First trip with the Tracer 205M........

[photog]

.........the bad and the good.

When we took delivery of the trailer last fall it was already winterized.

During the de-winterizing process I started to put some water into the fresh tank without much success so I went inside to see what was going on. (the freshwater tank sits under the dinette seat) Two things became obvious very quickly 1.) the little water that was going into the tank run right out again onto the trailer floor because the out hose to the pump was cut too short and just sitting there without being tied to the fitting. 2.) The reason for the very slow fill was that the outside filler was half an inch lower than the top of the tank. The vent hose on the other hand was about 3 inches too long.

We are very lucky to have a good dealer (Guarantee RV in Calgary, about a 35 minute drive from here) and they looked after things the following day. According to the work order they found 3 more leaks in the fresh water system. Not much could be done about the filler problem so the dealer just supplied us with a long enough filler hose to reach right into the tank. But that just worsened another problem. The trailer was supposed to have 38 gal. fresh water capacity but came with one 19 gal. tank only. The filler problem took away another gallon.

So last week we went camping to Banff National Park, every thing worked as is should until it came to use the shower. Couldn't get enough water into the shower head to make it work and the little that did come out pulsed between ice cold and scalding hot. Did not make for a happy better half but as old experienced campers we managed. Today we took the trailer back to the dealer, they say that it needs a new shower faucet (bad diverter valve).

So, all of our problems are freshwater related, the rest of the trailer works as it should.

We have owed many an RV during the last 40 years, both good and bad but this one is without a question one of the better built units that we have had, especially since it is an ultra-light unit. It tows easy and runs straight even in high winds and uses less gas than the R-Pod that we had last year. In other words we are happy with it.

Earlier in the year I had e-mailed Prime-Time about the discrepancy in the fresh water capacity. After a few e-mails back and forth Brandon shipped us a 40 gal. tank that fits under the bed, free of charge. All it cost us is the brokerage fees and taxes. Now that is customer service.

It'll take me a while to figure out how best to do this job but it's not like I don't have the time.

If anyone is interested the photos from the Banff trip are here:

In Banff National Park Photo Gallery by Heinrich Lohmann at pbase.com

[grhodes50]

Too bad you had to experience the fresh water problems, but I'm glad they're getting you fixed up.

Prime Time does seem to be trying to make a better trailer and they certainly back it up with their customer service. However, there always seems to be problems with new trailers no matter what brand you buy. We've had a few minor issues with ours, but everything is getting taken care of properly. Like you, I feel this is the best trailer we've ever owned. This is our 5th trailer, all Forest River products.

Love your pics. Breathtaking scenery. Thanks for sharing.

[padave65]

I was under the impression that every trailer goes through an extensive leak guard process which includes a pressure test on the plumbing. The published efforts at quality control were a major determining factor in my selection. How could your trailer recieve an "initialed sticker" as shown on the videos found on their website? Their customer service is awesome (I believe the best in the industry) but it appears that the quality control department needs to step it up. They are making life difficult for customer service. I am confident that the leadership team of Prime Time will quickly address these deficiencies.

[photog]

Originally Posted by grhodes50

Too bad you had to experience the fresh water problems, but I'm glad they're getting you fixed up.

Prime Time does seem to be trying to make a better trailer and they certainly back it up with their customer service. However, there always seems to be problems with new trailers no matter what brand you buy. We've had a few minor issues with ours, but everything is getting taken care of properly. Like you, I feel this is the best trailer we've ever owned. This is our 5th trailer, all Forest River products.

Love your pics. Breathtaking scenery. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for looking and you are welcome,

Take care,

[photog]

Originally Posted by padave65

I was under the impression that every trailer goes through an extensive leak guard process which includes a pressure test on the plumbing. The published efforts at quality control were a major determining factor in my selection. How could your trailer recieve an "initialed sticker" as shown on the videos found on their website? Their customer service is awesome (I believe the best in the industry) but it appears that the quality control department needs to step it up. They are making life difficult for customer service. I am confident that the leadership team of Prime Time will quickly address these deficiencies.

This type of testing is probably not done on all units but only to units randomly picked of the line.

It is still the best build trailer that we have ever owned but still far from perfect. Customer service is the best that we have ever had in 40 years of RVing but by paying closer attention to detail in the manufacturing process they could save themselves a lot of money on warranty work, never mind the hassles that it must cause.

[grhodes50]

It was my understnding that ALL trailers are inspected by Prime Time.

This is from their web site;
Every unit we ship is put through a rigorous 65 point system inspection at our factory AND at your selling dealership to make sure your first camping adventure is memorable for all of the right reasons

Here's the link; Prime Time Manufacturing, Manufacturers of travel trailers and fifth wheels

Apparently they missed yours!

[2Susan]

You picked the right weekend to head to Banff, it's snowing there now - i t's even snowing right now in Bragg Creek.

I appreciate your posting about the dealer experiences and how they are treating you after the sale. Good to know who around here is reliable!

[5littlefrogs]

Sounds like they missed mine as well. We bought ours from Guarantee RV in Calgary as well. Perhaps they should do a better job of the PDI. Use water instead of Air to find any leaks and blow out the winterizing product. There are a lot of little things that they should catch before a customer comes that they didn't for us. Currently, our trailer is unusable due to a defective stabilizer switch that they "fixed" the day we picked it up from them. I am in the process of sending letters listing all problems to both the dealer and Prime Time.

[padave65]

Originally Posted by 5littlefrogs

Sounds like they missed mine as well. We bought ours from Guarantee RV in Calgary as well. Perhaps they should do a better job of the PDI. Use water instead of Air to find any leaks and blow out the winterizing product. There are a lot of little things that they should catch before a customer comes that they didn't for us. Currently, our trailer is unusable due to a defective stabilizer switch that they "fixed" the day we picked it up from them. I am in the process of sending letters listing all problems to both the dealer and Prime Time.

This sounds more like a dealer issue. My dealer asked for a list of things to be fixed, scheduled an appointment convenient for me, got everything approved through PT in a very timely fashion, had me check everything out at pickup. No problems. Why do you need a letter? PT will fix everything (reasonable) without a complaint letter.

[photog]

Originally Posted by 2Susan

You picked the right weekend to head to Banff, it's snowing there now - i t's even snowing right now in Bragg Creek.

I appreciate your posting about the dealer experiences and how they are treating you after the sale. Good to know who around here is reliable!

You can turn that snow off any time now, we are heading for Waterton Lakes N.P on June 5th.

[grhodes50]

Originally Posted by 5littlefrogs

Sounds like they missed mine as well. We bought ours from Guarantee RV in Calgary as well. Perhaps they should do a better job of the PDI. Use water instead of Air to find any leaks and blow out the winterizing product. There are a lot of little things that they should catch before a customer comes that they didn't for us. Currently, our trailer is unusable due to a defective stabilizer switch that they "fixed" the day we picked it up from them. I am in the process of sending letters listing all problems to both the dealer and Prime Time.

I don't know why the switch for the stabilizers would make the trailer unusable. You can maunual crank the stabilizers up and down. You should have received a crank handle for this with your trailer. I believe you use the street side to manually crank the stabilizers up and down. I don't know for sure since I haven't had to do this.
Here's a link to PT's contact page on their web site; Prime Time Manufacturing, Manufacturers of travel trailers and fifth wheels
It may be Tues or Wed before they get back to you since this is a holiday weekend. They'll make things right for you.

[photog]

Originally Posted by 5littlefrogs

Sounds like they missed mine as well. We bought ours from Guarantee RV in Calgary as well. Perhaps they should do a better job of the PDI. Use water instead of Air to find any leaks and blow out the winterizing product. There are a lot of little things that they should catch before a customer comes that they didn't for us. Currently, our trailer is unusable due to a defective stabilizer switch that they "fixed" the day we picked it up from them. I am in the process of sending letters listing all problems to both the dealer and Prime Time.

I did not blame the dealer for my water problems, as I said in my original post, we took delivery late in the fall and the TT was winterized already.

(It's my understanding that the dealer gets the unit dry, there was no antifreeze in the lines but someone had put antifreeze in all of the P-traps
and the toilet)

When I de-winterized the unit and found the first leak the dealer looked after the problem the following day, can't ask for much more than that and again when we had the problems with the shower the dealer fixed it in a couple of days, as a matter of fact we just picked the unit up this morning.

Again, as I said before this is still the best build unit that we have had in 40 years of RVing, unfortunately RVs are not build to automobile standards but if they were some of us would probably not be able to afford them.