BEFORE YOU BUY A TRAVEL TRAILER WATCH THIS

[RVER]

THIS is a video of how trailers were made in 2008 and the importance of that is that it is said that the quality has gone DOWN since then. WATCH this whole video, BEFORE you buy a Trailer but also motorhomes are made by the same manufacturers and I am afraid the problems also reside in them so do watch it, and do diligence when buying an RV. THERE are still companies that build in quality. This is for education, I do not know this man nor do I subscribe to his thinking but it is good to see what he is talking about and he tells how to check some things for quality so it is educational.
WATCH VIDEO BELOW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dQkQFJvuVw

[RVER]

MY post was just to have people inspect or have someone professional inspect the rig before you pay for it whether it is new or old. Best money you will spend as long as the RV tech is Certified and Independent of any dealership selling you the rig. I and heartened to see some people are satisfied with their rig's quality, I read so many complaints daily on RV.NET forums, on FB forums about RVing etc. I have a friend who bought a Passport and manufactured by either Keystone or Forrest River. The thing that stops the door from pulling past a 90 degree angle open pulled out almost immediately, a door on a cabinet came down, other things that were pains in the neck happened and now she told me there is a new problem so in a period of a year from purchase to a year later and now there have been quality problems because the wall on hte door was made of cardboard so it could not hold the door from slamming 180 degrees to the wall of the trailer. I also read somewhere where a brand new owner went up on roof and found that NONE of the sealant had been placed on seams. SO you know there is rotting going on in roof rafters, not all are metal and even so then the water would go to the ceiling itself. People complaining of having to leave their NEW rigs at the dealer for work that was on warranty and months later still at the dealership. I LOVE RIVING and want others to enjoy it too, just be aware that you MUST inspect the RV before you give the dealer any money. IF you pay and then expect the dealer to help you aS he would if you are holding the money, well good luck.

[Oasisbob]

The RV industry should be ashamed. But we, as consumers, keep buying so? Look at the television show Going RV for example. Never talk about build quality. Thankfully there are exceptions. I just cannot afford them.

[RVER]

BobandDot I am not singling out TT, I am saying the RV industry is in flux and many rigs of all sorts, TT, Fivers, MHs and such are getting off the assembly line without good quality control leaving customers have problems.

[RVER]

I did not say ALL companies and even pointed out a few of the ones that are said to have increased their quality, there are so many being built that it is inevitable that the quality can decline. I am just trying to get people to look and look some more before they "fall in love with a floor plan" and realize that many are not what they appear to be. If you look at the many forums, profdant 139, you will see so many more complaining of bad quality then those who are singing praises, Buyer Beware is just somethjng we all should do before we turn over one red cent to the dealer.

[profdant139]

I'm not sure that all manufacturers have experienced the same decline in quality. I know for a fact that the Fun Finder by Cruiser is much better engineered now than they used to be.

The old units had wooden frames, aluminum skins, and pink fiberglass in the walls. The newer ones have thick styrofoam insulation sandwiched between paneling and fiberglass, with an aluminum frame. The fiberglass exterior is much stronger than the aluminum skin was.

I had an old-style Cruiser product (2003 model), and now I have a newer one (2012). There is no comparison. We have put about 70,000 miles on our new trailer in the last seven camping seasons, with no significant quality problems. The insulation is great.

So although I am sure that some companies have deteriorated, I am not sure that is true of all companies.

[TurnThePage]

I keep hearing that they build it cheap because we refuse to pay for quality. I think that's total BS. If you paid $30k for a unit that was assembled shoddily, wouldn't you be willing to pay $32k - $35k for the same unit if it was built with a little more TLC. The fact is, we DON'T get that option, even from most of the "quality" manufacturers.

[GrandpaKip]

rbpru wrote:
If you do not like what is there, there are those will build what you want.

The RV industry builds what sells.

The sad truth is; the reason higher quality units tend to come from lower volume manufacturers, is because there is a limited market for the higher quality, higher priced TTs.

Most folks are happy with the TT they bought. Right or wrong that seems to be the way it is.

It’s not a “sad” truth, just reality. Just about anything you can buy comes in shades of quality.
We are pleased with our camper. Three years old with 20k miles, more or less. The things I’ve had to fix have been minor. It has been a great investment for our enjoyment.
I really don’t understand the complaints about the overall quality of the industry. A rolling home for under $20k? Sounds pretty good to me. (And thousands of others).

[sgfrye]

rbpru wrote:
If you do not like what is there, there are those will build what you want.

The RV industry builds what sells.

The sad truth is; the reason higher quality units tend to come from lower volume manufacturers, is because there is a limited market for the higher quality, higher priced TTs.

Most folks are happy with the TT they bought. Right or wrong that seems to be the way it is.

x2 on this
market demands price point and what public is willing to spend and want.

an rv is not a stick and brick built house. its a rolling earthquake


DW and i bought a 2018 33ft entry level wildwood TT 11 months ago. Zero issues with it. i learned early on how to inspect and maintain it myself

factory roof caulking and other caulking was excellent, everything else has worked as it should. maybe it rolled off the assembly line on tuesday thru thursday?

we usually camp couple times a month and have enjoyed the heck out of it. a TT 2 to 3 times the cost would have not been in our budget regardless.

[valhalla360]

Reality is the vast majority of trailers die of old age not structural failure.

You can certainly special order from a low volume builder at 2-3 times the cost but your typical buyer doesn't keep a trailer anywhere near as long as the trailer lives. It's nothing special for an RV to last 20-30yrs but most new buyers keep them 5-10yrs.

[gbopp]

CLICKY

[ktmrfs]

we have a 2011 trailer, purchased june 2010. we have used it on average 60+ days each year, put on over 30K miles on it. Nothing has broke, nothing has needed repairing, no leaks even in oregon winters, carpet and cabinets still in excellent shape. Have worn out a set of tires.

We did do a pre delivery inspection that took over 3 hours for us to check absolutely everything. DW found a few minor issues to get fixed.

I'm not going to complain about quality yet.

And the enjoyment we have had with it is PRICELESS!!

We also have many friends with trailers about the age of ours, and problems they have had have been minimal to none.

A few aren't very mechanically inclined so minor items I would have fixed myself they needed to have fixed by the dealer.

[rbpru]

If you do not like what is there, there are those will build what you want.

The RV industry builds what sells.

The sad truth is; the reason higher quality units tend to come from lower volume manufacturers, is because there is a limited market for the higher quality, higher priced TTs.

Most folks are happy with the TT they bought. Right or wrong that seems to be the way it is.

[ScottG]

TT's aren't built any worse than any other high volume RV - including the OP's MH.

[bobndot]

I didn't think quality in RV's could go below the 2008 mark. :S