2x3 they felt would support the entire weight of he slide,dinette and fridge. It now has a steel beam wth welded uprights going right to the roof. Even after this, the right rear still sagged and would Almost rest on my bed rails. Today I removed the lower 1\4" piece of plywood that slides along your wheel wells and was crushing to reveal not rot, not water damage or broken struts. The factory put absolutely NO framing there. There was nothing to keep the bottom of camper from crushing right up other than
N the. 1\4" plywood! In the pics you can see the water tank that was just bouncing around there with huge belly in between each of the 2 strts they put in.. there was NO insulation in the floor. So much for a 4 season camper! Where the rear sawhorse is is where the end f my truck bed is. The rest is overhang. .there is no structural support at all. A high school shop classs would frame it better.
I am adding a solid 2x10" in the open area going rearward. I have already framed in the area in front of the water tank and mounted that properly. Of course the rear was sagging, there's NO wood there! Needless to say my opinion of this manufacturer is zero! Look at he right front corner, they didn't even put wood on the corner!!!!!! Who the hell does that? So if you have a heavy camper with a big rear overhang this is why,absolute garbage construction and quality. Pics are below the next response

[BradW]

JoeChiOhki wrote:
The Amerigo may not have the best fiberglass, but its actual fiberglass and can be taken off and repaired in a pinch.

"Real" fiberglass (like they make Ranger bass boats out of) seems to me to be the near perfect material for a TC shell. I would think it would also be the easiest to repair. There must be some drawbacks to fiberglass; maybe cost? I don't know of any fiberglass TCs with slide outs. That filon scares the ***** out of me, but that's probably will be on my next TC.

[SidecarFlip]

Obviously, Filon has advantages but I believe those advantages all concern the builders and not the end users. I know my 915 Lance which I've sold had issues with the Filon cracking at the juncture of the side and the lower skirt and there was no way to really repair it other than fill the crack with Dicor. Additionally, Lance split the side skirt horizontally and added a plastic welt that was prone to leaking, very poor design. I see they have eliminated that now. Aluminum skinned or glass is the way to go, if, you plan on keeping it a while.

[JoeChiOhki]

BradW wrote:

SidecarFlip wrote:
Not exactly on subject but I much prefer aluminum siding over Filon. Too bad the industry, for the most part, don't.

That is one of the reasons we have hung on to our 1996 Lance for 21 years. I have read way too many stories about Filon delamination with no good way to fix it.

Why I went with an Amerigo to restore for my second camper. My 5th wheel has Filon, its delaminated at the bottom of the wall on the slide out where it leaked.

The Amerigo may not have the best fiberglass, but its actual fiberglass and can be taken off and repaired in a pinch.

[SidecarFlip]

jimh425 wrote:
Bigfoots fail as well. I think most tents are pretty durable though.

Don't know about that. When I was an Eagle scout I had a Eureka Timberline. It was a perpetual leaker no matter how many times I used seam sealer. Think they are mede in China now... Probably better...lol

[SidecarFlip]

Kayteg1 wrote:

Reddog1 wrote:
I am the second owner of my TC. It has only been under a cover one year since it was built. Windows were caulked once, and has never had or needed structural repairs due to poor design. It does have a couple of scratches, which are easy to repair if they bothered me. It is a molded fiberglass Bigfoot TC, built in 1988. That puts it at 29 years old.

I did add modern appliances and related stuff, but most had not been invented when my TC was built. I have not had any of the problems discussed in this Thread.

Bringing molded shell camper with no slide into topic about slide framing problems. How is that for stirring the pot?
I wonder why Avion owners did not show up here yet?

I sure like your outfit, especially your TOAD

[Reddog1]

Kayteg1, the thread has drifted to TC construction. If you want to split hairs, you posted about Lance, the Lance Forum, Mercedes, the cost of the Lance and Mercedes, aluminium Avions, and aluminium siding. You may want to read your own posts.

I think your post suggesting I was "stirring the pot", is noting more than a Troll. If you want to discuss this further, I suggest you use the PM.

My apology to the Members for this Off Topic post.

Wayne
Moderator

[Kayteg1]

Reddog1 wrote:
I am the second owner of my TC. It has only been under a cover one year since it was built. Windows were caulked once, and has never had or needed structural repairs due to poor design. It does have a couple of scratches, which are easy to repair if they bothered me. It is a molded fiberglass Bigfoot TC, built in 1988. That puts it at 29 years old.

I did add modern appliances and related stuff, but most had not been invented when my TC was built. I have not had any of the problems discussed in this Thread.

Bringing molded shell camper with no slide into topic about slide framing problems. How is that for stirring the pot?
I wonder why Avion owners did not show up here yet?

[jimh406]

Bigfoots fail as well. I think most tents are pretty durable though.

[TxGearhead]

I haven't had my Bigfoot but for one year. You want to see quality, go look at a Bigfoot.
I'm scheming on how to unload the Montana and get a Bigfoot travel trailer.

[ppine]

I used to have a Nash TT that was built like a tank. They are made by the same company as the Arctic Fox. It did everything it was supposed to, but it was too heavy so I sold it. Now I miss the old trailer.

[Reddog1]

I am the second owner of my TC. It has only been under a cover one year since it was built. Windows were caulked once, and has never had or needed structural repairs due to poor design. It does have a couple of scratches, which are easy to repair if they bothered me. It is a molded fiberglass Bigfoot TC, built in 1988. That puts it at 29 years old.

I did add modern appliances and related stuff, but most had not been invented when my TC was built. I have not had any of the problems discussed in this Thread.

[TxGearhead]

I had a boss lady (best boss ever) that had a saying..."Shining 500 watts of light on the problem and the people has a way of seeing what is really wrong".
The RV manufactures need to be held to much higher standards. Apparently we customers just himhawing on a few forums doesn't work.
Short of giving mass tax breaks to a foreign manufacturer that knows a quality program, the only other way I see is through legislation. I really hate to say that as we need much less government, not more. Chances of that are slim.
Or we could start a "go fund me" for key House and Senate members to buy them a RV and see how much fun they have with this junk.
Bottom line for me is to skewer the manufacturer every time you see something stupid. They really deserve all that and more.

[SidecarFlip]

BradW wrote:

SidecarFlip wrote:
Not exactly on subject but I much prefer aluminum siding over Filon. Too bad the industry, for the most part, don't.

That is one of the reasons we have hung on to our 1996 Lance for 21 years. I have read way too many stories about Filon delamination with no good way to fix it.

My next unit will be aluminum clad (if there is another). At 67, I'm not sure there will be.

No easy way to repair Filon that I've ever seen.

Aluminum clad really limits the choice today. Only know of 3 builders using it, The cowboy campers, Four Wheel and Alaskan. Of those, only Four Wheel I like.... and they aren't cheap but then, what is...

[JimK-NY]

Should a buyer have to check every nook and cranny? Maybe remove some of the siding or paneling and check the construction? Should we blame the buyer for not doing this? Should we blame the buyer for not making a big deal out of quality with the salesman who has nothing to do with the construction and often does not know or care?

All of this defense of the RV industry seems ridiculous. It is more than clear that the design and engineering of many units is poor. Doing it right should not be difficult or cost a lot of money. Bad quality should drive a manufacturer out of business. That does not seem to happen because one manufacturer is just about as bad as another.

Maybe a forum like this one could help. We should point out the incompetent, bonehead designs and shoddy construction. We could also point out manufacturers who seem to do a good job. I will mention one: Northstar. It is a small company that will hardly ever compete with the giants such as Lance. Regardless the designs are solid and change very little from year to year or even over the decades. My Northstar has a few silly design ideas but nothing major that compromises the strength of the camper. Northstar is also not going to be popular because they make campers that are without slides and often narrower than 8 feet. But take a look if you want a well made unit.

[Kayteg1]

I did some work on fiberglass siding and when it cracks, you can buy mushroom trim to cover the joint. Done right looks like factory thing.
With delamination, I was able to pull fiberglass panel out, clean rotten plywood from it and reapply to new plywood on the structure. Takes some boards and holders to glue it flat.
I had aluminium siding on 1980's RV and at the time manufacturers were using corrosive glue on them.
Meaning the siding was corroding from inside, showing blisters outside after few years. From my observation the issue was not corrected for decades.