I recently learned of a fellow with a 2008 Coachmen Class C. He bought it used earlier this year. After its first rain, (a mild one) they took a short trip. Driving up hill, they were soaked by water running down from the cabover bunk. Removing the mattress revealed that everything was completely wet. The bottom deck was sagging, the seams in the walls had split and the visible framework appeared to be rotting and mildewing. On returning to the trip, they took it to a Coachmen dealer. It appears that there is significant front end rot just from what is visible, but they haven't taken it apart yet to see just how bad the damage is. They contacted Coachmen, who said that the roof wasn't sealed, and isn't their problem.

After a number of stick 'n staple RVs, I certainly had nothing as dramatic as his experience, but I could see the direction they were going.

Other than Barth, does/did any manufacturer other than Barth and Lazy Daze make an all metal Class C?
Thanks
Jim

quote:

Originally posted by Jim and Tere:
Other than Barth, does/did any manufacturer other than Barth and Lazy Daze make an all metal Class C?
Thanks
Jim

I have admired several older ones. Avion or Silver Streak perhaps. They were obviously all metal, and were from trailer manufacturers noted for all aluminum trailers.

There were also some chassis-mount campers. I have always thought that chassis mount camper and a class C MH were almost the same thing, except for the length of the hood, even though the names were different. When they started putting chassis mount campers on van chassis, the shorter length and coach access from the cab blew chassis mounts right out of the market.

I had a friend who had a slide-in camper, a big, nice one. He finally decided to buy a motor home, and was going to sell his camper and keep the truck. A buyer showed up, loved it, and together, they removed the camper to reinstall it on the buyer's truck.

Well, the stress of removing it was just too much, and, like the Deacon's Masterpiece, it slowly tilted, assuming the transitional shape of a parallelogram before it became flatter and flatter. They just stood there, agape, as it happened, not believing their eyes. His wife fell off the porch laughing. Examination of the debris revealed that dry rot was everywhere, and the whole thing was held in position by the truck bed and sides.

He was a good owner, and inspected and sealed his roof as necessary, but rot is insidious. I sold a fiver that was a perm on the lower Colorado River on a prime lot. The buyer was warned that the fiver might not stand moving, but just wanted the location. It had rot in a number of places, few of which seemed to be the result of water leaks. Unless it leaked before I got it.

I once bought a stick & staple Road Ranger trailer that had "never leaked." Clean & nice, everything worked, no evidence of leaks. Caulked & sealed anyway before I went anywhere, took 2 long trips w/no leaks. Everything was fine, but it developed a spongy spot in the floor in front of the bathroom.

Went to sell it, & took a ration of crap from a prospective buyer about my gall in trying to sell such a piece of junk. Went to prove him wrong, but had to replace half the sub-floor, half the floor framing, a couple of roof joists, & both rear corner frames, plus scabbing in some patches on wall studs.

Sold it to a neighbor who had watched me sweat over the rebuilding job. He made me a low-ball offer he thought I had to refuse. I fooled him.
I had no qualms, the trailer was in better condition than when it left the factory. My repairs were more in the nature of boat building than RV manufacture.

The lesson learned was that a stick & staple unit, no matter how good it looks cannot be trusted to have an intact sub-structure.

We bought a new Coachman pop up and took it camping one time. We tried to level it with the factory mounted screw down jacks and the door would not open.