delamination concern...

eandsphotography · 07-13-2009, 11:31 AM

hey everybody. been awhile since i've been on here but i've recently developed a concern about delamination. While washing my trailer the other day , i noticed a bubble developing right near the storage compartment door on the back of the trailer. I called my dealer and he said to bring it in so he could take some pictures of it and send it to forest river to see what they want to do about it. The problem is it is 1 year and 2 months old. I asked him about if the fiberglass was covered under any sort of individual warranty like the roof or individual appliances and he said he didnt think so. This is really gonna SUCK if a trailer that is 1.2 years old is already having this problem and they wont do anything about it.
He said it may not spread from where it is, or it could continue to lift. It's just a gamble. If forest river decides to do something about it, he said that it would have to go back to the manufacturer to be fixed. He did agree though that a trailer so new should not have this happen so maybe he'll go to bat for me with forest river. Just have to wait and see.
So, i guess my question is to all of you, Has anyone else had this problem and if so what horror stories do you have about it?

I guess one thing "good" to look at is that it is the back of the unit so if the whole back piece of fiberglass needs to be replaced it's not as big as say a side piece. Just trying to be optimistic here.

I have to say, i love my trailer , i really do. BUT since i've had it just a year it has had it's share of problems like many of you have had. I think this says a lot about just the quality or lack thereof that goes into making these units.
And i think the fact that you only get a YEAR warranty on something that costs anywhere from $20-50 THOUSAND dollars says that they know just how bad their quality really is.

Since i've bought it the AC relay went out, the ac thermostat went out which i replaced with a digital one. ALL the faucets i replaced because they leaked and were nothing but plastic garbage. the bathroom skylight leaked and would build up condensation on the inside of the clear plastic cover. and i'm sure a few other things i'm forgetting right now.
Anyway, i'm not a happy camper right about now, but even with the issues i really do love the trailer and the floorplan and i cant even say i'd never buy forest river again because of this, because i really dont think any other manufacturer has any better quality. They are probably all just about the same as far as that goes.

Erik

khager · 07-13-2009, 10:56 PM

We had a Rockwood Roo 26RS. It devoloped a crack in the fiberglass at the corner of the rear slide area. It was a stress crack about 2" long right on the corner. It was after we owned it for about 2 years and 2 months we had the 1 year extra extended warranty through forest river so it was only out of warranty about 2 months. Well it took a while and DW had to hound forest river (Gregg Rollins) for a while but they agreed to fix it at the factory in Elkhart. They sent a driver to pick it up and paid all transportation cost's to and from IN from our home in TX. They asked us to make a list of what else was wrong with it and they would fix it too while it was there. So we also had a soft floor in one area near the bathroom and hallway, they ended up replacing the whole floor, fixed the crack and replaced the whole rear endcap after beefing up the area around the slide. They also ended up replacing a whole fiberglass sidewall 27' worth (left hand side). They said it was delaminating and decided to replace it, although I never seen it nor complained about it. So that was weird. I was thinking at first they might have wrecked it or something but who knows. So I think you have a chance, just be persistent and don't take no for an answer. DW had to end up writing a letter to some top management there. We were kind of surprised when they agreed to it because we thought we would have to drive it up there our selves and we didn't. We no longer have the TT we now have a Class A 2008 Georgetown. Good luck

Kevin

Round Mound of Sound · 07-14-2009, 09:21 PM

I also had a couple of bubbles, Dealer took photos and sent to Forest River. Forest River took the trailer back over the winter and replaced two sides and the back. I olny had a qustion about one side. Forest River has been good to me and I am real happy with my 28fkss Flagstaff.

eandsphotography · 07-20-2009, 02:19 PM

My dealer contacted Forest river and decided to send the whole back piece to them instead of bringing the unit back to the manufacturer. Good news there so i was pretty happy with that news.

lfryel · 07-27-2009, 06:33 PM

We have an 08 Rockwood signature ultra lite 5th wheel. We purchased it new in August.Both sides are delaminating. We just started a week ago with attempt to get it fixed. We will not accept a patch job, and really do not want a new trailer that has been taken completely apart and rebuilt. We feel it has lost alot of it's value. Who knows what Forest River will do. But we are in Texas, and lemon law will not allow them to keep the trailer for more than 30 days. This is so dissapointing. We traded in a Starcraft expandable because we wanted more space. but the Starcraft seemed to generally be better quality all around.But I am sure they can all have a lemon in the bunch.

Donna/Lonnie

lfryel · 07-27-2009, 08:34 PM

Erik,
The filon siding does actually have a longer warranty than a year (usually 5). I doubt that the dealer didn't know that. Sounds like he may have been keeping your expectations low. Forest River only did what they had to do,no more. I love our trailer also-but it remains to be seen how we feel about Forest River. When the trailer has had delamination issues it looses some of it's value, and all of it's value in many cases. A dealer told us that he would never take in trade a trailer with a problem like ours-no matter how it had been repaired. And that if you go to sell it you are required to disclose delamination issues, and most any buyer will run the other way.So it seems to me that after this problem, you really have much less trailer than you purchased-and what is really the right thing for Forest River to do? We don't really even know what would ever make us feel that the fair thing for us was ever done. The thing Forest River, and all other manufactuers need to try to do, is deliver a better product to begin with. With manufactuers going out of business left and right, it seems like it is time for more quality controls. It's going to take more and more people demanding what's right. After all, for most of us the "payments" continue, the storage fees continue-and we are just making a living the hard way and rv ing because it's a relatively inexpensive recreation. For alot of us our rv is the only extravigance we have.We didn't expect this major down time so soon for sure!!It remains to be seen what Forest River does-but you can be sure if it is not fair-everyone we meet along the way will know it. Word of mouth is the only thing we have. In the same respect, if Forest does what is right we will sing their praises. I don't know why in every case you either hear a manufactuer bent over backwards to please the customer, or they simply refused to help the customer at all. I think it should be that you should always hear "the manufactuer really stood behind their product" but I hear far too many stories where they do not.

Donna/Lonnie

eandsphotography · 07-28-2009, 04:02 AM

"When the trailer has had delamination issues it looses some of it's value, and all of it's value in many cases. A dealer told us that he would never take in trade a trailer with a problem like ours-no matter how it had been repaired. And that if you go to sell it you are required to disclose delamination issues, and most any buyer will run the other way.So it seems to me that after this problem, you really have much less trailer than you purchased"

I understand where you coming from but dont completly agree. If the panel that has delam is replaced then there really isnt an issue anymore. There isnt any structual problems it's just the fact of the original piece was seperating causing the bubble. Now,if you dont get it fixed and tried to trade it in or sell it then i could see where it would affect the value, but if there is no more bubble then nobody would ever know that that panel was even replaced. If you got in a car accident and your front quarter panel was damaged beyond repair and had to be replaced, and it is done correctly(that is the key)
then it would not even be noticable that it was ever changed out and would have no affect on trade in value. My thinking is that it is the same with the panel on the trailer that has been replaced. And besides even if it is corrected perfectly, anyone who would go in and volunteer that info that the trailer ever had a problem to begin with while trying to trade it in has way more morals then I ever would have!!!
Believe me, when the time comes to sell it or trade it , i will not be giving out any info that the back panel was replaced.
But, the whole thing is, i really dont want to get rid of it. at least not for anytime soon. I love my floorplan and it works out great for what i need. I went to a camper show a few months back and there wasnt ANYTHING there that I would have given mine up for. Except maybe the 500k motorhome, but that's a whole other issue. Hopefully, this will be the last of the problems for awhile and I can take it out once without having to bring back in for service on something else that broke.

eandsphotography · 07-28-2009, 04:07 AM

oh, one more thing. I just pulled up the brochure for flagstaff and in the fine print on the back page the warranty clause is listed. Fiberglass is 2 years, vinyl roof 12 years, 5 year axle warrantly, 1 year bumper to bumper, extendable to 2 years.

rockwood06 · 07-28-2009, 04:28 AM

I am happy to hear that FR is taking care of the delamination problems, but one would think that FR would but more time into QUAITY CONTROL. This is not there first rodeo.

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