ORV quality issues

[Lac]

Originally Posted by Geargut

Exactly, and I didn't feel like I got the kind of quality I was expecting and paid for. ORV advertises the mountain series as "mountain tough" but fasteners were falling out all over the place after just 300 miles down the highway.

I get that everyone has come to expect that you'll have to fix some issues and I anticipate that I'll have to fix some small infrequent issues. However, mine has gone well beyond small and infrequent already. Personally, I refuse to eat a bowl of crap until I like the taste.

Is your bowl of crap with or without nuts?...asking for a friend.

[Lac]

Originally Posted by Geargut

The nurse should be around shortly with your daily meds. You're not making any sense.

Thank god for universal healthcare in Canada...he makes perfect sense to me...it could be we are all not at the same level as you. What can we do to get to the same level to clearly understand each other?


Take care

Coops

[Lac]

Originally Posted by Geargut

I don't disagree with buying used but I have a personal aversion to used RVs for some reason. Everything else I buy is used.

I just checked the internet regarding your “personal aversion to used RVs” could be symptomatic of a deeper psychosis ....I would talk to a trained professional.
IMHO

Me I don’t have an aversion...a good used RV unit is fine.

Keep smiling

Coops

[Cumminsfan]

Originally Posted by Geargut

Before we bought this RV, I spoke with several ORV dealers and not one failed to mention that ORV was run by the same guy as Northwood. I got the feeling they were riding the coat-tails of Northwood. Having previously owned a really great Northwood prior to this factory POS, I was on board with that. Made sense. However, now I realize it is not the same company and definitely not the same workmanship.

It's possible I could have gotten lucky with my previous coach but doubtful.

I would say the workmanship is the same. Before we bought our ORV from Apache we toured several Arctic Fox TT's. One 25W had 3-4 upper cabinet doors misaligned. Being a carpenter for 30 years my eyes automatically look for square or parallel patterns. I could clearly see that the doors didn't align. I opened several to see if maybe it was loose screws making the hinge slip. Nope. They were rock sold. They were simply built sloppy. Another AF had a missing front cap light. Guess it fell off during transport.

I too was banking on the ORV/NW sameness. I was actually satisfied with my FM 235. Couldn't blame NW for the fading cap since they, like every other MFG buys them from the same small pool of cap makers. Jayco, NW, ORV, Keystone, Heartland, etc all had issues with dark colored caps.

What I see in ORV is the sum of the parts are better than most, but how the parts are assembled is no better.
In house frame. Crappy paint job.
Nice cabinets. Possible stripped screws, mine are spot on.
Nice flooring. Staple underneath.
Biggest dinette around. Bad foam in one cushion.
Dual pane windows. Had to rework one because the rubber track was dragging. Still not right. Not ORV's fault but still. Do they even check all systems before it leaves the factory.
Etc.

The good. All cabinets work great except for that drawer guide. Cable/Sat connected correctly. No water leaks. Quiet pump. Roof fans are awesome with remotes. Etc.

Like someone posted one time on another forum. "I bought an RV kit, when I get it home I get to finish it"

[egwilly]

Originally Posted by Geargut

Hi all. Just curious if any of you are having quality issues with your new ORV travel trailer. I just bought a new 28BKS and so far it has been riddled with issues. So far nothing major that would warrant sitting at the dealer for 6 weeks to get fixed but just small issues for now. Here's a list.

-sliding room door restraint strap broke first trip home. The restraint design was a poor design for the door.
- sliding door support rail was sagging due to not enough screws. The ones that were in were zipped in so hard they stripped.
- wife plugged her hair dryer into the bathroom plug for the first time and the whole panel caved inward.
- I've got a raise in the floor. It looks like a corner of the sub-floor section isn't attached or something because it raises and lowers depending on the way the trailer is leveled.
- Screen door retention screws on the access doors stripped and barely holding the bracket on.
- When I move the slide in and out, there appears to be an awful lot of wall movement between the couch/dining table etc. Almost like the floor is now moving with the perpendicular wall.

All in all, I feel this is a extremely poor built coach. As a former northwood owner, I'm quite surprised and disappointed.

Some of those are minor. I would take care of them myself, never take it to a dealer for minor things, they may become major!
Moving walls and floors are more serious. Those warrant a trip to the dealer. Could be some framing issues. Same with the luan wall in the bathroom. The slides tend to be wobbly when not fully retracted or extended.
Good luck, your woes will soon disappear.

[Randy the sly old fox]

Having owned an AF for 12yrs (05-17) and being a member of the NROA I also heard about similar issues with stripped screws etc during the time when the RV market surged after a big lull and AF had to figure out how to find and train good workers. This was about the time that ORV was just getting started. Now I see the same issues in ORV as they also try to keep up with the demand. I went on tours at both ORV and AF in 2015 (when I started looking for a new TT) At that time both plants had a pay/bonus structure based on getting the planned amount of units through QC and bonus for each unit above that - but all unit had to pass QC before the bonus would apply. Being able to tour the ORV plant in operation I did see workers who were doing their best to make a quality rig. I guess I got lucky as my 2017 25RDS came from the factory to me without any issues - over the past three seasons we have spent close to 75 nights and towed it to Eastern Oregon and the Olympic Peninsula and many trips to the Oregon Coast - nothing has come apart nothing has failed.

[Cumminsfan]

The problem with RV's is you can have two identical models on the same dealer lot and one will be great and the other could have some to many issues. No way to know until you purchase it and use it.
Thats why brand quality opinions are all over the place.

[RAM 6.7 4x4]

Read the post from beginning to end. Purchased our F26-CIS in April 2017, was built and rolled off the assembly line in May 2015 and sat on the dealers lot until purchased. We had a 29 item punch list that was promptly taken care of by Todd and his team in Oct 2017 when we went in for repairs on our YSNP visit. There were 7 major items that needed attention as components failed but were replaced and have not had an issue since. We'd definitely buy another ORV or AF product again. Have an issue to deal with now with the pendent lights as one of the bases that attaches the pendent to the ceiling has cracked and now the light is a swinger. I don't blame this defect on ORV and will replace all three bases that attach the pendent lights to the ceiling, doing both reactive and proactive maintenance as I know the other two will most likely follow the lead of the one base plate being replaced.

Have 18,021 verifiable miles on the rig and love it! It's pretty cool to get to a campground here in the Southeast and have inquiries from other campers about our rig as they've never seen one and we proudly show it off. I've even been asked if we were interested in selling it as the size is perfect for almost any CG spot. The comments we receive just make us all the more happier that we went with ORV instead of another brand.

[xrcris]

Originally Posted by Lac

I just checked the internet regarding your “personal aversion to used RVs” could be symptomatic of a deeper psychosis ....I would talk to a trained professional.
IMHO

Me I don’t have an aversion...a good used RV unit is fine.

Keep smiling

Coops

I think an RV is the only product I would never consider buying new!

[Geargut]

Originally Posted by Cumminsfan

The problem with RV's is you can have two identical models on the same dealer lot and one will be great and the other could have some to many issues. No way to know until you purchase it and use it.
Thats why brand quality opinions are all over the place.

You're absolutely right. RVs are like fingerprints with no 2 being the same. However, I bought an ORV and with all the initial issues, it just feels cheap like a coachman or a Jayco. The thing is that it wasn't a cheap RV and my expectation was that, with the exception of small issues, I would get at least 6 months of trouble free use out of it.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a general consensus, especially from the ORV owners club kool-aid drinking folks, that these issues are acceptable and shouldn't really make me upset. I challenge that and since I'm from the Northwest and fairly close to La Grande, maybe there's a little bit of pride involved there too. I kind of feel like workers are better than that and a northwest brand at this price point should be tip top before it hits to dealer.

[ModestMonk]

Originally Posted by Geargut

You're absolutely right. RVs are like fingerprints with no 2 being the same. However, I bought an ORV and with all the initial issues, it just feels cheap like a coachman or a Jayco. The thing is that it wasn't a cheap RV and my expectation was that, with the exception of small issues, I would get at least 6 months of trouble free use out of it.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a general consensus, especially from the ORV owners club kool-aid drinking folks, that these issues are acceptable and shouldn't really make me upset. I challenge that and since I'm from the Northwest and fairly close to La Grande, maybe there's a little bit of pride involved there too. I kind of feel like workers are better than that and a northwest brand at this price point should be tip top before it hits to dealer.

I would venture a guess that very few owners get the first six months of any RV trouble free. Everything I have grown to understand it takes the first year to sort out the bugs. Once I did everything was grand.

[Cumminsfan]

Originally Posted by Geargut

You're absolutely right. RVs are like fingerprints with no 2 being the same. However, I bought an ORV and with all the initial issues, it just feels cheap like a coachman or a Jayco. The thing is that it wasn't a cheap RV and my expectation was that, with the exception of small issues, I would get at least 6 months of trouble free use out of it.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a general consensus, especially from the ORV owners club kool-aid drinking folks, that these issues are acceptable and shouldn't really make me upset. I challenge that and since I'm from the Northwest and fairly close to La Grande, maybe there's a little bit of pride involved there too. I kind of feel like workers are better than that and a northwest brand at this price point should be tip top before it hits to dealer.

I don't think anyone likes the fact that as ModestMonk says during the 1st 6 months there's usually something to fix. I know I was somewhat peeved when I saw the sloppy roof edge. I missed it during PDI. After owning 3 trailers prior with straight roof edges it was not even a concern. It's not leaking and can't be seen from the ground. But still urks me.

I'm not sure we're actually paying for quality. IMO the price reflects the added features of which aren't anything to do with how well it's built.
Features like DP windows, 16" tires, shocks, CRE3000, toy lock, rear receiver,
Large Mountain Dinette, nice interior colors and nice exterior graphic, front molded fiberglass cap, etc. All those things are just features that don't have anything to do with the workers ability to install screws, flooring or caulk.
Many MGF build their trailers the same way. Pinch rolled sides with luan, 5/8" TG flooring, nice linoleum, fancy fabrics, etc. But they don't offer many of the features as standard items as ORV does.

I see the point to your thread 100%. I'm also an ex NW owner living in Oregon. I too was hoping for the same above the Indiana gang quality. So far the few items I have fixed aren't deal breakers. I've seen worse on other forums. But it is disappointing that ORV seems to have dipped to Indiana's level. Not sure if it's from trying to keep up with demand or realizing that attaining high quality isn't necessary for sales.

I'm not going as far as to tell a new buyer to stay away. Buyer beware would be my recommendation. I would say don't expect ORV or even NW of late to be the holy grails of the RV industry.

[Cumminsfan]

Is this acceptable to any of you?

I was hoping that the pic could be enlarged on your PC's The issue besides the ugly rolled edge is at the front of the TT. It bulges out about 3/4" from just behind the awning to the front cap.

[GoLeafsGo]

Originally Posted by Cumminsfan

I don't think anyone likes the fact that as ModestMonk says during the 1st 6 months there's usually something to fix. I know I was somewhat peeved when I saw the sloppy roof edge. I missed it during PDI. After owning 3 trailers prior with straight roof edges it was not even a concern. It's not leaking and can't be seen from the ground. But still urks me.

I'm not sure we're actually paying for quality. IMO the price reflects the added features of which aren't anything to do with how well it's built.
Features like DP windows, 16" tires, shocks, CRE3000, toy lock, rear receiver,
Large Mountain Dinette, nice interior colors and nice exterior graphic, front molded fiberglass cap, etc. All those things are just features that don't have anything to do with the workers ability to install screws, flooring or caulk.
Many MGF build their trailers the same way. Pinch rolled sides with luan, 5/8" TG flooring, nice linoleum, fancy fabrics, etc. But they don't offer many of the features as standard items as ORV does.

I see the point to your thread 100%. I'm also an ex NW owner living in Oregon. I too was hoping for the same above the Indiana gang quality. So far the few items I have fixed aren't deal breakers. I've seen worse on other forums. But it is disappointing that ORV seems to have dipped to Indiana's level. Not sure if it's from trying to keep up with demand or realizing that attaining high quality isn't necessary for sales.

I'm not going as far as to tell a new buyer to stay away. Buyer beware would be my recommendation. I would say don't expect ORV or even NW of late to be the holy grails of the RV industry.

This