Vent question in 8281SS

4Rasnicks · 06-17-2010, 10:33 AM

Newbie here. First time 5th wheel owner. We just took delivery of our new Rockwood. For the most part we are very happy. There are a couple issues that the dealer will be taking care of (hopefully) this weekend. One issue I have is the front ceiling vent, over the master bed, opens forward. Is this correct? If I travel with the vent even slightly open I can see it taking flight. With the vent cover installed I get about 2" of vent height. Maybe i am wrong though. Thanks!

VTX Al · 06-17-2010, 10:39 AM

IMHO the ceiling vent is installed backwards..... should open to the rear. If you were to install a Maxxair (or similar) cover on it the way that it is, you would have to install it backwards as well. Don't like to think what would happen in that case if you were driving down the road with the vent open even slightly and you hit a rainstorm !!

...VTX-AL

E.S.P. · 06-17-2010, 11:06 AM

I have an 8281SS also ('07MY). The front vent is suppose to open to the rear, not the front for purposes of driving with the vent open. However, I am not surprised that your vent is postioned this way...reason being that the roof line in this area is pitched towards the front of the trailer. The roof has a peak just forward of the mid-point of the trailer, causing the forward roof vent to pitch towards the front. With the vent oriented to open on the front side (such as your's) there is less chance for rain to enter thru the opening since the roof line causes the open side of the vent to be on the low side of the pitch. My vent opens to the rear and because of the roof pitch causes a greater chance for falling rain to enter since the open side is on the high side of the pitch. Its almost like it was designed that way to purposely catch the rain.

Its because of this that I opted to mount Maxxair covers on all vents, especially the front. I am curious if newer 8281SS models are all built now such as your's to avoid the situation my model year has,... but doing so inherently makes a vent cover impractical

, as you have mentioned.

Maybe some other 8281SS model owners here on FRF can confirm whether FR made a design change to re-orientate the vent or if your's is a mistake.

4Rasnicks · 06-18-2010, 05:57 AM

Thanks for the feedback. I did get with a FR rep. and was told it was installed backwards. Just my luck. Now that I have gone over the camper closely I am finding many quality type issues that have me scratching my head. Hopefully the dealer can resolve them.

bobsquarepants · 06-20-2010, 05:25 PM

was going to say... yours is in backwards...I have the same model also. Just got home from our maiden voyage today. All worked the way it should

4Rasnicks · 06-21-2010, 09:13 AM

Glad to hear everything went good for you bobssquarepants. I dropped the camper off at the dealer on Saturday. They said they are going to take care of all of the issues. Its frustrating for me because for the past 6 years I had a Keystone that had 1 issue. In the first week with my Rockwood I have 7 soild issues that require dealer service. Is this normal? Maybe I am being nit picky?

SaskCampers · 06-21-2010, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4Rasnicks

Glad to hear everything went good for you bobssquarepants. I dropped the camper off at the dealer on Saturday. They said they are going to take care of all of the issues. Its frustrating for me because for the past 6 years I had a Keystone that had 1 issue. In the first week with my Rockwood I have 7 soild issues that require dealer service. Is this normal? Maybe I am being nit picky?

I don't think you are being nit picky at all. With the amt of money we spend on these units we deserve and should demand nothing less than perfection. I have done the well I guess I can live with that for the last 2 years and all I have is the big red piece of junk to show for trying to be nice and not complain too loud to the dealer.

Don't let them away with anything!! Demand quality.

bobsquarepants · 07-01-2010, 06:53 PM

the weird thing is that I had to replace mine today as we had a nasty storm the other day ...hail popped three holes the size of pennies in this exact cover, the fantastic fan ones where ok, and the others were covered by Maxx-air II's.

Just curious what the other issues are that you have had...

MightyMike · 07-01-2010, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4Rasnicks

Glad to hear everything went good for you bobssquarepants. I dropped the camper off at the dealer on Saturday. They said they are going to take care of all of the issues. Its frustrating for me because for the past 6 years I had a Keystone that had 1 issue. In the first week with my Rockwood I have 7 soild issues that require dealer service. Is this normal? Maybe I am being nit picky?

I come from just the opposite. Had a Forest River 5er for almost 10 years. One minor issue-stress star crack on front cap that dealer took care of immediately. Never had another issue with it. Wife talked me into buying a Keystone Raptor. Bigest piece of junk I ever owned. And if you ever had to try to deal with Keystone's warranty department like I did, let's just say I am not on their Christmas card list. Guess my point is you can have issues with any mfg. Seems they are trying to resolve your issues. Now, my big complaint with Keystone were the issues were so many and so big, I agreed to buy a NEW RV, not a damaged/repaired one. Think they give a crap? That's why the back of my camper says "Biggest piece of C##P RV I ever bought. They didn't like that when they towed it back to the factory, either.

52Dodgeman · 07-02-2010, 10:06 AM

Quality issues are the norm today rather than the exception. It is unfortunate that for the cost of our RVs and the basic simplicity of the construction that these problems exist! I have found only a few small workmanship issues with our Flagstaff so far but I see obvious indications that the emphasis is on production not quality. Odd that in these tying financial times that RV manufactures would not take more notice of sloppy workmanship and work towards quality products, especially when demand for their products is down. The problem with your vent being reversed is inexcusable. It demonstrates that manufacturing and quality control were asleep at the wheel. Overall I think Forest River makes a good product but there is definite room for improvement in workmanship. What does it take to wake them up?

4Rasnicks · 07-02-2010, 12:04 PM

The dealer took care of the reversed vent issue. I had a list of 6 other things, all quality related, that did not get taken care of. Even though they said they did. Here is a good example of why I am frustrated. One of the problems I had was the floor boards did not come together. There was an 1/8" gap that every time you walked on it, it seperated. It was nearly tearing the linoleum. The dealer said they would fix it. They peeled the flooring back and ran 8 drywall screws through the floor INTO NOTHING!!! They then coverd the screws up and called it done. From the basement I have 8 screws poking through the floor. All they had to do was step on the floor again and they would have seen that they did not do anything but waste 8 screws. This one frustrated me the most. In regards to your statement about quality taking a back seat to production, it's is true in nearly every sector. I work for an automotive parts supplier and know all to well the reality of this. I see its no different in the RV industry. My biggest concern now is that I have a really expensive toy that I have to fix myself. Grrrrrr.

52Dodgeman · 07-02-2010, 01:38 PM

I think at this point I would take photos of the "repaired floor" and send to F.R. Let them know you are disucssing your problems on the fourm with other F.R. customers. Many of whom are upset with F.R. and their dealers workmanship. If nothing else it helps you vent and sometimes the squeeky wheel syndrome works. Since you trailer is brand new, tell them you want it replaced.

BTW our Flagstaff had the metal strip covering the seam joint on the underbody covering held in with wood screws that went into air also. It all fell off.

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