new travel trailers

[Shorefamily]

Ok so here goes. We have a 2011 coachmen catalina that weve owned for 5 years. ive always kept it maintained but it seems over the winter it has gotten a leak l. im pretty sure ive gotten the leak resolved and repaired the soft spots in the floor. Me and the wife have talked about buying a new tt but with all the issues isee with new trailers is it just me or does it seem like ALOT of the new tt have problems. As a consumer you really get a fear of plunking your hard earned money down on a new or used tt. We are ind of thinking of going back tent camping. Sorry for the rant but does anybody else out there think of this.

[RolnThndrCat]

Sometimes I am a believer of the old saying...they don't make things like they used to....Sure, it can go either way but if you are in the market for a new one, just look it over close and be sure it is the one you would want. New/used, there will always be issues.

I have had 1 pop up, 3 travel trailers and 2 5th wheels. I sometimes have regrets about getting rid of my Pioneer travel trailer, but now with my Wildcat, I have noi regrets...other than my payment....

[Theo]

I'm not sure that things are as bad as you may perceive. Remember that folks with problems come to a forum like this to seek help and advice. Certainly an owner of a malfunctioning RV may visit here to help get a problem identified and, possibly, resolved. Thus, by the nature of the benefits this forum offers, myriad problems will be described.

However, this does not present valid statistical data from which conclusions can be drawn for ALL RV owners in the US. There are many of us who have had good experiences with their RVs! A friend described this aspect of an RV forum as being a Complaint Desk in a department store: "just because a customer's toaster is broken doesn't mean everything in the store is bad."

In reality, there are designs, materials and construction quality that run the gamut. It seems imperative that one must do much more upfront research to make sure they're purchasing a quality unit. Will there be problems? Yes! You've just bought what is, in effect, a rolling earthquake; things are bound to need repair over time.

What is most maddening are the IQ (initial quality) items. If you've done the upfront research and selected a quality unit, you may still have IQ issues with some of the details. That's what the PDI is for. IMHO, too many folks rush (or are rushed) through the PDI. This is the time when all the things that aren't quite right can be addressed by the dealer. Simply don't accept delivery until everything is completed to your satisfaction. There will never be a time when the dealer is more motivated to make things right; they want to close the deal.

So, I'm not sure things are as dour as you may think. That being said, if you're not comfortable doing a fair amount of research into all the RV offerings, tenting may be a simpler choice!

Just get out and enjoy life and the beauty of America as soon as you can!

[Hatchdog]

I agree whole-heartedly with what Theo stated above in folks post on here when looking for help with an issue. Not valid statistical data at all.

We are new owners of a Rockwood 2608BS trailer and on our initial shake down trip to a full hookup park we experienced zero problems. Next week we are spending three nights without hookups to shake down the boondocking features of our trailer. Prior we owned an Arctic Fox trailer for 12 years and experienced no problems with it.

[NMWildcat]

It depends on what you consider to be problems.
If you are talking major problems like large appliance failure, frame failure, slide mechanics failure, structure failures, suspension failures, etc, then no. I don't think it is a given you will experience those.
But if you are talking water leaks, propane leaks, fitment adjustments, wiring problems, and others that any decent DIYer can fix, then yes, you will experience these. Almost guaranteed.
I always tell folks who are thinking of buying new, that they need to understand that every time they use it for the first year, they will spend most of the trip fixing little nuisance things. For bigger problems, you get to bring it home and then to an independent service RV for repair.
After the first year, chances are you are done with that (except for regular maint) for the foreseeable future.
At least that's the way it has worked for our 5 RVs and everyone in our largish camping group.
That's why we all carry enough tools to fix most things in our RVs.

[gbaldwin]

We talk about it occasionally when we see other rigs. Have a very modest size Surveyor 200 MBLE that works great for the two of us. Purchased based on good weight match for our F150. At times we think we would like to have more lounge around space but we always come back to the fact that we spend 90% of our time outside, have worked out all the bugs and customized our 3 year old TT,, and that it really does fit our needs with very minimal issues/repairs. Keep in covered shed. Looks new...no real need to upgrade is our connclusion.

[Shorefamily]

I appreciate the responses and honesty from everybody. i know that there are a majority of campers that are ok. i guess no differrent than buying a car there are some lemons or some will have issues that need to be ironed out initially. But you just kinda second guess things because your spending your hard earned money to try and go enjoy time away from home. And dont want to spend it fixing things. I myself can fix things. But im an auto tech for a living so when we go out the last thing i wanna do is fix a problem. Lol. Again I thank you all for the support. Be safe on your travels