Thinking of New Aluminum Sided Travel Trailer

[Mike_Up]

I had a 2012 Jayco Jay Flight travel Trailer. It started getting corrosion spots vertically along the front corner of the camper. I fixed everything that was there, but new spots were continuing to pop up in different areas. So I fixed what I seen and hopefully that was the last of it.

I went to a pop up mainly for storage and low cost preventive maintenance along with easy towing and overall yearly tax and insurance costs.

Been doing a lot of research and seeing many stick and tin or aluminum sided campers have this galvanic corrosion issues with Jayco being the worst on their Jay Flights. My coworkers friend had the same issue with his newer Jayco Jay Flight and got rid of it.

I am thinking of ditching my Forest River pop up because their quality is pretty pathetic. I'm on my second camper, 1st was a lemon, and the second has been nothing but a garage queen as well. Every trip something falls apart and this is a brand new 2020.

So I won't be getting any more Jayco or Forest River campers, but looking at Gulf Stream and Grand Design aluminum sided camper, but if this is a wide spread issue of galvanic corrosion, I'll skip campers all together and start renting cabins.

I seen makers should use zinc coated staples or Galvanized staples which is suppose to stop galvanic corrosion. I don't know why Jayco has such bad aluminum panels. First 2008 Jay Flight had to have them all replaced due to paint peeling off. Second 2012 got corrosion spots as I stated. maybe Jayco isn't using galvanized staples and/or their aluminum panels have impurities and alloys causing the corrosion.

BTW, I'm not a rooky. I have had 6 brand new camper including the lemon. 2 Jay Flight Travel Trailers, 3 Forest River Pop ups (all poor quality including lemon. 1st was 15 years apart from the 2019 lemon and the 2020 pop up), and a Starcraft Pop Up.

Thanks for your help

[wing_zealot]

Mike Up wrote:
Which trailers did you have from each. The dealer put Jayco and Amerilite (Gulf Stream) higher in relibility and better overall units than his other stock of travel trailers from Dutchman and Forest River.

Surprising you had the opposite experience since the Jayco and Amerilite trailers were my dealers cheapest stock but he values a repeat customer as he's been there at least 20 years I know of.

Thanks and thanks for the comments.

Why didn't you just buy the Gulfstream then? What brought you to these boards if your dealer, who's been in business for 20 years and values repeat business, told you the Gulfstream was best? You asked for recommendations then you dismiss them out of hand. Go Figure!

[mbopp]

My brother had an aluminum sided trailer that the siding developed corrosion perforations.

No sure, but I heard the Grand Design Transcend line of trailers use a plastic siding instead of aluminum.

[Lynnmor]

You live in a salt state and most trailers are built there as well. If your trailer was delivered while the roads had salt or you towed during winter, all bets are off. I don't care what brand or type of construction, the salt will get in there and sooner or later the damage will become obvious. Never buy a trailer that was exposed to road salt.

[Drew_A_]

Mike Up

Can you better explain what the galvanic corrosion you experienced on the Jayco involved? Did the staples holding the aluminum panels rot out causing the aluminum panels to become detached from the trailer?

The reason I ask is that I have a 2010 Jayflight 32BHDS and do not think I have any corrosion of the aluminum siding. I am pretty meticulous with the roof and other maintenance, so I would think that I would have noticed something if it were there.

Thx

[colliehauler]

Mike Up wrote:

colliehauler wrote:
The Gulfstream was a Streamlite and I traded it on a Forest River Cherokee TH. Both were fiberglass not aluminum. There are 3 Gulfstream dealers in KS now. The dealer I bought from went out of business, the dealer I traded mine into use to carry Gulfstream but dropped them. Hopefully they have improved their quality. This has been many years ago so information might not be revalent to current quality. Ironically I owned a Gulfstream Seahawk that was very well built before I bought the new ultralight.

Yeh, my coworker just bought a Cherokee 274DBH which is a really nice trailer for cheaper, under $20K.

BUT I would have a hard time buying Forest River after the continuing issues I have which are all build quality problems of the camper and appliance installation problems which are not the fault of the supplier.

I was looking at Streamlite which is sold as clones under different names for the retailer area. Any serious issues with yours?

The box of the trailer was structural with foam and luan for the floor walls roof and a very light frame because of this. When putting on WD bars I actually bent the frame a little. The tires were under size for the weight. The floors were spongy from lack of support. All the interior curtain trim was stapled on with a hundreds of office staples and would fall off. The bathroom door didn’t fit. The slide out was installed crooked. The cut the vinyl flooring. Some of the interior lights weren't wired up. The radio didn't work.

I don't think there is much difference between any RV built in Elkhart Indian. There work force is all out of the same pool of people by the same type of management that let workers go home when there quota is achieved. There is absolutely no incentive what so ever to build quality.

[Mike_Up]

colliehauler wrote:
The Gulfstream was a Streamlite and I traded it on a Forest River Cherokee TH. Both were fiberglass not aluminum. There are 3 Gulfstream dealers in KS now. The dealer I bought from went out of business, the dealer I traded mine into use to carry Gulfstream but dropped them. Hopefully they have improved their quality. This has been many years ago so information might not be revalent to current quality. Ironically I owned a Gulfstream Seahawk that was very well built before I bought the new ultralight.

Yeh, my coworker just bought a Cherokee 274DBH which is a really nice trailer for cheaper, under $20K.

BUT I would have a hard time buying Forest River after the continuing issues I have which are all build quality problems of the camper and appliance installation problems which are not the fault of the supplier.

I was looking at Streamlite which is sold as clones under different names for the retailer area. Any serious issues with yours?

[colliehauler]

The Gulfstream was a Streamlite and I traded it on a Forest River Cherokee TH. Both were fiberglass not aluminum. There are 3 Gulfstream dealers in KS now. The dealer I bought from went out of business, the dealer I traded mine into use to carry Gulfstream but dropped them. Hopefully they have improved their quality. This has been many years ago so information might not be revalent to current quality. Ironically I owned a Gulfstream Seahawk that was very well built before I bought the new ultralight.

[Mike_Up]

colliehauler wrote:
I considered my Forest River and Keystone trailers a giant step up in quality over my previous Gulfstream, best of luck to you. The Gulfstream was the only trailer I bought new and traded in after its maiden voyage.

Which trailers did you have from each. The dealer put Jayco and Amerilite (Gulf Stream) higher in relibility and better overall units than his other stock of travel trailers from Dutchman and Forest River.

Surprising you had the opposite experience since the Jayco and Amerilite trailers were my dealers cheapest stock but he values a repeat customer as he's been there at least 20 years I know of.

Thanks and thanks for the comments.

[colliehauler]

I considered my Forest River and Keystone trailers a giant step up in quality over my previous Gulfstream, best of luck to you. The Gulfstream was the only trailer I bought new and traded in after its maiden voyage.

[Mike_Up]

Huntindog wrote:

Mike Up wrote:
I had a 2012 Jayco Jay Flight travel Trailer. It started getting corrosion spots vertically along the front corner of the camper. I fixed everything that was there, but new spots were continuing to pop up in different areas. So I fixed what I seen and hopefully that was the last of it.

I went to a pop up mainly for storage and low cost preventive maintenance along with easy towing and overall yearly tax and insurance costs.

Been doing a lot of research and seeing many stick and tin or aluminum sided campers have this galvanic corrosion issues with Jayco being the worst on their Jay Flights. My coworkers friend had the same issue with his newer Jayco Jay Flight and got rid of it.

I am thinking of ditching my Forest River pop up because their quality is pretty pathetic. I'm on my second camper, 1st was a lemon, and the second has been nothing but a garage queen as well. Every trip something falls apart and this is a brand new 2020.

So I won't be getting any more Jayco or Forest River campers, but looking at Gulf Stream and Grand Design aluminum sided camper, but if this is a wide spread issue of galvanic corrosion, I'll skip campers all together and start renting cabins.

I seen makers should use zinc coated staples or Galvanized staples which is suppose to stop galvanic corrosion. I don't know why Jayco has such bad aluminum panels. First 2008 Jay Flight had to have them all replaced due to paint peeling off. Second 2012 got corrosion spots as I stated. maybe Jayco isn't using galvanized staples and/or their aluminum panels have impurities and alloys causing the corrosion.

BTW, I'm not a rooky. I have had 6 brand new camper including the lemon. 2 Jay Flight Travel Trailers, 3 Forest River Pop ups (all poor quality including lemon. 1st was 15 years apart from the 2019 lemon and the 2020 pop up), and a Starcraft Pop Up.

Thanks for your help

I am pretty amazed at your luck.... Six new trailers,and all were junk.... Don't buy any lottery tickets:B

Yes I've had numerous problems with all, but only the Forest River pop ups gave continuous issues.

The Starcraft pop up was good but had leaky tenting that was fixed. Got married and wife needed a less cramped camper.

The Jayco 26BH was excellent except for the corrosion. That is a huge issue though.The Jayco 19BH had several issues and went back to facory for all new skin and other initial issues. Was excellent after that. Got severe hail damage and had another kid, so needed another bed. Good time to get rid of it for the 26BH.

Forest river pop ups keep continuing to have issues. Thought that would had changed after 15 years but it has not. Got rid of first because it was so bad. Got rid of second 15 years later after it being a lemon. On my last and hopefully it will be good now and will keep it as its the perfect floorplan with great amenities. If any more issues, it's gone.

Wife wants a travel trailer again mainly due to hating current problem plaqued pop up camper. Getting my ducks in a row to make educated decision on next move.

[Huntindog]

Mike Up wrote:
I had a 2012 Jayco Jay Flight travel Trailer. It started getting corrosion spots vertically along the front corner of the camper. I fixed everything that was there, but new spots were continuing to pop up in different areas. So I fixed what I seen and hopefully that was the last of it.

I went to a pop up mainly for storage and low cost preventive maintenance along with easy towing and overall yearly tax and insurance costs.

Been doing a lot of research and seeing many stick and tin or aluminum sided campers have this galvanic corrosion issues with Jayco being the worst on their Jay Flights. My coworkers friend had the same issue with his newer Jayco Jay Flight and got rid of it.

I am thinking of ditching my Forest River pop up because their quality is pretty pathetic. I'm on my second camper, 1st was a lemon, and the second has been nothing but a garage queen as well. Every trip something falls apart and this is a brand new 2020.

So I won't be getting any more Jayco or Forest River campers, but looking at Gulf Stream and Grand Design aluminum sided camper, but if this is a wide spread issue of galvanic corrosion, I'll skip campers all together and start renting cabins.

I seen makers should use zinc coated staples or Galvanized staples which is suppose to stop galvanic corrosion. I don't know why Jayco has such bad aluminum panels. First 2008 Jay Flight had to have them all replaced due to paint peeling off. Second 2012 got corrosion spots as I stated. maybe Jayco isn't using galvanized staples and/or their aluminum panels have impurities and alloys causing the corrosion.

BTW, I'm not a rooky. I have had 6 brand new camper including the lemon. 2 Jay Flight Travel Trailers, 3 Forest River Pop ups (all poor quality including lemon. 1st was 15 years apart from the 2019 lemon and the 2020 pop up), and a Starcraft Pop Up.

Thanks for your help

I am pretty amazed at your luck.... Six new trailers,and all were junk.... Don't buy any lottery tickets:B

[Mike_Up]

I am interested in the laminated built Gulf Stream Cabin Cruiser line and Vista Cruiser, but there are far more floorplans I like in their Stick and Tin models. Even so from Grand Designs.

But as I said, if galvanic corrosion is a common thing with Stick and Tin because makers are going cheap and using panels with impurities and/or are not using the right staples or screws, I don't want to be duped into another 7 year life span travel trailer.

I have always kept that Jayco up. Got it sealtech leak tested every year and recaulked every year along with fixing anything that was needed. Then the corrosion came and I fixed it everytime.

Just no excused for a 7 year old camper to be corroding away or laminating away.

I've always read and heard good things about Gulf Stream so I'm looking at their campers. I also hear good things about Grand Design even though I have found their furnishings made cheaply compared to Jayco.

Seems many here have had good luck with stick and tin from other makers so maybe Gulf Stream and Grand Designs would be a good start as they have many floorplans I like.

Thanks for the help.

[camperdave]

I had a 98 Fleetwood Terry aluminum sided trailer from 2004-2017. In that time, I never did anything more than wash it, no wax or anything, and the aluminum looked as good the day I sold it as when I bought it. I did recoat the roof once, and the vinyl decals were looking faded, but the paint still looked good. Never noticed any galvanic corrosion.

My current RV, a 2004 Fleetwood motorhome with fiberglass sides, looks crappy by comparison. All sun faded and old looking. Requires much more upkeep to keep the fiberglass looking good than the aluminum does, imo.

[Thermoguy]

I think the ATC trailers are all aluminum. I'm sure there are others. Not sure about your comments, but I have a 15 year old horse trailer, all aluminum, and it is holding up well. I do have some rust where they used steel fasteners to the aluminum, but it isn't structural.

[wing_zealot]

If you don't maintain the roof, the stick and tin will rot the same as the fiberglass sided trailer. Only difference is you'll notice it sooner with the delamination and possibly fix it before it becomes a totally rotted out worthless piece of moldy junk.