My Family’s $62,800 Camper Is Junk: Broken Safety Equipment, Frame Rust, Even The Fridge Handle Fell Off

Bad Camper Ts
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Last June I wrote about how my parents decided to buy a new 2022 Heartland Mallard M33 travel trailer. The 37-foot-long, 7,746-pound beast is like a luxury hotel on wheels, but it came from the factory so broken that we couldn’t safely sleep in it. Over a year later, my family has finally taken our first camping trip in it. Guess what? This trailer is still broken! It’s so broken, it reminds me of the late ’70s cars tested by the charming Bob Mayer. Do you want to laugh today? Let’s check this thing out.

Let’s talk about the state of RV quality at large before I show you the pathetic state of my parents’ expensive, almost-new travel trailer. In recent times there have been a number of reports about a slump in the quality of RVs being churned out of Indiana factories. I wrote one of those reports! Then I got to see the quality in person. When I attended the Indiana RV Open House dealer show, I spoke with several dealership representatives, and many of them were there to figure out not just which campers to sell, but which ones they shouldn’t sell due to poor build quality. At the show I saw hastily-applied spraypaint covering up frame rust, an awning installed with such little care that the wall it was hung from was compromised, and even interior material choices so poor that the mere act of opening a cabinet door causes damage. These were all RVs that, according to their manufacturing stickers, were put together only a month or two before the show.

Building Them As Fast As Possible

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One of the Camping World affiliates I spoke to claimed the problem has to do with how a significant portion of the RV industry operates. Workers in many RV factories are paid by the piece, so they have an incentive to complete their work as fast as possible. RV demand hit record numbers back in 2021 and was still hot in 2022, so these factories were churning out campers as quickly as they could. The Camping World dealer representative then said dealers are then responsible for fixing the many quality problems that arise from speedrunning camper builds. These practices have been called out by independent trailer manufacturers like inTech, which uses a profit-sharing model.

If you’ve owned an RV before, you already know that they aren’t the most durable things out there, so the fact that they’ve possibly gotten worse is almost impressive. Dave Solberg, an RV repair expert over at RV Travel, echoes what you just read above:

Most RV manufacturers build the cheapest rig as fast as possible

Keep in mind that most RV manufacturers strive to build the cheapest rig as fast as possible. Fit and finish is hidden with expandable foam, silicone, and a product called gimp, which is a vinyl strip used between cabinets and walls to hide uneven cuts and gaps. They use cheap fabrics, single-layer foam in cushions, and even low-level furniture that they give a fancy name like it’s designer quality when actually it’s a lower level than what you would find at a big box store!

Take a closer look. You’ll find particle board with a vinyl wrap, paneling used to look like solid wood, holes that look like they were cut out with a hatchet inside those cabinets rather than a nice cutout with decorative trim to finish it off. Nope, that all takes time, which costs money. Since the unit sitting across the aisle doesn’t have it, it’s a waste of money.

Solberg’s conclusion is that buyers are letting the manufacturers get away with bad quality by scooping up poorly-built rigs, essentially enabling the manufacturers to not care.

What Living With One Of These Campers Is Like

Mallard M33 Kitchen Scaled
Heartland RV

So, what do you get if you happen to buy one of the campers that was likely built at a lightning pace? Back in March 2022, my parents purchased a 2022 Heartland Mallard M33. Last year, I wrote about how the camper was delivered to my parents with faulty safety equipment. One of the safety chains broke when my father first tried hooking up the unit to their tow vehicle. These are chains that are supposed to keep the trailer from killing someone in an emergency. If for whatever reason your trailer comes off of the ball, the chains are a redundancy. In a freak accident, those chains can mean the difference between life and death. But, according to my father, the hook came off of one of the chains while just getting hooked up. How does that even happen?

That wasn’t the only piece of safety equipment that failed. This trailer also has a breakaway cable on its tongue. When this cable is pulled out, the trailer activates its brakes. The idea here is that in the event of an emergency like a trailer detachment, there isn’t a 7,746-pound missile going down the road. Well, that cable fell apart in my hand. In a real emergency, it would have done exactly nothing.

So, with critical safety equipment broken, my parents sent the trailer back to the dealership for fixes. Thanks to parts shortages at the time, it took a couple of months to get the camper back. And that’s when we discovered all of the other things that were wrong with the camper, and my, the list is long.

I’m sure you don’t have all day, so I’ll just list them out. In addition to the safety problems, we found three light switches that weren’t even screwed in, random staples everywhere on the ceiling, a window valence that fell off a wall, and a bathtub that wasn’t even close to being installed correctly. In fact, the bathtub wasn’t even screwed in or secured, but just sitting in place. Because of this, there was a huge water leak when we tested the shower and tub. Amazingly, that wasn’t even the only place water was gushing out into the wrong places. The water heater also sprayed water all over everything inside and outside of the trailer.

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Mind you, these were all problems in a trailer that at the time, was just four months old, never camped in, and still had factory plastic and stickers over everything. And we’re not done yet! The trailer’s body was also already falling apart. The perimeter of the Mallard has side skirt-like parts that our dealership calls J-channels. These thin pieces of metal are there for aerodynamics and style. The J-channels on our trailer appear to have been secured with self-tapping screws and one of them was halfway through a self-deletion process.

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The body also had signs of a rushed, cheap build, like the sloppily-applied sealant around the windows. Also notable is the front end’s LED light strips, which looked like they came from Amazon and were already falling off.

Oh, and did I mention that this trailer, which was then just a few months old, already had rust on its frame?

Our dealer believed that there isn’t anything in the form of rust prevention there. Further, the dealer tech said that the trailer was actually delivered to the dealership from the factory with surface rust. The recommended solution is to spray paint it and ignore it.

Fixed, But Still Broken

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It took a full year to fix all of this. Sometimes, the first fix didn’t work. For example, the bathtub was mounted by the dealership, but it was mounted in a horribly crooked position. It took two more visits before the bathtub was finally put in correctly. Other times, the dealer had to wait months for a part to come in. Our dealership said that they were swamped with work, so even when the part came in, there was additional waiting time because there are only so many technicians to work on so many broken campers.

Further complicating things was stuff going missing from the camper. Apparently, a new Mallard arrived from the factory without seat cushions. Our dealership took the still new cushions out of our camper and put them into the other Mallard. They then forgot to replace the cushions in our camper. So, we had to wait for those to come in. Eventually, we spent so much time waiting for things that the camping season was over.

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The camper stayed at the dealership for the winter. Apparently, during the winter, someone cut through the dealership’s fence and then stole just about everything that wasn’t bolted down. The alleged thief entered our camper and stole everything from plates and silverware to towels.

Finally, after a year of trying to fix a camper that was broken from the factory, my family was able to take our first camping trip in the Mallard last weekend.

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To prepare for the occasion, my parents bought a 2016 Ford F-350 to tow the trailer. Their Chevrolet Suburban did tow the trailer, but we were riding the SUV’s limits, which wasn’t good. The F-350 tows the trailer almost as if it’s not even back there. What an amazing difference having the right equipment makes. As a bonus, the truck–a former municipal vehicle–came with snazzy graphics that sort of match the trailer.

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Anyway, things were fun until they became comical, and they became comical because somehow, after a year of repairs, the trailer is still broken!

We first discovered things weren’t quite right when we tried to turn on the kitchen’s LED lights, which now don’t work. That switch knows what it did wrong…

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Then, we tried to open the refrigerator to put food in it. The door jammed on the second closure, and when we tried to clear the jam, the door responded by snapping off its handle. I couldn’t help but laugh so hard that I started crying. This is the kind of stuff from a comedy movie, but a dumb one like an Adam Sandler flick.

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And we’re not done yet. We found that the water heater wasn’t working. While I was troubleshooting it, I opened up the outdoor kitchen, which revealed that the refrigerator had pulled itself from the wall, taking its holder with it. Meanwhile, the ceiling of the outdoor kitchen is separating, causing a snow of particle board dust.

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Inside, we found that the window shades don’t like to stay open on their own and perhaps thanks to Chicago potholes, interior wall trim is falling off. Also comical is the fact that every single fixture mounted to the walls is crooked.

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I did figure out what was wrong with the water heater. The valves were turned off and its breaker was switched off for the winter. This trailer was supposedly de-winterized, but I’m not sure about that. The water heater is conveniently located behind the battery disconnect. I turned on the valves, which gave us hot water…and a water leak. But hey, at least the water heater leaks only outside now.

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Speaking of water leaks, the kitchen sink’s plumbing has a bad leak, and the rear door, found in the bathroom, is so poorly sealed that rainwater gets in. You can see the ground through the lack of seals!

It’s Not All Bad

So, our first outing with the Mallard was sort of a crapshow. We spent more time laughing (or crying, if you’re my parents who actually spent a ton of money on this) at all of the hilarious faults than enjoying ourselves. There’s no reason things should be this bad. It’s almost as if this camper was built with the least amount of care one could get away with. Thankfully, this trailer has a warranty, so it will keep on returning to the dealership until it works as it should. Sadly, the one thing that will never get fixed by the dealership is the rust, which has advanced in the past year. Check this out:

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This trailer has never seen salt or been towed in winter!

I’m not sure if the trailer’s quality will ever be good, but I’m rooting for it because aside from the issues, the Mallard really is a fun rig. In our brief moments of having fun, I really enjoyed the outdoor stereo system and the beds are actually quite comfortable. I also love the power awning, the power stabilizer jacks, and the fact that I actually fit in the shower without feeling like I’m fighting the shower curtain. From a towing perspective, the Mallard tracks well and when it’s windy outside, the trailer doesn’t feel like it’s trying to yank the tow vehicle off of the road.

Also, the fact that the steps actually touch the ground with today’s campers is brilliant. No more feeling like you’re going to rip the steps out.

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I reached out to Thor Industries – the parent company of Heartland RV – for comment on quality struggles in the industry. As of writing, I haven’t heard back. I didn’t hear back when I asked a similar question last year.

Don’t Be Distracted By Pretty Features

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Dad is stumped by the water heater.

So, what should you take from all of this? For one, don’t buy a camper sight unseen. Go and take a look at the one you want in person before you exchange any money. While you are there, try not to let the camper’s awesome features and design blur your vision. Try to focus on how it’s built. Is it just a month old and already covered in rust? Don’t assume the camper is built like your house or your car. Look it over inch by inch. You might be surprised at what you find.

If you find out that the camper wasn’t built well, don’t fret! The great thing about the RV industry right now is that there are perhaps countless brands out there and a lot of them do care about quality. If one brand doesn’t jive well with you, try another!

As for our camper, it goes out for another outing this weekend. Hopefully, this time we’ll have more fun and spend less time inspecting things.

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168 thoughts on “My Family’s $62,800 Camper Is Junk: Broken Safety Equipment, Frame Rust, Even The Fridge Handle Fell Off

  1. Good trailers are expensive. And even then they’re not objectively that great. Doors still fall off, leaks happen and they still feel flimsy. That said they’re noticeably better than the big box trailers with the focus on flashy features. Most people don’t buy them since they’re not as large or as loaded with bling. The relative quality is in the materials and construction. They’re also expensive since most of the market is buying campers by the pound and fewer buyers means more expensive.

  2. This article was funny to read but also made me sad. Glad you and your folks were able to finally get some well-deserved enjoyment out the cursed thing.

  3. I am an attorney in Michigan. I have a subspecialty in Motor Home Cases.

    In Michigan, there is no Lemon Law for RVs or Trailers.

    You do have things like the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act, the Uniform Commercial Code, and a breach of warranty claim.

    Where things get dicey is that the dealers disclaim all warranties. They say “We don’t make any promises, the only warranty you get is from the manufacturer.”

    So when you want to revoke your acceptance (get your money back), and the warranty fails of its essential purpose, the dealer is out of the picture, because they sold as is and disclaimed any warranties.

    So you want your $100k back from the manufacturer?

    The manufacturer will tell you that “we sold the vehicle for 50K to the dealer, why should we be on the hook for 100k?”

    The manufacturer will tell you that “We have a warranty, but it only applies to the things we did. We don’t make the fridge, we don’t make the oven, so even if you are having all these problems, they aren’t our fault or responsibility.

    I took a deposition of a guy who worked at a motor home company. He said (paraphrasing here) “These are homes on wheels. There is always a punch list for every home, we are no different. There will always be problems, and that’s why we give warranties.” To me, that says “They can’t make them right the first time, and don’t expect to make them right the first time.”

    1. That explains a lot about my house. Good thing I bought it cheap. I’ve learned a lot about fast-‘n’-loose, cut corners, and half-assed jobs during the renovation my wife and I recently embarked upon.

    2. A modern car can pretty easily last for 200,000 miles – pretty amazing. boats I dunno – I got an inflatable from Amazon a couple of years ago, but haven’t inflated it. Fingers crossed.

  4. Oof. This article tells me everything I need to know.

    It’s been interesting to watch this industry shoot itself in the foot after basically being handed a market with an insatiable thirst for campers during the pandemic. The people I know that have purchased campers deal with boat-owner levels of regret. I’m sensing a lot of these people aren’t going to be fooled twice, not that they can afford to be.

    1. RV owners might be claiming the buyer’s regret mantle, as I feel like boats have become a lot more reliable over time. I am an experienced moocher off of other peoples’ boats. I grew up around lakes, and most of my family members own a boat going back several generations. I have noticed how much less time they spend out of service now versus 10 years ago.

      1. At least boats provide an experience that genuinely can’t be had any other way. Camping can be done in a tent, or a cabin, or out of any number of structures. When you get to 62k, for me at least that’s a lifetime of hotels. Campers like this seem to have more in common with timeshares than those other lodging options.

      2. The recession really helped kill off some inferior boat brands and other brands were absorbed and got better because of it. There are still subpar boats (looking at you Hurricane) but for the most part, they have gotten decently reliable with basic maintenance. Also, fuel injection and getting away from wood in the building process have helped immensely.

        1. The recession seemed to have the opposite effect on the RV industry. It killed off so many mom and pops that were cranking out quality stuff, and the ones that made it through have been dropping like flies – Born Free folded in 2016 and Lazy Daze in 2022… The rest that still remain have all been bought out by Thor or Forest River. Its a damn shame. Its why I bought a $50k used Class C and put $30k into it rather than just buying a newish rig. I wanted something good.

      3. I’m surprised it’s that recent. The big change I think is the move from wood to fiberglass (and composite/polymer cores instead of balsa), plus EFI motors rather than carbs.

    2. “It’s been interesting to watch this industry shoot itself in the foot after basically being handed a market with an insatiable thirst for campers during the pandemic” That’s the problem! They wanted to make the most of these sales, and they can sell a lot of badly built campers for more than a few well built examples. Is this a short term win? We will see. But for now, I think they have very good profits.

  5. The “problem” is almost always the same root cause: These factories UNDERPAY THE SHIT OUT OF THEIR WORKFORCE. The boomers in charge of these boomer industries fly their MAGA flags and laugh at people wanting $15/hour, and they constantly bitch and complain they “cant find good workers” and “nobody wants to work anymore”

    Bitch, friggin Menards STARTS cashiers at $22/hour, in a climate controlled facility that isn’t hard on your body. You really think anyone with more than 2 brain cells to rub together wants to work for $12/hour in an unheated convection oven bending over and lifting stuff all the time?

    Eventually, they cave, and raise their wages to something like $18/hour, and be like “Gosh darn it, see Gertrude, this is even above that $15/hour that was on fox news and we STILL can’t find good employees!”

    Can’t stand boomers. RV industry is filled with them. Maybe if they retired and got the F out of hte way, a younger person could take the reigns, come up with innovative ideas to differentiate their products from the 5000 other RV companies, pay their employees well, do profit sharing, start some sort of quality control, etc etc etc. Million ways to fix this, and it starts with paying employees more. Garbage wage = garbage employees that do not give a single F about the quality of their output.

    1. The former CEO of Heartland RVs who stepped down last year, Chris Hermon, is no Boomer. Neither is the current CEO of Heartland’s parent company, Thor, Bob Martin. Boomers aren’t the cause of all our problems and blaming them for everything is getting to be as old as they are.

      1. A quick google search of “RV Company CEO” suggests otherwise, man. You might be able to find a few exceptions, but most companies in this country are still run by boomers.

        1. The oldest boomer is 77, the youngest is 59. That’s quite a wide age range that will contain of myriad of different individuals who do not think alike. To think that boomers or any other generation have a lock on a certain behavior is a sweeping generalization or stereotype that just doesn’t work. Do some boomers suck? Sure, but just as many can be wise individuals who give good counsel due to their knowledge gained during a long and varied life.
          Think of old school restaurants vs. new trendy restaurants. Both can be great, but it would be a mistake to make a generalization on the quality of a restaurant merely judging it by its number of years in business.

        2. Thor, with its subsidiaries, has an estimated 40% of the market (per seeking alpha). So that means 40% of your argument about boomers fails immediately. If Thor changed its quality at the factories, 40% of the entire market would change. And Thor is NOT in the hands of a boomer. Even if you are right about the rest of the market, being massively ageist when you are provably 40% wrong is a bit….well, extreme shall we say.

          1. Thor has a rep for buying one time good companies and ruining them w/in a couple of years. I just bought a used Heartland/North Trails and can attest to cheap paneling and OSB framing/supports. My 2007 trailer by a company no longer in business used pine framing and 1/2” plywood for the benches and bed platforms. The “new” one is all OSB. Yuck.

            The holes for the switches look like they were attacked w/ a hatchet. The tv is hung on 3/32” luan printed paneling w/ 4 #6 screws. Who the hell puts a 120volt TV in a camper that’s expected to be used for dry camping & no hook-ups? Not a single 12 volt power port or USB outlet. The switch for the bedroom light is on the other side of the wall w/ crappy sliding door. The emergency escape window in the bedroom shows daylight around the frame when it’s shut. Just praying ???????? the roof doesn’t leak.

        3. It actually doesn’t suggest otherwise in any way, shape, or form. First of all Thor is one of, if not the, largest manufacturers of RV’s. Plus, their RV is the subject of this article. Your other statement is also spurious nonsense. Boomers are retiring and dying.

    2. Quality service from ANY organization starts at the top. Whether it’s a hospital, ice cream shop, or restaurant, the experience or product you receive is set by the people who run the business. If the leaders of a company enforce a work ethic where quality is paramount, it carries through to the product. It’s got nothing to do with politics, TV channels, or especially the boomers, who are mostly retired or on their way out at this point. This article and many other similar articles tells me that the people who run RV companies do not care about quality. Caveat emptor!

        1. Your comment has been up for 22 hours, theirs had been up for 2 when you made this post.
          I think you can see why the up votes might be a be skewed in your favor.

  6. Man, you’d think that someone could really clean up making a quality, basic non-luxury RV that’s durable, high-quality and could sleep 5-6 people. Then again, maybe not. A lot of the buyer pool is first-time buyers making an impulse purchase and really only care about the size and flashy features. It’s questionable whether you could compete with the business model that all the others are following. ‘Murica, that’s how we do things here.

    Honestly, it’s downright criminal that these things aren’t subject to stronger consumer protection laws the way that automobiles are, especially considering that the cheapest pull behind campers now start north of $30K. Good luck convincing anyone in power to care, though.

    1. The problem is the expense is in the quality construction not the surface level luxuries and gimmicks… Some of those products exist, but they’re still rather expensive and compare poorly on ‘features’, or simply really small. You could build a less-luxurious Airstream but it would probably only be a few grand cheaper.

      One of the biggest issues is definitely the exploitative marketing- If these people knew what to do with their money they probably wouldn’t be purchasing RVs in the first place. All the expense and maintenance of a cabin without owning any land…

      1. Winnebago is kind of the traditional poster child for value/quality versus features. Most Winnebago/Itasca (and family) products have a distinctly similar set of base features, with a limited range of options, and an overall very fleet-standard “look and feel”. And from one model year to the next — often across decades — there aren’t a lot of changes other than paint and fabric textures. And they cost more than a lot of fancier RVs, which perplexes buyers and primes unscrupulous dealers for coaxing buyers into the fanciest-looking thing on the lot that costs less. At purchase, at least… Buyer beware.

    2. like alreadyupsidedown said, these are really built to a price point. There are quality manufactures out there, but one like airstream will charge twice to three times as much for a trailer this size. They don’t even have one this long but their classic is available in 33′ lengths for 188k. Size sells quality doesn’t unfortunately.

    3. While this should be criminal, these are luxury purchases, so I think the people in power should have more important priorities.

      I think you nailed the problem with most consumer items, though RVs seem to be among the worst (best) examples where people prefer to pay for flash/size at the lowest price than the same amount for less fancy, but better quality (and they definitely won’t pay more, though they will pay more for garbage with even more flash/size, especially if it’s got an uppity name). The few of us who would go against the grain aren’t enough to sustain the quality manufacturers at high volume, so they’re forced out of the business or into the much higher end to make up for the (now even) lower volume. I’ve found this to varying degrees with furniture, tools, bicycles, even houses, though brand doesn’t factor into it unless counting appliances, which deserve their own spot on the list.

    4. There are some, but they’ve generally stayed low-volume because not many people will pay the price premium. Winnebago/Grand Design is a small notch up in quality for a small premium, then Airstream a questionable step up for a big premium. Escape might be the cheapest actual decent quality, but the price is high. Oliver might be the highest quality, but boy does the price reflect it.

    5. There’s a reason Airstream are still in business, selling $16,000 trailers. They are quality. Sadly, I can’t afford quality, so have a North Trail. For the few times I go camping/year, I just keep repairing and hope for the best.

  7. So sorry to hear about this for your parents.

    We picked up a camper in 2019 before SHTF. Even then I had to check everything and the dealer (Camping World) felt no urge to fix things. We didn’t have nearly the same issues you mentioned here but some of it was avoided by doing a thorough inspection before our first outing. Found a few missing pieces, poor assembly, dead battery of course. But the biggest issue was every drain/pipe wasn’t even hand tight. Because of this I installed water alarms all over since water is an RV killer. On first trip found out that they missed half the seal on the kitchen sink when the water alarm went off on the first day. Also needed a new window which took months because of COVID by that point.

    Anyhow, hope it all improves. It’s a huge pain to lose all the time while it sits at the dealer.

      1. Got them on Amazon. Bunch of options but they’re all pretty much just two exposed leads that will sound an alarm when water creates continuity.

      1. After watching the Money Pit I wanted to be a super cool construction worker too! Then I graduated and reality hit me square in the face.

  8. Man, I feel terrible for your folks. Is there a Lemon Law for RVs? Probably not, or they’d probably all get sent back, right?
    Hey, on the bright side, at least the truck looks like it’s big enough to sleep two comfortably!

  9. So sorry for your parents. This seems like a “no win” situation for sure. There are answers to be had but as you said, better stuff is expensive.
    When a manufacturer starts out with bullshit for a building process, (construction methods such as wooden studs, and crap employees) the result is a product like your parents are stuck with.
    My sister just bought a used Airstream. 35 ft. It’s her 8th RV. I believe the basic shell has all aluminum framing and stud work. She says the extra cost of purchase will be outweighed by time and money saved on bullshit repairs and crap construction.
    So after thinking this over for many years we came to the decision to build out our own RV, probably from a box truck. But I wish that we could find a great old British double deck bus to build. Just because they are way too cool and offer a ton of options.
    I appreciate your hard work Mercedes. Thanks.

    1. I mean hearing these stories definitely makes me want to buy a used pre-2018 era camper. This debacle and trash heap of a brand new trailer is definitely a warning sign that I don’t want something new. Updating something old that is sound fundamentally sounds sooo much better.

    2. Before you start to build your own, you might want to research used luxury rvs that have a strong reputation for high quality like Country Coach and Beaver.
      “AZ Expert” is the name of a YouTube channel by an RV tech that from the videos of his I’ve watched seems like a good place to start. 1 example of his videos is below
      https://youtu.be/swrNMUYcD2A

      1. Thanks. I started building out Vans and Trucks in the mid 1970s. For a living. I have yet to see ANY brand that builds as well as I can do it. No brag, just fact.

  10. It’s almost as if the company only cares about making money and not about it’s employees or it’s quality. I, for one, am shocked.

    Seriously though, so sorry for your parents, I hope the warranty claims make it into what they wanted in the first place.

  11. Steve Lehto is a lawyer on YouTube with a whole lot to say about the RV industry. In summary his advice is: Do not buy an RV, ever. Rent one if you have to scratch that itch.
    This story really makes his point.

    1. I wouldn’t go as far as Lehto to say never buy an RV. There are vintage campers with excellent build quality (fiberglass campers, old Airstreams, etc) and there are plenty of new ones built with quality in mind as well.

      Last year, I got to test one of those Taxa Mantis Overland campers and it didn’t have a single issue. A couple of weeks ago, I took an Off-Grid Trailers Pando 2.0 off-road, beat the crap out of it, then slept in it. No issues with that one, either! I’m not sure this Mallard would have even survived the first trail. Weirdly, within the Thor family is Airstream, and at least in my experience, the new ones aren’t too bad.

      The problem is that the RV industry is a bit like the mobile game industry, or perhaps the Chinese motorcycle industry. There are some good mobile games and there are some Chinese motorcycles worth buying, but you have to sift through a bunch of crap and shovelware to find the good stuff.

      Unfortunately, so many buyers (including my parents) end up buying a pretty sizable headache. But, in their defense, something that costs more than the average new car shouldn’t be so broken. There isn’t a lemon law for campers (at least not on a national level) but there should be!

      1. But your parents RV isn’t even from an outside source, this is just crappy vaunted good ol’ US built material. I’ll be honest, it seems like the housing industry right now. You can buy the entry level stuff, but it will be made out of crap materials and quickly (not well made) or spend substantially more for a bespoke house. There is not middle area.

      2. In addition to the sifting, you also have to pay a premium for something that is on paper pretty much the same as the cheaper options, and paying that premium doesn’t even guarantee reasonable quality.

  12. Glad to hear they’re not trying to tow it with the Suburban. It was not nearly enough tow vehicle for that trailer.

    Sounds like basically the entire trailer is going to have to be rebuilt. If I thought you could get a better one for the money I’d tell you to cut your losses and trade it in, but I’m not sure what else you would get. $62k from any of the higher quality manufacturers basically gets you a teardrop these days. :-/

  13. A friend worked at Fleetwood in college and said everyone on the assembly floor were just stoner college kids who didn’t give one shit about what they built.

    My favorite story though came from my previous RV dealer who said this when we were joking about how poorly they’re all built:

    They’re built by “the methed up Amish”. He said it’s all Amish folks working piece rate and they’re just blasted on meth to get more done in a day to make more money.

    I have no idea if that’s true, but it’s always stuck with me,

    1. It’s almost like having higher wages would attract a more skilled, professional workforce. Boomers in charge of these companies do not give a shit tho.

      1. Blame the boomers for EVERYTHING! Yeah, that shit worked out well for Hitler…Some dumb ass shit here…
        I guess you think the world was paradise before the damn boomers came along? Study some history.

  14. Finally, after a year of trying to fix a camper that was broken from the factory

    No, no, and hell no. That has been an absolutely craptacular experience so far.

    I don’t normally have a lot of patience for this sort of thing, and it would have been completely gone after the failures of the [alleged] safety equipment.

    That appears to be quite a nice teapot, but there is no way I would use the gas stove in that camper. 🙁

  15. I’ve been considering making the leap and buying a camper for the last year or so. I keep reading articles and comparisons and daydreaming. I think I’ve settled down on getting a used RV rather than a trailer for the ease of driving. (I’m not a fan of dragging a trailer around). I’ll probably go for a slightly older rig and upgrade it myself rather than get a newer one.

    The one thing that has come across repeatedly in all the articles I’ve read, is that virtually all the low end to mid grade trailers made post COVID are pretty much junk. Seeing this article pretty much confirmed this.

    Some notable manufactures have avoided this fate (Airstream, Scamp and a few others, mostly the expensive ones) but it’s become a major industrywide issue. From what I’ve read, it’s turning alot of people off RVing almost as soon as they get into it. Not really a great long term business plan for the manufactures but of course they made their quick buck.

    Also, alot of people articles about how terrible dealer warrantee repairs are, as has also been demonstrated here. Shoddy repairs, lack of parts, long wait times, damage while in for service.

    Overall, it looks a lot like an industry slitting it’s own wrists for the quick buck.

    1. Do yourself a favor and buy a shortie school bus, and convert it yourself. Just type “RV Accident” vs “School bus accident” to be convinced. One is actually designed to be strong and durable, the other is glued together glorified cardboard. Takes more time, less money, better end result. Plus you learn a lot, which is always fun!

  16. Sorry, but why would you accept this? If any product I bought new for $60k+ had this many obvious problems, I’d dump it in a heap in the dealer lot and demand my money back.

    1. honestly, I cannot imagine liking something that much, spending that much money and not wanting my money back for even half of what they’ve been dealing with here.

    2. My parents do want their money back! There isn’t a lemon law for trailers, so they’re considering trading it, cutting their losses, and running to something built better.

      But, that’s not going to happen just yet because they think it could be made into a nice trailer with enough warranty repairs. I’m not so sure…

      1. When I look at the photos of the inside of the various compartments and I see that crap wood and strand board sheeting it makes me cringe. The warranty repairs will eventually get everything working but to me that trailer looks like it has a 3-year lifespan before it starts to fall apart. Sorry to tell you this..

  17. Further, the dealer tech said that the trailer was actually delivered to the dealership from the factory with surface rust. The recommended solution is to spray paint it and ignore it.

    Ignore rust from the factory?! This is absolute insanity. I need to be an RV salesman because it seems like the easiest way to screw people over. You just need to not care about the deathtraps you’re potentially selling.

  18. My immediate thought on the frame is POR-15.

    But that other stuff…how is that remotely excusable for the money?

    It would be cheaper to buy a used RV, tear it apart, and fix it up. I understand not everyone wants to, or is capable of doing it, but….this thing is a hunk of crap.

  19. We owned a few campers when I was a kid. They were ALL pieces of shit. Basically a steel frame with a very cheap, thin plywood housing clad in thin aluminum with plumbing and electrical components that would crack and snap after being exposed to sunlght for a few years. The only one we had that was halfway decent was a camper made by a company called Scamp: A small 5th wheel made out of fiberglass.

  20. I always kinda figured this is how all RVs were anyway. Boats, at least the ones I was exposed to 20+ years ago, seemed better built but still nowhere near as good as they should be.
    I get the freedom, or somewhat freedom, that these offer and that they can be fun. But, for the limited time I can actually get away for a week that I would want to use one, I can search up so many great free-standing houses/camps that make this feel as cheap as you make it sound.

    1. Depends on the boat.

      The key factor almost always comes down to the same thing- How much integral carpet-covered plywood+ vinyl upholstery? Buying an inland fibreglass power boat, or pontoon (much like a cheap RV) is signing up for the fact that the vessel will eventually decay and depreciate over 30 years to the point that it is a complete write off. The boat will become tired, out of style, and the cost to replace the rotten floor and upholstery will ‘total’ it out.

      Bluewater-grade yachts with sealed, self-bailing hulls are a different beast. They of course require storage, upkeep and consumables like anything else, but the core structure of the boat is basically bulletproof. Look at the prices for 70s Boston Whalers if you want proof.

      Ditto for welded aluminum commercial grade boats, inland or offshore. These boats actually tend to appreciate with inflation as they are basically always useful and in demand. Repower as necessary.

      Thankfully manufacturers have started to build inshore powerboats with sealed fiberglass floors. Much less wasteful.

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