RPod 195 Review - SCARY Reading

On 09-18-20 we bought a new R-Pod 195 from Wilder RV in Port Angeles, WA for $26,190.  We are going to keep it but we have a lot of complaints about the cheap construction, which is so tragic because it could have easily been done so nice and sturdy. Here are our complaints from our first outing:

 1. Nice pantry with astonishingly cheap plastic clips holding up the shelves. In the first week, the clips snapped off and the groceries came crashing down. We could not even close the pantry door. Groceries rolled everywhere as we drove. NO,  we were not overloading the shelves, just normal groceries. Forest River, please use unbreakable, adjustable METAL clips.

2. The front screen door attaches to the exit door by a cheap plastic clip that does not hold. The two doors separate constantly when they shouldn’t, causing struggles on enter/exit. Soon something will break. Yes, we did adjust it. Your clip design is too shallow and should be metal.

3.Someone is knocking at our door and we have no way to see who it is! Because the door is frosted glass. Are they friend or hatchet murderer? Forest River, you must add a peak hole or a small panel of clear glass. Strangers come and go all the time in RV parks.

4. All the window unlocking clips are also cheap plastic and won’t last.

5. Stove design . . .there is a DEEP CRACK around all four edges of the stovetop. Filth falls in this crack while your are cooking and wiping up. The crack is so deep and narrow that you can NEVER get the dirt out of there. This is a filthy and dangerous design. You cannot even lift this burner plate up to clean up under it. Truly the worst possible design for food. There will be mold under there in no time. This is our strongest complaint about the R195.

6. The bathroom sink faucet spout does not reach the middle of the sink. It is too close to the back wall. Whenever you use this sink, water runs down the wall behind the faucets.

7. Bathroom sink cold water knob is backwards: LEFTY loosey. RIGHTY tighty, right? We should turn our faucets ON by turning left. But no, on this sink, the hot turns left but the cold turns RIGHT. They are opposite! This is impossible to get used to. The shower is also backwards the same way, so be prepared to burn yourself in the shower.

8. Did I mention the shower curtain rings? They are as teensy as angel hair pasta, and no bigger around than a penny. When you pull the curtain shut gently, the rings tear open and fall. I have a photo of this to show you.

9. The kitchen faucet design looks nice but pinches your finger. Right where you grab the faucet to turn it off, there is a crack that closes and pinches the heck out of your finger skin, no matter how careful you try to be.

10. The kitchen faucet tip should have been threaded so you can add a sprayer.

11. The mattress on the bed was so bad it would make a Bedouin cry. We immediately replaced it. Why not give people a decent mattress and make them like you? Or just no mattress at all, because you just wasted your money on this. 

12. The baseboard trim between floor and side walls fell off in the first week. Jeez.

Now for the slide-out and sofa area:

13. When the slide moves, the bottom of the slide drags on the top of the fender outside. Not good.

14. The two cube-shaped floor cushions make extra sleeping at night, but destroy all your floor walking space during the day. If you try to sit on these cubes, you will go flying backwards and nearly kill yourself. Goodbye cubes.

15. The back cushion on the sofa sits low and feels like a bad back support. Your body is pushed forward but your head bumps backward onto the wall. Thus, there really is NO comfortable way to sit down in this RV while watching TV. You are forced to lie on the bed. The entire sofa area on the RP195 should be replaced with the dual recliner shown in RPod202. 

16. The board underneath the sofa cushions is extremely thin wallboard, not even thin plywood. My husband and I made the mistake of both sitting down on it at the same time and we heard a loud crack. We are not overweight. This board is also the floor of the slide with a wheel below it so the thinness worries me for long term. You all know that Forest River is trying to keep the weight down but we still need to be safe.

17. Thank you for reading this. Any feedback is appreciated. The staff at Wilder RV took good care of us but they could only fix things that were broken. They could not address the cheap construction. I hope we will hear from Forest River and that they will take this to heart.

Steve and Carol Dwyer  steve1dwyer@gmail.com