Gel coat cracking in 2009 Silverback

hihosilver09 · 09-27-2011, 05:32 PM

Has anyone had problems with gel coat cracking on their RVs, just as the warranty ran out I found several spider web cracks on my fifer. The gel coat was a real selling point when I bought it! Forest River will repair it this time but, after doing some research I found this is a common problem with gel coat. After talking to the guy who will repair my RV, he told me most of the gel coat cracks are due to problems start at the factory and not being applied correctly. And looking on the net, there seems to be lots of issues with cracking? Anyone repaired it themselves? From what the repair guy said, it can cost about four hundred dollars a crack for him to fix them?? Whew

HELP

hihosilver09 · 10-14-2011, 05:08 PM

Well, Forest River will not repair the gel coat on our Silverback, they are telling us that they are impact cracks, hummm, have never had it hit by any objects at all, one crack is on the very top of the fifth wheel, we are not at all happy about it, since two experts who looked at it said they were stress cracks. Has anyone out there had problems with the gel coat spiderweb cracking, we have three spots, two on the front, and one by the door???

donn · 10-14-2011, 05:10 PM

Nope. My 2005 CC is flawless. I would really suspect a frame or twisting issue causing the cracks. Or possibly something binding

hihosilver09 · 10-17-2011, 11:51 AM

We had an independent fiberglass repair shop look at our Silverback and he concluded that the impact cracks on one side of our coach was caused by something from the inside of the nose cap being hit. So now we have to have the nose cap taken off to determine what is causing the cracks. I must say I don't like gel coat, at least my experience with it. Now our problem is finding someone qualified to remove the nose crack. We are not confident in the dealership where we purchased it. Yikes

A fifty thousand dollar coach and this problem is not making me very happy

5wJoe · 02-26-2013, 07:58 AM

hihosilver09 - just ran across this post. Was your issue ever resolved?

hihosilver09 · 02-27-2013, 11:38 AM

Hey SwJoe, Our issue was resolved we hope, we have had so many problems with our Silverback we hold our breath every time we take it out, They had to rebuild our entire unit back at the factory a year ago. Put gussets in and new tubing, also replaced the axels and tires, however when we got it back the slides wouldn't work another issue, all told our unit was in a shop for a total of 5 months, we have also had many issues with the power awning, I will probably never buy a Forest River product again, the quality is very poor considering the price we paid for it. There just is no pride of workmanship in RV's anymore

ksjerram · 02-28-2013, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hihosilver09

Hey SwJoe, Our issue was resolved we hope, we have had so many problems with our Silverback we hold our breath every time we take it out, They had to rebuild our entire unit back at the factory a year ago. Put gussets in and new tubing, also replaced the axels and tires, however when we got it back the slides wouldn't work another issue, all told our unit was in a shop for a total of 5 months, we have also had many issues with the power awning, I will probably never buy a Forest River product again, the quality is very poor considering the price we paid for it. There just is no pride of workmanship in RV's anymore

Before you give up on Forest River, I would suggest you consider signing up for the Int'l FROG Rally in Goshen, IN this coming August. For the price of the rally they will address all of your issues. And you can spend your time enjoying the fun & friendship of the other FROGies while your unit problems are being corrected at no additional charge. Every mfg. occasionally turns out a lemon, but this is a great way to let FR make it right. Good Luck!

hihosilver09 · 02-28-2013, 04:59 PM

We have wanted to visit the factory and perhaps we will sign up for that. I would like to be able to see how they are built, as ours had some major safety problems from the start. Faulty welds, and at first Forest River denied any ownership of our problems, we had to demand they even look at our unit and it took my writing to Trailer Life Mag, before they addressed our issue, We could have had a major accident and not only loss of life but, property. Our dealer was no help at all in dealing with Forest River, once they had their money it was good by.

Have you ever been to one? As for giving up on Forest River, the Silverback was our dream, we had wanted one for a long time, and when we finely took the plunge we were so upset when we had such major issues with the unit. We still hold our breath every time we take it out as every time we have, we have had a problem.

5wJoe · 03-01-2013, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hihosilver09

We have wanted to visit the factory and perhaps we will sign up for that. I would like to be able to see how they are built, as ours had some major safety problems from the start. Faulty welds, and at first Forest River denied any ownership of our problems, we had to demand they even look at our unit and it took my writing to Trailer Life Mag, before they addressed our issue, We could have had a major accident and not only loss of life but, property. Our dealer was no help at all in dealing with Forest River, once they had their money it was good by.

Have you ever been to one? As for giving up on Forest River, the Silverback was our dream, we had wanted one for a long time, and when we finely took the plunge we were so upset when we had such major issues with the unit. We still hold our breath every time we take it out as every time we have, we have had a problem.

Thank you for the follow up. It is a tough one. I hope that your warranty was extended by the same length of time that the unit was under repair. Best wishes, and I hope all the kinks are worked out.
Joe

hihosilver09 · 03-01-2013, 12:30 PM

They would not extend our warranty, so that is why we have so much fear and regret over our Silverback, I have heard others say they had problems with their unit and were issued an extended warranty, perhaps it is who you know?? I have little faith in the RV industry, I know a lot of people who don't think regulations are a good thing, however how else can the public be protected for industry's who don't care what they manufacture and the bottom line is profit, and refuse to stand behind what they build. I know I am not alone in this situation, I have talked to many people who own other RV's who say the industry is not like it used to be, and remember the auto industry did nothing on safely until they were forced to by the government.

5wJoe · 03-01-2013, 02:28 PM

hihosilver09, Thank you again for taking the time to reply. The wifey and I have been looking for over a year now, and the Silverback 29RE is the first one she really liked. Matter of fact we were going to look at one again this weekend. I am not sure how I could have handled it any better than you have, and certainly the other brands have their issues too.
I wonder if the frame was a Lippert frame that should have been recalled.

hihosilver09 · 03-01-2013, 09:04 PM

Hi, our unit is a 2009 WRL 32 ft Silverback, and it was just what we had always wanted. And yes it was and is a Lippert Frame with Lippert Sealed bearings. The frame had missing welds, and we were told that the frame was not built strong enough for the weight of the trailer. If you check on the net and type in Lippert Frame failure you will find all sorts of posts with Lippert Frame failures, as well as the sealed bearings failing. We were lucky as the frame could have failed and the trailer fallen on our truck and perhaps caused an accident. We had an independent weld shop look at it and they laughed when they saw the sloppy welds on our trailer. It was a fight to get Forest River to do anything about it, and we were ready to seek legal help when they finely took responsibility for it. They blamed Lippert, but we didn't buy the trailer from Lippert we bought it from Forest River and Lippert is a supplier of Forest River frames. We still love our unit but, we are not secure that it will not have more issues down the road. Good luck in finding a trailer you want and be sure and check out all of the RV sites to find the manufacture who stands behind their customers. I hope with all of the problems that Forest River have had with Lippert that they have corrected the issues on newer units. As of 2011 they still had problems with frames built by Lippert. Keep me posted.

fishgolf365 · 03-08-2013, 10:30 AM

Hey joe..hihosilver is familiar with my issue last year but wanted you to know. I have a 2011 silverback 29rl. Great RV. Noticed the front cap gel coating was cracking. Long story short. I contacted FR and was denied help. I then contacted the southeast US Rep for them and got results. FR replaced the front cap. If you repair it at a body shop it will come back from all the research I did. Mine was a defect in the fiberglass of the nose cap. Mine looks great now and ready for the spring. Good luck.

hihosilver09 · 03-08-2013, 10:51 AM

Did you have your welds looked at when you had your nose cap off? FR also denied help to us and it was a fight, we thought at first it was just gel coat cracking but, when the lifted our unit up with a fork lift found the welds problems, there are so many complaints out there on Lippert Frame failures and weld failures. I guess I am a little concerned about it just being gel coat cracking, of course we had separation of the molding in the closet and walls pulling away from the bedroom also. Good luck to you, we uncovered our Silverback yesterday and plan a short trip the end of March, can hardly wait, it has been a long cold winter.

fishgolf365 · 03-08-2013, 10:59 AM

Yep. The welds looked great. The rest of the story is 2 weeks after getting the front cap replaced a wind storm blew a tree down and a small limb hit the top and front cap nicking the rubber roof and putting a heavy scratch in the nose cap. Well, you guessed it. Insurance replaced the rubber roof and put a new nose cap on. 2 caps in several months. Just got it back yesterday. I hope my luck gets better.

5wJoe · 03-08-2013, 11:00 AM

fishgolf365, How did you find the contact information for the Southeast US rep?
I am hoping that you and hihosilver09 were the only 2 unlucky Silverback owners, and that FR has since worked out the issues with Lipert.
Did you have the sometimes undocumented 2nd year FR extended warranty?

fishgolf365 · 03-08-2013, 11:12 AM

Yes I had the 2nd year warranty. Call Mr. A.C. Stone. His cell number is 770-851-2327. Very nice man. Plead your case to him. FR denied my claim and said it was impact damage. It had only been pulled around 25 miles to a permanent site. Mr. Stone said this cracking should not happen and he got the ball rolling. Good luck. We love our Silverback 29RL. Nice RV.

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