Quote:
Originally Posted by RoadEyePie
My advice is to go take the factory tour. See how the two are actually built. I did and I didn't buy one. It's enough money to warrant a trip to Indiana which isn't that far away.
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Interesting you made that comment but in 18 I was considering going back to a 5th wheel. I previously had a Solitude that didn't work for us due to factors not related to build quality. I tried to get a factory tour but we were in the Elkhart are around the time of the Elkhart RV show and many of the factories were suspending tours to set up for the show. I was also interested in the Vanleigh product since it's NOT from the IN area, it's associated with Tiffin which has a decent reputation within the motorhome community, and it was relatively close to me. I'm in south east AL, factory north east MS.
We were on a trip up through WI, across MI, down IN and then back with a side diversion to NE MS. While in the WI, MI states I went to several dealers that had the Vanleigh trailers, most were Vilano but some Beacon. Pretty BUT the quality of the build was abysmal. Under slide material torn of several, cabinets installed out of square, flimsy cabinets, awkward installation of interior and other significant QC issues on them. Remember these were trailers on dealer's lots, not ones waiting to be fixed and shipped. I arranged a factory tour on our last leg of the trip quite frankly excited to see what I hoped was going to be an impressive tour.
Just the opposite. Factory was filthy, nothing is cleaned up during the day. Cabinets with obvious flaws were installed or sitting ready to be installed. Our group got a chance to crawl around everything there from Vilano to Beacons. Only one of the group was impressed and that was a new owner trying to defend his decision. I really doubt that tour resulted in any sales, likely just the opposite. At that time I wrote up a "factory tour report" on the new forum dedicated to the Vanleigh with the other things we saw. I also left some comments from the tour asking to be contacted. No one did.
Bottom line I was expecting and hoping for a good view of the product. I came away with the feeling that Bob Tiffin's work and business ethics did not pass down to Van or Leigh Tiffin and the Vanleigh trailer was the result. Seeing the finished product and the way they were assembled left a real bad and disappointed taste for me. I saw that last year sometime Tiffin put their name on them so maybe Bob kicked some butt and made changes. But now they have sold to Thor and I don't see that as good. I still can't put a Vanleigh on my wish list of 5th wheels to own.
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