Should I buy one???

mbrwr · 01-23-2012, 07:24 PM

My husband and I are looking into buying a 2012 Georgetown 351DS VE ... The price is great and the interior looks wonderful. Now I've been told by several people to stay away from anything Forest River makes

They said slides leak, doors break, electrical systems fail, etc... We have two children and will be traveling all 49 States in the next year so the last thing I need is to be broken down in the middle on nowhere. Having said that I would REALLY appreciate some honest opinions on this unit. Should we look for something else??
Thanks!!!!

**Terier** · 01-23-2012, 07:35 PM

You have come to the right place to gather information in making your decision. Read through as many posts and replies as you can to find out first hand what we think of Forest River units. You will be able to read the good as well as the not-so-good on what we really think as FR owners.

I love my trailer and would buy another FR unit!

Mountainmanbob · 01-23-2012, 07:35 PM

main concerns I have seen
would be faulty frames
weak welds, metal stress etc etc

(which would be the foundation
of what everyTHING is built on)

hoping that in time
with more exposer
the issues will be tackled

MB

alifarr · 01-23-2012, 09:10 PM

Ours is now 6 years old and goes off road all the time. We are not kind to it, as I pull a 3 horse trailer and go camping down miles of washboard dirt road in the woods and my son pulls a car trailer and takes it to the desert frequently. We have had to repair stuff - mostly the entry door, but for the price, we have been very satisfied with the quality. If you just drive it on paved roads, I would think you would be very happy with it.

Bttravel · 01-23-2012, 09:22 PM

If you search the internet enough for forums and reviews on different brands you will find it goes both ways. I've been pulling a TT since 1985 and have found good maintenance and treatment will go a long ways in serviceability and life. Our second trailer was a 77 Layton and only got used twice a year and we worked on it quite a bit. I have new Grey Wolf on order and am looking forward to getting it in and on the road. I will go over it with a close eye and make a few short run camp trips to see what, if anything needs attention. Another note on all the items in your camper. Those that are used on a regular basis will usually have less problems with appliances, etc. than those that sit most of the time. Regular use keeps them happy and you happy. Most are good brands because if they were really that bad they would be out of business. Safe travels.

cfsoistman · 01-24-2012, 01:36 PM

We've owned our Georgetown since November 2006. No major problems, a couple minor things but nothing that caused any time lost on trips. FR is no different than any other manufacturer, they all have a problem here and there. Most use the same Ford F53 Chassis. Personally for the most bang for your buck you can't beat the Georgetown. I'd buy another if they had a floorplan that I would prefer more than what I have.

mbrwr · 01-24-2012, 02:20 PM

Thank you so much for all the replies.

Now if we can only work out a deal with our trades we'll be all ready to go

armye7 · 01-24-2012, 06:50 PM

thinking about buying a 378ts any thoughts on this?

mbrwr · 01-24-2012, 07:00 PM

So now for the second part of my consideration of buying the 351DS... How many miles per gallon can I expect if I'm towing a Hyundai Veracruz?

raycyn778 · 01-25-2012, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by armye7

thinking about buying a 378ts any thoughts on this?

We just took delivery on a 2012 378 on dec. 1st and we love it. yes we have some initial problems like the fridge will not make or dispense ice or water, the drivers seat was damaged by the person who drove it to the dealer from the factory, a bunch of little things but nothing that keeps us from going out on the road. My problems are with the dealer who keeps putting the repairs off so he can service the snowbirds here for the winter. Do your research on the dealer as well as the coach....

nemo45 · 01-25-2012, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by armye7

thinking about buying a 378ts any thoughts on this?

We've been fulltiming in our 2011 378TS since August of 2010 and couldn't be happier with our purchase. We've had very few problems with ours. One was delamination of the two front slide bottoms, which was repaired by the dealer by putting an angle (removing the sharp corner) on the nylon ramp the slide slides on and repainting the bottoms. The other was that the a/c vents would not stay open and these were all replaced by the dealer. Everything else has worked perfectly. I would suggest getting two options, the automatic transfer switch for the generator and the power shades. We added both to our unit.

mbrwr · 03-13-2012, 02:42 PM

Well... We bought it!!!! So far so good!
Thanks for all the input!!!

jsutherl · 03-13-2012, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbrwr

Well... We bought it!!!! So far so good!
Thanks for all the input!!!

Congratulations! How about some pictures of your new home away from home?

Anything you improve or change, anything you have to repair please come post them here. It's great to get ideas from what others do.

Tell us about your plans for traveling North America. You mentioned traveling 49 states.

donn · 03-13-2012, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbrwr

So now for the second part of my consideration of buying the 351DS... How many miles per gallon can I expect if I'm towing a Hyundai Veracruz?

I would suspect anything over 6-7 you could count yourself lucky.
Just curious, why a motor home? Have you considered a trailer of some sort and if so, again why the MH?

mbrwr · 03-13-2012, 05:35 PM

Well here it is....

mbrwr · 03-13-2012, 05:39 PM

We're leaving June 1st for a tour of the USA. This is something my husband and I always wanted to do and the kids are at a great age for it so we have to do it now. May take us 12 months or it may takes 18 months... we're not making any concrete plans because that's part of the adventure.

jojo bamboo · 03-13-2012, 07:33 PM

GREAT,
Congratulations,

and good luck.
If you have time
send us a note
we would like to know how
its going, (you and the machine)

Thanks
jojo
PS nice looking coach!
thanks for the pictures.

mbrwr · 03-13-2012, 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by donn

I would suspect anything over 6-7 you could count yourself lucky.
Just curious, why a motor home? Have you considered a trailer of some sort and if so, again why the MH?

We actually had purchased a great travel trailer (Outback 312BH) brand new in November. After camping a few times and getting used to the whole setting up process, I couldn't imagine doing that on a regular basis PLUS we have children and I did not want them in a truck for hours again on a regular basis. The MH was just a better option for what we're going to do.

jsutherl · 03-13-2012, 09:29 PM

Nice rig! Wow it looks almost exactly like mine. Slides are the same size, bunks are almost the same, couch, chair placement. Everything. I think that you'll be happy with it.

I'm very envious of your year long+ trip. I've always wanted to do that but haven't been able to so far. I'm hoping that while school is out this summer my daughter and I will spend most of the summer in ours. She's ten and I'm a single father.

We're in Southwest Washington State. She wants to see Mt. Rushmore and her mom is in South Carolina ... who knows how far we'll get before we decide to come home.

jsutherl · 03-13-2012, 09:40 PM

Since ours are almost the same, except for a few years, here is a quick list of my favorite mods and gotchas.

My very favorite mod is that I had a new battery box put on and installed four large batteries and an inverter. Sure is nice to have 110v all the time. I also added a Xantrax LinkPro Battery Monitor so I can see what's going on with those batteries.

My number one gotcha is the main room slide. I loaded all my tools into one of the dinette bench seats and the next time I put the slide out it tore a big rip in the kitchen linolium. I still haven't fixed that.

My number one buy was a cradle point router and a verizon USB internet stick for it. With this everything in the motorhome has internet pretty much all the time. Which is very nice. And I can plug my vonage box right into it and take my home phone with me where ever I go.

The thing I like the least about mine (other than paying for fuel) is how loud it is when I'm driving it. I've just started on a project to cover the underside of the dog house and the whole cab area with three layers of noise proofing material. More on that in some future post.

Most of what I've done is captured in posts on this forum.
http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...earchid=709416

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