Sanibel owners

[Ductwerks]

Oh my god, I dont know what I would do. That is alot of stuff. The dealer must love you guys.

[tlamb6463]

The dealer has been really good up to this point. Im sure if this continues they will get as fed up as us.

[MA554PA]

Good grief! I thought we had problems! Of course, we might have had the same problems if we'd have taken ours on the road. Instead, and only because the last thing that we were told was wrong was "faulty wiring at the main control panel (landing gear and slides wouldn't work, no charge to the battery from our truck but the truck wasn't the problem and neither was the battery), we finally gave up after deciding that we didn't want to be cremated some night in our rv. We went to another dealer and bought a Redwood Sequoia. When the Sanibel dealer we bought from said "It's fixed", we towed it across I-4 and traded it in. Never even spent a night in it. Lost our $15,000 down payment because it was worth less as a "used" (titled to us) rv.

We think we made the right decision because we learned more about the Sanibel when Lazydays weighed it for a customer that was interested in it. General RV had given us a dry weight of 12,729 and a pin weight of 2396. Not so! It weighed 13,222 dry with a pin weight of 2720! Lazydays wouldn't sell it to the buyer because their truck was the same as ours...2013 F250 Super Duty, diesel, 4x4, and the pin weight was too heavy. Now Lazydays is questioning how a standard equipped Sanibel 3601 with a manufacturer's dry weight of 12,624 could weigh so heavy. We don't care anymore, but Forest River/Prime Time has some explaining to do, only this time to a huge dealership!

[tlamb6463]

Great another issue to be concerned about. I was questioning in my mind whether the truck was charging my battery because when I stopped and tried to move the fridge a few inches away from the cabinet to get something out the slide out just wouldn't go out and the battery acted as if it was dead but everything seemed ok when we returned to the dealer. I guess I will have to keep that in the back of my mind.

May consider the trade in option as well.

[ckeen881966]

I am more and more glad we decided to keep our Sandpiper at least for now. I really like the front living room 5th wheels and really loved the Sanibel 3901 but with all of these major issues when we do decide to upgrade, I don't think it will be a Sanibel. The salesperson from General RV at the RV show told me the Palamino Columbus that I liked was "lipstick on a pig" and the Sanibel was the best thing since sliced bread but it looks like that may be the other way around. That pig is looking awfully sexy with that lipstick!

[Ductwerks]

I have 2011 f250 and it says it can handle 14400 lbs not sure what the pin weight is. Did they put the trailer on a scale?

[Team Wilhelm]

Originally Posted by wmcclay

We love our 3500 have pulled it about 50,000 miles. There have been some problems, but they stepped up and took care of them. Once we got rid of the ST tires everything has been smooth as silk. Make sure you tie the cabinet doors near slides closed and latch ALL doors before moving. We would buy another.

Good Luck

Wayne

What was wrong with your ST tires that came with it ? I have ST 235 80R17. These bad tires ? ....Ron

[Team Wilhelm]

Originally Posted by tlamb6463

You have every right to be concerned. Please check out our post above.

We received our coach back around the 1st of April just in time to take it to Arizona for our first real trip. Took our Rig home showed it off to family since it had been in the shop since day 2 of original purchase. Packed it up for our trip out west from Maryland.

As we traveled we noticed the fancy plastic trim over the wheels sort of flapped in the wind and in some places the lower skirt vibrated. During our first gas stop. I noticed screws around the outside of the coach backing out. So I grabbed a screw driver and tightened prior to getting underway. Well this continued and the screws got to the point where they wouldn't tighten good. The plastic was cracking around the screw holes.

Somewhere around New Mexico someone pointed out that our spare tire was starting to lower and swing. We raised it back in place and ventured on.

We made it to Arizona with only a few missing screws and cracked plastic over the tire or so we thought. We quickly started to uncover the many issues.

First one living room bump out wouldn't work. Acted as if it was jammed on one side. It was not. Called dealer to find out how to resolve. Suggested that we call mobile repair since it came out a little before issue started. Long story short, the repair guy called Prime Time and could not get any information or help. Needless to say we spent the entire week with the bump out stuck in.

2) We found one Pendant light over the dinette dangling with the wiring all damaged. Being an electrician took care of this. Just what I wanted to do after 3 days of travel.

3) Moved back to the bedroom and found the stuff my wife stored on the top shelf in the closet had broke through and fell. Just spare sheets for the bed. Found the Manufacturer didn't put a top shelf board on the shelf so the sheets were just sitting on the decorative bottom board that was just tacked in place to the frame of the shelf.

4) Also found various pieces of trim pulled apart.

5) While leveled up with our fancy new hydraulic system we noticed a popping sound and the trailer vibrate like the hydraulics was slipping from time to time.

6) Well about 3 days at the camp ground I decided to hook up the sewage line to drain off some of the gray tank. To my surprise I was greeted with a lap full of sewage when I took off the cap. I always check the valve before open so I wasn't prepared for the amount that had accumulated in the drain piping. Found the slide gate wouldn't seal.

So time to come home.

7) Hooked up the fancy black water flush system that was repaired from the first go around only to find water running from everywhere under the coach. Needless to say still haven't got to use this feature.

8) Which moves me back to doing it the old fashion way. We are experienced from our previous camper with filling the tank a few times to flush. Problem was there seem to be a great deal of sewer gas coming up while flushing. Too much to keep open for even a few minutes without it being unbearable. To me it seamed as if the vent was clogged.

9) After the unbearable smell we noticed the black water tank would not completely drain. looked to be a few inches of water and paper still in tank. Verified trailer level and valve open but still would not drain all the way.

10) Wife always wipes down all the sinks and shower surrounds before pulling out only to find a clear rtv in a few small spots. After further review of those areas the RTV was used to cover spider cracks in the fiberglass surround.

11) Forgot to mention the door near the TV that would not stay closed during the trip and was damaged from smacking the bump out on the trip down. We tried adjusting the latch but turned out not to help. We did protect it for the trip home.

Finally on the road home. A little nervous about the vibration and loosing of screws issue.

12) We quickly learned that that issue seems to be getting worse. Every 200 miles we stop for gas and tighten screws except for around Texas we discovered one of the plastic wheel trims broke around all the screw holes and blew off. So we took the other one off since it was missing 2 screws already.

13) The next gas station we noticed the plastic under the coach used to seal off the tanks and keep heat in had detached itself but didn't completely come off. Luckily we made it back with this still just flapping in the wind.

Already called the dealer to warn them they were getting the coach back. Service manager agreed to meet us there to walk down the problems no matter what time we arrived.

14) Made it back to Virginia, only to find our spare tire was hanging a few inches from the ground again.

15) On our final walk down at our last fuel stop we notice even more screws missing and some ripped sheet metal skirting from flexing.

So with that said our camper is back in the shop for round 2 of major repairs. Did I mention we live 4.5 hours from the dealer?

OMG.......this sounds not like I expected from a so called high end unit and we just purchased 3901. I'll keep you posted but so far we got a few problems like the cheap plastic cover falling off underneath, screws missing, dealer said fridge would go 2-3 days and barely does 8 hours, electrical popping noise, liquid running out of sewer pipe and all levers closed etc etc

[jbaird]

we got our 3901 in November and its been at the dealer more then we had it the fresh water tank almost fell out of the camper they forgot to put the straps in.I think we are up to 50 line items. Every one needs to call Shane Imus @ 574-862-3033 and Doug Deter 574-238-4533

[Countryguril20]

Good luck with your Sanibel. My 2015 had major issues from shower leaking in basement, shower water running out on floor thru caulking in the door track, major frame flex ( read that forum on this site), front cap trim seperating on the outside of the rv, inside molding detaching, br door would not shut and latch closed with the slide out normally, bathroom door rubbing light as opens and closes, pantry door grabbing carpet when opened... As if that wasn't enough, the first trip out (7 days after purchase all of the above happened) also we had our first rain storm, our bedroom was saturated with water. You could push up the ceiling Above the bed and hear water sloshing around. Horrible experience for our first 5er.

[tlamb6463]

Wow, sorry to hear your having issues as well. Is your coach being worked on or did you trade it in when items were repaired?

How is Prime Time resolving your issues?

[ckeen881966]

Well after reading all of this I think we will look at other options s if we decide to upgrade. Really liked the Palamino Columbus and the Grand Design Solitude but the Solitude is quite pricy.

[Countryguril20]

We were blessed our dealership is working with us on the situation. We are looking into buying a different unit. We searched high and low and can't move past the Sanibels for the price and what they have to offer to fit our needs and wants. I do believe we may have just bought a lemon and at this point I am leaning on buying a different model. Anyone with any advise please pitch in good or bad and post the model. I have to have certian things; winterized, 6pt auto, res fridge, large shower and decent bathroom, 10-12 gal hot water heater. I have a limit on how much I can spend as well, I keep looking for other options and end up right back at a Sanibel.

[B and B]

We like the Grand Design as well. In Canada they are all pricy so that doesn't matter to us really.

[DDC]

Wow we were just looking at a 3901 today and it looks good, are they all this bad, does anyone have anything positive to say about them, I don't care if prime time steps up to the plate I want a so called top line unite to be just that, we all know that problems can happen but reading these posts are scary.

[ckeen881966]

Exactly DDC

[Ductwerks]

I know that grand design is now doing 2 pre delivery inspections before they leave the factory. I have a 2014 Sanibel 3600 had little issues but nothing like Countryguril20.

[tlamb6463]

Update on our Sanibel 3901

Picked up our coach in Aug from the dealer after dropping it off in April from our nightmare Arizona trip. We spent the night at local campground near deal to checkout some of the repairs.

Overall they did a good job. One side of the coaches skirting was still a little shaky so they cut me some angle and told me to screw the skirting to the frame.

One important thing that came from the dealer was they took measurements to determine if our coach had excessive flex with the frame. It was determined that it did not. I was concerned about this because of the excessive sealing putty being pushed out.

Also the leaking by black tank valve was not fixed. They said they tried to replace it three times and could not fix it so they add another valve at the end of the discharge pipe.

When we were packing up to take the coach home we discovered the blackout tank was taking a long time to clean out even with the flush out system.

When we returned home we looked further into the black tank issue only to find with the black tank valve open there was an inch of sewer left in the tank due to the tank sagging and the hole cutout for the toilet to the black tank floating in the tank. Of course I stuck my phone down in the tank and videoed the inside of the tank to show how much was left in tank and sent to Manufacture. After they questioned my ability to clean out a tank they agreed that the tank may need to be replaced.

We also have issues with the furniture in the living area. Both couches not opening at same time and the recliner next to the couch opens but rubs on the side of the couch hard. This will eventually tear the couch or chair.

Another issue is there are no receptacles other than the one behind the tv in the living room. We have 4 in the kitchen, 5 in the bedroom. Two inside the closet, really? That doesn't even include the washer receptacle in the bedroom.

So we went to Harrisburg show and spoke to the manufacture rep standing in the middle of the coach they had on display. Of course he was attentive and mad promises that they will replace our furniture and take care of all of our issues. We he got back to Indiana he handed our case off to Rick K. which is the one who questioned our ability to clean out the tank to begin with.

We have an appointment for Dec 3 to take our coach to a different dealer where they are going to take care of our problems. So we are feeling okay that things may get finally fixed.

We had a trip scheduled for End of Oct for three week trip to Orlando Florida so this should go well so we hoped.

We leave out heading down 95 and stop several places for gas and again notice screw backing out all around the coach and sides vibrating around the coach. Lost a few screws.

We stopped at the south of the boarder to find the black seam strip missing on driver side and ready to fall off on passenger side. With this the driver side flexed so much that the side wall popped out of the trim. With much concern about the safety of this coach we contacted dealer to get permission to move this coach any further. Dealer felt we cold continue without any issues so we finished our trip.

Once we arrived at our destination at got setup we discovered the hot water heaters pressure relief valve was popping off. After several attempts we called dealer and they called a service tech to replace the pressure relief valve.

Once setup I inspected the front of the coach for further damage. With rain coming I wanted to check the nose cone area to see what affect the flexing might of had. Good thing we checked because the lap seal was thin and showed signs of stretching. We removed the damaged lap seal and caulked to prevent damage from the rain.

At this point I am steaming. I am stressed out from looking in my rear view mirror for hours worrying something else is going to happen or fall off. I sat down and sent the dealer and manufacturer an email with our concerns and demanded that our coach be replaced. This coach is a safety hazard and has caused us nothing but stress on every trip we have taken.

The dealer contacted us right away and ensured us he is staying on the manufacture to make this right. Several days later Rick K. from Forest River called. He had nothing to say that made us feel comfortable about our situation.

He suggested that we keep our appointment in Dec. They will have that dealer take some measurements to see if there is too much flexing. What the pictures I sent you with the side of the coach coming apart wasn't proof enough?

If the dealer can't fix all of our problems then they will take it back to the manufacturer and fix our coach. So far very few of the problems the dealers have fixed have been fixed to our satisfaction and have reoccurred.

About a week into this trip we loose all of our GFCI receptacles in the coach. Being an electrician, I had the proper tools on hand to troubleshoot this problem and fix myself. That doesn't change to severity of the problem or the damage this problem could have caused. I found the neutral on the line side of the the bathroom GFCI receptacle not tightened down at all. The arcing eventually prevented the neutral from conducting. The rest of the GFCI receptacles in the coach are wired from this device. I guess I need to pull all the receptacle to make sure everything is tight to prevent a fire.

It is our educated opinion (experience with this coach) that this coach is not road worthy. It holds up well to small back road trips but when taken to the open road it falls apart. Our 2015 Sanibel 3901 is a safety hazard that the manufacturer has refused to acknowledge and the dealer is unable to fix correctly. With the manufacturer's cautious approach in accepting responsibility and after a year of repeated problems with no resolve. It is time to take legal action against this manufacturer if they do not replace our coach with one we feel comfortable pulling behind us.

[jbaird]

Prime time need s to recall the 3901

[jbaird]

After having our 3901 for 6 months we traded it back in on a new 3601 an been very happy with it.