Crusader is Junk, Think twice before you buy

[B and B]

Hmmm.

I Bought a Thor owned Heartland Bighorn was fit and finish and feature wise way above similar full profile FR offerings. Not all sub brands of Thor would be bad like Airstream or DR Suites or Landmark 360 and Bighorn made by Heartland.Same applies to

The OP has many issues, I have seen and heard first hand PT had problems during several years as well the Sabre line was blown up after issues and jettisoned from Palomino. Some if not all are materials used resulted in failures like Darco wrap on plywood.

I had a Rockwood i dumped after 14 months as the slide was junk from day 1, despite a rebuild 12 months out it started to jam again. I got out and bought the fiver and despite having no major issues delimitation started this past year in a couple spots.

[wicked1]

Originally Posted by bikendan

Go to other non-brand RV forums and you'll see lots of unhappy Jayco and Winnebago owners, along with other different brands of RVS.

And now that Jayco was bought by Thor Industries, now a bigger company than FR, who knows how downhill Jayco quality will go.

Grad Design was bought by Winnebago October of 2016, will be interesting with all this consolidation what happens. One company I never heard anything about good or bad is Airstream but then again I don't really follow that brand or know too many people who buy them new.

[Crabbyguy]

Thank you to all who responded like civilized adults with logical advice and ideas. Now pardon me while I go fix the "normal" wear and tear on my camper.

[gfarmcafe]

Originally Posted by kohai

ORV | Outdoors RV Manufacturing

Thanks for correcting this.

[HAARubicon]

Prime time is awesome when everything is perfect, but get the group of us who have major manufacturer created structural issues and it is whole different side of prime time that you koolaid drinkers have never seen. I guarantee if any of you had bought a car and couple of years later it was falling apart, weather in warranty or not, it would be on the national news, for some reason the RV industry gets a pass.

[Iwannacamp]

Someone quoted Northwood as an excellent manufacturer... and they may well be. I Googled it.. they have problems just like FR. Maybe not equal, but problems none the less.

[Iwannacamp]

Originally Posted by HAARubicon

Prime time is awesome when everything is perfect, but get the group of us who have major manufacturer created structural issues and it is whole different side of prime time that you koolaid drinkers have never seen. I guarantee if any of you had bought a car and couple of years later it was falling apart, weather in warranty or not, it would be on the national news, for some reason the RV industry gets a pass.

Well stated

[wicked1]

I don't know but I think they all have issues, that is why I prefer used and to learn how to do everything myself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhLZj-fD2UQ

[esmoglo]

Originally Posted by HAARubicon

Prime time is awesome when everything is perfect, but get the group of us who have major manufacturer created structural issues and it is whole different side of prime time that you koolaid drinkers have never seen. I guarantee if any of you had bought a car and couple of years later it was falling apart, weather in warranty or not, it would be on the national news, for some reason the RV industry gets a pass.

Could not agree more.

Perhaps all brands suffer from quality issues then?

One thing I have noticed if you drive any RV park in FL I see allot of Open Range products and lots very happy owners. I have personally spoken with 12 not a single one had anything bad to say.

[wicked1]

Originally Posted by esmoglo

Could not agree more.



Perhaps all brands suffer from quality issues then?



One thing I have noticed if you drive any RV park in FL I see allot of Open Range products and lots very happy owners. I have personally spoken with 12 not a single one had anything bad to say.

Yeah I guess the Boat and RV industry get away with a lot

[Crabbyguy]

Originally Posted by HAARubicon

Prime time is awesome when everything is perfect, but get the group of us who have major manufacturer created structural issues and it is whole different side of prime time that you koolaid drinkers have never seen. I guarantee if any of you had bought a car and couple of years later it was falling apart, weather in warranty or not, it would be on the national news, for some reason the RV industry gets a pass.

Thank you well said. My whole reason for this post was to caution those considering purchasing anything from PT. Most of you were cool about it and understood my frustration. When I spend that kind of money, I don't expect the product to fall apart after one year let alone 5 years. Still, a couple of Richard Craniums decided I was just whining for my own enjoyment, I should suck it up, move on and pretty much bend over and take a financial pounding. I wish I had that kind of money to throw away. I really enjoy the camper, WHEN I"M NOT BUSY FIXING SOMETHING WHILE I"M ON VACATION. Think about it, cars and trucks all offer at least 5 year manufacturer warranties. PT offers ONE year. That speaks volumes of the confidence they have in their product..... For that, I blame myself.

[esmoglo]

Originally Posted by Crabbyguy

Thank you well said. My whole reason for this post was to caution those considering purchasing anything from PT. Most of you were cool about it and understood my frustration. When I spend that kind of money, I don't expect the product to fall apart after one year let alone 5 years. Still, a couple of Richard Craniums decided I was just whining for my own enjoyment, I should suck it up, move on and pretty much bend over and take a financial pounding. I wish I had that kind of money to throw away. I really enjoy the camper, WHEN I"M NOT BUSY FIXING SOMETHING WHILE I"M ON VACATION. Think about it, cars and trucks all offer at least 5 year manufacturer warranties. PT offers ONE year. That speaks volumes of the confidence they have in their product..... For that, I blame myself.

I agree my next RV must have a 2-year minimum manufacturers warranty we as consumers must demand better with future purchases. I agree PT could care less regarding repeat customers, their service sucks and I have called two times. I get better service from Dell in India than PT here in the USA.

[SidecarFlip]

You could always step up and buy say a Prevost or Newell and have a forever warranty (and pay for it). As it is, all these mass produced cookie cutter RV's are varying stages of junk to begin with. How long they last is dependent of owner maintenance of seals and caulking but they all have a definite lifespan.

Yours is coming to the end of it's lifespan. Time to buy another...lol

[Iwannacamp]

Originally Posted by HAARubicon

This is an idiotic post and you obviously have not read the first five pages. Trying to compare a million dollar coach to a travel trailer is like comparing a Bentley to Chevrolet Cruz. However, I bet you would expect that Chevrolet Cruz to perform well and to meet basic standards of quality. These are still $30k plus units, I wouldn't say that's "cheap". And the issues that are being discussed "HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH MAINTENANACE". The issues these units are having are structural in nature where bonded panels are not properly adhered. Some of you want to push the responsibility of the these panels separating on to the owners, its like blaming the victim of a mugging crime at a convenience store because they wanted to get something to drink.

Or a woman for being attractive as a possible reason for rape.

Obviously RV manufacturers are TRYING to fix it... look how many types are out there. One would think they could use treated or composite materials in the RV to eliminate most of the rot problems...No I don't think laminated plastic and foam is the answer either.

[wicked1]

Originally Posted by Iwannacamp

Or a woman for being attractive as a possible reason for rape.



Obviously RV manufacturers are TRYING to fix it... look how many types are out there. One would think they could use treated or composite materials in the RV to eliminate most of the rot problems...No I don't think laminated plastic and foam is the answer either.

Frankly they won't fix anything until they start getting some lawsuits or some entity puts hard linesmen pressure on them, until then they will keep things as is. It is a shame bc there are people out there who spend money they don't have to afford camping then when you have to spend more to fix something the MFG clearly should have it puts a bad taste in their mouth, I will never buy another new unit ever.

[SidecarFlip]

Originally Posted by wicked1

Frankly they won't fix anything until they start getting some lawsuits or some entity puts hard linesmen pressure on them, until then they will keep things as is. It is a shame bc there are people out there who spend money they don't have to afford camping then when you have to spend more to fix something the MFG clearly should have it puts a bad taste in their mouth, I will never buy another new unit ever.

Good luck with that. Buying a used unit is assuming someone else's issues and then you have the issue of water intrusion and rot and delamination and appliances failing, all things that will come directly out of your pocket.

Camping is supposed to be fun. Glamping is expensive fun. I like toe former myself.

[wicked1]

I have had less issues with Used then new, and when I see the quality of new quite frankly it is alarming how much more you pay for new to have nearly all the same issues. I blame quality control and the MFG's for most issues anyway.

[SidecarFlip]

One thing that is certain, the RV industry is the ONLY industry I know of that isn't QS or ISO certified for quality assurance.

RVIA is a joke.... and the joke is on the end user.

[rockfordroo]

Originally Posted by wicked1

Frankly they won't fix anything until they start getting some lawsuits or some entity puts hard linesmen pressure on them, until then they will keep things as is. It is a shame bc there are people out there who spend money they don't have to afford camping then when you have to spend more to fix something the MFG clearly should have it puts a bad taste in their mouth, I will never buy another new unit ever.

I disagree. Lawsuits won't work.

The manufacturers won't fix anything until the Japanese figure out how to build and provide BETTER quality RVs in the US for a lower price. That's exactly what they did to Ford and GM (and Chrysler's still trying to catch up). Competition, where someone else can provide us with better quality for less $$, is the only thing that will force them to improve their quality.

Frankly, I don't see this happening in the RV industry any time soon. So I agree with a prior poster, even if it's a harsh statement: if you want to play the game, you're going to have to suck it up and live with it, whether you like it or not. - Sorry.

[wmtire]

OK, the site team has had to do a major cleanup in this thread. This is one of the biggest problems in allowing leeway for a vent thread like this one is, is that they usually seem to invite all kind of other vents, that can be of the personal, or bigotry kind.

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