Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 05-30-2020, 01:17 PM   #1
Junior Member
 
Join Date: May 2020
Posts: 3
Minor issues with Vengeance Rogue Armored 383V16

Hello everyone I just purchased a new 2020 Vengeance Rogue Armored 383V16. I have found a few issues I want to address before they become major ones.

I am an engineer so most of these issues are easily remedied but not what I was expecting from a $65k unit. Though I don’t work in the RV industry I have owned dozens of RV’s in the past and have fixed everything from rotted floors to structural issues on many units. No RV is perfect and I expect some issues here and there.

We really like the floorplan and the trailer seems well thought out for the most part. Hopefully my post helps others prevent these minor issues from becoming big ones. I am not trying to be a jerk or bash FR as I really like the camper. Maybe their QC reads this forum and can address these minor issues in future units.

You see so many bad reviews from morons who let minor issues turn into huge ones due to their lack of maintenance or use of camper. I think FR is light years better than some of the other manufacturers out there and is why I bought one myself.

Anyone else who is looking to buy one might want to check these simple things to prevent serious issues from happening in the future.

Upon using the shower for the first time we noticed the entire bathroom was flooded! A poor caulking job on the shower door was the culprit. Hopefully the same guy didn’t seal the outside of my unit!

When we are driving on the interstate the main door keeps flying open though its deadbolted. Come to find out there is no lower hinge on the door which allow it to flex enough to pop open when the pressure inside changes from wind. Not sure how their QC missed that one as it looks like it came from the door manufacturer like that.

I also noticed damage on the bottom of the main living room slide and see there is no rollers but rather a plastic piece behind the seal that the painted particle board slides on. These are the BAL accuslide cable operated slides, which I have never had before. Maybe there is a roller hidden behind the plastic but I am pretty sure the slide shouldn’t be in contact with the plastic to start with. It’s rubbing and wearing chunks out of the main side. I will be looking into this further and hopefully it’s just an adjustment issue.

They use junk particle board for the floors in the slides and the entire floor of the camper. I would have paid $2k more for real plywood... Stupid cost cutting decision FR.. Some places there is saw dust or peeling particle board under the vinyl floor and it’s not flat but bumpy and lifting in one spot in the bathroom. Almost seems like it was swollen from being wet but that is not the case.

The epoxy flooring in the garage is rubberlike and shows impressions. It now has tire tracks embedded in it from our RZR being tied down as well as where the furniture legs touch it.

The bathroom and bedroom doors won’t shut depending on the temperature. The bedroom doesn’t latch unless its cold because there is a gap in the door frame. The bathroom door hits the jam because the frame isn’t square. Supposedly these new ones are aluminum framed, what the dealer told me, so hopefully the out of squareness is just the interior wood framing and not an aluminum structural issue.

There are screws poking through the extremely cheap carpet in the bedroom that have backed out of the floor as well. The bed platform is for a queen as the king bed hangs off about 8” on both sides making it sag off the edges if you sleep near the edge. Again easily fixed with some plywood. Once out of warranty I will have nice vinyl installed as carpet has no place in a toyhauler IMO.

Some of the wires into the converter were screwed down on top of their insulation so they weren’t making contact. Easy fix and everything works now.

The 12cuft dometic dual mode fridge also doesn’t cool well but that’s due to it being in a slide with no roof vent. A circulation fan at the bottom of the coils pushing up will fix this likely if anyone else experiences this.

Anyone looking at these may want to go over these minor things with a fine tooth comb to make sure your dealer fixes and checks everything properly before you take delivery. All rather minor compared to some others.

Though the dealership owner is a good guy I don’t trust any service people to touch my camper so I will be fixing any minors issues out of pocket myself so I know it’s done right.

We had purchased a 371A13 that is supposed to fit a RZR S 4 seater but apparently Forest River didn’t measure the garage because as we went to load it up there is no way it would fit because the garage was too short and not wide enough at the rear bathroom. Luckily the dealer was a standup guy and allowed us to swap it for the 383V16 with the big garage for a couple more bucks.

I will try to keep this updated with anymore concerns and fixes so others can enjoy their Rogues for years to come!

Has anyone else had any issues with their new Vengeance Rogue Armoreds? Overall I am still happy with our purchase and I hope it stays that way!

I would love to post some pics for you all to see but my phone does nothing when clicking the Manage Attachments button. I will mess with it later and add pics.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	8CE783E9-5EEF-480E-B0F5-6A1BF15EABCB.jpg
Views:	143
Size:	431.1 KB
ID:	230242  
Attached Images
    
brandon7 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-30-2020, 09:36 PM   #2
Member
 
Mastertech's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 45
We had similar small issues with our camper as well. But I did the same thing and fixed them all myself. We still enjoy our camper alot.
__________________
1999 Ford F-350 CC LB Dually
2015 Forest River Vengeance 398V
2011 Polaris RZR4
Mastertech is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-12-2020, 09:58 AM   #3
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 5
I've had all the same problems with mine plus many more. Too many to mention. Mine is a 2018 420v12. The AC was screwed up and wiring looked like it was done by a 3 year old. Residential frig on the slide out broke the cheap floor and FR wouldn't fix it. They said it was not built for a res frig. So why did they put one in it. Several calls to the factory have resulted in being hung up on or saying not our fault. We are currently shopping for a new one and you can bet it won't be made by Forrest River.

jerry
Smoker 1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-12-2020, 11:27 AM   #4
Junior Member
 
Join Date: May 2020
Posts: 3
Here are some more issues pertaining to the quality of this junk pile. 8 missing bolts/nuts that hold the walls to the outriggers on both sides on the rear of the camper. The outriggers that did have bolts had to be tightened down as nearly all of them were lose and about to fall off the bolts. I am beginning to think this camper was slapped together as quick as possible because of the fake virus scam.. My kids noticed the steps on the rear door were sagging crooked so that’s what got me inspecting the underside for any lose bolts. I found missing nuts on the steps and the two that were left were lose. Might be time to lawyer up as these are safety issues that never should have passed QC! I wonder what bolts that are hidden are lose or missing!? My family’s life is more important than anything else to me so this is crap from a well known manufacturer whom we are supposed to trust! Time to make some videos documenting the issues so the world can see the poor craftsmanship of FR products.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	CDA07947-971E-47AB-88BB-1431787C33B5.jpeg
Views:	155
Size:	151.7 KB
ID:	231333   Click image for larger version

Name:	E17AB068-3233-4DAC-8AE5-FCB41586D54D.jpeg
Views:	103
Size:	136.6 KB
ID:	231334   Click image for larger version

Name:	F5B50275-C66E-4F55-BDC9-CBA94B1EEF45.jpeg
Views:	114
Size:	157.5 KB
ID:	231335   Click image for larger version

Name:	C6B25C09-550F-4E56-BD76-00C46B0E89A2.jpeg
Views:	134
Size:	129.0 KB
ID:	231336   Click image for larger version

Name:	2634621F-2442-4962-BD3C-2A76F830AF26.jpeg
Views:	108
Size:	113.1 KB
ID:	231337  

brandon7 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-09-2020, 11:02 AM   #5
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2020
Posts: 3
Brandon, what was your final outcome with all the issues you had with your 383v16? I'm looking at purchasing the 2021 383V16 right now.
Linton78 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-11-2020, 07:14 PM   #6
Junior Member
 
Join Date: May 2020
Posts: 3
Quote:
Originally Posted by Linton78 View Post
Brandon, what was your final outcome with all the issues you had with your 383v16? I'm looking at purchasing the 2021 383V16 right now.
I ended up fixing it all myself. I found gaps in the proflex type sealant all over the unit so I just went through the whole thing and filled in the gaps. I tightened all the loose wall to frame mounts and triple checked all the plumbing connections. I found a pex fitting under the master bathroom sink that wasn’t crimped properly so I fixed that and now have no more leaks. My rear AC that never worked was just the yellow wire wasn’t connected on the thermostat so I went through all the wiring just to make sure. I replaced the missing door hinge myself and re-aligned the stairs because the were mounted crooked I haven’t found anything else wrong with it. The local dealer here was a real jerk and refused to work on it because I didn’t buy it there so keep that in mind if you think you will get nationwide service without any hassles. After talking with a bunch of Heartland owners and Grand Designs owners I came the conclusion that the Vengeance’s are far superior in built quality as those other guys had major issues with tanks, frames, and roofs. They should all probably be gone through with a fine tooth comb regardless of brand. For the price I was expecting and used to aircraft quality but I guess these don’t fly so you find that anywhere on any new unit. I would say go for it or just buy mine with all the issues already fixed. We thought we would love camping every other weekend but it got old for us after a few times out. Mine sits in a heated 16’x52’ garage and is still like new if anyone wants it.
brandon7 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-12-2020, 09:30 AM   #7
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2020
Posts: 3
Quote:
Originally Posted by brandon7 View Post
I ended up fixing it all myself. I found gaps in the proflex type sealant all over the unit so I just went through the whole thing and filled in the gaps. I tightened all the loose wall to frame mounts and triple checked all the plumbing connections. I found a pex fitting under the master bathroom sink that wasn’t crimped properly so I fixed that and now have no more leaks. My rear AC that never worked was just the yellow wire wasn’t connected on the thermostat so I went through all the wiring just to make sure. I replaced the missing door hinge myself and re-aligned the stairs because the were mounted crooked I haven’t found anything else wrong with it. The local dealer here was a real jerk and refused to work on it because I didn’t buy it there so keep that in mind if you think you will get nationwide service without any hassles. After talking with a bunch of Heartland owners and Grand Designs owners I came the conclusion that the Vengeance’s are far superior in built quality as those other guys had major issues with tanks, frames, and roofs. They should all probably be gone through with a fine tooth comb regardless of brand. For the price I was expecting and used to aircraft quality but I guess these don’t fly so you find that anywhere on any new unit. I would say go for it or just buy mine with all the issues already fixed. We thought we would love camping every other weekend but it got old for us after a few times out. Mine sits in a heated 16’x52’ garage and is still like new if anyone wants it.
Thanks for the feedback Brandon. That was my next question about getting service if it was bought from another state. Found the best price in Ohio but I'm in Texas.
Linton78 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-21-2020, 09:05 PM   #8
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2020
Posts: 3
How much would you be selling yours for Brandon?
Linton78 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-24-2020, 12:37 AM   #9
Junior Member
 
VOLnation's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2020
Location: Franklin, TN
Posts: 15
Noticed no one has responded in a while. Has anyone else had issues with their Rogue Armored’s? We just purchased a 2021 383G2 because we needed the garage space for our RZR Highlifter. Had the dealer fix a few things I found and so far no issues. Will update as we get done with week one in it. Anyone else having any issues of note?

Thanks,
Will
VOLnation is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2021, 07:12 PM   #10
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2020
Location: Alabama
Posts: 9
2021 Model 371A13

The 2021 is just as bad. We bought it in Aug everything was picked over and it seemed to be well built but we had the same shower issue plus the tanks were wired wrong and the vapor lock door has a gap , the garage bathroom door will not open (hits the washer) unless unlatched at the ceiling on and the pantry door hinges came apart as well as bathroom hinges plus the doors are wearing on edge just like the stove knobs (all letters wore off &#128563 the paint on front grab bar is peeling and I'm sure I'm forgetting something....
Jdoke is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2021, 08:31 AM   #11
Junior Member
 
VOLnation's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2020
Location: Franklin, TN
Posts: 15
Wow! I will say we have not had anything like that so for happen with ours. We just came back from Royal Blue/TWRA area over New Years and though a few items were found, they were nothing so extreme that it caused us massive heartache and ruined our trip.

The shower leaked, we did not experience this in our first trip but noticed in this one that they did a poor caulk job around the base edges. An easy fix. Also the feedback received on swapping out the stock shower sprayer with the Oxygenics was a great recommendation.

The more frustrating issue was that I purchased a Dish Tailgater Pro and hooking it up it didn’t work as no power was ever provided through the coax from the trailer to the satellite dish. After an hour on the phone with my dealer talking through a few things and such doing some basic troubleshooting it turned out the coax cables were switched on the main input panel connected to the outdoor connections. Switched them and everything miraculously started working. Took a while to get to the back of the panel by going through the access panel in the kitchen but it wasn’t a show stopper and we were able to watch our bowl games like we wanted.

I will say it makes me wonder what other gremlins will show themselves as we start using 383G2 more and more.
__________________
VOLnation
2020 Ford F-450
2021 Vengeance Rogue Armored 383G2
2018 Polaris RZR XP 1000 4 Highlifter
VOLnation is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Forest River, Inc. or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:13 AM.