This spring, after
spending several days with my new r-pod at home, I was somewhat shocked by the low quality of its construction. Perhaps my disappointment was the result of
unrealistic expectations held by someone new to RV’s, my wife would say that is at least 50% of it.... I'll just say, that better quality control is certainly possible.....
This summer I took the unit on the road for over a month with my kids. For the most part it held up and functioned as it should, although a few things did break after about a month of use.
I have finally gotten around to organizing and posting some photos of these issues. Hopefully this will help folks manage their expectations when considering a new r-pod. First I show the issues the camper arrived with, then I the issues that came up after a month on the road.
One of the first things I noticed was every time I pulled the trailer I would see saw dust on the floor, the reason for this became clear as I began to make some modifications. Each time I removed a drawer or panel I found the hidden areas filled with saw dust and dropped screws and small trash.
Another build issue is just about every screw you look at inside the camper is over driven, often cracking the wood framing:
The framing under the microwave was cracked
I found stapling that often missed the framing:
I found holes drilled like this-
The installation of the outside tag light left a space in the kitchen cabinet open to day light
The bathroom door frame is not flush on its corner, and had an area of sloppy glue work:
The wiring under the fridge gets pinned on the face of the panel it is supposed to go behind (this had separated the panel from some of its staples) leaving these hoses visible/exposed:
After a few days at home I noticed some torn rubber on the floor, I then found this torn area in the gasket/seal on the slide out
This is what my right tail light looked like after I drove home from the dealer thru some rain. (Actually it was 3/4 filled with water until I drilled a small hole to drain it. & I am happy to report none of the other exterior lights has leaked and this one still works and did not leak once I added some caulk)
One of the more serious defects in my r-pod was the fridge. After a few days of use in a humid environment it would become filled with condensation, which would cause the open door sensor to start beeping (which is exactly what it should do even if the door is closed because the fridge is not sealed!). After looking on line I saw this was happening to a lot of people. The only the "fixes" I read were to stop that sensor from working properly -to stop its beeping. Those who took the time to force FR or their dealer to replace these fridges were seeing the new fridges reproduce the issue. This indicated that FR's supplier was delivering fridges that were not sealed. So I took off the heat sinks in my fridge and discovered large gaps between the fridges plastic liner and the insulation behind it at these openings. I sealed those interfaces with SI caulk and also caulked the exit holes for 2 wires that were not sealed. I also put some ear plugs in the four screw holes just inside the door. Since then my fridge has run for 2 months without issue. I'm not certain where it was leaking from (behind the heat sinks, the wire exit holes or the screw openings or all those locations). But it is clear my fridge was not sealed and now it is. Here is a look behind the lower heat sinks showing the gap between the plastic fridge liner and the fridges insulation. This is before I sealed that interface with Si caulk; the photo also shows one of the unsealed wire holes.
And now for some items more of a nit picking nature (if I'm not already doing that...)
The screws used on the kitchen curtain track block its movements
The bolt on my propane tank clamp was bent
Some velcro tabs on the r-dome were just placed wrong
The lower track for the r-dome skirt does not allow the skirt peice of the dome slide to behind the wheel due to the location of these wires. (Without the skirt I found the r-dome mostly just collects bugs on the inside.)
The window locks cannot close when the window is open (they hit the glass) and when the locks are open they get in the way of the blinds-
Given my impression of the initial quality I was nervous heading from the East coast to travel all over the West for a solid month with my family. But I was surprised how well the unit held up. For the most part, after I fixed the fridge, the r-pod 179 functioned as it should.
A couple of things broke after a solid month of travel, lucky for me this did not happen until literally our last day on the road. First the slide out began to open on its own while we were driving. I traced that issue to the switch on the wall used to open and close it and have ordered a new one for $20. It surprises me this switch can fail in this way given the potential consequences. I understand any mass produced units will have some failures, but one could design this switch such that failure would mean no signal not signal when you don't want it. I was able to close my slide out and then remove the fuse to its motor to get home. I have on order a new switch :)
The fantastic fan was another other thing that stopped working after a month, -and this not until I was parked at home on the final day. It seems water collects on top of the fan (on the roof under the hinged skylight) in a pocket/hole just for the fantastic fan switch. On my camper, the only thing keeping this pooled water from the back of this switch was a round adhesive/sticker/tape. After a month the back of my switch got enough water in it to stop working. Another easy repair and something else Si caulk might fix nicely. But looking at how and why this switch failed after a month, -again I am "somewhat shocked" by the lack of effort to make a durable or quality product. Maybe they just forgot to add some caulk behind my fantastic fan switch on my camper. (I am adding a couple sentences about this switch failure a week after my initial post of these photos. I have had time today to take the fantastic vent fan apart and better understand my issue. Behind the switch there is nothing to stop water from getting into the switch, -just an small circular insect screen. I assume this means the switch gets hot and requires ventilation. I did not know this and thus the failure of my fan is really my fault, because as I usually drove down the road with the vent cover raised a few inches even in the rain, -to give my camper fresh air during the day. I guess the fan cover must always be closed while driving in rain because this switch is exposed on purpose.)
The other issues are cosmetic. The edging of the kitchen counter top has begun to slightly separate /come unglued near the stove top. The same thing is happening to a panel seem behind the stove. This failure of glue surfaces may be associated with the heat generated by the stove as we sometimes made pancakes and coffee on our trip:
After a month on the road I noticed this caulk start to fall off the top of a slide out seam:
One final complaint is this sticker on my r-pod which in the excitement of buying I failed to really ponder:
This could be translated to "Your brand new $13K camper is guaranteed not to leak for 3 months."
And speaking of the owners manual, its is a very bizarre thing. It is not a manual for the rpod 179 or even r-pods in general. It is a "manual" for an abstracted /generalized RV camper trailer that is at once applicable to every RV trailer ever sold and useless to any particular trailer owner. Did anyone else get a manual specific to what they bought? If so please let me know, I find the "manual" I got to be quite bizarre. I did get manuals for the fridge, oven, TV and radio that are more specific.
Well I hope this post helps others who are considering a new r-pod purchase to have more realistic expectations than I had going into my purchase. Despite my frustration with my 179 quality, it is a fact that my kids and I could not have had a better time traveling the West this summer. If I had a "do over" on my purchase, I might look for someone selling a fully tested / repaired camper with their mods & improvements at a lower cost.