If you plan on buying a manufactured trailer there are a few things you need to know

TwinStick

Explorer
As a lifelong camper & camper owner, i can attest that those same little stickers were on ALL the JUNK i have bought new and also all of my family members & co-workers. They don't mean squat. They are all junk & made to the cheapest possible standards imaginable. They are NOT isolated incidents, a fluke or uncommon. They are VERY common to every single person I have in my family that has bought new & the 400+ people i have worked with for almost 30 years. I ran into 1 person, in 28 years that said his slide outs don't leak. Then 12 months later we ran into each other again at work & he said they were camping in a storm that was raining sideways & it leaked real bad. A new term I heard from the RV industry was "construction debris." That is what ruined a $850 furnace on our brand new 30' Toy Hauler while camping & it got down to 28*F. Would have been MUCH cheaper to pay some kid minimum wage to vacuum that stuff up after construction. When it went in for repair, I went off. He walked me across the street to a brand new $350,000 bus, went inside, removed a panel & showed me the same crap---there was even a fast food wrapper in there !!!! Sorry, that is just not acceptable to me. I am not saying they have to be made to last 40 yrs, just do what they do with more precision & pride of craftsmanship. I could not even get the battery in mine when new...........because they put the LP gas regulator where the battery goes !!! We still have a camper but it is a never ending process of fixing things that the factory messed up. We like ours a lot.......................................................now.
 

Chi-Town

The guy under the car
I used to find all kinds of odd things in brand new cars right off the truck when I worked for chrysler
 

azken

Observer
So someone gives up RVing for above stated reasons and decides to "motel or cabin it"..now one has to put up with bedbugs! It's lose..lose..my friend. :rolleyes:
 

Alloy

Well-known member
The RVIA certification didn't serve any purpose on our last (2014) trailer.
Of many issued the worst were:
- The front cross member had been cut and never repaired.
- The 110VAC wire was not secured as such wires to the back of the trailer had been caught up in the slide out gears.
- The 30A shore power cable prevented a drawer from closing. When the cable was moved the wires came out of the shore power receptacle.
 

QQQ

Member
RVs are junk because a majority of buyers want the sizzle not the steak and they want it at the lowest possible price.

Just look at some campers; island kitchen, fireplace, fancy faucet, and LED lighting on everything. Most buyers are so starry eyed over the bling they don't care about the piss poor engineering, shoddy materials, and assembly methods that are a complete joke.

When the buying public is ready to spend on proper engineering, quality materials, and detailed assembly then the industry will change.

There are quality campers out there but most are expensive and therefore remain somewhat niche.
 
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Chi-Town

The guy under the car
They don't enforce testing that well but it's a product liability / insurance thing. If it breaks and there's a lawsuit you'll get screwed if you don't have the paperwork to show you did it.

Kevin J. - Who's hitch are you looking at?
 

Chi-Town

The guy under the car
RVs are junk because a majority of buyers want the sizzle not the steak and they want it at the lowest possible price.

Just look at some campers; island kitchen, fireplace, fancy faucet, and LED lighting on everything. Most buyers are so starry eyed over the bling they don't care about the piss poor engineering, shoddy materials, and assembly methods that are a complete joke.

When the buying public is ready to spend on proper engineering, quality materials, and detailed assembly then the industry will change.

There are quality campers out there but most are expensive and therefore remain somewhat niche.

That's just it when you take even the most expensive trailers apart most of them are built exactly the same way as the cheap ones.

It not only takes a wise consumer market but a manufacturer that actually cares about quality and makes changes accordingly. So far I've found one that I've worked with and it's not a US company because all the big boys only car about $$.
 
The one camper I keep coming back to. It doesn't list dry weight but I can imagine. Seven thousand pounds loaded is approaching the heavy side of 1/2 ton truck towing capacity. One thing most don't notice is the 78 gallon fresh water tank. Twice the capacity of most comparable sized campers. Hope they keep that floor plan when they bring back the Back Country Series.
 

vintageracer

To Infinity and Beyond!
Over 600 lbs (78 Gallons) of water weight capacity for just the fresh water tank alone?

Throw in "Grey Water" and "Black Water" tank water capacities and you have one heavy turd!
 
Over 600 lbs (78 Gallons) of water weight capacity for just the fresh water tank alone?

Throw in "Grey Water" and "Black Water" tank water capacities and you have one heavy turd!

Granted heavy but no turd. Steel frame with aluminum, foam, fiberglass wall structure. Not everyone here uses a mid size vehicle to tow with. 1/2 ton tow vehicles can easily tow it, but I would recommend adding factory tow package or better. I have easily towed a 22 foot, 8,000 pound trailer with my 2000 Silverado 1500 with factory tow package.
 

motoboss

Bad Influence
I don't get how folks say fresh water AND black AND grey water when talking water weight. The fresh water IS the black and grey water! Holy crap do you think you would add water to all 3 tanks. Fresh water becomes black and grey water AFTER being used to wash the dishes, shower and using the toilet. It's the same amount just redistributing it to different tanks.


Think about it...........
 
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furbucket

Observer
...Of course there couldn’t possibly be a time where you find a place to refill your clean water tank long (days maybe) before you empty any grey/black water tanks...


via Tapatalk on an evil pocket calculator with a flashy screen
 

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