Am I the only one coming home with something broken on every trip so far?

With my clipper, I had the carb rebuilt after one trip. About a year later, the engine blew - ended up rebuilding the engine and replacing the carb.

Right now, I won't go camping solo in the clipper until I get one trip with a friend. After the burglary, I am just worried that they messed something up that I haven't found and I'd rather not find it out there alone.

 

Campers are made to break, the shops are making bank! Currently BOTH my rigs are in the shop!

 

Only twice that I can remember. First time after buying the pu new the converter went bad and blew every single bulb in the pu. Several trips later a cable broke while putting the top down. Actually I think it slipped off a pulley b/c the top just didn't want to go down and I had to hang on the top while someone else let it down.

 

I keep a notebook on me while camping to jot down needed fixes and upgrades.

My smartphone has become my notebook... while camping, if I see something that needs attention I take a picture of the problem area. When home reviewing pictures of my trip I see something I took a picture of which then jogs my memory and I then fix or take care of that problem. I am a big believer of taking care of the small stuff before it becomes a BIG thing.

 

AGREE!!! lol

 

Bought a new Aliner last year, used it once but so far have had to replace the sink faucet and re plumb it. Had to re attache all the countertops now need some tape on the side wall that fell off. Don't know what would happen if we actually camped in it.

 

It's actually comforting to see these posts. I thought I was going crazy. Purchased a brand new Flagstaff in 2016 and it has been in the shop more times than I can count. It's infuriating to spend that much money and feel like you have something so delicate and cheaply made. Also, why did I spend the money for the extended warranty? The only thing that has really been covered is the motor which has started smoking, quit or didn't quit (yep that happened once....wouldn't shut off). Looking back, I wish we would have taken time to build something custom and not purchased a factory piece. Oh well.... we are still camping!

 

New Starcraft popup in 1995. Use it 1-2 times a month year-round. Can't think of one trip that I have not repaired something. Heater, Refer, hot water tank have always worked. Replaced AC unit last year. Canvas is now shot and do you spend $900 on a replacement one? The rest of the trailer is good as the day we purchased it.

 

Oh yeah. I forgot the A/C failed. Worked during PDI but never again, took it out and threw it away and patched the hole

 

Reading about all this grief is why we adhered to the KISS camper program. (Keep It Simple Stupid)

 

We take tools with us because that's the way it goes.
Rosanna Rosanna Danna said "It just goes to show ya, it's always sumthin'"

 

My last big trip when we were out in California i noticed my spare tire was about to fall off. I had to replace part of the nuts and washers to retighten the spare tire. Having that fall off going down the road would’ve been bad.

 

Every trip, expect some problem to pop-up. And you thought the name had something to do with the roof, right?

 

I think that the key is to keep just enough things broken that it never feels fixed. We bought our pup lightly used and it had a long list of things to either repair or remediate from what the manufacturer didn’t do properly. When you take the panels off and see what’s underneath you can tell that they just try to build these things as quickly as possible with little care for quality. Furthermore, a lot of the accessories haven’t been redesigned in decades. I think that has some pros and some cons. On the cons side there is little improving, but on the pros side, there is plenty of information about how to do repairs and replacement parts are more widely available. The thing that aggravates me is that you can’t always order spare parts through the internet. I don’t like dealing with dealer parts departments. It always feels like you’re being taken advantage of.

 

2 best days of a boater's life? The day it was purchased & the day it was sold.

Some say it applies to campers/RV's as well.

Personally I had real no illusions when I jumped back into camping last summer after a 10yr hiatus.

My '96 Starcraft 2106 had its list issues too that surprised me as a "newb", but I'll admit my '14 FLAGSTAFF MAC has caught me a bit off-guard with it's fair share of "little" WTH?!?! issues and things breaking that I've been forced to repair $$$$ /replace/modify. The list is surprisingly long.

Lets put it this way. It's 6 yrs old. I bought it last July after driving 500 miles to get it. I spent 4hrs AT THE DEALERSHIP fixing it personally in the repair shop before I hauled it home because their RV tech had little to no idea how to repair a pup. (that a story for another post)

That SHOULD have been a sign. (so the wifey tells me) But no..... sigh.

DO we love to camp in our pup? Yep. I'm hoping we are ahead of the "curve" now. Nothing to fix on the last 2 trips Whew....

 

And half the people at the dealer places don't have a clue. I have had more luck searching Amazon for parts than at the local "dealer'.