2011/2012 Surveyors sky lights issue

[camping4us]

FYI,

I recieved a letter today from Alpha System Inc.:

"A limited number of Surveyor unit were manufactured with a bronze poly sky light which were sealed with the aid of a primer. A very small percentage of these have become brittle and have cracked in the field. It is easy to determine whether or not your sky light is affected, because it will have a cloudy appearance near the flange and will likely display many cracks."

"You may contact your local Surveyor service center to have them inspected to see if they need to be replaced. if you have questions you can also contact Monica Workman at Alpha Systems. 1-800*462-4698 or email: mworkman@alphallc.us "

[bob213]

I got the same letter. I wonder how long they will warranty these things if mine is not in need of replacement at this time? I guess I will have to call or email and see what they say. At least they are standing behind the problem ones that are out there.

[flyfishin69]

I recd. the same letter yesterday 12/22, however it came a few weeks late. As I discovered mine during a routine inspection during the beginning hours of Hurricane Sandy. During the heavy rain fall and wind I walked out to camper just to check on it. I stood in door and heard the drip drip of water hitting the fiberglass tub. I removed the white plastic head dome over the tub/shower to discover water intruding into the roof section of camper. I quickly climbed on top of camper and sealed with silicone calk until after the storm. I then bought a replacement dome from local Rv store in Chambersburg (Joe Fittrey). I am going to call after the holidays and send email to see about reimbursement. The dome, calk and putty was about 120 bucks retail. We will see what they say.

[brokenwing]

Just saw this thread. Mine was bad as well - being fixed now.

[CHD Dad]

Funny, my dealer just called me today about this and asked if I had checked our camper. I had checked in Dec and it looked OK. Today I looked and it has around 6 or 7 cracks in it! The tub had water, the trim on the ceiling was so waterlogged that it failed and was hanging there and all the trim nails are solid rust. Water definitely got in the roof, the trim in the hallway had the nails pop due to rust.

Towing into the dealer today (nice 3 hr round trip). Any idea on where or how much damage could have been done? We have a long trip in a month that has been booked for a year. I dont want mold or delam issues from this!

[flyfishin69]

I was lucky enough to get by with minimal water damage after inspection and replacement. I ended up contacting FR and they mailed all necessary supplies to do the job myself. When i first contacted FR they were going to offer to replace all ceiling material, trim, skylight and insulation in ceiling. I would say that repair shouldn't take more than a week. But the dealer would have to get all the parts onsite. Again Sorry to hear about the damage.

[CHD Dad]

The service manager looked over my damage and said it looked bad. They need to take photos and send them to FR today to see what they want to do about it. He told me it looked like the water migrated pretty far in the roof. It doesnt help that we have a lot of really bad rain lately, much more than normal. He said if it is as bad as he thinks it would be from looking at it from the outside it may need to go back to the factory for repairs. Really hoping it doesnt come to that! No telling when we would get it back.

[schrederman]

On my 2012 SV264 I looked in early march and had no issues. I installed my AC cover today and looked again, and it has started cracking. I'll be emailing FR this evening.

[CHD Dad]

Update to mine. Dealer screwed up. They thought it was fine after all so installed the new skylight and sent me on my way. Well on our recent trip I noticed all the ceiling trim from the skylight back to the bunkhouse was popping and had rusty nails! I opened up the skylight trim and poked around in the roof space, it is still soaked. Not happy at all. Called up the owner of the dealer this morning and vented and he promised to take care of it. We'll see. I want all new wood and insulation installed, period. There is already mold on the OSB panels. If it has to go back to the factory so be it. Sad part is we went with this dealer since they are a small, family owned place that has been around for many years. Thought I would get better service there than the big mega dealer about the same distance away.

[schrederman]

Just wondering about mine... I went up and took pictures of it today and sealed the cracks with silicone. I removed the inner dome and I have had some water. I left this off and will let it dry. I have no separations of anything yet, and nothing is rusted nor mildewed, and I'm hoping it will dry out pretty quickly. I have sent pictures to the email address above and will probably do the replacement myself. That email addy is not for FR but the manufacturer of the skylight plastic part. I asked if they would be sending sealer. If not, what do I use?

[Edge]

Got a letter from FR informing me to bring RV in to replace skylight.

[grb2980]

Is this affecting only bronze colored skylights? My 2011 SP293 Surveyor has a white opaque skylight. I climbed up there last week and looked for cracks. Didn't see any.

[DDC]

Originally Posted by grb2980

Is this affecting only bronze colored skylights? My 2011 SP293 Surveyor has a white opaque skylight. I climbed up there last week and looked for cracks. Didn't see any.

Ours was replaced yesterday, it was opaque and was replaced with a bronze one.

[Edge]

Called dealer to replace skylight and the dealer informed me that the skylight was replaced during the PDI. (Pre Delivery Inspection)
I also called FR to see if they had on file it was replaced and FR confirmed they had record of it being replaced by the dealer. Glad it was already taken care of.

[CHD Dad]

Update on mine, its been back at the dealership being inspected again. Its been there over two weeks now and they are waiting on FR to see about the next step. When we picked it up after they replaced the skylight and told us all was OK we had a long trip ahead. While on the trip I noticed that every ceiling nail from the bathroom to the rear (my camper sits nose high at home) was rusted out and popping from the trim. The trim had also failed in two spots and was just hanging there along the wall. I pulled the white interior skylight down so I could see up in there and there was black mold and quite a bit of moisture up there still!! I was not happy to say the least. Took a bunch of photos, called the dealer and hauled it the 1.5hrs back down there. They claim they didnt see all those rusty nails popping out. Right.

So its sitting there as FR decides what to do next. Dealer is telling me its all dry now and the mold is gone and just want to replace the trim. We want new ceiling panels. Mold is a huge issue for one of my kids (we sometimes camp with a portable HEPA running in the bunkhouse) and I want to make sure its dry and clean up there.

We also had a leak spring up with the outside shower plumbing that soaked the underside of our kitchen counter and made it swell up so bad it popped the laminate off. It was just a fine mist spraying out but enough to soak the particle board.

Hoping to get all this fixed quickly. We have a week trip in June that has been planned for a year.

[CHD Dad]

Another update. Still at dealer! Waiting on FR to ship parts out. It was approved for repair two weeks ago but no word on when parts would ship. They are replacing all the ceiling trim and paneling, insulation, both top bunkhouse mattresses (they got wet from the leak) and my counter that popped. The rest are items that can be fixed by them without parts. Happy that its all being taken care of. Still hope its done in time for our trip... Dealer cant seem to get a straight answer out of FR on a ship date for parts.