Forest River Rockwood Signature Series Ultra-Lite 5th wheel

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roadjunkie

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Joined
Feb 21, 2016
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I put a deposit down on a 2005 Forest River Rockwood Signature Series Ultra-Lite 5th wheel, model number 8285SS.  I plan on living and traveling in it full time.  Does anyone have any experience with this trailer or manufacturer?  If so, tell what you know, likes and dislikes.



 
If it is a 2005 Forest River all the terrible factory workmanship should now be fixed by the previous owner
If it was a new one I would say be prepaired for many pain in the neck things that need to be corrected.

Jack L (who just bought a new Forest River trailer)
 
I had the exact one a few years ago. Mostly liked it. I didn't have any trouble with workmanship. Some of the fixtures are cheap so as they broke i replaced with better.

Make sure to secure the recliners when driving they beat up the area pretty bad on a really bumpy road. :(
 
Thanks guys.  Have an option on a 2009 Jayco Jay Flight 31'.  Would that maybe be a better quality rig?  I know it'll sleep more people but it'll just be myself and the occasional guest and I've pulled both bumper pull and 5th wheels so I'm not really leaning one way or the other.  The Forest River is a 5th wheel and the Jayco is a bumper pull.
 
We owned a 2008 signature ultralite travel trailer and had pretty good luck with it.  We bought it when it was a year old late in 2008.  We pulled it to Alaska and back plus several long trips and owned it until 2013.  We stayed in it around 500 nights and pulled it about 40,000 miles.  At the time we sold it, there were several soft spots in the floor that were going to take major work and we sold it rather than fix it ourselves.  We sold it at PPL in Houston one day after listing it with full disclosure of the problem with the floor.  I guess the problem didn't make any difference to the new owner.
 
I currently have a 2011 Signature Ultralight 8288SS, and most everything looks okay superficially, however the build quality has not become any better. Jack L's comment was spot on - the problems will have been worked out by the prior owner. Ours is a 30A rig with a single 13,500 A/C, great looking entertainment center, and even an electric fireplace - all looks great. So far I've noticed the following problems:
  • I did not notice it at the time of purchase byt you cannot use the microwave and fireplace at the same time - you need to go around the corner and near the floor there is an electrical switch you need to flick to choose between the two. Doesn't seem like it is too bad, but on cool mornings I like to use the fireplace and it is a pain to have to switch between the two.
  • The A/C has never put out really cold air so I recently took off the ceiling shroud and noticed that the air intake was blocked in half by excess expanding foam insulation - I carved out enough to fill a one gallon milk container.
  • Ceiling duct work is so shoddy I can feel air coming out of the light fixtures when the A/C is running - it was so bad I had to block off the ducts and rely on the dump "valves" as the only way to get the rig cool enough.
  • The person that installed the CO detector cut the hole too big and to fix it just put a piece of plywood as a backer
There are lots more, but on the positive side, it seems like man manufacturers have shoddy workmanship these days in an attempt to get as many rigs out the door as possible. These days I approach using our rig as a challenge, and a work in progress - you never know what is going to fail this next trip.
 
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