Couches and Theater Chair delamination

[fendermicar]

I have a 2018 Cardinal Limited purchased in December of 2018. we have only used it approximately 9 months. The leather looking material on all the couches and the theater chair are all delaminating. has anyone else had this problem. it looks horrible and we are going to have to put covers over everything. is this normal?

[fendermicar]

See photos

[Wumba]

Only way to fix it is to replace it with real leather or fabric chairs/couches. Most will fit thru the door as the backs are detachable.

[fendermicar]

Thanks I figured that was what I would have to do. Damn thing is so new I can't believe they would be **** like this in a camper like this. I had a cheaper Salem Hemisphere and that one the furniture has fine it was the rest of the camper that was bad. No more Forest Rivers for me.

[Wumba]

Unfortunately it's not just a Forest River issue. All manufacturers use bonded leather. I've had 4 Forest Rivers and never had an issue with the furniture. The peeling can be related to numerous things... Environment, cleaning, pH makeup of people's skin, or a combination. If and when ours go, we'll replace it with real leather.

[swolfer]

We have a 2014 Georgetown and all the furniture was beautiful when we bought it, but in less than a year the driver's chair, and then the couch started peeling.

We didn't get much help from Forest River. We put on seat covers from Walmart, but they were too cheap and didn't look or feel good. Then we got some from Amazon and they are great. A tight fit and comfortable and don't look bad.

But eventually, we want to replace the furniture with real leather or quality cloth.

[Sunflower0527]

This happened in our last 2 campers, it is awful! The heat in Florida just kills it. In the past year we have been keeping the camper AC on 80 just to take out the humidity. We are lucky that we can park it beside the house. This new RV has a different type of material and hopefully that'll cure the problem.

[5picker]

Originally Posted by fendermicar

I have a 2018 Cardinal Limited purchased in December of 2018. we have only used it approximately 9 months. The leather looking material on all the couches and the theater chair are all delaminating. has anyone else had this problem. it looks horrible and we are going to have to put covers over everything. is this normal?

Originally Posted by fendermicar

Thanks I figured that was what I would have to do. Damn thing is so new I can't believe they would be **** like this in a camper like this. I had a cheaper Salem Hemisphere and that one the furniture has fine it was the rest of the camper that was bad. No more Forest Rivers for me.

I won't say it is normal... it shouldn't be peeling in such short time... but... obviously you've not spent any amount of time on this forum or other R/V forums or you would have seen MANY posts stating their furniture peeled too. It isn't just a Forest River issue.

My sister in law had some home furniture that did the same. It was replaced under warranty and peeled again in a few months. Faux leather is just that... imitation.

Did you contact the factory and see if they will help you out?

[alicemerrill]

We had our reclines do the same thing after 5 years only 2 months a year did we use our Cedar Creek. Was not as bad as yours. However we bought the Thomas’ recliner. Used them for 1 month. Unfortunately my husband passed away less than a month ago and now when I sell our beautiful fifth wheel will have new recliners with heat and message for the new owners to enjoy. Our gift to them. ����

[FlaNative]

Our '17 Cardinal is doing the same thing, but not as severe as yours. I have no idea as to who the manufacturer is but I would bet that they're made in China. They made it such that it would last just as long as the warranty does. Just another example of making the rv's as cheap as possible, only to cause the owners to fork out money to fix what should have been made better. We'll change ours out in the near future.

[campers302]

Shame that this is acceptable for the RV industry.

Seems the rv industry thinks a lower price is the only thing that will sell an rv.
How about some quality and some quality control.

[redjet]

have 2016 cardinal that had the same problem. Never sat on sofa and it still peeled. Anyway, FR replaced it (sleeper sofa and theater seat) at the Goshen Rally a couple of years ago. So far so good with replacements. Unfortunately, FR no longer offers the extra year on the warranty.

[free83118]

We have a 2014 Crusader 295RST that had the same problem. We purchased it used in 2017. The furniture was fine at that time and for another year. Opening the trailer in the spring of 2019 we found the theater seating material was peeling. As we are in Michigan, the cold weather must have had an effect as there was no signs of peeling in the fall of 2018 when we stopped camping for the season. Buy the end of camping for the season in 2019, the couch material was doing the same thing. We had looked at obtaining new furniture vs having the furniture recovered with marine vinyl of a comparable color. It was just as expensive to have them recovered but after seeing that people are still having problems with furniture in 2019 we went the route of recovering. The structure of the furniture was in good shape and I didn't want to purchase new and find a problem with the material within a year or two. I have full confidence that the marine vinyl will last for many years. It's too bad that it seems that some manufactures continue to use material on furniture that has had problems for years now.

[Cruiser]

my 16 cardinal did this also, I never buy any extended warranty but I did this time and glad I did. I took 6 months to get the new furniture as I was told FR changed supplier. so far so good after a year. If we didn't have the warrantyI would have bought from a local furniture store.

[camaraderie]

It's not really the rv indusr...it's the Chinese bonded fabric. I would First get under the furniture and find out who made it which should be on the tags.A lot of FR furniture was made by williamstown furniture near FR in Indiana

Next ..call the FR warranty desk for Cardinal and explain that you KNOW you are outof warranty but based on the clear major fabric issues with many customers...youd like them to help you out as they have with many others. Then see what happens.

[Williamt43]

I have experienced the same problem as well. I also live in a high humidity area (Mobile, AL); but I'm no longer a fan of the Forest River brand.

[Blazer]

the problem is plane and simple the material that flex steel used came from China not really Forest Rivers fault but they should have held flex steels hands to the fire had 013 39 bunk was under cover never in direct sun lite 30K miles on it the driver seat and passenger seat just deteriorated do not waste your money on seat covers they don"t work very uncomfortable is a understatement

[Sunflower0527]

Originally Posted by Blazer

the problem is plane and simple the material that flex steel used came from China not really Forest Rivers fault but they should have held flex steels hands to the fire had 013 39 bunk was under cover never in direct sun lite 30K miles on it the driver seat and passenger seat just deteriorated do not waste your money on seat covers they don"t work very uncomfortable is a understatement

Our sales guy had told us that the problem was everywhere and it was due to the materials coming from China. My current couch has a different feel, almost like a plastic feel but more comfortable. Hard to describe, but it's definitely not the same material as the last few RVs we owned and it peeled.

[BMullins46]

You people shouldn't be blaming FR for furniture problems, they buy the furniture not build it. We bought a power recliner from a furniture store to put in our 2006 Cardinal, same thing happened to it, started peeling.

As Camaraderie said the Cardinal division and talk to the warranty people, be nice, remember you catch more flies with sugar than with vinegar. My experience with those folks is they really want to help, within reason.
Good luck.

[Bob2019]

I am not a fan of cheap stuff from China or other such countries. But let's put the blame where it really belongs. Overpaid, greedy CEOs contract with China to supply sub-grade materials that many quality USA companies would not produce or get away with. Too easy for blame China and walk away from responsibility to stand behind your products. This behavior disgusts me. Cheap junk is not good - energy wasted to produce it, ship it, install it then you the customer has to buy the proper material for replacement, including labor and probably taxes again. Where do we come out on junk contracted products produced elsewhere with no standards?