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Old 04-16-2019, 02:14 PM   #1
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About to buy our first camper

Hello everyone ! Me and my wife are looking to buy our first RV and we have our minds set on the Forest River 19sm mainly due to it being a 24 foot with 2 queen-sized beds. My wife is going to be doing all the driving so the 24 foot is the max at what she feels comfortable pulling. So after looking we only found 3 of this model in the state of Ga and after ruling out 2 of them for nothing have some of the limited packages we decided on one in south GA. Now comes the part that bothers me. On the dealer's website, it shows the RV with no issues but once we got there underneath the area where the grey and black water clean out is there's a bunch of spray foam. It was not like this in the picture of the website. My question is this something that I should be worried about? This being our first RV I don't know if they're trying to cover up damage or is this something some RV dealers do. I walked the entire lot and couldn't find any others with the same issue. I asked the salesman and he said that they didn't do it but the pictures of on their website say otherwise. When I asked him about it he said: " The manufacture did it and he would rather see too much than not enough". So I would like to know what some of you think should I be worried or is this the norm when it comes to RVs?

With spray foam


Without
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Old 04-16-2019, 02:30 PM   #2
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Looks like 2 different campers, not the same color... but that could be the cameras as well.


A look underneath may be in order.



If you have any doubts and can't satisfy your concerns, walk away. The day they built that one, they built a dozen more too.
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Old 04-16-2019, 02:42 PM   #3
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Thanks for the quick reply BriaBeck! It is the same camper the numbers matched and all. I tried to look underneath but it's covered up with some kind of PVC board so I'm really struggling. Its a really good deal but I don't want to regret it.
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Old 04-16-2019, 02:48 PM   #4
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I use spray foam to seal up holes under the camper. Anyplace there is a hole I fill it up, it keeps out cold and critters
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Old 04-16-2019, 03:00 PM   #5
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Chances are, it will be fine... There's no rocket science going on anywhere inside these campers.


Like Spock123 said, they may have found something that was incorrect out of the factory or that happened in transport and made a repair on it, and forgot to clean up the foam afterwards. If that is the case, it should be good to go.


Use this to your advantage in the negotiations... you have the pictures!! And be ready to walk away if you are not satisfied.


Have them fill up ALL the tanks... Fresh water, Black, Grey, FULL OF WATER TO THE TOP... and make sure there are no leaks anywhere. If all looks good, I would not be overly concerned about it... but it would be nice if they would spill the beans on where that foam came from. Could be that the salesman didn't know anything about it... but the Maintenance manager would.


Good Luck!!!
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Old 04-16-2019, 03:22 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by BriaBeck View Post
Use this to your advantage in the negotiations... you have the pictures!! And be ready to walk away if you are not satisfied.

Have them fill up ALL the tanks... Fresh water, Black, Grey, FULL OF WATER TO THE TOP... and make sure there are no leaks anywhere. If all looks good, I would not be overly concerned about it... but it would be nice if they would spill the beans on where that foam came from. Could be that the salesman didn't know anything about it... but the Maintenance manager would.


Good Luck!!!
X2

And I wouldn't buy it until I talked to the tech or service manager and had them show me and explain EXACTLY what they did to it. Then you will have be the judge on reading them to see if your gut tells you they are being straight up or there's something going on.

You don't say for sure but if he's saying the factory did it, I'm going to assume this is a new camper. If so, you will have the warranty for a year so that may relax you a bit. And depending on the dealership, some do some inspections and prep work when they receive them. Mine still had tacky silicone around the kitchen counter and the back walls that had not fully cured. It was clearly an added touch the dealership did, not straight from the factory as they had the camper on their website for a few weeks and it would have cured by then.

Good luck in playing detective. Go with your gut! If you feel uneasy about it after talking with the service manager/tech, are you going to want to deal with someone that you don't have a good feeling about their truthfulness if you need warranty work?
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Old 04-16-2019, 03:32 PM   #7
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That foam is around the waste gates and should be for heated dump valves. Little sloppy but my TracerAir has spray foam there also but much neater. The underside should have cloroplast and the entire area should be heated by the furnace.
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Old 04-16-2019, 09:21 PM   #8
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That is not factory. They use a black UV rated outdoor spray foam to seal around the underbelly at the factory. That is the non-UV rated spray foam you get at Home Depot and Lowes. It will degrade pretty quickly in the sunlight. The dealer "should" have the correct stuff on hand, so something is not right.

The first question I have is why did they have to open the underbelly on the trailer. Second question is why did they do such a poor job of replacing the underbelly foam seal? I would be very leary of that trailer after seeing the dealer did shoddy work like that. I would question pretty much anything they say. To me that screams their repair shop is totally clueless (so what else have they jury rigged that you can't see). So unless they are wanting to give you a hell of a price break on the trailer, I would consider going elsewhere.

That's just my take.
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Old 04-17-2019, 09:24 AM   #9
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^ X2. Trailers I've looked at all had black foam, which is common. The recommendation to talk to the service department is the route I'd take.
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Old 04-17-2019, 01:18 PM   #10
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Look at the pictures again. The top one with the foam showing has the outside shower and water connection/fill right above it. The second long shot picture the shower, etc. are no where near the dump valve. Definitely two different trailers.
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Old 04-17-2019, 01:36 PM   #11
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Look at the pictures again. The top one with the foam showing has the outside shower and water connection/fill right above it. The second long shot picture the shower, etc. are no where near the dump valve. Definitely two different trailers.
Dobbs... the shower and fills are directly above in both pics. The sewer drains on a 19sm are forward of the axle.
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Old 04-17-2019, 02:41 PM   #12
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That is not factory. They use a black UV rated outdoor spray foam to seal around the underbelly at the factory. That is the non-UV rated spray foam you get at Home Depot and Lowes. It will degrade pretty quickly in the sunlight. The dealer "should" have the correct stuff on hand, so something is not right.

The first question I have is why did they have to open the underbelly on the trailer. Second question is why did they do such a poor job of replacing the underbelly foam seal? I would be very leary of that trailer after seeing the dealer did shoddy work like that. I would question pretty much anything they say. To me that screams their repair shop is totally clueless (so what else have they jury rigged that you can't see). So unless they are wanting to give you a hell of a price break on the trailer, I would consider going elsewhere.

That's just my take.


How long does it take for the foam to degrade? I brought my foam from Walmart and the trailer has been bouncing around the country for two years. Maybe I need to buy another can or two. I found out it will stop up holes in a beehive too, works great for reducing the entrance in the winter to keep mice out.
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Old 04-17-2019, 02:45 PM   #13
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In my experience, the spray can foam will turn brown in a few days if exposed to direct sunlight. I haven't seen it "degrade", but it definitely will not stay the light "cream" color that it starts out as.
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Old 04-17-2019, 03:04 PM   #14
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Dobbs... the shower and fills are directly above in both pics. The sewer drains on a 19sm are forward of the axle.
Oops. My bad. I guess my brain said "center of picture" on both. That's what I get when I don't get enough sleep.
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Old 04-17-2019, 04:06 PM   #15
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Looking at how far the dump valve sticks out, I'm betting someone moving it around the yard damaged the valve in the belly and that's a result of the dealership's repair and the lower price is to move the unit.
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Old 04-17-2019, 06:25 PM   #16
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Good observations. If you cannot get a straight answer, I would find another trailer, and a different dealer. Someone may have ripped the plumbing off the trailer, and this is their sloppy repair in the driveway.

The other approach would be to use it for leverage in the negotiation process. Have them make an allowance for the non-standard repair. So far they are not telling you the truth.

I just bought a TT from a dealer for the first time after buying several earlier from private parties. The price was okay, but there a lot of fees and I had to pay sales tax. It was a trailer I wanted (Rockwood) so I am happy with the purchase.
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Old 04-17-2019, 06:48 PM   #17
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Can't confirm that these are two different trailers, but clearly the photos were taken at different locations; one on pavement and one on grass.
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Old 04-17-2019, 10:52 PM   #18
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How long does it take for the foam to degrade? I brought my foam from Walmart and the trailer has been bouncing around the country for two years.
I used some of the beige stuff on my S&B. After 25 years, it is still keeping bugs out, however it has dried extensively and any touch causes it to flake. So, I'd expect it to fall apart on a TT from the vibrations. Not sure, but it seems to me that the black stuff doesn't get as "dry".
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Old 04-19-2019, 12:24 AM   #19
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Great Stuff Multipurpose Black (UV resistant exterior) -$7.49 a can on Amazon. Also note the travel trailer on the can front.

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Old 04-19-2019, 09:51 AM   #20
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I just want to thank everyone for all their input! I really do appreciate it. Me and the wife ended up going to another dealer in AL and it had spray foam in the same spot. I called another dealership in CUmmings GA and their 19sm had spray foam also. So I guess it is
something with this model that the factory does use spray foam in that area. So we decided to go with the one in Anniston AL. We're supposed to go pick it her up today !!!
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