Archive - Aluminium Camper Forum

I get the feeling that the average TT customer expects to find a laundry list of issues from any new TT they purchase, and that the manufacturer or dealer will fix those issues during the warranty period. That was also my expectation, and has turned out to be my experience. The expectations that my new purchase might be less than perfect came in part from reading all the issues reported by customers on this forum. But hope springs eternal in the heart of a camper, and with all the things that LL is doing right, a glimmer of hope remained that LL's manufacturing processes would match their superiority in other respects: all aluminum construction, access to every pipe and almost every wire, wires in wire wrap, and grommets at penetrations, etc.

My definition of a defect includes only those issues where a feature or component does not function as designed. A cheap thermostat that, after enough jiggering and cursing, does keep the camper temperature within a reasonable temperature range, is not a defect. It was selected by the manufacturer based on cost and customer quality expectations, and is functioning just as it was designed. But a toilet that does not hold water, an electrical connection with an open circuit, lights that flicker, doors that don't seal, brakes that lock: those are all defects in my book. And in my case, their root cause can all be traced back to the manufacturer's failure to perform work correctly, or the manufacturer's failure to identify and avoid installing defective components.

I am not greatly disappointed with the number or severity of the issues I've found thus far. With the possible exception of the loose brake wire, none of the issues posed even a remote safety risk. I'd have to say that the overall number of defects found thus far is roughly in line with my expectations, and also in line with what I've seen reported on this forum and forums of other TT manufacturers. All the core advantages of LL, particularly the design of their frame and shell, puts them well ahead of the pack in my opinion. And those core advantages should lead to far fewer reliability issues down the road, once all the new-product issues have been identified and resolved. In short, I'm still a LL happy camper.

As helpful as the checklists can be, finding every issue during a PDI is unrealistic. I scoured this forum, took notes, and when we picked up up the unit our dealer actually did spend over four hours with us demonstrating and testing each component (talk about a dealer going above and beyond - thanks D&H RV Center!). Yet only one of the six defects found thus far was identified at that PDI. The others were found after towing the camper home, and still more when we took it on the first overnight trip to a full-hookup RV park. Not everyone is so lucky as to have a good LL dealer located 10-minutes from their front door, but for those who have the option of saving hundreds on the sales price, or purchasing from a reputable dealer located closer to home, I think they are likely to be happier with the latter choice.

Mine is but a single data point, and does not make a trend. I'm happy to learn that LL (and perhaps all TT manufacturers) may routinely crank out defect-free products. That's great for us consumers. But it also means that there isn't so much room for manufacturers to improve - so perhaps there's not much opportunity for LL to have products that stand out from the pack of nearly-perfect travel trailers - except for the widely-understood benefits of the all-aluminum construction. Reading the great experiences of others gives me hope that now with the brakes, lighting, shore power, cargo door seals, toilet, and black tank rinse all squared away, there will be no other issues with our brand new 14DB. It's time to go camping!

We recently completed the maiden voyage with our new 14DB: a two-night stay at a full-hookup campground at the beach. We were able to test just about every aspect of the trailer, so you might want to consider checking for the issues we discovered. Here's what I would suggest:

1. Check that the outside cargo doors open and close easily, and inspect seals to make sure they are not torn.
2. Check interior lighting and switches. Tap gently on light fixtures and main wall switch while looking for any flickering or dimming of the lights.
3. Connect to shore power and check that all electrical appliances using it are powered, including main battery charging.
4. Ask the dealer to check the adjustment of all the brakes and confirm brake wiring - or have dealer affirm that this has already been done.
5. Check that the toilet seals so that the bowl holds water - if no water is supplied to the unit use a cup of water to test.
6. Carefully inspect any after-market work performed by the dealer to confirm it was done per manufacturer's directions.

I picked up the trailer and all is well. My dealer took care of me once again. I've got to hand it to D&H RV Center, they are patient and accommodating when it comes to taking care of their customers. My sincere thanks goes out to them.

The trailer had been sitting in extended rain, and I drove the trailer home on wet roads. Moisture, if present inside the wheels, did not seem to affect the braking. Likewise, the brake controller once adjusted correctly (which it is now thanks again to D&H) also seemed to perform correctly. The dealer had corrected the loose wire and re-adjusted all four brakes, and there was a noticeable improvement in braking after that work was done - and no more locking up on pavement. Eventually I may replace the controller with a more modern design (Tekonsha P3 or similar), but with properly working brakes I'm pretty happy with the Reese.

A word of advice to other newbie "timed" controller unit owners: when first attempting to adjust the controller's settings, be sure to adjust the timing setting (the "sync control" on the Reese) somewhere near the middle of its settings range. What is meant by "timing" is actually the rate at which the controller ramps up the trailer braking force from zero to the current output control level setting. If the ramp rate is set to be too rapid ("aggressive" in Reese parlance) then it increases the chances of having the brakes lock up - and makes for jerky stops, especially at slow speeds or when backing up. If the ramp rate is set too long then there can be an unacceptably long delay between pressing the TV brake pedal and the moment when trailer braking is applied.

It sounds to me like the travel trailer manufacturers are in approximately the same state as automobile manufacturers about 40 years ago. No one seemed to have figured out how to make reliable cars until the Japanese manufacturing processes began cranking out autos with nearly zero defects. Neither customers nor dealers should be responsible for fixing problems with design and manufacture. And the marketing departments can only be effective at keeping market share so long as there are no better alternatives. CL/LL has addressed a huge number of quality and maintenance issues with their choice of aluminum for the structure of their products. Now if they can fix their manufacturing and design issues they might become a dominant player in their market.

Ok, I'll climb off my soap box now... it's time to pick up the trailer.

I got around to picking up the RV yesterday. As I was pulling out of the lot the brake lock-up issue occurred again, and an employee observed it and flagged me down. It was only the left front wheel that was locking up, and doing so consistently on both gravel and dry pavement. I tried driving about a mile down the highway with light brake pressure applied for several hundred yards, then turned around and came back to the lot. Upon returning with warm dry brakes the issue did not seem to happen at all, neither on pavement nor even on gravel.

Talking it over with the service staff, they informed me that after approximately 300 miles towing a new trailer, it would be a good idea to inspect and adjust the brakes. It sounded good to me, so I left the trailer there. Now I've just received a phone message from the service department informing me that "... it came down to a wire and the electromagnet not being fully connected, so it wasn't applying full power to that one brake. And the other brake was giving more power. So we reattached that, readjusted it, and everything seems to be working great." I will be picking up the unit tomorrow and can provide a final update after towing it, but it appears that this was likely an electrical issue. Interestingly, an electrical issue that behaved in many respects just as one might expect from moisture intrusion.

This is the third electricity-related issue I've encountered with this brand new travel trailer. The other two involved the shore power connecter, and the ceiling lighting inside the unit. The dealer has been friendly and eager to help with each issue, which I appreciate very much! But those issues, plus a like number of non-electrical issues that the dealer has also addressed, make me wonder about the overall quality of the CL (and LL) products. The aluminum construction is great, but there's more to a camping trailer than the shell. This is my first-ever purchase of a travel trailer of any kind, so perhaps my experience is typical for every TT manufacturer... a sad thought, but a great opportunity for a company out there that learns how to manage their manufacturing processes effectively.

We've got a 2008 model year Honda Pilot. But it was gently used, never used to tow, and has less than 30,000 miles on it. I had the Reese controller installed by a reputable aftermarket hitch installer. The Pilot did not have the towing kit, and the dealer had to install the round 7-pin trailer connector when they installed the brake controller (and hitch). That work was done several years ago, long before we purchased the 14DB, but we never used it to tow before now. The trailer connector and brake controller test out good electrically, and have shown no serious problems (so far as I can determine with my limited experience) except for the low-speed lock-up issue.

A bad cold may delay picking up the trailer today, but I'll try testing with warm, dry, brakes here in the next few days.

Thanks for everyone's feedback thus far. The plan right now is to pick up the trailer tomorrow, tow it for a few miles and make sure the brakes are warm and dry, and then see if I can reproduce the problem.

Even the "Reese Brakeman Digital" documentation that comes with the unit makes no mention of proportional or accelerometer sensing - which I take to mean that it does not have it. Regardless my test results I'll give serious thought to replacing the Reese unit with a Tekonsha before negotiating that first 6% downhill grade. I wonder how easy they are to install? I would hope that I can reuse much of the Reese wiring, not the plug/play harness, but the wires going back to the connector in back and any battery connections.

I found the Tekonsha install instructions. These should help with some of my questions: http://tekonsha.com/support/installation/N90195.pdf

[quote source="/post/9128/thread" timestamp="1428687940" author="@charliem"][quote source="/post/9114/thread" timestamp="1428681072" author="@charlesscharlau"]We're using a "Reese Brakeman Digital" model 83500 electronic trailer brake control in our Honda Pilot TV. 


There are no other controller settings mentioned in the controller manual.

[/quote][font size="3"]This last statement concerns me. Is there no manual control that allows application of the trailer brakes without touching the TV brake pedal? If so, you definitely need a better controller. Manual control is an absolute necessity to control and correct sway. Your Reese unit appears to be a pretty low end model. I recommend upgrading to A Tekonsha P3.
[/font][/quote]The Reese Brakeman Digital controller does have a manual switch for applying trailer braking independent of pressing the TV brakes. I wouldn't call that a "setting", but merely a "feature". Apparently a fairly low-end feature at that. I'll definitely look into a better controller if this one proves to be a problem. The trailer had been sitting out for a week or more before the incident, so I'd have to say that moisture might have been present inside the brakes.

If it is purely the controller that is the issue, then I would be a little surprised if only a single wheel locked up. Wouldn't the controller be applying the same braking signal to all four wheels, and therefore one would expect that multiple wheels would lock? I do need to reproduce the problem in order to establish precisely what is happening, since I didn't get a good look at all the wheels. I could hear the skidding tire, but except for the noise I probably would not have noticed it was locking up: it wasn't doing a very efficient job of stopping the trailer - making me suspect that it was the single brake that had locked. Perhaps a brake adjustment issue? More moisture in some wheels than others?

I'm a newbie to travel trailers and towing, so anything that seems slightly out of the ordinary while towing our new CampLite 14DB sparks instant concern. So perhaps this is a non-issue. Here's the facts:

We're using a "Reese Brakeman Digital" model 83500 electronic trailer brake control in our Honda Pilot TV. I've now towed the brand new trailer a total of ~300 miles on very flat roads, mostly on the highway and city streets. I haven't noticed any lack of control, or severe jerkiness when stopping -- Just a little roughness when coming to a stop, or when backing the trailer into its storage location, all at slow speeds.

Recently when picking up the trailer at the storage unit, I glanced at the sideview mirror while braking at ~5 MPH, and noticed that one of the trailer's wheels was locking up. (It could have been more than one wheel, but my view was obscured.) It happened repeatedly on gravel, and on smooth dry asphalt as well. The digital controller "output control" was set to [b style="text-decoration:underline;"]3[/b] (on a scale of [b style="text-decoration:underline;"]0[/b] to [b style="text-decoration:underline;"]10[/b] with [b style="text-decoration:underline;"]10[/b] being maximum), and I found that by setting the output to 1 I was able to prevent the lock-up from occurring. But at the 1 setting I don't think that the amount of trailer braking would be adequate when 3 seemed about right when the technician tested my setup at time of delivery. BTW - The digital controller's "sync control" setting was set to "minimum aggressiveness" when the lock-up was occurring so I don't think that was the issue. There are no other controller settings mentioned in the controller manual.

The dealer, after listening to my description but without observing the lock-up behavior, told me that the low-speed lock-ups were normal, and nothing to be concerned about provided that the brakes were behaving normally at roadway speeds. Is that the experience of others on this forum?

When I get the trailer back I'm planning to test the brakes more carefully by taking a video of the braking behavior of all the trailer's wheels while slowing to a stop at various speeds. Our next trip is planned for the mountains, and I want to be confident that the brakes are working correctly before we go.

My wife and I picked up the 14 DB from D&H RV Center today. The dealer was very patient and helpful with us, answering all our questions, and helping us get comfortable with towing. As a bonus, D&H RV Center is located across the street from a business with a large empty (on weekends) parking lot that was perfect for practicing backing into parking spots. We're looking forward to the first camping trip... just need a little warm weather.

@nmken: How many years have you had the Calmark cover? Please update this thread with how the resolution process goes with Calmark!

Due to a short, steep driveway and a small yard, we are forced to store our CampLite trailer at a storage facility. Outdoor uncovered storage goes for $45 a month. Covered RV storage goes for $170 a month and up. Clearly uncovered is the economical route. Living in central North Carolina I think rain and high UV will both be elements from which the trailer would benefit from some protection when stored outside. I think that a quality breathable cover might be just the ticket to provide some protection without promoting external mold growth.

I wonder if anyone on the forum might have recommendations or advice regarding the best choices for RV covers in terms of protection they afford, and their ease of use? Also, any experience with choosing the best size: do they run large or small? Should the A/C affect one's cover size choice? Any gotchas to be aware of when using them?

After spending months researching campers, and years dreaming about swapping our tent for the relative luxury of a TT, we finally purchased a new 2015 14DB CampLite from a local dealer just yesterday. The dealer is installing factory-provided shelves above the queen bed, a microwave, and the black tank flush kit - features we wanted that were not included by the factory. We are scheduled to take delivery in a few weeks. The dealer has a very good reputation, and has been in business for many years, so we are optimistic that all will be in good order when we pick it up.

We are totally new to TT camping, so we've got a lot to learn. What did folks do in the days before on-line forums and YouTube? We would love to receive any advice from other CampLite customers regarding things to look for or ask about when we do our delivery walk-through. Of course we'll be scouring this forum for ideas as well.

The tow vehicle we plan to use is a Honda Pilot (4500 lb towing capacity). Hopefully it will be up to the task of hauling the 14DB. We live in central North Carolina, and are looking forward to trailer camping along the NC coast and in the mountains this spring. Hope to meet lots of other happy CL customers during our travels.