Shadow Cruiser after 1 year of ownership

[love2tow]

It has been about one year since we purchased our 2014 Shadow Cruiser 313 BHS. We love the floor plan, we love the size, and it pulls very well. The Full size queen bed is comfortable and there is plenty of sleeping room. Storage space is decent and having access to the bathroom is particularly helpful when trying to not wake our kids when they are sleeping and we are enjoying beverages by the fire.

Those are about the only positives I can say about this trailer. We haven't had any huge issues. Only a couple of potential large issues and a LOT of little ones. I must say, the quality control from Cruiser RV is poor. In one year of ownership, we have experienced the following issues.
First, the small Nickel and Dime you to death issues.
1. Leaky storage area seals after within first trip.
2. Water entering the wall and bubbling the interior wall.
3. Screw came out somewhere on main slide and dug a nice ditch thruogh my fake wood floor.
4. Rear bunk support ripped out of the wall on way home from dealer on day of purchase. Dealer repaired, and it broke again on the very first trip. (140 soaking wet guy slept on it) Dealer repaired with serious but ugly hardware.
5. Wall in kitchen separating from the outer wall. Fixed twice.
6. Trim coming off. not a big deal, but annoying.
7. Water pump check valve broke on first trip this year. (memorial day) (Winterized by dealer so not my bad thing)
8. In checking the water pump, it's not even screwed or bolted down to the trailer.
9. Fresh water tank supports bent and repaired and then bent and then repaired again. Traveled with them full for appx 12 miles both times this happened.
10. Shower came unglued from the wall. Had to be re-attached.
11. Seams showing on exterior of unit. Fearing the dreaded delamination. (Roof inspections and repair when purchased and at the end of the season and again at the beginning of the season)
12: Sizable gaps where the window seals are. Lots of sealing material was needed.

Again, all of these things are small but they are annoying. I understand that pulling a small home down the highway at 60 mph will cause issues, but I don't want to always be questioning "what next." We purchased the extended warranty but it doesn't cover much of anything. We had a Kodiak 241 RBSL before this trailer. We had it for two years and wanted a bigger unit. The only issue we had with that was crummy tires and a loud water pump.

When I was looking for a new unit, I didn't find much information on Shadow Cruiser units. There were mixed reviews but not many. I hope this helps someone make a better decision than I did. Spend a little extra and get quality. Don't have extra? Wait until you do. Would I buy from Cruiser RV again. Nope...

[chr_]

I looked at fun finders with a friend. Didn't care for them. They seemed "cheap" but then the lightweight ones feel that way, even though they are probably fine. I have a Skyline Nomad, which is a bit heavy for a newer unit. 5 years old, and the only complaint I have about it are a pinched wire under the ground bar, a leaking window over the kitchen counter because of a trim ring screw punching through the tray, and the back wall apparently had some delam and repair at the factory, that I wouldn't have known about but do because I cut a 4'x4' opening the back to add a cargo door. I have friends with Skylines and they are all much older than mine, but still are in good shape. Only complaint from the one with a toy hauler is the bed mechanism fried a relay, the rear door had some sealing issues, and the graphics dried up and cracked, but then that happens to all of them with decal graphics out here in the AZ sun.

I got lucky. But then my previous unit, a motorhome was a money pit. I deserve a good one. 😛

[lbrjet]

love2tow wrote:

RoyBell wrote:
That's not good. Where do you live? I just purchased a 28' quad bunk from radiance (same company).

I live in Spring Grove Illinois. I can see Wilmot "Mountain" from my back yard.

I grew up in Antioch. Going there next week to visit my parents.

[aftermath]

profdant139 wrote:
ADK, they sold out to Thor, which is (I think) the parent of Airstream. So Thor certainly can build good trailers -- the question is whether they will devote the same care to Cruiser.

Thor purchased Airstream but they did not change the factory or how it builds trailers. Airstreams have their problems too and many owners do complain about them. Read the Airstream forum and you will see that these trailers are not perfect by a long shot.

That said, there is a current thread running that discuses the correlation between heavy vs light weight trailers and the "quality" of each. It is very hard to say that light weight trailers do not match up with the quality of the heavier ones and indeed, there are many light weights that are well built. But, there is a correlation in there that supports the main claim that the lighter the trailer the more prone they are to some of the issues listed in this post.

My Airstream is a 2006 and the converter/charger was a piece of junk from the get go. I had to replace that and the fan above the stove is loud and will probably go next. My cabinets have not fallen off the walls, all the doors close nicely and the latches on all of the drawers and doors still function as designed. The build quality is there even though the individual appliances and electronic components are average.

[love2tow]

Thanks for the well wishes. I'm hoping we are just getting the repairs out of the way early. It goes back to the dealer next week. Will see what happens.

[DatacomGuy]

We love ours. Had the axle repair done but otherwise been great. Wish you better luck.

[kodiakcanuck]

and Thor is Keystone, Outback, Kodiak and about hundred other brands :B , so I don't think you can 100% say its the manufacturer. I would say its the build quality that lacked on your particular unit, I think you just got a bit of a "friday afternoon before a long weekend" unit.

Hopefully this is the end of your troubles, if not, time for a trade in maybe? I consider myself lucky that I literally only had one issue with my current trailer within one year, which was some of the front decals starting to come off...

[profdant139]

ADK, they sold out to Thor, which is (I think) the parent of Airstream. So Thor certainly can build good trailers -- the question is whether they will devote the same care to Cruiser.

[ADK_Camper]

I have a 2012 FunFinder (purchased June of 2011) We've had very good luck with it. Everything continues to work, no leaks, no serious problems of any kind. That said today's Cruiser campers may be a totally different animal. Cruiser used to be family owned and, from what I can tell, had a pretty good reputation. I have heard that Cruiser sold out to one of the big companies so today's campers may be made by a completely different manufacturer with somewhat different quality standards.

[michigansandzil]

profdant139 wrote:
Very disturbing. We are on our second Cruiser trailer -- very happy with both of them -- but it sounds like you got a lemon. Hang in there!

I would say the same thing here. We're going into year #4 of our Shadow Cruiser.

Sounds like yours is a lemon!

[love2tow]

profdant139 wrote:
Aadkins, I am not going to say that Cruisers are perfect -- but I think that their quality control is just about average, not terrible. Remember that usually the only folks who comment about any brand (except Airstream) are those who are unhappy. The happy folks are too busy going camping. 😉

This is a true statement. However, I do a 1 year review on all of my vehicles/toys 🙂 ATV's, Trailer, Vehicles etc... The only reason I do this is that when I'm looking for something new, I like to see what others have had as an experience.

[profdant139]

Aadkins, I am not going to say that Cruisers are perfect -- but I think that their quality control is just about average, not terrible. Remember that usually the only folks who comment about any brand (except Airstream) are those who are unhappy. The happy folks are too busy going camping. 😉

[Aadkins101]

We've had 2 trailers made by Cruiser RV and have been very pleased with both of them. The first was a small (16') Fun Finder, which we had for 5 years and over 10,000 miles of traveling - gave it to our daughter who uses it often on weekends, without any issues. Our second was a used Shadow Cruiser 2011 (195WBS), which we still have and love - traveled about 6,000 miles with it so far. I guess we have just lucked out as I have read so many negative comments about the brand on this site.

[BillB800si]

A relative of mine (here in Michigan) refuses to sell me an Enterra Trailer (made by Cruiser) because of all the problems they have with Cruisers. It's a shame because we really liked the 317RES floorplan..
Oh well....

[RoyBell]

love2tow wrote:
I have looked into the Lemon Law thing but all that I'm finding in Illinois is cars. I'm going to take it back to the dealer and see what can be done. I doubt anything as they are able to fix it. I would love to trade this thing in and be done with it. Again, I'm okay with repairs now and then but I'm tired of working on this thing...

which dealer? Being from the same area I only know of one local dealer that sells that brand. I imagine its the same place I am getting mine from.