I just got home from what was the RV capital of the world. What a ghost town.
Before arriving to the Forest River Diesel Division you can just see the empty buildings that used to be thriving with business Chassis and RV builders out of business everywhere.
I was glad to see that all of the Forest River divisions were going strong. Not too busy to get sloppy but not too slow to have no work. My coach was not slated for start until Feb. 4th and it seemed like they had quite a few orders on the books.
Upon entry we were greeted by a wonderful lady who was expecting us and she promptly called Carter who was our guide.
The tour of the plant really shocked me as far as how well everything was built. I got the feeling that they are listening to feedback because they take quality improvement very seriously.
The slide-outs are all hydraulic with full piston rams. There is a cable which runs through the inside of the slide to keep it square and in line.
The cabinets are all hand built.
The side walls are hand built with welded aluminum studs and backing in place for each thing that is screwed to the wall.
There is a huge vacuum press which the walls and roof enter after all of the necessary laminations are in place. There is no way the walls or roof will de-laminate. They even go as far as applying a sealing product to every opening to control wicking of moisture in exposed end-grains like a window or door opening.
There was no signs of anyone cutting corners. Yes, it was an assembly line but every single part is hand made to fit. There was no automated cnc machines running to speed up production.
The rig does go to a third party for paint but returns looking awesome.
The wiring looms and plumbing routes were all professionally installed. I was sure pleased as well as reassured that the coach was going to be well built.
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More to come in another post