A warranty is meaningless to the guy out in the boonies and his sidewall just split becasue the wood failed.

I think you need to look at the travel trailer market over the past 20 years or so to gain a little insight. Most manufacturers have gone to a fully welded cage platform on which they build their trailers for one reason... the wood framed models were causing them fits. You see very few models these days with wood framing, and the reason is obvious.

Yes it is a way to keep the costs down, and if you pull it only occasionally, you probably will not have any problems with it. But if you are pulling it every weekend, and putting thousands of miles on it each year... well, I guess that is what warranty's are for right? You could look at it another way too, the other guys don't NEED to waranty theirs due to not having any problems any longer...

I have not heard of any new technological breakthrough in materials, nor do I see the RV industry switching back to wood enmasse.

Just be aware of the isues, and weigh the cost savings against the possibilities.... Either way, enjoy the deal...

 

I agree with you on one thing that if you are in the boonies and your trailer has a split through the side wall things pretty much suck at that point for anybody with any trailer with any warrenty......in terms of warrenties though I have to disagree with your take on that. A company puts a warrenty on their product because they can stand behind it; essentially what they are saying is we believe our product is good enough to stand the duration of our warrenty. A company cannot AFFORD to warrenty a product that is unreliable or untested or they would loose their shorts because they would constantly be fixing a poor or faulty product and in turn loosing thousands and thousands of dollars. This is how I view warrenties.

 

Thanks for welcoming me[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] They are unmatched in their warrenty because they can stand behind their product. We looked and so..........many toyhaulers all they way up to the Holiday Rambler Next Level (very, very spendy) and with their special C channel aluminum frame. You know what their warrenty was: Five years on the chassis, roof, sidewalls, floor decking and rubber roof. 1 year bumper to bumper. I am sorry but if you are spending that kind of money they better give me a new if anything happens to it 2 years or 10 years from now[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]!

 

Oh I don't think I can go along with your warranty view... They are in my mind nothing more than marketing gimmicks... I think manufacturers know full well what the capbilities of their products are... and they know in order to get their product to a certain price point, that some corners may have to be cut to get it there. You can either do that by not including all the bells and whistles, or by using cheaper materials. (Note I don't like that word, but it fits in this case.) It Does not mean that their product will not provide a certain level of service life...

Putting a warranty on a product is OK.... but don't think that it represents a better than average product because of it. They know full well that in most cases, the trailer is not going to get all that much use... and in case it does, they are going to fix it either way. They can't afford not to with today's Internet connected customers so ready to unsheath the sword and tear them up if they didn't.

I speak from personal experience from having a front seam split at speed on a weekend I was racing at a regional... Thank God for 100 mile an hour tape... OF course I didn't tell you that I had earlier that night had the tow vehicle and trailer about 10 off the ground at about 80 MPH when I chose to ignore one of those little signs that said "bump" in the road. Turned out to be a 10 ft tall bump for a railroad crossing.... and I hit it at Warp speed...

Imagine a much overloaded 73 Pinto towing a 12ft, enclosed trailer at 80 MPH, 10 ft in the air.. now imagine the sound it made when it landed.. and the mess inside the trailer that was the result. It kind of reminds me of that Toyota commecial with Darrel Waltrip jumping his truck towing a boat over some cars. Only mine was real, not a fake deal...

We limped it home, and I quit racing that very day!

Ah youth...

 

Any trailer can leak, gotta check seals about every 3-6 months depending on use. And aluminum CAN corrode if any unlike metal touches it within the side walling. We were all hot on the aluminum thing until we did some research. One thing that happens with aluminum that made us steer away was the aluminum has a tendency to sweat within the wall due to heat inside cold outside. Sometimes you can actually see the entire outline of your steel frame inside your trailer when you wake up in the morning. So moisture is then in contact with your insulation, wall boarding etc. I don't know about you but I suspect that would cause some mildew issues eww[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img] Just some food for thought. I personally think any trailer will have its issues some sooner than later. I mean lets face your pulling a house down the road at 70 mph[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Well lets just agree to disagree on this[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] Obviously we both have our oppinions both have their valid points