Travel Trailer quality rankings?

[likesadvice]

This forum has shown to be a wealth of information to aid our family in our search for the best TT to serve our needs. The postings have helped us identify our true needs and realize our size and weight limitations. With so many manufactures and brands, how do you make a decision?

[mlts22]

If I were to buy a TT, I'd probably go to a company like Pace American (PA is out of business, but there are others), and have one built with an aluminum frame/trusses/siding. With strips of aerogel insulation and riveting, the metal to metal contact can be minimized so heat conductivity isn't a major issue. Insulation would be done with foam (both expanding and the Styrofoam stuff.) Inside cabinets would be some form of laminate or even aluminum as well, with a wooden facade. To boot, if done right, mice would have very limited routes of intrusion if all holes are sealed with stainless steel wool and expanding foam.

Yes, this will be expensive, but with a one piece aluminum roof, then a trip to a Rhino dealer or Dave's Permanent Coatings to seal the roof so caulk is something that will never be needed. That way leaks will be a thing in the past, and if there is water intrusion, it is an annoyance, not something that would utterly destroy the TT.

Doing an RV right is doable -- leak proof structures is something Man has been able to do for millennia. It is just expensive since doing it right is not the same as doing it cheap.

[WoodGlue]

clubhouse wrote:

WoodGlue wrote:
I bought my Lance because I'll never need 2 trailers!

WoodGlue

Didn't I see in another post you just bought your second Lance TT...if I recall it was only a year or so after you purchased your previous Lance. I guess your message above isn't true; you, like most of us, will trade though travel trailers fairly quickly.

Yep, I did sell my first 2013 Lance to my friend who was pestering me to sell it to him. Then I bought my 2nd 2014 Lance.

I don't see where that's a problem.

Using the OP's math, now I've bought 4 trailers!

WoodGlue

[JiminDenver]

One thing I've learned by being on the forums is you can have a low cost entry level trailer like ours and never have a issue or have a high priced popular model and have it go back to the factory to be rebuilt. (or the other way around) There just seems to be no consistency in quality.

I say floor plan, comfort and filling your needs is the place to start. Some floor plans are sold by many makes so if you find one you like move on to comfort and needs. Comfort may be a slide for more room, a couch or bigger beds. Needs are more basic such as size of tanks and room for batteries if you dry camp, 4 season ability if you winter camp, etc.

We didn't go thru 7 in 4, in fact we learned that what you think will work may not before we even bought. There was a 21 ft model we thought would be perfect for the two of us and the dogs. Those sold out and we took a 25 ft model that had bunks and a couch. I have to tell you that the bunks are wonderful for storage and the couch is a godsend over sitting at the dinette. We would have never picked it at first but it is the better rig for us.

[astraelraen]

I want a Lance 2185, but the pricing is out there. You also never see used ones, probably because they haven't been making travel trailers very long. I imagine they will still go for a pretty penny once they start hitting the used market.

Even with the Northwood plant close by, you still see few Arctic Fox trailers used out here, and when you do they are expensive.

[GrandpaKip]

Ours was pretty simple. It was a combination of floorplan (island queen), weight (already had TV), and cost. Brand really did not factor in as there weren't that many that met our criteria. Looked at all dealers within 3 hours drive to get ideas and researched on the net. Kept a notebook of ones that looked good, got lots of opinions, looked for trouble spots. Had it narrowed down to about 6, then found ours on Craigslist.

[clubhouse]

WoodGlue wrote:
I bought my Lance because I'll never need 2 trailers!

WoodGlue

Didn't I see in another post you just bought your second Lance TT...if I recall it was only a year or so after you purchased your previous Lance. I guess your message above isn't true; you, like most of us, will trade though travel trailers fairly quickly.

[gmw_photos]

Jim ( ^^^^ ) , one thing for sure, you have dogged determination to find the camper that is just right for your needs ! I always enjoy reading your posts. And I look forward to hearing about your "next" camper ... 🙂 😉

[cpaharley2008]

Seven in four...
I mentioned in another post about my rv history and it was suggested to make a thread on the subject. so here goes....


Seven in Four.....

Let the saga begin, when my significant other started cancer treatment in Fall, 2007, some of the side effects,as we all know is loss of hair. We had a tent, it is still up in the garage attic, actually it is a SUV tent that allows one to utilize their vehicle.
I also was an avid Harley rider and we have tented and camped out way in previous years to South Dakota with our Lab, Franklin.
Getting back to the story, tent camping was nice but I’m getting a little to old to sleep on the ground and Noelia was very self conscious of her appearance. In February, 2008, I found a small toy hauler,(#1)Hyperlite, in Indiana. Only 13’ long and 7’ wide, it was the cutest toy hauler I could fine. Compared to tents, it looked wonderful. We drove out in a blizzard in February, 2008 for 9 hours to pick it up. We were all excited to have a set of single beds, with a small table in between, a small sink with 3 gallon pump, small 2 burner stove, a tiny portable 3 way refer and a television!!.
We drove back to Ohio where I found a KOA open in the winter. We hooked up our electric, took showers and got into our sleeping bags. It must have gotten down to 20 that night, Franklin was shivering on the floor so I let him up inside my bag, Noelia had her head completely covered because she had no hair. Thhere was no heater in the trailer. I got up next am and found the closest WallyWorld and got ourselves a little ceramic heater and a carpet runner. That next night, in western Pa. we had heat, Franklin was curled up on carpet on the floor and we were happy campers.
We camped in that Hyperlite thru July 2008 when 2 big items were obvious. Although we could open the back and put up a nice screen room, without a/c at night it was uncomfortable. I tried using one of those 12v ice cooler fan set up, it worked for 3-4 hours but one needed a lot of ice. The other item was bathrooms, some campgrounds leave a lot to be desired. Since I had never put the bike inside the toyhauler, hauling the bike was not that important. So, I found a dealer that sold Hyperlite’s in Detroit that also sold conventional trailers.
We made a deal, over the phone to trade in the Hyperlite on a new (#2) 2009 RoadRunner. It was a 16’ trailer SOB, with a bath, air conditioning, double bed and a bunk overhead, front dinette. We drove out there in July, 2008 and made the switch. We used that unit until a trip to Adirondacks in Fall, 2008 when it became obvious that I did not have the proper w/d set up or there was something wrong with the suspension. The white knuckle trip got me thinking about aerodynamics. Towing a wooden upright box at 60 mph and being all over the road was not pleasant. The Dutchman T@da had made it’s debut and we saw one at a campground, only 5’7” inside, it was low and sleek instead of big and boxy. So I ordered one from a dealer in Delaware and traded in the Roadrunner in December 2008 for a 2009 T@da

The (#3)Tada was really nice, towed wonderful, had a cassette toilet. The only drawback was it’s interior was small now that Noelia’s teenage daughter was camping with us, we now had 2 dogs (Hershey came along) plus Dutchman stopped making theT@da in 2010. In the summer of 2009, while in Florida visiting my mother the decision was made for my mom to move back up north with us. If we ever took my mother camping, the T@da was too small. Upon return north, I sold the T@da on Ebay that October,2009 to someone who flew in from California.
In November, 2009 Lance campers started making travel trailers and they looked wonderful, So I ordered a (#4) 2010 Lance 1880 from a dealer in
Chicago, then the closest Lance dealer, That February,2010 we got over 20” snow and the Lance was delivered to the dealer located in Chicago, Il. This time I left Noelia and Franklin&Hershey at home with my mom and headed out to Chicago, 13 hours away on a Thursday afternoon. There was a 4 day window between storms and I stayed on Interstates. Arrived Friday 5 am, slept at dealer until they opened 8am, did a quick walk thru, hooked up Ram and left by 11 am because another storm was approaching. Made it to Indiana border and stopped around 4 pm dusk. Took a shower, ate some supper and went to bed. The Lance had a front sleep sofa, a dinette and a double bed with a single bunk over head, it slept 7 and was 19’ long, 22’ total. Although it weighed 3400# from factory the Ram handled it fine. Awoke the next am, it was snowing really hard, I had to use 4 wheel drive to get out of the campground and drove like a bat out of XXXX until it stopped snowing. Upon arrival home in York,Pa the next morning, I had to plow my alley to get it in close to my house where it sat until the snow melted in the spring, 2 months later. The Lance seemed so large compared to the T@da. We were happy campers, took the whole family camping in the Spring and summer 2010 several times, everyone had a bed and it was ideal.
Sometime in August 2010 I got on a ladder and went up to clean the roof and got a surprise. My roof had dozens of air bubbles all over the rubber roof, I was afraid to walk on it for fear of popping the roof membrane. I contacted the dealer in Illinois who contacted Lance. Never heard back from Lance but the dealer said it was ok to walk on, but I was not not buying that. I listed and sold it on Ebay in November 2010 that year. Took a loss financially.

This started my fiberglass ownership when I found the(#5) 2007NestEgg and this forum. No roof problems, bigger inside than T@da and with my mother now unable to camp anymore, a lot smaller than the Lance, seemed to fit the ideal set up. As we used it with our 2 dogs, we found a lot of state parks put the pet owners in non electric sites. I installed a catalytic heater and dual batteries to try and overcome that in an all electric unit. I was thinking of replacing the windows with insulated ones when the window manufacturer said I was waisting my money. A single fiberglass shell was not equipped to keep winter out. Hhmmm, another unforeseen issue. We love to winter camp and the T@da was cozy, it had dual windows and a cassette toilet that
worked in the winter. But now we had an issue with using the Eggcamper in the winter unless we had electric.

In November 2011,Lance came out with a new small trailer that was 100% fiberglass, no roof problems, had double windows, and a slideout that made it huge inside. Plus Lance now had a dealer 90 miles away. Sold the Eggcamper and ordered the new Lance (#6) which arrived in late 2011. We went winter camping and down to Myrtle Beach and Townsend, Tn and all was fine until, the slide motor stopped working. Never buy a first year model, the bugs are still there. I do not know about you, but when you have issues with something new, albeit fixed under warranty, it does not seem still new. There was a major design flaw in the Lance slide. What would happen if it broke on the road? So I sold the Lance in May 2012 via rv.net.


So now I have my(#7) 2012 Escape19’ in July 2012 and I’m tickled pink.
I was lucky enough to get a cancellation slot at Escape Industries therefore I only had a 90 day turn around. The Escape has all my other issues resolved and practically 100% ready from the factory. I did not have to spend hours like I did on the other units making them better (switching to leds, adding solar and lights and moving outlets) I had the Escape made the way I wanted with everything planned out (God knows I had experience as to what were shortfalls in other trailers) solar, small draw propane furnace, heated tanks, extra insulation, double windows. I’m now a happy camper. Noelia is happy, Franklin and Hershey are happy also. I hope to use this one for a long while. They have a pool at the local pub as to when I’m going to sell it since I have had so many in so little time and I keep saying never.
Seven in four...

as a side note, the persons at the local PennDot office know me by my first name now!!

[n7bsn]

Construction quality can be surprisingly lacking, I was at an RV show looking at a $500K MH, the show model, the door to the bathroom was so warped that it could not be closed.
Talk about lack of attention to detail.
Do research, but I bet you will find what many of us have, there is a limited number of good, well thought out and made rigs.

Northwoods (Arctic Fox, Nash, etc)
Outdoors RV (newer line, same ownership as Northwoods)
Lance
Sunnybrook (now owned by Winnie)
NuWa (last I checked, out of production, but still in business)

[gmw_photos]

Again, to the OP, don't let any of this dissuade you from buying a camper.
Some would argue that using the word quality and RV in the same sentence is an oxymoron. Certainly the RV industry has not embraced quality control like the car industry has. Sadly even some of the high priced trailers also suffer various problems from minor, to occasionally major. Even the high priced Airstream brand occasionally has some defects from the factory. Truthfully, most trailers are probably just fine as they are built. Mostly what you hear on forums is folks complaining. Few come to praise.
Did I have assembly faults in my funfinder ? Well, yes. One cabinet door began to fall crooked because a screw fell out. Also the fresh water pump was plumbed incorrectly, and failed to work. The paint that was applied to the folding steps was thin, so the steps began to rust. Point is, I fixed all the issues, and have had a great time with the camper making memories and seeing places I probably would not have otherwise.
My suggestion is to try to view your trailer as an enjoyable hobby. Pay attention to the little details on maintaining it. Inspect it often, look for little things that might be going wrong....things like checking the plumbing connections to make sure they remain tight, inspecting and resealing of caulked joints, etc. Inspection and fixing small problems keeps them from becoming big problems later. And this is true no matter the brand or the price point.

Keep it fun, it's a great experience getting out in these campers.
And remember....they really are pretty simple 🙂 ....this ain't a rocket heading for the moon.

[Dick_B]

To help you decide on what RV to buy you could go to www.rvknowhow.com and read Joe and Vicki’s suggestions and/or download their e-book `RV Buyers Homework’, which walks you through the process of choosing the best RV for your needs, selecting the right floor plans and features, determining the RV’s cargo-carrying and towing capacities and evaluating its livability. (Nov-Dec Highways, pg. 21)
RVtravel.com and the Better Business Bureau have a DVD that covers the same subject
(http://rvbookstore.com/shop/detail.aspx?p=710&m=2) and Chuck Woodbury has an ebook with similar advice that can be instantly downloaded from www.rvbookstore.com.
The RV Consumer Group, www.rv.org, rates RV's in various ways for a fee.

[goducks10]

Some are made better than others plain and simple. But it's 100% up to the owner to do the up keep. I don't care what brand you buy if you don't periodically inspect it and do the necessary maintenance then even the best will have problems. As stated above the warranty means nothing as most will be fine for the 1st year or two. After that you either need to be rich or handy.

[WoodGlue]

I bought my Lance because I'll never need 2 trailers!

WoodGlue

[likesadvice]

Our family had almost talked ourselves into a Lance 2185. With no dealership close we planned a trip 3.5 hours away and incorporated a stop at the Lance dealer. The trailer is everything we want, but.....we just couldn't justify the price tag. While the quality seemed better than everything else we've looked at, we could almost purchase two "other" TT's for the price of the Lance. The quality difference just didn't seem night and day better to justify buying the Lance.