OT 5th wheels RVs

Jeremiah · November 2018

DoubleEgger said:

For a million bucks, you’d think you’d get a better paint job.

Actually they're $2 million. And yeah, the paint jobs lack some. Mark Martin the race car driver has one, I follow him on Instagram. He just added twin turbos (installed himself) and posted the video of the dyno pulls. ...once a race car driver, always a race car driver. lol

DoubleEgger · November 2018

Jeremiah said:

DoubleEgger said:

For a million bucks, you’d think you’d get a better paint job.

Actually they're $2 million. And yeah, the paint jobs lack some.

I’ve always wondered who decided that all RVs and campers had to have the paint scheme.

milesvdustin · November 2018

The manufacturers had a meeting and they said "all RV and campers will have lame swoop paint schemes" and everyone slapped the table on it.

Skiddymarker · November 2018

If you are in the market for a fiver, Grand Design Solitude is a very nice unit. The construction is excellent and the feature set is extraordinary. On the bigger side, the Redwood is also very nice.
Airstream trailers are in a class by themselves, they can seem a little cramped when you consider the added space slide rooms provide.

Residential fridges are nice, but if you boondock camp, you have to be running a genny to keep it cold. Absorption fridges work well and you can get some large units. SWMBO liked the idea of a washer and dryer in some of the big fivers.

If you choose something with slides, consider how much you can get at/to with the slides in. n some fivers the bathroom is not accessible unless the stair side slide is extended.

Good luck!

EDIT - BTW, tried your bourbon slushy using Copper Pot Forty Creek Rye, it was a big hit!

Randall_Lee · November 2018

We just moved from a travel trailer to a 5'er, after looking and reading for months we went with a Grand Design. We got the Reflection 29RS, it fit our needs for size for the wife, me and the doxie. Liked the finish, build, quality. It's 10-11k#'s and easy to tow with my 3/4T diesel GMC.
Most salesman will tell you, you get about 80% of your want list but this hit higher on our list.

Smoker317 · November 2018

I am on my second camper brand that is owned by FOREST RIVER. I am finished with anything Forest River related. The quality sucks, non-existent customer service. This 5th Wheel happens to be a Prime Time owned by Forest River, model: 2017 Crusader 340.

Lots of problems from the start, my fault for trusting the dealer and it sucks that Prime Time / Forest River won't stand by their products.

Here is what I found with my beautiful model 340 that Prime Time and the dealer apologized for but never actual fixed or compensated me. This is part of a cut and paste sent to PRIMETIME and FOREST RIVER and multiple email strings.

I fixed the overall majority of this crap myself because ANY camper dealer is slow when it comes to warranty repairs, that goes back to the corporate office being slow on approval and shipping replacement parts.

Here are just a few of the pics that I took of various issues.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/3r/m1oi08xa35qy.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/q7/8ff3iqa4ijsu.jpg

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Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/jc/wxdkzou59z0z.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/8d/c3pwl479aap9.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/2k/r19gcp2r3cx7.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/tz/7lr1ds0yw04p.jpg

"So here is the list of issues so far that Forest River / Primetime should be made aware of:

1) Bathroom faucets water supply lines loose and leaking, needed finger tightened.

2) Kitchen cold water water supply line loose and leaking. needed finger tightened.

3) Kitchen sink leaking, needed finger tightened.

4) Dometic air conditioner putting out low volume of air that was not very cold. Foam housing the encloses the unit on the roof was not sealed, the foam housing was cracked open approximately 3" (on the left side when looking down at the unit while standing facing the rear of the camper) because someone was to lazy to move a wire bundle in order that the foam completely seal around the unit. By doing this I lowered the output temp and somewhat increased CFM air through the ducted vents. Temp output now is 50 degrees in 85 degree humid weather with the unit sitting in the sun. I sent in an email to Forest River earlier this week and received a response that I should take to the dealer which is incredibly inconvenient this time of year. This should have never left the factory this way.

5) Rear air conditioner duct in living room had partial HVAC tape, plus the channel continues past the duct another 6 inches or more. I taped up the area with HVAC tape to create a funnel which increased air output.

6) Air conditioner duct over master bed, little output, channel continues at least another two feet past the duct, so see #5 for fix, again, now there is a noticeable increase in CFM of air though the duct.

7) T.V. antenna blew off the camper last weekend between Greenwood, IN and Salamonie campground near Huntington, Indiana. It appears that the set screws were not tightened down. (you guys and gals already have this picture)

I ENDED UP CONVINCING THE DEALER TO GIVE ME A REPLACEMENT ANTENNA OFF THE SHELF AND A TUBE OF SELF LEVELING CAULK BECAUSE PRIMETIME DID NOT GET A REPLACEMENT SENT WITHIN ONE MONTH BEFORE WE WERE HEADING TO MAINE.

8) Furnace has zero as in NO air coming from the floor vent next to kitchen sink. See pic and you will see that the hose is not merely pinched as I thought, but it is down right crushed and stretched tight!!! Someone needs a severe reprimand over that install. Seriously, look at how deformed the heating duct hose! I am truly amazed at that... So yes that is going to be a dealer or factory fix later this summer before fall.

9) I am disappointed with how large of a hole is cut through the floor below the furnace and how far that rectangular hole extends under the bathroom. The light in the picture is looking from the kitchen under the furnace to the black non-insulated under belly, the light is the silver dollar size hole around the grey or black water tank release valve. This area where there is no insulation is quite large and does not help with heat coming in and the cold air later this year. A large part of my purchasing decision was based on how tightly insulated this unit was advertised... I expect little holes here and there to feed stuff, but this is a lazy move to speed up production, one giant rectangular opening instead of two holes that could be considerably smaller. Between the hole around the tank valve and the 6" X 36" rectangular hole in the floor, there is no stopping/ discouraging really big bugs and other critters from entering the kitchen through the wood slats in front of the furnace. Insects are completely unimpeded by anything between the furnace return wood slats in the kitchen and the open ground 20" away. Something has to be done to fill in this large hole in the floor through the insulation, either by the dealership or the factory.

FIX NEVER HAPPENED, FACTORY REP SAYS GIANT GAPING HOLE IS NORMAL.

AND AS SUSPECTED, CAMPED TWO WEEKENDS WHERE THE TEMPS WENT TO 30 degrees and the highs were in the upper 40's. Three season my A$$, less holes and better insulation in large live trap.

10) Hot water heater propane flame sputtered and was yellow. Adjusted the venturi and now is a blue flame, easy fix, but should have been caught at the factory or during dealer prep. I tested it at the campground which is less than two hours from where this camper was built and we are at the same elevation, so had it been tested at the factory before leaving, it would have been fine.

11) Kitchen table not screwed to the floor, only into carpet, is this intentional or are too short of screws used? The screws worked themselves out during the two tows from and to the dealer and then to the campground.

12) Little to no water pressure in the kitchen and bathroom faucets, shower seems OK. Took the aireator off each faucet and it had a blue very thin film that was plugging the holes, I rinsed and the water pressure is good, however more blue film over the course of the weekend started plugging the holes again, one can see the blue specs forming on the shower head as well. What is this? I rinsed again and then it was time to come home. I will keep an eye on this but out of four other campers that I have had personal experience with over the past 20 years this is new to me.

13) 1st step up towards bathroom / bedroom has a terrible squeak that seems to be better after I removed the step and put padding between the two pieces of wood, the step board appears to be slightly warped and still squeaks but is probably something I can live with at this point.

So that is my list of things that are or were wrong with this unit. I get it, no unit is going to be 100% perfect, and I probably would only be slightly irritated if I only had to deal with maybe one major issue and a couple minor ones, or four minor ones, etc., but the above list is way too much... Please fix the quality control process for future buyers. Overall I like the camper and pray these issues are it, we have Memorial Day weekend in which we are doing a short tow up to the Chain Of Lakes, then back for a week and then then a longer tow to Acadia National Park in Maine the first week of June and then to Disney World this fall with some shorter camps in between. I don't like to complain but in this situation I feel I had to let everyone know what I exactly I am dealing with here. I would like to think that the issues with this unit is an anomaly, but am not so sure. Regardless, the only way anyone knows that a process needs fixing is by being made aware of the problem, so again, don't take this email as me being an irate customer, just an irritated customer that is identifying some areas that could use improvement.

At some point I guess I need to take a peek at the access panels under the camper to see what is going on in there.

Please let me know who is going to fix the foot and half hole in the floor, and replace the crushed furnace hose, the factory or the dealership.

What is the deal with the blue film in the faucet aireators?

And what about the table screws to the floor?"

END OF CUT AND PASTE.

Found out that we had a minor kitchen sink leak, turns out the drain pipe that takes a hard say 80 degrees from the P trap is/was too long so that put the vertical drain a non-straight angle which caused a leak around the P-trap area. So after getting back from Maine, I cut the horizontal drain pipe and installed a union joint and aligned everything.

ALSO!!! After cleaning the bathroom countertop multiple times it turns out that either someone from the factory or the dealer used a very fine caulk or something that wore off and exposed a crack in the bathroom sink countertop.

Water pump was loud and there was only ONE as in 1 as in not FOUR scews securing the water pump to the floor, amazing how quiet the pump is now being secured with four screws... WTF!!!

Dealer did replace that...

Needless to say, I asked for a refund of my mandatory $500.00 dealer prep fee in which the dealer was suppose to check quality control from the factory. That request was declined and that dealer can suck me.

So just for the record, the screws were to short and are supposed to actually secure the kitchen table into the sub flooring.

Kitchen faucet still sucked with water pressure so I bought a decent replacement from Home Depot and installed, now the water pressure is comparable to other campers.

I have trim on the driver side rear kitchen slide that is partially unglued and bulging. Did I mention that this is a 2017 camper?

We did make it from Indiana to a campground near Bar Harbor Maine and later on to Camp Wilderness at Disney World and a bunch of other places. We have about 6000 miles on it. I have a love/hate relationship with this camper. I like the layout with dual rear slides and a KING bed, but dang, there have been some serious issues.

Next camper will be a Grand Design or any brand NOT under the Forest River corporate umbrella.

I do suggest looking into an ANDERSEN Ultimate Fifth Wheel Hitch. Best fifth wheel hitch out there IMO for ride quality/pull/towing. I would never willing use a traditional fifth wheel hitch ever again.

Use injunction with a B&W turnover ball and you will be set. Love not having fifth wheel hitch rails in my bed.

My pin weight is just shy of 1800 pounds so I installed Air Lift bags with the wireless air compressor. Fantastic ride over the past 6000 miles or so!

Bottom line, did I get a lemon camper? Yes, am I convinced that Forest River and Prime Time do not produce anything other than lemons these days.

Forest River is not the same company of ten plus years ago.

And final PSA... as you can see there is zero cleanup of saw dust and other debris, which means that every time you tow, this dust will vibrate out from these concealed places, so do yourself and favor and immediately pull the inside steps and the access panel to the furnace and shop vac up the garbage. It will save you time in the long run.

SandyHookEgger · November 2018

@YukonRon Buy a 28 foot or less Class C motorhome. Why you ask?? I just happen to have this awesome cover that I need to get rid of for pennies on the dollar.
Another advantage to a motorhome besides bathroom breaks is easy access to the kitchen.

OT 5th wheels RVs

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