Forum Discussion

mikeleblanc413's avatar
mikeleblanc413
Explorer
Apr 19, 2023

Help me with current best manufacturers

It's been some time since I have owned an RV...things have changed. I walked through a couple today at a local dealer and what impressed me was the use of space when you go from 17-18 feet to 25-28 feet. The larger feels like a small (LOL) apartment. I'm sure I would feel much too cramped in the smaller space. Would appreciate your help on whick manufacturers are doing a good (hopefully GREAT) job putting the sticks together. Thanks!
  • synergy_58's avatar
    synergy_58
    Explorer
    Jun 05, 2023
    Marine359 wrote:
    It all depends on your budget and your tow vehicle. If you have a half ton truck, or SUV equivalent, or mid-size truck, you’ll likely be limited to trailers under 6,000# GVWR. And limited to 26ft or less. Budget-wise, the best brands, like ORV, Northwoods, Airstream, and most larger fiberglass trailers are quite heavy, and very expensive even if purchased used. For those, you’re looking in the $60K and up range, and you’ll need a 3/4 ton truck. We shopped a long time to find a trailer that didn’t require us to get a new truck, and was of moderately good quality. For us, towability and build quality were the factors that settled us on the Winnebago Micro-Minnie line. If buying new, you can expect any trailer to have some things you’ll have to fix after you get it home. If your expectations, no matter what you paid, are that everything should work perfectly with no problems, you will be sorely disappointed. If you’re a good wrench, there will be very few things you won’t be able to fix, otherwise you’ll spend a lot of time and money at a dealership or repair shop. IMHO, the happiest campers are those who stick to their budget by buying a camper that may not be perfect (because there isn’t one), but suitable for their style of camping. Think first of whether you prefer RV parks or dry camping, and then choose and outfit your trailer to fit.


    Good comment! It is unfortunate that this is the way things are, that even buying new, we will not get our money's worth. Every vehicle I've ever bought had to go back to the dealer to be repaired, under warranty and after. I don't buy new anymore. I look for good used and find the ones that have been well maintained with all current services and upgrade done, even if it has a few miles on it. I've been a lot happier since doing it this way.

    I have searched for RV's, TT's, class B's and C's, and even considered A's, and there are all kinds, all conditions, at an enormous range of pricing. Dealers, new or used, have the worst platform for buying. Unless you like giving away money and being controlled by "warranty work" and unfulfilled promises, and lies.
  • Marine359's avatar
    Marine359
    Explorer
    May 25, 2023
    It all depends on your budget and your tow vehicle. If you have a half ton truck, or SUV equivalent, or mid-size truck, you’ll likely be limited to trailers under 6,000# GVWR. And limited to 26ft or less. Budget-wise, the best brands, like ORV, Northwoods, Airstream, and most larger fiberglass trailers are quite heavy, and very expensive even if purchased used. For those, you’re looking in the $60K and up range, and you’ll need a 3/4 ton truck. We shopped a long time to find a trailer that didn’t require us to get a new truck, and was of moderately good quality. For us, towability and build quality were the factors that settled us on the Winnebago Micro-Minnie line. If buying new, you can expect any trailer to have some things you’ll have to fix after you get it home. If your expectations, no matter what you paid, are that everything should work perfectly with no problems, you will be sorely disappointed. If you’re a good wrench, there will be very few things you won’t be able to fix, otherwise you’ll spend a lot of time and money at a dealership or repair shop. IMHO, the happiest campers are those who stick to their budget by buying a camper that may not be perfect (because there isn’t one), but suitable for their style of camping. Think first of whether you prefer RV parks or dry camping, and then choose and outfit your trailer to fit.
  • mosseater's avatar
    mosseater
    Explorer II
    May 24, 2023
    We've had our Sunset Creek by Sunnybrook since 2007 and as far as an "Indiana" product, it's held up remarkably well with minimal maintenance. As J Barca said, concentrate on base construction because as far as I know, most everything on any trailer is a purchased component which each manufacturer specs for their particular trailer. Lippert and Dexter are two major players. I-beam frame rails instead of welded H-beam, axles, brakes, tongue jacks, slide out mechanisms, etc., used to be vendor supplied. Not sure these days. IDK if any of them went proprietary on all components or not.
    Sunnybrook used to be a very good trailer before Winnebago bought them out. We bought ours during the take over period and it was claimed long time employees were jumping ship. Sunnybrook had the most long term employee base of most of the manufacturers in Indiana at the time. I would loosely claim "craftsmanship" may have been higher than most, but their stock in trade was not changing designs much over over time. Sort of the bread and butter of trailers without a lot of frills. I admit I don't keep up with it, but early examples of smooth sided trailers (Filon) were abysmal in use. Saw some horror stories unfold on this board many times. I prefer the look and relative ease of repair of stick and tin over "fiberglass" smoothies. Opinions vary. You takes your chances and spin the wheel when you buy one. That much is clear. And yes, get used to doing repairs... or have deep pockets for your local Rv store to do them for you. You WILL likely need to do things yourself.
  • Durb's avatar
    Durb
    Explorer
    May 24, 2023
    I like to look at roof construction when considering the quality of a trailer. After all, the roof is your first line of defense against water intrusion which is the single largest detriment to longevity. The molded fiberglass trailers excel here and are the closest to be considered leakproof.

    Check out inTech and ATC (Aluminum Trailer Company), both utilize single sheet aluminum roofs. ATC trailers are toy haulers, but their quality is high. Both utilize welded aluminum frames.
  • Cwilson333's avatar
    Cwilson333
    Explorer
    May 24, 2023
    Huntindog wrote:
    Cwilson333 wrote:
    Huntindog wrote:
    CWilson wrote:
    I looked at a 2021 Grand Design TT and it had OEM installed Lionshead Castlerock China Bombs.
    If the only thing I did not like about a TT was the tires, I would buy it.
    It is literally the easist thing to fix. One could take care of that on the way home from the dealer.


    Well that's obvious but when an RV manufacturer decides to install the cheapest borderline tires they can find, and tires are in a location that can easily be seen just by walking up to it, I find it hard to believe they don't also use the cheapest borderline other components and materials in places not easily seen. The Grand stops with the name. There is nothing Grand about them and no better than trailers made by others like Forest River or Thor. If it makes you feel better to believe they're that "Grand", and you somehow purchased a peach that is better than A or B, more power to you but it's only a fantasy.
    I seem to have overlooked your all knowing recomendations. Fact is you have not made any. All you have is trash other peoples opinions. As soon as I finish this post I will block you. I encourage others to do the same. With no audience you will soon go away from boredum.


    Block away. The fact is Grand Design is no better than lots of Thor, Forest River, or other Winnie brands. The same cheap materials and components, on the same LCI chassis, built by the same paid by the piece workforce at light speed then pushed out the factory door with no quality control whatsoever.
  • synergy_58's avatar
    synergy_58
    Explorer
    May 23, 2023
    I checked out an Arctic Fox, tandem axle, I think it was a 22', which is what I'd like to find. The original owner said he had constant roof leaks for the first year of ownership, had to take it to the dealer three times before they finally fixed it, he lost his camping season that first year. Otherwise he liked the unit, but he didn't think it was as quality as his friends Bigfoot, which he wished had had bought instead of the AF. I had to pass due to the weight.
    Next up was a Lance model 1895, which I liked too. It wasn't as nice as the AF, but very well played out and nicely built. It was a four season, and the weight is right about 500lbs under my max, so not too bad. The thing I did not like when I checked the under carriage was that th holding tank was right there by the axle, so close, and exposed, it looked like it could easily be damaged. I don't see how this can be considered a four seasons unit.

    Hard to find a good manufacturer with true 4 seasons, quality build in a less than 21/22' length, around the 6500 max capacity, in a tandem. I've checked out a number of assembly line manufacturers and they suck! Cheap junk!

    I'd love to see an Oliver, but they look small, narrow.

    One guy had an Airstream and said he's had nothing but leak issues since the day he bought it new. HE ended up paying $4k to have someone fix the issue because the dealer couldn't get it done under warranty! Crazy!
  • Huntindog's avatar
    Huntindog
    Explorer
    May 21, 2023
    Cwilson333 wrote:
    Huntindog wrote:
    CWilson wrote:
    I looked at a 2021 Grand Design TT and it had OEM installed Lionshead Castlerock China Bombs.
    If the only thing I did not like about a TT was the tires, I would buy it.
    It is literally the easist thing to fix. One could take care of that on the way home from the dealer.


    Well that's obvious but when an RV manufacturer decides to install the cheapest borderline tires they can find, and tires are in a location that can easily be seen just by walking up to it, I find it hard to believe they don't also use the cheapest borderline other components and materials in places not easily seen. The Grand stops with the name. There is nothing Grand about them and no better than trailers made by others like Forest River or Thor. If it makes you feel better to believe they're that "Grand", and you somehow purchased a peach that is better than A or B, more power to you but it's only a fantasy.
    I seem to have overlooked your all knowing recomendations. Fact is you have not made any. All you have is trash other peoples opinions. As soon as I finish this post I will block you. I encourage others to do the same. With no audience you will soon go away from boredum.
  • Cwilson333's avatar
    Cwilson333
    Explorer
    May 20, 2023
    Huntindog wrote:
    CWilson wrote:
    I looked at a 2021 Grand Design TT and it had OEM installed Lionshead Castlerock China Bombs.
    If the only thing I did not like about a TT was the tires, I would buy it.
    It is literally the easist thing to fix. One could take care of that on the way home from the dealer.


    Well that's obvious but when an RV manufacturer decides to install the cheapest borderline tires they can find, and tires are in a location that can easily be seen just by walking up to it, I find it hard to believe they don't also use the cheapest borderline other components and materials in places not easily seen. The Grand stops with the name. There is nothing Grand about them and no better than trailers made by others like Forest River or Thor. If it makes you feel better to believe they're that "Grand", and you somehow purchased a peach that is better than A or B, more power to you but it's only a fantasy.
  • StirCrazy's avatar
    StirCrazy
    Moderator
    May 17, 2023
    the best thing to do is look at a bunch of different brands, start going to rv shows, different dealers and so on, and look through the units.

    Look at the little things and decide what matters to you. I can tell you, you can have the best made unit in the world and if the floor plan doesn't work for you, you'll never like it.

    for me they are all garbage built, ya there the odd stand out but normal people can't afford those anyways. You just have to decide what you can live with and what you can't. for me it came down too little things like cabinet drawer construction, fit and finish to pick one over the other once I found the layout I wanted.
  • WinMinnie02's avatar
    WinMinnie02
    Explorer
    May 16, 2023
    I have a Winnebago bought new 20 years ago still going strong. I believe build qualities have declined better know how to maintain your unit since the service are worse. Buy tools, learn DIY, and enjoy RVing.

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