How did this happen?

[Fyoung7]

Hi gang,

I've got my free month on this forum so imma share some words from my experience.

We bought our first camper 2 years ago to live in fulltime, seemed like a good adventure after living in the burbs. Our first RV was a mess. My favorite flaw was that they wired the furnace to the same circuit as the light in the rear toyhauler area. Because of this the wires were very thin and the furnace never worked right and all the lights would dim while it ran. That was just one of a million stupid little broken things. We realized that these things are built in less time than it would take you or I to make a well constructed grilled cheese sandwich.

So, we decided a toy hauler was wrong for us and we bought a GD 313RLTS.

And just a small list of problems:

The pipes in the basement leaked.
The air conditioner froze up constantly.
The shower leaked.
The fridge controls were mounted so the light never came on.
The fridge ran well below freezing.
The stereo wires were broken or shorted.

That list goes on and on...those are the errors at the factory.

Now for the design flaws:
The furnace is designed such that heat collects in the walls with temperatures exceed 150 degrees F inside the walls and the drawers above the furnace.
The floor in the slidout is so weak that it deflects about half an inch when I sit at the dinette.

So, all that crap that was broken, I took the thing to the dealer, they fixed a few things in a way that would make you angry and would make an engineer cover himself with ashes and weep in a biblical way.

The problem with the flawed furnace was deemed a design decision by GD and not to be fixed.
The problem with the floor, they agreed it was a problem and off erred to pay the local RV guy to retrofit it.

Why is it like this Ed, Kathy, Fyong? Well, I think it's because these things cost less than the car we tow them with. They throw these things together the way you might board up your house before the zombies get in through the window. They have to build them cheaper than the other guy, and the other guy, well he is one cheap SOG (sonofagun, trying to keep it classy). So they throw it together and hope for the best, because its cheaper to have a 20% failure rate of everything and fixed the broken stuff than to take the time to build it with 100% success.

So, its probably really broken when you get it. Take it to the dealership and they are in a bigger hurry than the factory was. That truncated list of broken nonsense, I fixed it myself, and now it's awesome. So, the bottom line with RVs is.

If you want it perfect.

1) Take the time to fix it yourself.
2) Buy a dadgummed house like a normal person and stay in hotels.

The only way to stay sane is to consider your purchase a "starting point". A nice kit you can use to build yourself a decent RV. If you consider it a final product, you are going to be reallllllly upset. If we want a decently built RV, we need to quit expecting to buy a tiny mobile house for less than the car we use to drag it around.

Love,

Guido

Also, if you want to know how to fix anything on that list of stuff, ask this guy, he'll help you out.

A little more of that love,

Guido

Ask this guy? Ask you or who is the guy?

[LCBoyer]

While dreaming about full timing I came across Augusta-RV 5th wheels. Maybe it's all marketing hype, but they sure look better built than most other RVs. They are also a lot more expensive, starting at around $100K, and heavy.

All of their 5th wheels use Mor/Ryde components wherever possible including standard 17.5 in wheels and Mor/Ryde suspension with disc brakes. This seems to be what I see full timers converting to when they get fed up with the stock suspension/brakes on GD 5th wheels. They use the Equalizer auto level system. They claim the are the only non-motorized RVs using this system which is usually found on 1/2 million dollar motor homes and is much more robust than Lipperts system. They have a lot of convincing videos on their website, including one on how they super insulate every possible space in their RVs. Like I said it may be marketing hype, but maybe not.

They are also a young and up and coming RV manufacturer. My guess is that they will probably be gobbled up by the Thor or Winnebago in the future.

John

They are nice. Real expensive, and very heavy. Even after adding disc brakes and independent suspension I don't have nearly as much money invested in my 379

[guidocat]

I'm this guy. I've ripped out and redesigned a number of things. Lots of simple tricks to make your ac work better. We made our cheap nonadustable fridge adjustable.

Nothing too hard with a little basic wood and electrical skills.

[Chuckles]

They, Augusta, just sold out too!

[goducks14]

Spend some time on all the brand forums. You won't find any RV better than any other. Doesn't matter if you spend $50,000 MSRP or $120,000 MSRP. You get a way nicer equipped trailer for $120,000 than the $50,000. But they all use many of the same parts and build processes. Same labor market. Same dealers. It's dinosaur design stuck in the 70's as far a s technology goes. Reminds me of 80's cars and trucks compared to todays vehicles.
It really boils down to floor plan, colors and interior styling.

[WhittleBurner]

New Horizon appears to be a nice trailer. They have no dealers. You go to their plant in Kansas to place your order and custom design it. That is also where you pick it up. They make their own frames and cabinetry. Used ones can cost you over $100,000.00. I believe they are also 25,000 #s.

[minnow101]

Our 337RLS was built on September 30th, we toured GD on October 4th. On our tour we saw the small defects and some we couldn’t even spot, that were marked by the inspectors. I even commented, http://www.mygrandrv.com/for...n-337RLS/page2 "Good to know someone with better eye sight then myself inspected our unit. On our unit I found a few items that are blatantly obvious...

I hope you found these things during your PDI and refused to accept the RV until they were fixed.

[perfpix]

Spend some time on all the brand forums. You won't find any RV better than any other. Doesn't matter if you spend $50,000 MSRP or $120,000 MSRP. You get a way nicer equipped trailer for $120,000 than the $50,000. But they all use many of the same parts and build processes. Same labor market. Same dealers. It's dinosaur design stuck in the 70's as far a s technology goes. Reminds me of 80's cars and trucks compared to todays vehicles.
It really boils down to floor plan, colors and interior styling.

I guess this is what seems to set Augusta-RV apart. Instead of the Lippert components that 95% of the rest use, they go with Mor/Ryde, which seem to be better from what I have read on these and other forums. They use different construction techniques than everyone else, build their own frames out of beefier (and heavier) steel and provide beefy suspension with 4000+ lbs of usable payload. They offer choices like residential stoves/ovens which I don't think I've seen anywhere else (my wife would love this). You will never have to deal with an Augusta-RV dealer because there are none. Every RV is ordered factory direct, and can be semi-customized by the purchaser. You either pick up at the factory or pay someone to ship it to your doorstop. I think warranty issues are handled via independent repair shops.

John

[huntr70]

I guess this is what seems to set Augusta-RV apart. Instead of the Lippert components that 95% of the rest use, they go with Mor/Ryde, which seem to be better from what I have read on these and other forums. They use different construction techniques than everyone else, build their own frames out of beefier (and heavier) steel and provide beefy suspension with 4000+ lbs of usable payload. They offer choices like residential stoves/ovens which I don't think I've seen anywhere else (my wife would love this). You will never have to deal with an Augusta-RV dealer because there are none. Every RV is ordered factory direct, and can be semi-customized by the purchaser. You either pick up at the factory or pay someone to ship it to your doorstop. I think warranty issues are handled via independent repair shops.

John

We'll see how they maintain after being bought by The RV Factory....

[LCBoyer]

They, Augusta, just sold out too!

Who bought them out?