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. 

When we got our 179, it did not have a manual for the microwave. We went to our dealership advised them that we did not get a manual...................bam! They got us a manual. 

Make the dealership where you bought your pod accountable and they will motivate Forest River when needed.

Jay, once I saw that pod and all the things you photograph, I would have hauled it right back to the dealership and has a little walk through with the warranty person (and her camera) and the service manager so he could line up the repairs for the tech person to complete.

For me, things not working right like a leaking tail light, unsealed fridge, and broken switches are more easily and quickly repaired by doing it myself, than by hauling the camper to the dealership to have the warranty enforced. 

A dealership can not improve on the r-pod's overall  build quality even if it wanted to. FR could do a better job of quality control, and I suspect they did a few years back. I hope my photos here inspire them to get back on track.

I agree with you 100% on the items your listed and pictured, the frig will be taken apart tomorrow and caulked along with the fan switch, per your notes.  I'm an old construction engineer and also fix things myself as the dealer techs don't know much more about a particular model than we do.  We just got back from a 26 day trip from south Texas to the Apostle Islands on lake superior and all worked well on the R-179 with only a few minor repairs needed.  Also the outside shower box installed over the electrical service plug really bothers me as a design engineer, I had to put a plastic baggie & rubber band on it, just because.

I only got fed up with the frig alarm and after following everyone's advice/repairs on this site I finally resorted to taking the control panel apart, removing the circuit board and drilling a hole in the alarm's diaphragm, peace at last, peace at last, I don't care about any consequences from my actions, good Lord we have peace at last.  My wife said if that frig beeps one more time I'm going back to ice chests like the old pop up camper days. Thanks for all your efforts in making a great post for others to see and learn from.

Carl

CFWarren, My 179 was made in Ohio. One of the two 179s I saw this summer was a hood river edition 179, and I thought its quality was comparable to my unit. Keep in mind I documented every imperfection I found while making some mods over a couple weeks. I suspect a week or two crawling around in most units could produce similar photos, -but I do not know that is true.

I didn't notice it until a month after we purchased our 2015 179. One morning, I saw a glow around the cabinet door and wondered where that sunlight came from. The hole is big enough to allow mice, bugs, whatever to enter the pod. I don't know if spray insulation is big enough to cover it, and I'm looking for some round plastic covers to allow the water & drain lines through but cover the rest.

Actually, the only reason we are buying from them is of course price, but we are attending a big motorcycle event in Huntsville, Al from 3-6 September. I figured they are only 6 hrs out of the way to save $3000.00 is worth the trip. I probably would not have went that far away to make the purchase if we weren't planning to be that close. I did have them put in the agreement that if the pod is not available for pick up on the 7th of Sept., I would receive a full refund. I didn't want to take a chance on it not being there by the time we return to Texas. 

Anyway, I know it's not going to be perfect, I just hope for no deal killers . If there are issues that are so bad,and I'll loose a grand but I won't complete the purchase if there are major issues. 

I'll report back on whether they do the walk through prior to completing the purchase. Now that could be a deal killer. If they want me to trust them I ask for trust in return. 

Jay I didn't mean to hi-jack your thread, your post has been an eye opener. Thanks for posting!!!

See the link in my signature for our own version of the "manual".

Others may show some sloppy workmanship but don't really hurt anything IMHO: sawdust and junk in hidden compartments, jagged slivers around holes in hidden areas caused by the use of a spade bit rather than a hole saw. Wiring that looks like a plate of spaghetti. I found these things in my pod too, and that's just because it's a mass produced RV.

Others things are unacceptable and are the kinds of things I saw during a recent walk-thru of the new models in WV. I saw those over-driven screws causing cracks, and that is un-excusable and would be a deal breaker for me. I saw staples that are so far off the mark they completely miss their target or are left uncovered by trim. That's sloppy workmanship pure and simple, maybe caused by rushed employees. Gaping holes way too big to compensate for sloppy placement under lights and around pipe. Part of my job was to make assembly jigs and fixtures for auto assembly and I can tell you they are in desperate need of some at FR. Raw edges of exposed fabric sticking out. How could anybody see that and think it's OK?

I have found and fixed a few of these in my old pod, but didn't have nearly the problems you have. I sealed some holes with spray foam and tightened some screws here and there. I also had to countersink and reinstall some of the screws in the rdome track. Other things that have come up over the years are to be expected and are normal wear and tear. Broken drawer slides, cracked light covers, leaky window weatherstripping, loose trim.

Another FYI: the original pods didn't come with fender lights or a rear light bar, so when they were retrofitted after a recall I found the wiring to the fender lights blocked the rdome skirt. I added inline plugs to the wires on that side so I could pass the skirt through that area. Just have to remember to plug them back in before we go back on the road. I'm happy with the quality of my old pod, and the kind of issues you point out are exactly the thing that keeps me from trading it in on a newer model or upgrading to a larger model. I'm afraid of the problems that may crop up.

About the only thing that really bugs me about my pod right now is that those da@#med graphics keep peeling off. FR replaced the front ones for me (well out of warranty at the Goshen rally a few years ago) but now the sides are peeling off. Not just FR's problem though, if you look around a bit you'll see that's pretty widespread. 

It confirm my choice (as you can see in my sig) we will be buying our first Rpod used becauseof those quality control issues.

thx-a-lot for your work/time.

The connection is supposed to be waterproof, but I agree you shouldn't be tempting fate. 

fred

That depends...

Wife is partial to http://www.safaricondo.com/en/caravanes - Safari Condo

I would like to see what http://www.livinlite.com/camplite-overview.php - Camplite has to offer.

And, of course, I wanna walk through all the gizmo displays.

fred

We just sold ours after 5 beautiful years with it.

Moving back to trailer.

N

As to quality, I haven't found many shortcomings, that weren't easily repaired, with my "older" unit.  

While we are knocking FR, take into account they will repair almost any problem you bring to their attention, regardless of the trailer's age, free of cost at the International Rally.

 i do have the tow package on my truck, which gives me larger battery/alternator, a 7 pin trailer plug and extra transmission cooling. Other than the 7 pin harness which u must have for the trailer brakes, Im not sure if the other  things are needed for an rpod. My truck pulled the 179 without much strain, I could accelerate up hills no problem.  I only got about 11mpg.  Hope this helps.

The service department jumped right to work on prep and we started our walk through at 1pm. Can't say enough good things about the way this purchase went. First let me say there was no mention of completing the sale prior to the prep or walk through. As a matter of fact we were allowed to watch dealer prep prior to our walk through. All persons from Brannon our salesman to Mike our prep/demonstration person in the service department were extremely professional and courteous. One of the other guys in the service department, I assume the service manager, didn't get his name, came by and informed us that if there was anything we were not satisfied with just let him know and it would be taken care of. I am totally satisfied with the buying experience, best I've ever experienced. Not like buying a new car at all. 

Now for the trailer. My wife and I dug really deep based on the information in this review, which by the way was extremely helpful. We found only a couple of the issues that are listed in this review, so thanks for the heads up. Otherwise, watched it being prepped and cleaned really good. Maybe that was because we were present, but a good job was performed. 

Mike did the hitch set up, appears to work just fine from the dealer back to the motel we eventually booked due to being tired of the wife's relatives. I had already installed a P2 brake controller but Mike got in the TV and made a few adjustments and the drive back to motel was great. I had an E2 hitch installed. We will be getting on the road back to Texas around 0500 hrs tomorrow. 

I hope this review of Jeff Couch's RV nation helps someone about deciding whether to purchase from them or not. Now we'll just see how the POD holds up. 

We only had minor dealings with the finance guy as we had a cashier's check for our purchase so can't comment about financing other than he tried really hard to sell us a $1649.00 four year extended warranty. Of course we refused thanks to this forum. I did read here or on the other one about other extended plans that are much cheaper if we decide to purchase one.