Some issues with new 8312SS

cecilt · 04-30-2011, 11:08 PM

Pic ked up the new unit a few weeks ago. Drove home 8 hours with off an on rain. Next day noticed the carpet was wet in front of the u-dinnette but it was not wet around the corner of dinette. FR said probably due to high winds I was driving in some rain got through the seal. Ok. Drove down to Myrtle Beach a week ago and it rained some. Same issue. Carpet was slightly damp. Issue was some gaps above the wheels and rain was splashing in the underside from the tires. Mobile Repair applied a lot of silicon to the gap and then siliconed the screws where the slide attached underneath. Hopefully fixed.

Next noticed a small amount of water on the fender lip between the passenger tires. Area is directly behind shower. A flagstaff owner with the same model came over and pointed out his was wet and we checked mine and sure enough so was mine. It appears water may be getting between the tub surrond walls and the tub. Wife said the water smelled soapy. Will silcone around the whole tub where the tub surround wall meets the tub and hopefully this will fix it.

Noticed the TV that is mounted in the bedroom was hard to see as it did not have much angle and certain shows part of the screen was almost blacked out. Wound up installing longer plastic sleeves to angle the TV more at the top and this made a big difference.

Outside kitchen cabinet doors rubbed and had to adjust one door so that they both close without hitting.

Outside of this we love the unit. Anyone else experience any of the above?

**Herk7769** · 05-01-2011, 06:29 AM

My only water leak (so far) was the AC foam seal between the roof and unit was improperly installed and began to leak after it had been on the road a while.

The Flourescent lit LCD TV's have a very limited viewing angle and are probably a bad choice for campers (folks laying on the floor can't see it at all; in my layout I have a choice to angle the L/R TV at the dinette or the couch to be watchable), but we are stuck with them.

Plasma TVs have better viewing angles than LCDs but draw three times the power.

The new LED lit LCDs are not much better; but some.

Forget 3D anytime soon (the active glasses type has an even tighter viewing angle), but there is a new type that uses the same "cheap" passive glasses used in theaters that is much better. I was reading about them from Crutchfield.

FarmerMT · 05-04-2011, 10:16 PM

Wow, I am very disappointed to see issues like this on a new trailer. Looks like some better quality control is needed at the factory. I hope everything works out.

mblanks2 · 05-22-2011, 07:15 AM

Just purchased the 2012 and didn't notice any problems like the ones mentioned. However, didn't specifically look. It was raining when we returned home. I will be paying particular attention the next time we travel in the rain. I just got rid of one competing brand that we fought for five years of delaminaton and water issues. I can't do it again.

FarmerMT · 05-27-2011, 11:10 PM

I just towed my new 2012 home from the dealer. 200 miles of Rain/Snow/Hail. 40mph head wind with 60 mph gusts. It was just about the worst conditions you could imagine. I had no leaks, the only issues I had was the fridge in the outside kitchen rubbed up on the cabinet. It seems to be bolted in so the factory just set it to close, you can barely see the damage. The Factory also forgot the heated mattress (dealer reimbursed) and the extra roof fan. The dealer installed one for me. I am so glad I have the Equalizer hitch. The trailer tracked nice behind the truck. The Hemi got 6 mpg up the steep pass out of Helena, Montana and then averaged about 9 the rest of the trip. I had some tranny shift issues that I will reprogram tomorrow and hopefully solve. We are very excited and can't wait to load everything tomorrow!

jimh · 05-28-2011, 07:33 AM

now u know why the tv's are placed at eye level at the store.
for my home, i purchased a plasma because of the viewing angle.
recently bought a larger (24" i think) for the trailer bed room. got the best i could get for the vertical viewing angle but still wound up making an angled shelf to place it on. (i would get on the floor and check for best picture. then i would look at the manufactures posted specs).
leaks, so far just from broken faucets and bad or no seal around the shower faucet.

ALMcKinney · 05-28-2011, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FarmerMT

I just towed my new 2012 home from the dealer. 200 miles of Rain/Snow/Hail. 40mph head wind with 60 mph gusts. It was just about the worst conditions you could imagine. I had no leaks, the only issues I had was the fridge in the outside kitchen rubbed up on the cabinet. It seems to be bolted in so the factory just set it to close, you can barely see the damage. The Factory also forgot the heated mattress (dealer reimbursed) and the extra roof fan. The dealer installed one for me. I am so glad I have the Equalizer hitch. The trailer tracked nice behind the truck. The Hemi got 6 mpg up the steep pass out of Helena, Montana and then averaged about 9 the rest of the trip. I had some tranny shift issues that I will reprogram tomorrow and hopefully solve. We are very excited and can't wait to load everything tomorrow!

Hi,
I need some help we got our new 26 FBSS and the drains on the kitchen sink seem to be installed in upside down the black rubber grommet is showing and I can't get the sink drains out is my thinking right?

Thanks
Al

FarmerMT · 06-04-2011, 12:41 PM

Al,

Can you take a picture and post it? Sink hardware is real easy to fix.

djwaltz · 08-01-2011, 07:31 PM

We picked up our new 2012 8312 SS at the end of April. We love the layout of the trailer but have had quiet a few issues.

Our biggest issue was finding out the outside kitchen sink drains to the black tank. No one from the dealer or the manufacturer told us this and we only learned when we had a back up of the black tank and it leaked out through the sink. Besides a huge mess of waste, it damaged our outside stove and leaked into the back bunk room ruining the cushions to the bottom bunk couch.

When we picked it up and drove home about 140 miles we found a huge bubble in the sidewall of the tire and that needed to be replaced.

We also had an issue with the hot water heater not igniting and building up gas. When it would finally light it would through flames out of the door.

One of our cabinets is coming unglued at the joint.

It's at the dealer now being worked on. Hope this resolves all of our problems. Our last trailer was 7 years old when we traded it in and we didn't have this many issues with it the entire time we owned it. This is our first Rockwood and I hope we didn't make a mistake.

FarmerMT · 08-01-2011, 10:15 PM

I have also had some issue's. I chalk up most of the problems to the speed in which the units were produced to meet customer demand. Now I know Forest River brags about their quality assurance facility but think about it! I have been lucky so far as all of the issues have been very easy to fix on my own. My two newest problems are cosmetic, the Rockwood decal on the front cap is flaking off. I have put in a call to my dealer to get a new decal sent up to me. I am also having an issue with the trim piece along the bottom of the trailer. It is made out of some of the worst material in the world. It seems like it is plastic covering thin tin or aluminum. We do a lot of camping on gravel roads and we are getting dents in the trim. You cannot pound or pop them out. Overall I am happy with the trailer, but could see how others may be more upset with their experience. We have had many weekend trips, we are about to embark on our annual two week trip on the Oregon Coast. I am crossing my fingers that all of the kinks are worked out!

mhuffs9017 · 08-02-2011, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cecilt

Will silcone around the whole tub where the tub surround wall meets the tub and hopefully this will fix it.

Did this work? Our tub basin has gaps everywhere along the walls. We too had issues with carpet being wet with the first shower. We didn't take any more on the maiden voyage and I intend to seal as well. Are the tubs supposed to be tucked outside of the walls?

I'll get pics on Thursday for comments. If it is a shotty job of installation it'll be going back to the dealer.

cecilt · 08-03-2011, 06:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mhuffs9017

Did this work? Our tub basin has gaps everywhere along the walls. We too had issues with carpet being wet with the first shower. We didn't take any more on the maiden voyage and I intend to seal as well. Are the tubs supposed to be tucked outside of the walls?

I'll get pics on Thursday for comments. If it is a shotty job of installation it'll be going back to the dealer.

Yes, caulking between where the tub walls meets the tub worked. We also had a water leak that I would notice when running the shower outside. Kept the water pump humming non stop. Turned out to be a loose fitting hot water line fitting. Cold was getting loose so dealer tightened all this down. Our main slide was pushing in too far at the bottom causing our table to hit the wall and rub. Dealer adjusted out about 1/4" so no rubbing anymore but of course I now have a rub mark on the table and wall where they rubbed for weeks. I will either stain the table area or have FR send me a new one. I also noticed a little peeling of the "Signature" on the front bedroom window cover that opens and closes. Will keep an eye on this but it will probably need replaced before warranty goes out. All in all I think QC has been pretty bad. What kind of tires did your unit come with. We have the Trail Express.

I had no idea the outside sink drains to the black. How did you determine this. Pretty crazy.

theanglins · 08-06-2011, 11:43 AM

Hi Doug from Innisfil Ont.. I have done almost 1 full camping season with our 2012 Rockwood Signature Ultra lite 8312SS.. Had a couple of problem But very miner. (1) The pump for the fresh water would lose prime and run for hours on end until you turned on the tap so it could draw water and displace the air. I talk to rockwood themselves and they told me what the problem was. There are well aware of that. The fix is put a shut off valve in the line of the antifreeze. The outside cap is not strong enough to prevent air from entering the system.
(2) The stereo that come with the until is alright at best. the sub woofer you can't hear or feel the bass at all. It a poor design, I cover the port hole to re stick some of the air flow and now sound like you have a space ship landing on you trailer. That the way a sub woofer is suppose to sound..
(3) I also have power jack stands that came with the trailer when I bought it. The problem you can't use both at the same time, too much stain on the power and it blows fuses, mind you its only 15amp they use. So we do one at a time..
We had no leaks whats so ever, Ive even driven in heavy down poor for about 1 hour and when we got to our campsite open everything all the slide outs dry as a nice summer day...

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