Before you buy an Evergreen Everlite Travel Trailer

[Travel-life]

The following has been our experience during the first year of ownership of a new 2014 Evergreen Everlite 29KIS travel trailer:

1. The dinette slide-out operated reluctantly, straining, erratic, generating popping sounds.
2. The dinette window would not close completely or operate smoothly. These are supposed to be superior premium, double pane windows to keep out the cold or heat but it does not close all the way or open properly, it binds against the frame and the plastic knobs easily strip. On cold nights, I go outside and press the dinette windows shut to clear the binding frame and seal tightly. To open the window, I remove the insect screen and push the frame while rotating the knob.
3. The wide plastic cable support straps under both the kitchen and dinette slideouts are torn after operating the slideout.
4. As delivered, a six inch segment of the rubber weather seal under kitchen slide-out was mangled due to catching between the slide-out floor and support roller.
5. I drove the trailer home from the dealer and when climbing inside the first time, found the left side, six foot vertical wide wood trim of the dinette slideout on the floor. All the smooth shank brads popped out. Later the right side panel also popped off during a trip.
6. During the first few trips using the trailer, the wood trim pieces started falling off the walls, the cabinet corners, the ceiling edges. Most of the dozens of thin wire brads nailed to secure the pieces at the factory penetrated right through the material and did not retain the trim in place.
7. The holding tank indicators show the incorrect level of water in the tanks (this was noted in the initial inspection). Therefore, when dry-camping, there is always the unknown, how much water is in the fresh water tank, black water tank, or either of the two gray water tanks?
8. The kitchen pantry door appeared to be warped as it did not latch properly or rest evenly against the pantry frame when shut. Evergreen sent me a replacement door. After replacing the door it became evident that the pantry frame itself is crooked and thus the door will not rest flush on all four sides. This prevents the latches from holding the door securely and the contents fell out during travel.
9. One of the four retainers that hold the fiberglass battery compartment cover in place was stripped and would not hold the bolt because the bolts go in straight but the cowling is curved so the bolt is misaligned with the retainer threads.
10. When using the shower for the first time, the floor was buckling and flexing excessively causing misalignment with the shower drain and water leaked around the drain onto the bathroom floor. The plywood underneath was not properly supported, not shimmed, not secured. This caused water leak at the shower drain.
11. When operating the largest shade in the trailer for the first time, over the dinette table, the entire shade with the mounting hardware and screws fell on the table.
12. The two shades in the ends of the dinette slideout could not be pulled down low enough to cover the window. In addition, the cord was trimmed so short that the bottom mounts could not be relocated lower.
13. All overhead cabinet doors have struts that hold them up when open. The struts were mounted too low on the cabinet frame preventing the door from opening sufficiently. In addition, the cabinet doors were mounted unevenly.
14. Rear bumper would not accommodate storing the sewer hose because the rivets holding the diamond plate sheet metal cover protrude inside the bumper.
15. When lifting the bed and dinette booth covers to access the storage compartment, all the exposed wood was rough sawn, had sharp edges, not sanded, and I kept getting wood splinters in my hands.
16. After a few nights of sleep I noticed that my ribs were aching from the protruding hinges and under the thin mattress.
17. The bottom of the dinette slideout wood is sealed using black tar-like material and it rests of the floor when closed leaving the black residue. From day one, noticed black tar-like strip on the vinyl floor running the entire length of the dinette slide-out, at the position that the lip of the slideout rests when the slideout is closed. This has been a nuisance as we cleaned it many times using degreasers and a new strip appears when the slide-out is open.
18. The dinette table wobbles as some of the screws at the base popped out. The base is screwed over the carpet instead of directly into wood which contributes to the wobble.
19. Despite lubricating the bearings and adjusting the brakes per the Lippert maintenance schedule, experienced a bearing failure during our trip.
20. During the first rain, water came in at the corners of the dinette slide-out, ran down the inside weather seal. The weather strip was cut too wide around the slide out rails allowing water intrusion through the gaps.
Safety Related Problems
21. During our first trip we noticed that the refrigerator was not working when the kitchen slideout was closed. However, the refrigerator worked when the slideout was open. Inspected beneath and found that the propane hoses feeding the refrigerator and oven were pinched when the kitchen slide was closed. The hole cut in the factory at Evergreen to run the hoses into the kitchen slide was at the wrong location causing the hoses to pinch when the slide was closed. This was also a safety hazard.
22. During our trip, one of the etched glass insert in the overhead cabinet fell down on the chair when I opened the door. The adhesive and metal tabs used to secure the glass in the wood frame did not sufficiently secure the glass. Luckily, at that time no one was sitting on the chair below the cabinet door.
23. Dinette slideout failure. The slideout does not fail gracefully and there is no simple way to adjust or manually operate it. The slide-out is reluctant to operate smoothly and exhibits the following symptoms: straining, squeals, groans, pops, stops part way during retraction, drives one side more than the other, drives the top rail more than the bottom rail. This slide-out failed catastrophically, meaning the flimsy aluminum rivets holding the gibs at the drive gear popped off; the drive gear jumped the linear gear rail and drive the bottom or top rail only, bent the drive rods, and jam the slideout room against the trailer frame. It occurred in a campground in the middle of nowhere. I had to support the slideout room using wood blocks and a hydraulic jack. I had remove dozens of fasteners & rivets at the campground, including sticky weather seals, drive motors & drive rods all while standing on a ladder, a safety hazard. Then I asked a number of kind people to help support and push the slide-out room into the trailer, another safety hazard, thereby gouging the floor. Then I had to measure and buy wood studs cut to length to brace the slideout secure from the inside, and duct tape the outside perimeter of the slide-out since the vertical weather stripping was removed. We even had a rodent enter the trailer once I removed the slide-out seals. I stuffed the open areas using foam to block rodents and cold outside air. Then we had to continue our trip with a handicap trailer confined and with limited use of the trailer. The breakdown ruined one month of our trip in 2014, it was not pleasant, and it took five months to get the slideout repaired. Unfortunately, root cause was not determined. What was most surprising is that following the failure of the slideout, Evergreen asked me to take dimensions of the broken slideout system before they could order a replacement Schwintek from Lippert? Shouldn’t Evergreen have this information in the original design drawings for this trailer?
24. I have inspected the slideout carefully a number of times, found and removed some saw dust, many staples, (used to secure the edge of the vinyl floor) and even small pieces of wood trims between the trailer floor and slideout room. Also, verified proper wear of the gear rails, lubricated using PTFE, verified that the rubber weather seals both inner and outer do not interfere with the operation. I read the manual a number of times; I visited the Lippert website and watched all the videos on operation, lubrication, and motor replacement. We always level the trailer and ensure that the stabilizers are retracted prior to operating the slideouts. We operate the slide-outs when plugged to shore power or using fully charged batteries. The maximum weight we had on the slide-out is four average size people sitting at the dinette booth. Of course no one is on the slide-out during operation. None of this information is of any help when the mechanism jumps the gear and self destructs. The slide-out motors are powerful and have not been a problem. The smaller kitchen slideout has not been a problem.
25. Front power jack failure. While leveling the trailer in the campground, the tongue jack failed catastrophically and allowed the front of the trailer to drop while my wife was operating it which could have injured her leg. This is another Lippert issue and I notified them.
26. Provided Evergreen 21 ideas and suggestions for product improvements, received no acknowledgment.

[coolbreeze01]

Evergreen and Airstream aren't even in the same league. What a hoot.

[Community Alumni]

goducks10 wrote:

ROBERTSUNRUS wrote:
🙂 Hi, and that's why it costs three times as much for an Airstream. :B

All you get with Airstream is a different set of problems.

Ain't that the truth. The same could be said even if you spend 500k on a Class A. Quality issues exist industry wide.

[rbpru]

It kind of scares you about buying a new TT. We have had good luck with a 3 year old Dutchmen. Maybe the previous owner fixed all the problems.

Air Streams were out because the DW did not like the look. It would have been over our budget anyway.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

goducks10 wrote:

ROBERTSUNRUS wrote:

goducks10 wrote:

ROBERTSUNRUS wrote:
🙂 Hi, and that's why it costs three times as much for an Airstream. :B

All you get with Airstream is a different set of problems.

🙂 Hi, as with ALL RV's there will be some problems, and I have had a few. So I will say that you are right. :C

I wish AS weren't so expensive. I have recently watched a few videos from an RV dealer out in NY IIRC. The guy doing the walk thru was very thorough without all the RV BS that some sales people spew. Needless to say I came away quite impressed. Can't afford a new one but if I could talk my wife into one I could see myself getting a used one maybe 3-4 years old. Biggest issue with her is the interior finish. The mass amount of aluminum walls inside just turns her off.

🙂 Hi, A used, 3-4 year old trailer can save you a lot. Classics and older Safari's like mine have carpeted walls ( not floor carpet) and padded headliners. I'm not a fan of the aluminum interior either.

[Lynnmor]

hawkeye-08 wrote:

My advice, move on as quick as you can so it does not consume years of your life. Take a loss, get a different trailer, whatever you have to that allows you to get past this. Life is too short to get wrapped up in disputes for years.

I bought a problem trailer that, believe it or not, was even worse than yours. In hindsight, I should have taken a loss as Hawkeye suggests. I spent untold hours and thousands of dollars to bring my trailer up to a useable condition. With all that grief behind me, I am still left with a lightweight box on a flexible frame. I should have traded for a trailer that was built with heavier materials, then fixed whatever issues it may have had.

[Dirtpig]

Travel-life wrote:

26. Provided Evergreen 21 ideas and suggestions for product improvements, received no acknowledgment.

My fav

[hawkeye-08]

My thoughts, thanks for the warning (to those considering that brand)..

My advice, move on as quick as you can so it does not consume years of your life. Take a loss, get a different trailer, whatever you have to that allows you to get past this. Life is too short to get wrapped up in disputes for years.

[goducks10]

ROBERTSUNRUS wrote:

goducks10 wrote:

ROBERTSUNRUS wrote:
🙂 Hi, and that's why it costs three times as much for an Airstream. :B

All you get with Airstream is a different set of problems.

🙂 Hi, as with ALL RV's there will be some problems, and I have had a few. So I will say that you are right. :C

I wish AS weren't so expensive. I have recently watched a few videos from an RV dealer out in NY IIRC. The guy doing the walk thru was very thorough without all the RV BS that some sales people spew. Needless to say I came away quite impressed. Can't afford a new one but if I could talk my wife into one I could see myself getting a used one maybe 3-4 years old. Biggest issue with her is the interior finish. The mass amount of aluminum walls inside just turns her off.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

goducks10 wrote:

ROBERTSUNRUS wrote:
🙂 Hi, and that's why it costs three times as much for an Airstream. :B

All you get with Airstream is a different set of problems.

🙂 Hi, as with ALL RV's there will be some problems, and I have had a few. So I will say that you are right. :C

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

hohenwald48 wrote:

ROBERTSUNRUS wrote:
🙂 Hi, and that's why it costs three times as much for an Airstream. :B

Glad you're wealthy enough to afford a 300% price premium. Not all of us can. And some of us just don't think spending that much on a rapidly depreciating asset is a wise financial decision so we deal with a few problems in the beginning. 😉

🙂 Hi, I'm far from wealthy, but well managed. Depreciation means nothing to me because all of my vehicles are long term. We plan to keep our vehicles for ten years and/or 100,000 miles. This is and will be our only trailer, unless it becomes damaged beyond repair.

[wrvond]

seaeagle2 wrote:
I guess you guys that have owned trailers for awhile accept the idea that when you purchase a new, made in the US product, you should expect poor workmanship, poor design and just blame it on a poor PDI, and that the newbie owner didn't look hard enough.
Those of us new to the RV thing are just not used to the idea...We're used to cars, and boats where when you buy something new it works out of the box and there was an attempt at quality control and inspection before you take delivery. I bought a new boat in 2004, a Trophy, which is not considered a top of the line boat. The dealer walked me through all the systems, we verified everything worked, and I never had any workmanship issues in the 10 years I owned it.

Whereas my brand new boat actually sank the first time it was put in the water, went back to the dealer six times in one month, and finally blew the engine (crankshaft parts and oil all over the bilge).
The OP has copied and pasted this post on every camper forum he could find. In every case this is his first post. What are the odds it will be his last?
I have no doubt what he posted is factual and not libelous, so I support his right to post. But at the same time, I understand that we, as a community, strive to support one another to solve the problems that come with TT ownership. It is frustrating when this site is used merely as a platform to vent, when it appears the poster has no desire for our support of any kind.
I hate to see anybody taken advantage of at any time, but often the situation is far from one sided, dealers and manufacturers aren't always bad guys, and new TT's don't always come with problems (mine has never had problem one).

BTW, I did eventually get my boat fixed, though I never got all the oil stain out of the engine compartment, and eleven years later still launch it whenever I can.

[goducks10]

ROBERTSUNRUS wrote:
🙂 Hi, and that's why it costs three times as much for an Airstream. :B

All you get with Airstream is a different set of problems.

[hohenwald48]

ROBERTSUNRUS wrote:
🙂 Hi, and that's why it costs three times as much for an Airstream. :B

Glad you're wealthy enough to afford a 300% price premium. Not all of us can. And some of us just don't think spending that much on a rapidly depreciating asset is a wise financial decision so we deal with a few problems in the beginning. 😉

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

🙂 Hi, and that's why it costs three times as much for an Airstream. :B