Any Happy Forest River Owners Out there?

[Vern]

We are now in our fourth summer with our Rockwood Windjammer (3008W), which is our first travel trailer. We have had very few issues, all of which were either handled easily by me (with my limited skill set) or promptly by our dealer. We admittedly don't travel the miles that many do (I think we have towed it a total of only about 7,000 miles to date), but we are very happy with our TT. We like it even more than the day we took delivery, and would buy Forest River again.

[KennyGolub]

A few minor problems with our Berkshire, but I would by FR again.

[jobren4]

We have a 2012 345ret 5'er.that we ordered new.We are very satisfied and have had a few issues but always taken care of by dealer.As someone else stated having a Good dealer is very important.Will be purchasing another new one in next couple of years,just to update.

[BamaBob]

Happy as can be - we are on our 2nd FR RV and will be buying our "Retirement" RV (A Cardinal) in a few months.


Frankly, we would not own any other brand.

[annema19]

I searched for many, many years before I finally took the plunge and bought a new TT. I ended up with a Wildwood 185RH xLite. I bought it because of the layout, number of cabinets and the fact I could park it in my driveway which eliminated the cost of storage. It was obvious from the beginning that the quality of my TT is poor. One unit on the lot had the siding place on so poorly there were visible gaps in it where water could and had seeped in. The faux laminate on the cabinets started peeling off and the framing on the bed that surrounds the mattress, fell off. But further inspection found that all systems were in good shape, the air works, and since I have few mechanical parts (ie: slides) whatever breaks is easily fixed.

If you want top of the line quality, then you have to pay for it and the price becomes so high that you might as well buy a condo. If you are looking to enjoy the great outdoors, make memories with your family and have a good night's sleep, then a TT is the way to go, regardless of the quality!

I love my Wildwood!

[Ranger431]

We just picked up a 2015 Flagstaff 831BHDS and are very pleased with it. It's our 4th TT, and the other 3 have all been Jaycos, which have a pretty good reputation for quality. We've only spent 8 nights in it thus far. These were on two trips - one was about 500 miles round trip and the other about 130, but enough to consider the TT "shake down" over and haven't had any issues. Overall I'd rate the quality of this unit as "very good".

The only things I will ask the dealer to correct as of now are a slight adjustment to the outside kitchen door and the kitchen table is a PITA to lower, but seems to be breaking in and getting easier. Not sure if all FR dealers do this, but ours asked us to bring it back after 90 days where they will give it a thorough review \ inspection and also correct anything we observed that needs addressed.

[LittlePM]

We have had our Georgetown XL378 for just about a year and a half, and have had very minor problems with it. On the other brands that we had we always had problems, I think the dealer had our last 5th Wheel more then we did. Yes we are very happy

[tommie.graves]

Just purchased a new salem Hemisphere 286rl, few minor problems, but love it, purchased from Jeff Couch rv, in Hamilton Ohio, sales rep Ray Crain ordered it and quoted price, price was just what he said would be, no hidden charges, Mike did pdi which , took about 3 hours, and he knew his stuff, and was very nice and helpful, would buy from them again.

[dj3spots]

We have the Salem Hemisphere 346 QBUD - love it. Had it two years and drove north coast south and continued going to west coast and back to east coast. No probs at all. Had a Rockwood before this and no probs with that either.


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[Tank99]

Have a 2015 Salem 27RKSS. We have spent 22 nights in so far with 1 issue. The front stabilizer motor stoped working. Nothing but a lose connection that was fixed by me. Love our Salem.

[CHICKDOE]

we are new to this and have only been able to use the cardinal 5th wheel for a few days. we are on a final shakedown before we start an extended trip. over all we are really going to enjoy the cardinal. I have posted a few times to this forum expressing some frustration, but this has been over specific details, not the entire rig in general. overall I can see the engineering involved and the integration of the various living spaces. what gets me is the inconsistency in some of the details. examples are: power switches in control panel installed inconsistently, 110 circuits abbreviated on distribution panel (things like SO, REC, AC and AC2). the circuits work, but a second or two more to label them better would have been nice. we have two awnings. there are two switches on the control panel that say awning. how hard would it be to label them front awning and rear awning. the labelling of the water and dump tanks is pretty amazing. there are two grey tanks, one black tank, and 1 fresh tank. the little indicator lights on the control panel are labelled, GALLEY, GREY, BLACK, FRESH. one might think the sink drain in the kitchen drains into the galley tank and you would be wrong. after considerable time running water down each drain to find out which tank it drains into I found that all of the sinks and showers drain into the grey tank. so what is the GALLEY tank? turns out it is the drain for the washer (the trailer has washer / dryer prep). again this is good, but why label it GALLEY? the trailer has two doors with locks and they used different keys. cost me $25 to order a new lock with the same key so I can use 1 key to open / close both doors. what would it have taken to have the factory do this? we think the trailer is great!!!! but take a couple of short shakedowns trips, bring a label maker, an test each and every switch, valve, etc so you know what you have. we're sure it will save much aggravation in the future.

[rjc1024]

We bought a 2015 Coachmen Apex 259BHSS last October. We have used it 5 times now and are very happy with it. Like most there have been a few minor issues, things that I personally feel could be done better, but overall we are very happy. Based on the limited experience we have if I had to make a decision to buy another FR product right now I would not hesitate.

[aceinspp]

Yes there always these little things that they could do but don't I just get my label machine out and make my own labels. For the locks never understood this but the quick fix was I took some red paint used a cotton swab marked the front door under key slot and mark the key with red dot. Now I don't fight the key issue and saved money. Later RJD

[Slpsld55]

We are on our 3rd Rockwood over a 20 year period. We have only bought new Rockwoods and could not be happier!

[hbillsmith]

It's just the wife and I. We were looking for the perfect 5er and read voraciously all the comments in this and rv.net forums. It seemed that china bomb tires, poor A/C performance and in-adequate showers and refrigerators are something to pay attention to. Even though I was buying a new 2500HD diesel, payload could be a problem if I went too residential high-end.

In the end we picked the 2016 Wildcat 295rsx over the similar plans from Grand Design and OpenRange because of so many values the others left off such as:

1) BAL frame drop frame design creates a front storage with a huge area, much bigger than others.
2) Maxxis 16" tires and aluminum speed rims were std. and a highly recommended brand. Having 16" instead of 15" was collectively promoted by the forums.
3) Radius shower made the bathroom and shower feel much nicer
4) Dual A/C's standard and a 15K in rear and low profile 13.5k in bedroom, 100+ temps no problem.
5) 2 Big TVs. A 49" LivRm and a 32" std bedroom TV
6) All LED lighting. No incandescent means low power draw for dry camping.
7) Std rear fold down bike rack a nice too have that I won't have to go add.
8) Great Dealer in Ft. Worth offered a 35% off MSRP AND was $4K higher on my trade-in after a nationwide shopping spree. This was on a custom order
9) LCI Ground Control 3.0 Auto Level factory installed at half the Camping World price
10) Slide covers all 3 slides $700 dealer cost total for all
11) Theatre Seating that faces the LivRm TV std. No more crooked neck.
12) 9 cuft std refrig (not the 6 cuft that most ultra lights have)
13) Kitchen large pantry with glass door. A wife's must have.
14) Windows on both sides of bedroom bed, much better view and cross vent fresh air
15) Payload worked perfect
16) Mor/ryde Cre/3000 with wet-bolt kit
17) 6000# Dexter Axles (others in this class were 4200 or 5000)

[northstar1960]

Originally Posted by hbillsmith

It's just the wife and I. We were looking for the perfect 5er and read voraciously all the comments in this and rv.net forums. It seemed that china bomb tires, poor A/C performance and in-adequate showers and refrigerators are something to pay attention to. Even though I was buying a new 2500HD diesel, payload could be a problem if I went too residential high-end.

In the end we picked the 2016 Wildcat 295rsx over the similar plans from Grand Design and OpenRange because of so many values the others left off such as:

1) BAL frame drop frame design creates a front storage with a huge area, much bigger than others.
2) Maxxis 16" tires and aluminum speed rims were std. and a highly recommended brand. Having 16" instead of 15" was collectively promoted by the forums.
3) Radius shower made the bathroom and shower feel much nicer
4) Dual A/C's standard and a 15K in rear and low profile 13.5k in bedroom, 100+ temps no problem.
5) 2 Big TVs. A 49" LivRm and a 32" std bedroom TV
6) All LED lighting. No incandescent means low power draw for dry camping.
7) Std rear fold down bike rack a nice too have that I won't have to go add.
8) Great Dealer in Ft. Worth offered a 35% off MSRP AND was $4K higher on my trade-in after a nationwide shopping spree. This was on a custom order
9) LCI Ground Control 3.0 Auto Level factory installed at half the Camping World price
10) Slide covers all 3 slides $700 dealer cost total for all
11) Theatre Seating that faces the LivRm TV std. No more crooked neck.
12) 9 cuft std refrig (not the 6 cuft that most ultra lights have)
13) Kitchen large pantry with glass door. A wife's must have.
14) Windows on both sides of bedroom bed, much better view and cross vent fresh air
15) Payload worked perfect
16) Mor/ryde Cre/3000 with wet-bolt kit
17) 6000# Dexter Axles (others in this class were 4200 or 5000)

They look like great units , I'll bet they have their share of issues also . FR is middle of the road . a 380 TH by grand design is only $106,000.
their tts non toy haulers are around 30,000 and up
how many repairs can you fix with a 15 to 40g savings

[PokerDealer]

I've only had my TT (wildwood X-lite 181) a few weeks. I've been driving all over town, spending hours practicing backing up at the community college parking lot but haven't camped yet (to many fires in Washington, Idaho pan handle) but my "first impression" is that I'm very satisfied with the quality and finish of the product. I have had very good contact with FR (they let me purchase a second year warranty even though it's been 20+ day since I took delivery). They asked me to take my unit in for cosmetic warranty issues with in 90 days, and everyone here has been very supportive in answering questions.... I can see why many members of this forum have owned more than just one FR.

[catseye]

We bought our 276HW Rockwood 2nd hand, and for a 7 year old unit, it seems to have stood up pretty well. Nothing needed repair that wasn't user related neglect, and I'd say our camper is pretty solid. I'm pretty happy.....

[jz5w63]

We did the same for our first 5th wheel - a Rockwood, and except for a leak from the plastic frame of the bathroom exhaust fan and a bunch of broken slideout bolts it was a great trailer. BTW for the plastic frame which had been caulked umpteen times the problem was the cracked plastic one on each of its 4 sides that once I sealed were great. And as far as the bolts, the holes in the drive shaft (hollow square tubing) had elongated over time and when you operated the slideout they were subjected to an initial impact load. To resolve this latter problem I simply drilled new tighter fitting holes and rebolted to the drive/idle pinion gear with Grade 8 bolts. After that our used trailer was perfect. But I believe there may have been many more issues resolved by its former owner(s) as when I bought my brand new 2014 Flagstaff we had an entire typed page of defects which the Westland Michigan area Camping RV dealer did a poor job of fixing and then bailed out all together on me in particular over a dispute about a black water tank leak they had "fixed" - not.

Now, I have to say, FR was really good about supporting me, but it is too bad there were so many issues to be resolved by such an inept dealer!

[hbillsmith]

As a follow-up to my Wildcat 295rsx post, I did have a few minor issues that were easily fixed by the dealer. 7 weeks camping, 4 trips so far. In the spirit of full disclosure, here are the very few issues noting that all were resolved:

1) Small window by couch exhibited a dripping leak during our first trip's storm. Dealer removed and resealed the window. It's been fine ever since.
2) 1 of the LCI elephant pad feet on 1 of the jacks of the Ground Control 3.0 system fell off during a trip coming home, probably a defective clip. LCI overnighted a free replacement.
3) 5er's couch cushions bounced onto the floor while hauling on the first trip. To me that seemed like the 5er was bouncing more than it should. Dealer pulled the 4 wheels and had them balanced at Discount Tire. No charge and it made a big improvement.
4) 1 or 2 interior trim pieces popped loose and I just either screwed or glued them back. They've stayed down ever since.
5) Some of the TV antennae coax connectors that attach to the Amp in the wall were apparently loose such that I didn't get all the available local channels. I pulled the wall jack out and re-tightened all the connectors. After that, I went from getting 12 channels to 53 channels at that particular campground. No problems since.
6) Bought a 12volt fan in the Walmart Auto dept to leave running in the bedroom when we leave our pet in trailer. Should the camp power fail, a 12v fan would continue on battery. Turns out the cigarette lighter plug had the + and - reversed. Pulled the jack, reversed the wires and all is good.