Highest quality 5er

[poppopc]

IMHO! With the "TOP OF THE LINE" ,is that they will take something larger
Than a one ton Dooley to pull/ stop them. Pulling usually is not the problem,
carrying and stopping maybe!

[glennwest]

We owned a 2006 Mobile Suites. Replaced a few items as they wore out. Nothing more. Very solid, well made camper. Really don't understand your bashing. I highly recommend them.

[RWeigant]

Originally Posted by glennwest

We owned a 2006 Mobile Suites. Replaced a few items as they wore out. Nothing more. Very solid, well made camper. Really don't understand your bashing. I highly recommend them.

No bashing, just reporting all the problems we had. I'm just the messenger.

[glennwest]

You say you not bashing. Post roof leaks. All rv roofs will leak if not resealed on a regular basics. they have sealant sealing them. Those little plastic mirror latches do break. They are junk. But everyone uses them. Lots of items mentioned is typical maintenance items if left unattended will fail. Yes our plastic wire holder under the slides broke. Took me like 15 minutes to fix. Stuff happened to my stick and brick and I had to fix it too, and it didn't travel over these pot holes, rough roads either.

[hjsdds]

Originally Posted by glennwest

You say you not bashing. Post roof leaks. All rv roofs will leak if not resealed on a regular basics. they have sealant sealing them. Those little plastic mirror latches do break. They are junk. But everyone uses them. Lots of items mentioned is typical maintenance items if left unattended will fail. Yes our plastic wire holder under the slides broke. Took me like 15 minutes to fix. Stuff happened to my stick and brick and I had to fix it too, and it didn't travel over these pot holes, rough roads either.

I see you are pulling a Teton, which tells me you made a conscious decision to not purchase the average garbage that is out there. Yes all RV roofs CAN leak, but they don't have to. My first fifth was a brand new Kropf.

Nothing broke and nothing leaked throughout the 10 years I pulled it all over the country. Sold it to a friend of mine he used it for 10 years. Eventually, he replaced the black water tank and yes he had a leak in the roof in the rear quarter.
My next fifth was a Corsica.

Year old repo from a bank, looked good smelled new, turn out to be an absolute piece of garbage. Roof leaked within two years, not on a seam, but where the rubber went over the sharp plywood edge never rounded over under the rubber. And the litany of cheap parts and idiotic work ethic started and was as long as RWeigant's. 5 years later it was in an accident, was totaled and was happy to see it go to the junk yard.
Learned a lesson, bought a used Royals International (Teton class rig),

had fiberglass roof that never leaked, real furniture, first class worksmanship, minor repairs, age related.
When it comes to RVs, it depends on the company deciding whether they will sell quality, or junk because nobody is checking on them and nobody makes them recall junk and fix it AT NO COST TO THE CUSTOMER like the auto companies have to do now. Prior to Ralph Nader selling crap to customers was the order of the day in the auto industry too.

hjs

[oldretiredafguy]

Does it have to be new? We looked for years at different brands of 5th wheels, and finally decided on a used Carriage. Like hjsdds above, that was the best value we could find.
Mike

[hjsdds]

Buying or trying to find a quality RV is not easy. The companies can cut cost, thousands of ways, hide poor construction and substandard material behind walls, glitz, woodwork and in places where you can't see it or you don't think to go looking into. The other thing they count on is that the unit will not be sold to fulltimers or serious travelers who will put enough miles on the rig to put it through it's paces and really shake things out. They count on thousands and thousands of newbies and thousands of "working RVers" whose job "entitles them" to a measly 2-3-4 weeks of vacation time per year and the weekends. If they put 1,000-2,000 miles per year on the rig, that is a big year of traveling for them. That's not enough miles to really find out what you "don't like about the rig". We've been RVing for 42 years, We did well choosing the first brand new fifth (from Kropf), but I can honestly say that this kept me ignorant of all the crap sold around me. Not until we bought that Corsica did I start looking with a critical eye at the industry and the garbage that they are not ashamed to sell to the general public. You tend to learn very quickly when you have to FIX EVERYTHING on that "precious" instrument of travel and exploration.
This was also the time that I stopped believing the sales BS. Did you know that being an RVer, or being an owner of an RV is not a requirement for a sales career at an RV dealership, having a successful stint on a used car lot is a much better entry on ones resume. I also stopped believing the glossy brochure BS, or the "in depth" articles on particular rigs in Trailer Life, usually two pages ahead of a full page advertisement on the "product being reviewed".
I started listening to fulltimers and multiple rig owners. These were the folks who knew which companies were "into quality". These were also the folks who also told me that buying a used (or pre-owned) rig from a quality company, was a much better move that buying a glitzy new rig from a schlock outfit.
They gave me a pretty good list, unfortunately many of these companies did not survive the 2008 slaughter but many of their rigs are still available on the used market. On that list were:
Teton (out of business)
Carriage (out of business)
Travel Supreme (out of business)
SpaceCraft
(SpaceCraft is still in business, but if you find a used SpaceCraft grab it)
New Horizon
(New Horizon was purchased from the original owner and is currently producing top of the line units for the lonely Teton, Carriage Travel Supreme crowd. Lots of people don't know that the "old" New Horizons were built like tanks and were literally "indestructible")

I know some people will argue that I should "expand" that list to include some of their "favorites", but I would require some "convincing".

hjs

[caissiel]

We use to have a Glendale, one of the top units build in Canada and soon found that the under carriage was very weak. The tubular frame twisted and bent causing roof problems that needed constant attention.
Our Big Country by Heartland has been a battle ship compared to the previous unit. 12 in I-Beam frame is solid with 7000 lbs axle. In 5 years of full timing use it has held well.
This last trip from Arizona to NB Canada has shook everything while driving the Indiana highways.
Every cupboard hinge screws needed tightening. But all is well with 40,000 miles on original G LR tires.

[12 Tires]

Originally Posted by hjsdds

Buying or trying to find a quality RV is not easy. The companies can cut cost, thousands of ways, hide poor construction and substandard material behind walls, glitz, woodwork and in places where you can't see it or you don't think to go looking into. The other thing they count on is that the unit will not be sold to fulltimers or serious travelers who will put enough miles on the rig to put it through it's paces and really shake things out. They count on thousands and thousands of newbies and thousands of "working RVers" whose job "entitles them" to a measly 2-3-4 weeks of vacation time per year and the weekends. If they put 1,000-2,000 miles per year on the rig, that is a big year of traveling for them. That's not enough miles to really find out what you "don't like about the rig". We've been RVing for 42 years, We did well choosing the first brand new fifth (from Kropf), but I can honestly say that this kept me ignorant of all the crap sold around me. Not until we bought that Corsica did I start looking with a critical eye at the industry and the garbage that they are not ashamed to sell to the general public. You tend to learn very quickly when you have to FIX EVERYTHING on that "precious" instrument of travel and exploration.
This was also the time that I stopped believing the sales BS. Did you know that being an RVer, or being an owner of an RV is not a requirement for a sales career at an RV dealership, having a successful stint on a used car lot is a much better entry on ones resume. I also stopped believing the glossy brochure BS, or the "in depth" articles on particular rigs in Trailer Life, usually two pages ahead of a full page advertisement on the "product being reviewed".
I started listening to fulltimers and multiple rig owners. These were the folks who knew which companies were "into quality". These were also the folks who also told me that buying a used (or pre-owned) rig from a quality company, was a much better move that buying a glitzy new rig from a schlock outfit.
They gave me a pretty good list, unfortunately many of these companies did not survive the 2008 slaughter but many of their rigs are still available on the used market. On that list were:
Teton (out of business)
Carriage (out of business)
Travel Supreme (out of business)
SpaceCraft
(SpaceCraft is still in business, but if you find a used SpaceCraft grab it)
New Horizon
(New Horizon was purchased from the original owner and is currently producing top of the line units for the lonely Teton, Carriage Travel Supreme crowd. Lots of people don't know that the "old" New Horizons were built like tanks and were literally "indestructible")

I know some people will argue that I should "expand" that list to include some of their "favorites", but I would require some "convincing".

hjs

Henry,

I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said above. Your list of the "best" prior to the 2008 RV industry crisis is most accurate.

Today, Continental Coach (Forks RV) deserves a place on the list of the best. They are designed by former Travel Supreme people, are the recommended new coach of the Teton Owners group (tetoners.com) and are now the official service center for the same.

We had a custon 43 ft Travel Supreme fiver for 10 years after a string of MH's and were accustomed to quality and exceptional customer service. We have been 200% pleased with every aspect of our Continental Coach Elegance; strongest chassis in the industry and arguably the finish of a Prevost bus conversion.

Forksrv.com

My 3 cents.
[IMG][/IMG]

[hjsdds]

I agree that Forks should be on the list, I also agree that my list of "old timers" was based on pre-2008 companies. The high end companies produce high quality fifths because their price allows for "quality" to be one of the "components" priced into the rig. Everyone one else operates on the me too principle.
$50K for the rig, me too. $75K for a rig, me too. Frame designed and welded in their shop, forget it. Buy it from Lippert, me too. 6K axle, me too. Cheap Chinese tires, me too. Buy as much crap from Lippert as you can, me too.
Lifestyle RV seems to have attracted a large contingent of the ex-Carriage owners, a large contingent of Carriage employees and executives have settled in that company with a "mission" to carry on the Carriage reputation of building a quality fifths even in the mid price range. They couldn't "resurrect" the Carriage name since Thor showed up at the auction, grabbed the name and so far did nothing with it. I'm not sure a Thor built Carriage could claim the continuation of pure bloodline, gang membership bloodline, maybe, yea I'll buy that.
The problem with finding a quality rig from a quality manufacturer is that there aren't that many of them out there. The industry manufactures around 75,000 fifths per year, the top manufacturers: New Horizon, SpaceCraft, Forks, Lifestyle, probably make no more than 500 rigs, combined. Lifestyle just announced 500th unit built and they have been at it for a while and sell the least expensive units in this bunch. The other factor is that the industry still has not fully recovered from 2008, as has not the country, so it will be a while before used rigs of this caliber will become more plentiful.
In the meantime I would suggest becoming as educated as possible. Go on owners forums, see what they say about their purchases. It is always possible that among the "lower tier" rigs has emerged a manufacturer or two, ran by management that takes quality seriously, maybe inspects the frames they get from Lippert and rejects the ones welded by a guy who flunked welding 1.01.

hjs

[Jack Mayer]

Only thing you forgot on your 2008 and older list was Newmar. Other than that - spot on.

These days the list is probably Forks, Spacecraft, New Horizons. I would not put Lifestyle on that list - it would take some convincing for me to do that. JMO.

[chief02]

Love my Excel!

[12 Tires]

Newmar did make a fine fiver. Never understood why they insisted on tandem dual axles.

[hone eagle]

Originally Posted by bigfiver

Newmar did make a fine fiver. Never understood why they insisted on tandem dual axles.

Not all of them ,my Torrey Pine rides on 17.5 singles