Ceiling cover sagging and coming loose in front section of rig

ricklillie · 06-21-2014, 08:47 PM

We recently purchased a 2011 Georgetown 337XL DS, 33' RV coach. Honestly, so far, we enjoy the coach; however, we're fixing one issue after another. Hopefully soon, we'll have the "bugs" worked out. It had about 13,400 miles when we purchased the coach.

LATEST PROBLEM--HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED THIS

The ceiling in the coach seems to be a vinyl material that was glued to the plywood roof (or some similar word structure). The vinyl ceiling is soft to the feel and appears to be an off-white color.

Throughout the front section of the coach, the ceiling material appears to be glued to the wood ceiling. Additional ceiling attachments help to hold it into place (i.e., light fixtures, A/C ceiling vents, and speakers for the sound system.

The front section over the driver/shotgun seats have only speaker ceiling attachments. There is a strip that seems intended to cover the gap between the front ceiling section to the next ceiling section.

We're currently on the road. We noticed that the front section seems to be sagging and pulled away from the strip running from one side of the cab area to the other.

We assume the glue is giving way thereby causing the ceiling material to come loose and the ceiling to sag like a bubble.

Have you experienced anything like this? If yes, how did you fix it?

ADDITIONAL PROBLEM -- A/C VENTS IN THE CEILING

When the A/C system is turned on, the ceiling vents do NOT open to allow air to come out throughout the RV. At this point, we've solved the problem by sticking small wads of toilet paper into the opening vents to keep the vents open.

Any suggestions for how to solve the A/C vent staying opening problem.

IN CLOSING

We've gotten great feedback from the forum so far. We look forward to further helpful comments.

I'm a bit surprised that a coach that is supposed to be the quality of Georgetown has this many problems. Is this normal? Should be we be thinking "lemon.'

Best wishes,

Rick Lillie

leomosley · 06-21-2014, 11:53 PM

I'm not sure about your ceiling, my 2011 300s is not soft vinyl. The A/C vents were a manufacturing issue. My vents were like yours. I called Forest River, and they sent me replacement vent covers. They look very similar, but work as they should'

ricklillie · 06-22-2014, 11:18 AM

Hi Leo,

Thank you for your feedback regarding the A/C vents. Early this coming week, we'll contact Forest River about the vent issue. We'll also ask them about the ceiling problem.

I appreciate your helpful comments.

Rick Lillie

VinceU · 06-22-2014, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricklillie

We recently purchased a 2011 Georgetown 337XL DS, 33' RV coach. Honestly, so far, we enjoy the coach; however, we're fixing one issue after another. Hopefully soon, we'll have the "bugs" worked out. It had about 13,400 miles when we purchased the coach.

LATEST PROBLEM--HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED THIS

The ceiling in the coach seems to be a vinyl material that was glued to the plywood roof (or some similar word structure). The vinyl ceiling is soft to the feel and appears to be an off-white color.

Throughout the front section of the coach, the ceiling material appears to be glued to the wood ceiling. Additional ceiling attachments help to hold it into place (i.e., light fixtures, A/C ceiling vents, and speakers for the sound system.

The front section over the driver/shotgun seats have only speaker ceiling attachments. There is a strip that seems intended to cover the gap between the front ceiling section to the next ceiling section.

We're currently on the road. We noticed that the front section seems to be sagging and pulled away from the strip running from one side of the cab area to the other.

We assume the glue is giving way thereby causing the ceiling material to come loose and the ceiling to sag like a bubble.

Have you experienced anything like this? If yes, how did you fix it?

ADDITIONAL PROBLEM -- A/C VENTS IN THE CEILING

When the A/C system is turned on, the ceiling vents do NOT open to allow air to come out throughout the RV. At this point, we've solved the problem by sticking small wads of toilet paper into the opening vents to keep the vents open.

Any suggestions for how to solve the A/C vent staying opening problem.

IN CLOSING

We've gotten great feedback from the forum so far. We look forward to further helpful comments.

I'm a bit surprised that a coach that is supposed to be the quality of Georgetown has this many problems. Is this normal? Should be we be thinking "lemon.'

Best wishes,

Rick Lillie

About 1-2 years ago lots of GT's had this problem. FR made good on it for who ever asked for help. Many posts on this Forum about it. Seems they used defective glue for a period and the problem wasn't getting better but worse. The Fix was to let it down and reglue. Not sure how they'll handle you as the 2nd owner. Worth a try. There is a layer of light matting between the ceiling wood and the vinyl.

ricklillie · 06-22-2014, 05:58 PM

Thank you for your reply. We figured that the glue must have a problem. We'll contact Forest River to see if they will stand by the rig, since it is 3 years old and slightly over 13,400 miles.

If not, we'll re glue the ceiling that is coming loose. We'll also install a couple of things like a smoke detector and a CO detector. Gluing plus strategically locating the two detector units should provide support to resolve the problem.

As I said in my original posting, we really like the GT RV. It is much more comfortable than the 2006 Winnebago Sightseer (27') that we bought. With this said, the Winnebago was better built than the GT unit.

We originally fell in love with the GT 337 XL DS (337 Lounge Option) model. It had two Scandinavian design lounge chairs in the living room area of the model. We looked and looked and came up dry. We finally talked with the Forest River (Georgetown) manager for California. He told us there were only two models left in California.

We discovered that Mike Thompson RV sold the one they had. A dealership in the northern part of San Diego had a 2013 but even with the unit sitting on his lot for almost 1.5 years, he still would not deal on the price.

We finally gave up on finding the model we wanted. We found a 2011 Georgetown XL DS 337 unit with about 13,000 miles on it at a dealer in Mesa, AZ. It had a two-seat coach rather the chairs we wanted. Otherwise, it was exactly the unit we were searching for. We removed the sofa and purchased two chairs that fit just fine.

There's more than one way to happiness!

Now, if we can just survive fixing problems with the coach, we'll truly be happy campers.

Thanks again....for you help. We'll call Forest River this coming week and see if they will help us.

Best wishes,

Rick Lillie

Trempert · 06-22-2014, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricklillie

Hi Leo,

Thank you for your feedback regarding the A/C vents. Early this coming week, we'll contact Forest River about the vent issue. We'll also ask them about the ceiling problem.

I appreciate your helpful comments.

Rick Lillie

You can take the vents out and remove the louvers. Buy some very small rubber washers or grommets and put the on the ends of a couple of the louvers and reassemble. The additional friction will keep them in their intended position.

58sherman · 06-23-2014, 07:41 AM

Have both problems as well in our recently purchased 2011 GT360A--3rd owner 16,400 miles.

Contacted FR and their Western Warranty managed replied saying it was out of warranty but they would see what they could do. Asked me to get quote from FR dealer and send to them which I did and sent a week ago--$3100 from McClains RV Rockwall TX. No response yet.

Simple fix for the vent is to use a paper clip to slide in place over a blade to keep the vent open. Worked great. Might still see if FR will replace.

Will advise outcome from FR on ceiling.

58sherman

mogman · 06-23-2014, 07:35 PM

Our 2011 337DS came unglued. The only bad section was the front one--all the others had vents,speakers etc. After looking at various forum solutions, and figuring we were 2nd owners, I got some Loctite Spray Adhesive from Home Depot and used it liberally as per the directions. I got some heavy foam and a length of plywood and jammed that up on the ceiling panel with a 2 x 4 as a prop and left it for a week. So far, in two years, the ceiling is still up and looks like original. Total cost -- about $10.00

58sherman · 06-23-2014, 08:48 PM

Great suggestion. Will consider it if FR doesn't step up.

58sherman

ricklillie · 06-24-2014, 11:47 AM

Hi Mogman,

Thank you for your feedback regarding how you fixed the sagging front section of the cabin ceiling. Like you, we are the "second" owner of the RV. With the RV being a 2011, we were not sure whether the original warranty would extend to us.

We'll try the solution that worked for you.

Best wishes,

Rick Lillie

tetsurvivor · 10-26-2014, 01:32 PM

i have the sagging ceiling in my GT 360, tried spray glue but did not prop a support under it, will give it another try, is your problem solved? , must be a 2011 problem.

58sherman · 10-26-2014, 01:48 PM

I received specialty spray adhesive from 3M (friendly with their R&D team), but waiting for temperature to cool a bit before spending the weekend doing the work.

Will send pics of the process. Plan to be done by mid-November before Thanksgiving trip.

58Sherman

58sherman · 10-26-2014, 01:49 PM

I assume the plastic strips just pop out. Any particular technique you recommend? Did you break any?

Thanks

58Sherman

tetsurvivor · 10-26-2014, 03:49 PM

No, it's warm here in Florida so the strips are very flexible. I'm going to Home Depot to get some 3M spray glue tomorrow, we'll see how it works.

Pete

MarkAnne · 10-26-2014, 05:55 PM

I have the same problem. Which 3M adhesive did you use? Let us know how your repair goes.

2010 Georgetown 337 DS

Sent from my iPhone using Forest River Forums

johnnypal · 10-26-2014, 06:59 PM

I have a 2011 378 and had the same problem with the saggy ceiling . Forest river split the cost with me to get it fixed. It's a year later now and the ceiling is coming down again. The place that FR sent me is going to try again next month. The entire ceiling has to be done since the same glue was used throught the coach.

tetsurvivor · 10-28-2014, 08:48 AM

I was basically told by FR, that the warranty doesn't cover it, an upholstery shop in Sebastian wants to put in a whole new ceiling, estimated cost several thousand, so i will do this one, i have to get to home depot to buy some 3M 77 spray adhesive, hopefully i'll get it done this week. going to long point rv park the week before thanksgiving. the last good week before the snowbirds come in and take all the slots.

johnnypal · 10-28-2014, 09:49 AM

Make sure you clean off all the old glue or it's coming down again as mine did.

cjd10 · 10-28-2014, 06:41 PM

Did FR stop using the soft touch vinyl in some of the newer MH's? Mine does not have it which I thought was great as I had it in my previous MH and also had issues with it coming unglued. I know what a pain it is once it starts.

ricklillie · 10-28-2014, 11:25 PM

Hi Leo,

After I read your comment, I called Georgetown Parts & Service, explained the situation, and mentioned your posting indicating how they helped you solve the problem. After the initial contact with Georgetown, I tried to contact them several additional times....guess what....they would not give me the time of day.

I plan to write to Warren Buffett to share my experience with Georgetown (Forest River). It probably won't get me any satisfaction than letting him know that I believe in him and what he does. Georgetown on the other hand.....

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