Crawled up and looked four weeks ago before I went on a trip and no sign of anything. Look again tonight and bam it's bad. That fast! What is recommended and will prime time step up to the plate or dust me off cause I'm out of the one year warranty??
Our 2015 crusader did this also. It happened almost overnight. Took it to the dealer and they got it covered for us no questions. Our camper was out of warranty a few months and the still covered it.
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10 Chevy Silverado 3500 CrewCab
6.6L Duramax with EFI Live Tuner with 5 levels
560hp 958 Max torque 3:73 gears
2015 Crusader 351REQ
I have a 2013 that I keep inside when not in use. I have not noticed any fading even though I lived in it for 7 months in the Texas heat and have traveled over 12000 miles.
Has FR given any explanation as to why this is happening?
Rick IS the go to guy.....got mine fixed out of warr......you need to keep pushing and they WILL step up to the plate......I was loosing hope with PT but not now...quite happy!
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2005 GMC Sierra 3500 SLT DRW 6.6 D/A
2013 Crusader 335BHS TE
Mine is in being painted right now I pick it up in a few weeks. I was authorized 1500 for the total repair, which covered the paint but not the decals. I approached Rick directly to get the decals and they sent them to my dealer. So, zero out of pocket. Rick was fantastic to deal with.
I have a 2013 that I keep inside when not in use. I have not noticed any fading even though I lived in it for 7 months in the Texas heat and have traveled over 12000 miles.
Has FR given any explanation as to why this is happening?
Sent from my iPad using Forest River Forums
My grey 2012 Wildcat Sterling efition, started doing this on the front cap. Aaron at the Dallas Or. Plant said that it's caused by the pollutants in the air when mixed with rain.
He said at 36 months mine held up better than most on the west coast. He added that in Texas where the air of cleaner the effects won't show up for many more years.
Out come was that since it was not covered by warranty, (which defines damage caused by the environment is not covered.) We will be doing a color match painting on the front cap. The use of automotive paint will provide the necessary protection.
Sounds like everyone else got better support than I did.
My grey 2012 Wildcat Sterling efition, started doing this on the front cap. Aaron at the Dallas Or. Plant said that it's caused by the pollutants in the air when mixed with rain.
He said at 36 months mine held up better than most on the west coast. He added that in Texas where the air of cleaner the effects won't show up for many more years.
Out come was that since it was not covered by warranty, (which defines damage caused by the environment is not covered.) We will be doing a color match painting on the front cap. The use of automotive paint will provide the necessary protection.
Sounds like everyone else got better support than I did.
Continued good luck guys.
I have trouble with what he said about pollutants/rain being the cause
simply because before our 5er we had a 20' boat (gelcoat) purchased new that I kept up (wash/wax) the same as the 5er and after 5 years when we sold it the finish looked like new, no fade whatsoever.
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2005 GMC Sierra 3500 SLT DRW 6.6 D/A
2013 Crusader 335BHS TE
There is a clause in the automotive industry about not covering damage caused by the environment (think acid rain). However in your case, I believe it was an excuse to get out of any warranty repairs.
I see older RV's that are faded all the time. Proper care most likely could have prevented the fading. Buffing and waxing can do wonders for their finish.
However the darker colored finishes appear to be applied to the cap much like paint. I recall that several years ago many cars had paint fading and peeling issues but the industry seems to have gotten a handle on it.
As mentioned above, I have also owned many fiberglass/gel coat boats and never have had the fading as related to these RV caps.
There is something going on in the manufacturing process and hopefully there will be a solution soon. Meanwhile the folks that have spent their hard earned money for the beautiful darker finishes only to have them fade will have to keep the pressure on the manufacturers to come up with a reasonable solution.
Same thing happening over here in the Cedar Creek camps, Grey or tan, fading and decals bleeding red( burnt orange) all from bad gel coat. 2 21/2
years they look like crap!
I have trouble with what he said about pollutants/rain being the cause
simply because before our 5er we had a 20' boat (gelcoat) purchased new that I kept up (wash/wax) the same as the 5er and after 5 years when we sold it the finish looked like new, no fade whatsoever.
I'm affraid that I agree with you assessment about the underlying lack of support. I regularly washed and waxed my rig to avoid this very problem. It was fine and seemed to appear almost overnight. If i can post some photos I'll show some of the damage and the hard cover that prevents damage to the rest of the gelcoat. There isn't enough extrension to completely cover the front cap and guess where the damage is???
The only good news my local service center has gotten the factory service rep to uphold his promise to provide a set of replacement decals, even thought he tried to deny. Thank goodness for email copies...
I have to say the dealer I worlked with and the local repair center have been great. Any delays they experienced was due to the slow response from the factory. It's only when I try to deal with the factory and service in particular that I get the run around, or simply no contact at all.
My goal is to get this fixed and hopefully never have to deal with the Forest River factory again. We love this 5th wheel trailer but have talked about moving to another manufacturer to get away the absolutely terrible customer service.
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Tom Stillman
Vancouver, WA
2012 Forest River Wildcat Sterling Edition
2010 Ford F350 Super cab (With all the junk taken off) With H&S tuner and set of bags on the back.
I think I have a couple pictures the show what my issues was like when I first discovered it.
These are the photos I sent to Aaron at the Dallas Oregon Forest River Plant. From these he made his decision about not being covered by warranty.
Over that last month while parked outside at the repair center (blown tire damage) unprotected in the sun, it has gotten so bad that you can hardly see the Sterling Decal on the front.
The Service claimed it is due to an improper sealing of the original Gel-coat and is an obvious factory defect. Little consultation I still have to go outside of the factory to get it repaired, even though I also purchased their 5 year extended warranty. "Not a warrantable claim".
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Tom Stillman
Vancouver, WA
2012 Forest River Wildcat Sterling Edition
2010 Ford F350 Super cab (With all the junk taken off) With H&S tuner and set of bags on the back.
Same thing happened to our 2015 Crusader. Prime Time is covering it and we were just a few weeks out of warranty. It was taken to repair facility today.
Also, my husband did some research on the problem and come to find out Prime Time has had this problem since 2013, but it appears they are still using the same paint technique.
The "Brown Fade" has been happening pre 2011. My Crusader is a 2012 and I have the Brown Fade, I'm trying to get Prime Time to repaint mine. Was told my trailer is too old. We'll see how that goes.
I regularly washed and waxed my rig to avoid this very problem. It was fine and seemed to appear almost overnight. 
If i can post some photos I'll show some of the damage and the hard cover that prevents damage to the rest of the gelcoat. There isn't enough extrension to completely cover the front cap and guess where the damage is??? 
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