It's everywhere... A perspective to ponder...

[grandsl]

Wow! Definitely no stranger to 'construction' debris - or perhaps pure laziness. We once discovered an entire bags' worth of pistachio shells on TOP of the top cabinets of our kitchen - years after we had lived there! Someone had trashed them there and hung the cabinets as is, I supposed. What a joke!

[FreddieMac]

This is true. I've been in hospital construction for 30yrs, and you wouldn't believe what gets left in places you can't see.

I am not in construction but IT, we have found working serves that were built into walls by mistake. I can believe it.

[SGT ROC]

Interesting...

One of the things I looked at in our Imagine 2400BH when we were shopping was sawdust and other debris inside cabinets, behind walls, etc. The sales guy thought I was a bit crazy but I told him I was very impressed at the LACK of debris in our particular unit. The trailer we had previously from another manufacturer was littered - literally - with sawdust, screws, staple, wire insulation, caulk drippings, etc. Was a real mess.

This week I've been tinkering with our trailer preparing for a trip if our state lets us out of our cages - things like dewinterizing, firing up all the components to make sure they're working, sanitizing the fresh water system and things like that. I noticed again how clean it is, and I haven't done a thing to clean it up except sweep the floor of the normal gunk we bring in from the campsite. I've been very impressed with the care shown in building our trailer - maybe it was built on a Wednesday and the workers were in a good mood that day.

I dunno...

Bob

I have ta say, our rig was, is , similar. We never had much to clean up in the way of messes left from the build, and it has stayed that way. DW complained that we bought a vac we don't use much (she likes her broom... and I'll leave it at that).

[otg-family]

Nothing new... Our first new construction home revealed empty beer cans among other things in the attic when I went up to run wiring for our home theater system at the time. Our second new construction home (current home) was a totally different story... I essentially filled the role of project manager (even helped our general contractor with several projects and performed some aspects of the construction myself). During construction, I found myself spending days of my own time with broom/shop vac/trash can cleaning the "construction debris". I can tell you, only because of my own labor, that there is no trash and saw dust hidden within my walls. However, it did take 20-40 hours a week of my own time to keep on top of the messes left behind by sub-contractors and their complete lack of pride and incompetence.

We're two weeks into ownership of our new 2020 GD trailer and I have already removed drawers/panels and vacuumed several canisters worth of debris from the various nooks and crannies. To some degree I feel this is sloppy workmanship, to another degree I feel resigned that this is to be expected. Aside from construction mess tucked away in various recesses, I am increasingly disappointed in other quality control issues that squeaked past the 100% PDI claimed by GD. A drawer face literally fell apart of first use... the TV swing arm seemed loose, when I went to tighten things up I discovered (thankfully) that ALL of the screw holes were stripped and there really wasn't much holding the dang TV to the wall. Really glad I caught that one, probably would have caused some damage when we eventually take the TT for it's maiden voyage.

I really appreciate some areas where GD went the extra mile with attention to detail, but there is much room for improvement. Then again, it's not an Airstream that we purchased.

[Dreamin’ Dreamers]

I remember a story my college auto tech instructor told us. A Corvette customer complained of a rattle in the right rear of his new prize. The dealer could not find the cause, until, finally, they cut into the right rear quarter panel. There, hanging from a string, was a Coors can with a note from apparently the assembler “ Ah Ha - you found me!!! True story folks!!

[fez111]

What I have found in our Imagine:
6 inches of speaker wire lying on floor under sink
Unconnected furnace duct with heat instead warming fridge.
Kinked water line to water heater
Sawdust and random panel cut out and left for me.
No beer here.

We bought our Solitude 379FL used at 8 months old. I noticed right away that the speakers were not wired correctly. I removed one and found all kinds of sawdust and the ubiquitous aluminum drill slugs. This was when we bought it while wintering in Florida. When we got it home to Michigan I removed the basement wall to look over the mechanicals back there and to add a 3-gallon header tank to the water system (the pump runs in cycles, not on-demand). I was appalled, to say the least, at what I found there. There was no effort at made to pick up one spec of dust under there. It took me over half an hour with a vacuum to get what I could reach. I also had to add zip ties to some of the plumbing and wiring.

I removed the bedroom stereo unit (Furrion) to see if there was access to get wiring to a 12 volt ceiling fan. There was a 6 x 9 wood cutout behind it with every piece of sawdust ever made. Behind the fireplace, behind the backsplash, in the front boot, you name it, it was full of crap.

Word of advice: If you ever take down the coroplast to do any work down there, WEAR SAFEY GLASSES! Every thing will fall into your eyes. Prepare to sweep up all of the aluminum slugs and left-over screws, fasteners, PEX clamps, tube cutoffs, wire pieces, unused wire crimps, etc., that have fallen (or were thrown) down there... Utterly disgraceful!

[Txfivver]

Ok I think maybe I got lucky with mine. I have little if any sawdust or any kind of construction debris inside my 375. While camping last week at KOA I had some time so I pulled the dreaded "front wall" and was very surprised. As you can see in the pic there was very little sawdust or debris of any kind. The rig is 18 months old and about 3000 towing miles so that's enough to shake anything loose. Now the wiring mess is another story

[Txfivver]

Also my furnace has always worked very well with air out each duct and I see why now, no crushed hoses. Yaay!

[Dwelce]

While I’m not a GD owner yet, maybe purchasing one tomorrow, I’m bummed to hear about the build mess. Given the price point and all the good things you hear about GD I was kind of hoping this wasn’t the case.

It’s no different from the entry level Forrest River Grey Wolf we just sold. Metal shavings and sawdust everywhere including the living areas. Even after two years of ownership and cleaning that stuff up we keep finding it.

Makes me really wonder if it’s worth the upgrade.

[DaveMatthewsBand]

While I’m not a GD owner yet, maybe purchasing one tomorrow, I’m bummed to hear about the build mess. Given the price point and all the good things you hear about GD I was kind of hoping this wasn’t the case.

It’s no different from the entry level Forrest River Grey Wolf we just sold. Metal shavings and sawdust everywhere including the living areas. Even after two years of ownership and cleaning that stuff up we keep finding it.

Makes me really wonder if it’s worth the upgrade.

The only real difference between a Grand Design and a Forest River is the customer service.
I can find Forest River trailers that cost more than Grand Design trailers.
Every manufacturer builds their product pretty much the same way and as quickly as possible.
None of them really cares about quality control.
I also wouldn't say that Grand Design is an upgrade as far as quality or workmanship goes over any other camper.
We looked at 100 different trailers and the only tangible difference and the reason we bought our Reflection is because
it was one of the few 27 foot fifth wheels on the market and the only one without a dinette.

My advice would be this... assume all RV's are junk, then you won't be surprised to find all the problems we all find.
Next, pick a manufacturer that stands behind their product and has good customer service. There are only a handful, ask around.
Grand Design is one of them, but there are others. Lastly, if you are planning to tow with a half ton or a 3/4 ton single rear wheel
don't go out and buy a triple axle 42 foot toy hauler that weighs 16,000# and assume "it will tow fine." Get the right truck or get a smaller trailer.