dufferDave
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2018
- Posts
- 70
I agreed with my wife to get a motorhome.
It was waaaaay cheaper than buying a second home (her plan A) in Colorado, and I wanted something better than our old pop-up camper. So hey, now I have ANOTHER thing to clean/maintain/repair/remodel/upgrade. As if I didn't already have enough to keep busy with.
We found an old (2003) Fleetwood Jamboree GT in quite good condition (I thought at the time) for a good price (we'll find out soon just how good a deal it was). Now that I have identified the manufacturer of our MH, according to this forum's rules I am not allowed to bash or badmouth that company or products. But in the process of pulling out the old floor (half carpet, half linoleum) and temporarily removing the benches and couches from the slide-out, I have seen some pretty surprising and disappointing stuff. Maybe some of these problems were the result of previous owner(s) messing with the interior, but most of this sure looks to me like goofy original installation details.
Like: I have found a mix and mis-use of fasteners at just about every turn. For example, in removing one single bench, I found three different wood screw styles and/or lengths, including chisel-point fasteners. (My background always indicated that chisel-points were definitely not for use in wood.) The factory used sheetrock screws all over the place; sheetrock screws are brittle and are NOT supposed to be substituted for wood screws. In the corners of the bench seatbacks, to anchor the top of the seatback to the wall, the factory used 3-inch sheetrock screws....that went through the 1/8th plywood wall of the slideout and then hung two inches into empty space.
Like: The padding under the carpet was installed in little pieces, about a half-square-foot each. Dozens of 'em. And each padding piece was tacked in place with a buzillion staples. I guess the workers at the factory got paid per each staple. Pulling staples took more time than all the rest of the floor-repair stages combined.
Like: The floor plywood itself (which was definitely factory-installed) was an interesting variety of wood textures and smoothness. Silly me, I would have thought that as much as they charge for a new MH that they could have afforded a few more sheets of matching good-quality plywood.
Like: There was no sealant applied to the frame of the shower door. I know, because I took the whole thing apart and there was nothing whatsoever in the bottom corners in the way of waterproofing. I took the door frame apart because I was chasing the source of the shower leak that swelled and bulged the short wall under the shower door. There was no sign of any previous sealant, such as a chemical stain on the face of the joining metal surfaces, so it's not likely a previous owner had already taken the door apart and removed any sealant there.
Am I just expecting too much? Is this the way all the manufacturers build their products? Has anyone else noticed these sorts of cheapo shortcuts and lapses in proper assembly?
And to the moderators: If I broke a rule by complaining about all these glitches, I will completely understand if my hand is to be slapped. But I am genuinely surprised (shocked?) by these features and would like to know if this really is "normal" in the world of motorhomes.
It was waaaaay cheaper than buying a second home (her plan A) in Colorado, and I wanted something better than our old pop-up camper. So hey, now I have ANOTHER thing to clean/maintain/repair/remodel/upgrade. As if I didn't already have enough to keep busy with.
We found an old (2003) Fleetwood Jamboree GT in quite good condition (I thought at the time) for a good price (we'll find out soon just how good a deal it was). Now that I have identified the manufacturer of our MH, according to this forum's rules I am not allowed to bash or badmouth that company or products. But in the process of pulling out the old floor (half carpet, half linoleum) and temporarily removing the benches and couches from the slide-out, I have seen some pretty surprising and disappointing stuff. Maybe some of these problems were the result of previous owner(s) messing with the interior, but most of this sure looks to me like goofy original installation details.
Like: I have found a mix and mis-use of fasteners at just about every turn. For example, in removing one single bench, I found three different wood screw styles and/or lengths, including chisel-point fasteners. (My background always indicated that chisel-points were definitely not for use in wood.) The factory used sheetrock screws all over the place; sheetrock screws are brittle and are NOT supposed to be substituted for wood screws. In the corners of the bench seatbacks, to anchor the top of the seatback to the wall, the factory used 3-inch sheetrock screws....that went through the 1/8th plywood wall of the slideout and then hung two inches into empty space.
Like: The padding under the carpet was installed in little pieces, about a half-square-foot each. Dozens of 'em. And each padding piece was tacked in place with a buzillion staples. I guess the workers at the factory got paid per each staple. Pulling staples took more time than all the rest of the floor-repair stages combined.
Like: The floor plywood itself (which was definitely factory-installed) was an interesting variety of wood textures and smoothness. Silly me, I would have thought that as much as they charge for a new MH that they could have afforded a few more sheets of matching good-quality plywood.
Like: There was no sealant applied to the frame of the shower door. I know, because I took the whole thing apart and there was nothing whatsoever in the bottom corners in the way of waterproofing. I took the door frame apart because I was chasing the source of the shower leak that swelled and bulged the short wall under the shower door. There was no sign of any previous sealant, such as a chemical stain on the face of the joining metal surfaces, so it's not likely a previous owner had already taken the door apart and removed any sealant there.
Am I just expecting too much? Is this the way all the manufacturers build their products? Has anyone else noticed these sorts of cheapo shortcuts and lapses in proper assembly?
And to the moderators: If I broke a rule by complaining about all these glitches, I will completely understand if my hand is to be slapped. But I am genuinely surprised (shocked?) by these features and would like to know if this really is "normal" in the world of motorhomes.
