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Remember, I said we ordered double pane – Thermopane windows? EVERY reference to these windows said “Thermopane windows”. Not “some Thermopane windows”, not “mostly Thermopane windows”, just and only “Thermopane windows”. So we start looking over the trailer and discover the large front window, OVER the bed is single pane. “Oh, that window isn’t included in the Thermopane windows” we are told. No explanation other than – “you just don’t get what we told you, you get”. There is an outside cover for that window, primarly to keep rocks and such from hitting the glass that adds a tiny bit of insulation. But its “really hard” to see out the window with that cover on and the cover can only be opened by going outside, climbing on the trailer frame, loosening three cheesy latches, then pushing up the cover and tightening two flimsy bracket wing nuts. So “Thermopane widows” = “¾ Thermopane windows” + “screw you”. In case you don’t remember, this is a Forest River, Flagstaff Trailer. So, go ahead and ask the dumb question: Does XXXX mean I get XXXX everywhere or only some XXXX?
Chairs….. This trailer normally came with two recliners for the living room space. We wanted the rocker swivel chairs that were an option – but we hadn’t actually seen them at any show or dealer. (there was a reason they were never shown). So, we ordered the trailer with them. BIG MISTAKE! We should NEVER have ordered something we didn’t actually see in place INSIDE the trailer. In order to put the rear slide in – the chairs needed to be wedged in between the back wall and the kitchen counter. When I say wedged, I mean WEDGED. The chairs were made slightly wider in front that rear and they had to be turned one each way to even fit – and then it was so tight that after just a couple of cycles and a few hundred miles, the chairs fabric was chaffing off from the cabinets. With the chairs stowed, the rear door couldn’t be used at all. Even with the slide open and the chairs by the window – it was difficult to get past them to use the door. THEY JUST DIDN’T FIT. No other explanation. Whomever put those on the catalog could not have ever actually stood in a trailer and looked at them.
AND THEY WERE CHEAP CRAP! That is the only way to say it. They had some screws in their construction, but mostly they were stapled. Sloppy joints with just staples, in the wrong places, not a drop of glue. We took the chairs out of the trailer to have room to work, and after only a week of light use in the house, one of them collapsed. The other was near collapse. Both had to have the bases rebuilt (which I did) or thrown away. It wasn’t so much the original design of the chairs was bad – the manufacturing was terrible. Whomever was putting them together didn’t understand where to put staples and where they should have been using screws or anything about the concept that some joints JUST HAVE TO BE GLUED! We donated the chairs.
The sleeper couch – seemed to sit ok – not great, but ok. BUT when it was folded out – the bed became three uneven levels with gaps and the head lower than the feet. It was UN-SLEEPABLE. This too we replaced with a much better sleeper couch, which was the same weight and size that used a REAL mattress, of course, at considerable expense to us. The couch and chairs were donated. We found two really nice, light aluminum frame swivel rocker chairs at Menards in their outdoor furniture department. My recommendation, (and some people have done it), is to order your RV without furniture. They won’t discount you enough to cover the cost of real furniture, but you’ll like what you pick out a whole lot better and it won’t likely break in the first week or two of camping. Just make sure it will fit through the door. Standard sized couches and chairs won’t. We found some real nice, light, comfortable patio swivel rockers at Menards. We found an identical sized sleeper couch at a local furniture store (but we had to order what we wanted from the factory with a month long wait).
Warped Doors….
My outside doors have been difficult to latch from the get-go. I knew this on pickup day, but presumed it was an easy adjustment. It wasn’t. I tried adjusting the latches – but I finally realized the doors are warped. The latch area is fully ¼ inch farther out than the corners, which means you have to squash the top and bottom door seals completely to get the door to latch. That leads to lots of door slamming. Apparently dealers are not unfamiliar with this problem. I was told by a dealer they wedge a piece of wood in the door and close it – to bend the door. If that doesn’t work – then they get approval and order a new door. So, the doors are made out of the openings they cut in the sides during manufacturing. They have aluminum box frames. How can they be so warped? Bad manufacturing processes? Perhaps it is because in many parts of the trailer that I can see, the frame joints are only welded on one side. Wouldn’t be hard for the door to end up warped, especially if they just stack a bunch of them together in a pile during laminating. I could make an appointment, haul my trailer 150 miles to a dealer, wait weeks for a repair – but I didn’t. I straightened them myself. How will be in another post. I know someone who got a trailer from the same factory a few months after mine – their doors are perfectly straight. Did they learn something or Happy Accident? In case you’ve forgotten, all this fun is on a Forest River, Flagstaff trailer.