TacoPuller
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Re: Keystone Passport Ultralite GT bad news
Quality is a huge issue to me, and Ardensille's $20,000 trailer experience hit home yesterday as I was fixing my own trailer. I have had my used Nomad for a few months now. On my last trip, I went on (1) dirt road, and when I got to the site, the kitchen drawers had all broken off their frames. Also, when it rains, there was a leak somewhere in the body that pools up gallons of water in the Coroplast underlayment that needs to be fixed; the smell of mold was starting to become noticeable. Yesterday I decided to work on the trailer instead of taking it on the road, and encountered all kinds of shoddy workmanship in the trailer in places you don't normally look. 6 feet of stripped, but unattached electrical wires disposed of in the underlayment, covered with aluminum and wood chips. The curves of the front of the trailer were not sealed properly, open holes were letting in rain that ran down inside the front of the trailer. White polyurethane hopefully fixes the leak, and a mold bomb hopefully 'solves' the growing mold problem; we'll see. The support for the back of the frames for the drawers was 1/2" too far away for the 'rails support', and didn't attach properly to the 2"x1"x18" piece of rough pine. Rebuilt the frame. Same thing happened to my brother's Outback trailer. The Nomad's internal luan was shaped badly around the frame members, and multiple router-cuts had to be made for it to clear the wheel-wells. Not a big problem, but is indicative of the overall mess. Aluminum chips on the floor running under and next to the power system inverter. Vibration turns that into a shorting hazard. Same thing behind the hot water heater. You can fault me all you want on my comments about workers, but what is wrong with this picture? Shouldn't everyone know that metal chips around 120VAC is probably not a good idea? And it's not just me; see the following link: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/housing/skyline_corp.html Anyone that thinks this is acceptable is part of the problem.476Views0likes0CommentsRe: Keystone Passport Ultralite GT bad news
westend wrote: TacoPuller wrote: That's just horrible. Yea, we don't want migrants coming in and taking jobs from THOSE workers. From the standpoint that the manufacturers are to blame, yes. They need to a) learn what quality is, b) teach it to their workers, and the ones that won't learn it need to be fired, and c) for the ones the DO learn it, care about them, reward them with a decent wage and don't let them go. Properly assembled, even cheap can last a long time- but you can't expect a donkey to assemble it. Your post is about the fourth or fifth one I've read that blames the poor quality of RV's on the production workers that assemble them. One poster even stated that the problems were due to the "piece work" process that allegedly is used at the RV plants. I don't know what you did for a living to arrive at these assumptions but they are far from accurate. Any quality issues start from the top and are directed or filtered downward. In my experience, nearly all workers that assemble or produce goods with their hands want to do a good job and are forced by management to achieve nearly 100% correct completion of their task. There is no incentive to do it any other way. Where problems start to arise is usually with supervision requiring completion of tasks quicker and not allowing sufficient time. Another problem could be the design of production process being ill thought out. If the production environment starts to closely resemble an anthill with workers at odds with each other, you can also expect problems. There can be other issues as well but none of them lie at the feet of the worker. Your comment about migrant workers assumes a caste system or hierarchy of workers. I hope you have the opportunity to work with someone born outside our borders so that you can eliminate that type of judgemental thinking. Off hand, I'd speculate that 95% of anybody born South of Texas could work rings around you. First of all, I am an research engineer, working in the automotive industry. I spend 35 hours a week writing test scripts for product testing, and 10 hours a week working with QA in postmortems on products that came off the line, and went into destructive testing to see how our quality holds up on a daily basis. We destroy perfectly good products to see where they might be production problems. We also torture test incoming parts to see if they meet spec. Samples of every part, not just some. Sometimes those products were brought to the attention of engineering from the line, and line personal are always welcome in our door, and everyone has my cell number for off hours. If a problem arises, it's off to China /Japan / with QA to discuss with offshore engineering teams and management. Every worker in my company can press a button to stop production, and there are millions of products going out per year. And guess what happens if they're right? They get a bonus. Enough times, and they get promoted. You said "there is no incentive to do it any other way.." That's absolute ****. 30% of the people that try to work here won't make the cut. Quality is something that is a part of one's character, not something you can write down in a resume. My comment about migrant workers didn't assume anything. In high school, I worked along migrant workers where I grew up in California picking oranges and strawberries. Most of my friends were Latino, and were the hardest working people on the planet; unbelievable work ethic compared to many of the people I come across now. That ethic wasn't a joke; it was weaved into their culture and generations of hard working people brought that ethic with them when they came, and passed it down to their kids. That is the kind of people I look for in our team. "Off hand, I'd speculate that 95% of anybody born South of Texas could work rings around you." Nice. Find someone that can take my job. Oh, they have to know CTE of most polymers and machinable metals, and can help setup FEAs on FR-4 PCBS and polymer parts. They would also have to be able to write optics analysis scripts in Matlab, design 2.4GHz multilayer PCBs with embedded microstrip technology, and do critical evaluation with the electronics design and PCB layout personel (I have 30 years experience in high frequency electronics/PCB design). Plus they would have to be able to do electronic EMI/ESD analysis, and be completely versed in multiple programming languages. Plus handhold foreign design teams, be versed in political tact when it comes to telling them their testing methods are inadequate, and train them in best practices. I'm sure you can do all that, but if you know anyone else that can, send them my way. I would hire them in a second.476Views0likes0CommentsRe: Keystone Passport Ultralite GT bad news
That's just horrible. Yea, we don't want migrants coming in and taking jobs from THOSE workers. From the standpoint that the manufacturers are to blame, yes. They need to a) learn what quality is, b) teach it to their workers, and the ones that won't learn it need to be fired, and c) for the ones the DO learn it, care about them, reward them with a decent wage and don't let them go. Properly assembled, even cheap can last a long time- but you can't expect a donkey to assemble it.477Views0likes0CommentsRe: Finally sold our Travel Trailer.
robsouth wrote: After a pretty long dry spell of non use of the camper, we decided that due to health problems and other issues that we should discontinue our escapade with camping in trialers. We have been enjoying camping for many years starting with tents, to an old Apache Pop Up, to a small travel trailer, to a large travel trailer, to a large 5th wheel, to a Class A motorhome, then back to a travel trailer, but as my health has declined over the last few years, it just got to be a little much to handle. Enjoyed them all for nearly 40 years and had very few problems with any of them. DW says that might be a smaller TT in the future, one that she sould handle pretty much herself so we could still visit local area state parts, private campgrounds, etc., but we shall see. Docs don't really forsee much more in the way of that sort of activity for me. If by some miracle, I am able to recover more thant current predictions, we might try another go with a smaller camper if we find one in great shape that does not require a lot of hands-on maintenance. Still holding onto the Ram 3500 dually as a tow vehicle and daily driver, so we shall see. Stanger things have happened. Luck to all you campers and try to remember you are doing it for enjoyment, not as an aggravation. Later...robsouth You need a Four Winds 19G. For that matter...I need one too!! Nice; no BS setting up, easy to park, easy to move. You can camp ANYWHERE with one, off the beaten track, or with hookups. This would be a ZERO aggravation rig. Just my two cents...along with $30K :) buys you one!569Views0likes0CommentsRe: Overnighting at a rest area
Doug33 wrote: Do you need to notify Walmart if you are parking overnight, or just pull in and go to sleep? Do you park as far from the store as possible? What do you do if it is really hot weather? Parking lots are notoriously hot in the summer, although theoretically things cool down at night. Can you run a generator? 1. There are Walmarts that do not allow over-nights... see http://www.walmartatlas.com/no-park-walmarts/ 2. For the ones that do, it is preferred that you do not look like camping, although I have seen chairs! 3. I was told by the manager that they also prefer you go to the back of the lot to prevent traffic problems, but we were told to have a good night! Then we spent $130.290Views0likes0CommentsRe: Towing with a Tacoma
Greg- Question; have you pulled the rig yet? Curious about your initial thoughts. The best advice for larger rigs with Tacomas can be found at Tacoma World forums, in the 'towing' section. I would recommend you read the towing bible in the sticky there. There are a lot of people pulling larger rigs than mine (mine is a 22', yours is 27'), and the advice found there varies a lot on towing environment and driver expectations. I just looked at your trailer specs, and noticed that it is a bunkhouse model, which I assume means you have a family. One thing that will impact the overall towing satisfaction will be directly proportional to how much gear you and the family load your rig with before driving off. Gear adds up quickly, and you really need to be aware of your total (truck+gear+family+trailer)weight once it is loaded. We selected low-weight cookware, don't travel with full water, pack light, and have great trips. EDIT: Used to have a paragraph here regarding the TRD supercharger kit from Toyota; just found out that on June 1, the factory TRD has been discontinued. :( Good luck-314Views0likes0CommentsRe: Towing with a Tacoma
gmann1972 wrote: Hello All, I am new to this forum so bear with me. I have a 2013 Tacoma, tow capacity of 6500lb. I just purchased a 2014 Sportsmen Showstopper 242sbhss dry weight 4400lb, gvw 6000lb. I did purchase the weight distribution setup and break control set up. But I have never towed anything of this size and weight with my truck. According to this information my truck should be able to handle the capacity of the camper. Although not sure if the truck has enough HP to pull the camper. Has anyone had any experience with towing a camper of this size with a truck of this size. Thanks All, Greg gmann- Boy, a lot of Greg's with that moniker :) I am also a Greg, also have a 2013 Tacoma. My TT is a 2011 Nomad UltraLite, 3600# dry, 4500# loaded. First, my thoughts, then some things to consider. If you are pulling on flat to moderately hilly ground with that rig, the Tacoma will prove to be an awesome TV. In '4th', it handles that amount of weight perfectly, and the power is good to great. I put over 4K miles on mine in the last couple of months, all around Lake Michigan, Superior, Huron, Upper Peninsula, Wisconsin, etc. There were virtually no issues with power...but no mountains. Now the caveats. Some owners on the Tacoma towing forum tried to keep up with their friends in Diesel rigs going up long, steep grades in high temperatures from Phoenix to the mountains. Not a good idea at all to try to keep up. Pushed hard enough, it will, there is a video of a stock 2015 Taco pulling a large covered cargo trailer filled with ATV(S)from Denver to Eisenhower tunnel at 65mph, ~5K rpm. That is at the peak of the Taco HP/Torque curves, but I don't know if I would want to do that all the time. Just keep the trans in 3rd/4th 3000-3500rpm which will put you at 55-60mph up all but the steepest hills, and relax, don't try to hit speed records. Within it's limits, the truck will perform flawlessly, and give good mileage to boot. Tacos are far, far under-rated; I pulled a 5x8 cargo trailer loaded at 2,000# across the US 12 times in a 2.7L taco (6x over the Rockies), and when I sold it a 185,000 miles, it was still pulling strong. Literally 10 years with nothing but oil and filter changes. Currently, the 4.0L is showing to be a much stronger engine, and I also expect to drive this for 10 years with the same quality. Good luck!! Greg2314Views0likes0CommentsRe: Toyota Tacoma towing Travel Trailer/Casita
westend wrote: You'll struggle with that Tacoma pulling anything over 2K lbs. It's not made to pull anything bigger like a travel trailer. My suggestion would be to get a bigger truck. That's right, it's not. You should get a 3/4 ton. Oh, wait, they are the same price as the 1 ton. Get that instead!! Course, they are wimpy compared to a "REAL MAN's" TV, either a Kenworth, or a 12-ton Army truck. That's what you REALLY need. An ARMY TRUCK!! Only $100,000 and it requires an acre to turn around on, but they can pull almost anything!! Including a train of 3/4 and 1 ton trucks tied bumper-to-bumper. No, wait...A MERCEDES UNIMOG!!! With 20 forward creeper gears, it can pull a freight train. AND A 12-TON ARMY TRUCK!!! At .01mph, but IT CAN PULL IT!! Keep your 'ready-to-roll' tow weight to <75% of rated, about 4800#, and go have a blast. And save your hard-earned $$ for Margaritas on the beach.330Views0likes0CommentsRe: Old school setup
subcamper wrote: I forgot to mention, the car in the OP's pictures is almost certainly a Cadillac, as evidenced by the taillight view in the third picture. Steve I hate to do this...(give away my age and all ;) )...the hubcaps give it away. It is a 1976 Buick Electra. Here is a shot of the electra with deluxe wheels... https://www.flickr.com/photos/77461664@N08/12052122675 ...and here are the standard hubcaps... https://www.google.com/search?q=buick+hubcaps&biw=1920&bih=928&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAmoVChMI4bDPyeSNxwIVRBuSCh1_1ga4#imgrc=5luv3N193VlIoM%3A506Views0likes0Comments
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Prefer to camp in a travel trailer? You're not alone.Mar 12, 202544,028 Posts
