shower walls bubbling, ripped caulking

A few things could have caused it, none of them terminal or permanent. But only you can decide if it's a deal breaker.

Sounds like you got the Friday afternoon 'Pod. My condolences. However, why do you think you can't both haul your gear and take water? The axle is not THAT weak. You do have to be selective in how much stuff you take. It is only a small space after all. Even with a full water tank, you should still have over 400 lbs of cargo capacity remaining. The really heavy stuff can go in your Tacoma. We did two trips across the US from NC to AZ and back plus trips up to NY and VT loaded and most of the time with a full tank of water (at least to start). We had no problems with the axle.

I agree that fit and finish leaves something to be desired. I had a bunch of issues myself. However, I just fixed the small stuff myself and did some modifications in the process. The TV is a peeve. Why put a 110V model in when a 12V model would have made much more sense? I bought a small inverter to power it as that cost less than buying a 12V TV.

I think if you find Forest River products unacceptable, you would find much of the competition equally unacceptable. I did not want to pay $40,000 or more for a trailer. I did not expect an Airstream for the price I paid.

From the little experience I've had with travel trailers, none of them seem to be very well built.  They necessarily use light and flimsy materials which always leads to things falling apart.  But weight is their bane and if they used stronger stuff, the trailer would be much more costly and/or heavier.  As for electrical and plumbing quality, there is no excuse for lousy workmanship except that they are pushing for fast assembly and that inherently leads to errors.  I doubt any of the manufacturers pay very well, so pride of workmanship is also wanting.  

Dealer tech is trimming, reseating and resealing the shower insert; they checked multiple new 2018 units, all have the same issue; insert too tall for the space-FR has been notified by written dealer notification.

Having realistic expectations is healthy.