New 16 TBS Disappointment story

[jimt]

Not sure where or if I should post this here. Here goes anyway.
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Hi all

I know I'm new here and I'm now the owner of a new 2016 16ft TBS. First off let me say I'm happy with this purchase and think the camper will last us a long time with a little care. We are happy to know we have a camper that even wet will not rot away on us. It looks nice and is very light weight.
 
 That said let me express my huge disappointment in the quality of this campers build. As soon as you open the door a trim peace is staring at you and you know it was not fit correctly. It is about an inch too long and bows.  How could the employee putting this on not have known this? He had to. Lazy sorry craftsmanship is what that is. Also as many have spoken about on here. I will be cleaning up aluminum shavings for days and days. Again lazy workers not cleaning up after themselves. Only one speakers in the ceiling works and I can at this point assume they are not even wired correctly. There are a few more things I could go on about , but why bother. You get the idea.
 Yes I can fix all of these small things and it would not be a big deal had it been just one thing or issue. However at the price of these campers we should expect better craftsmanship and quality. Did Thor make it a one axle camper ? Yes. Did they use wood cabinets ? Yes. Did they cut cost in production yes. They did ad the 2nd step to the door way.  They had to I guess. Nobody was going to buy a camper you had to climb in to. Bottom line they did cut cost. Some of it I can understand. They are running a business after all.  However I'm at a loss as to why they allow such lazy workers to do such sorry work and not even clean up after themselves. I guess another cost cutting method is to cut out the QC too. For gosh sake you cant see that 2 of the lights are not set  in all the way and hang out with 1/4 inch gap from the ceiling?
 My only hope now is they did not make hidden cuts on the frame build, cutting out extra braces and such. Who knows ?

My rant is over now and I must now start fixing things and cleaning up the crappy work that Thor employees have preformed on my camper.
Does anybody know where I can send the bill to at Thor for my labor ?

Sadly disappointed in the works of Thor Industries employees.

JimT

[david]

JimT:

Thanks for sharing with us the teething problems with your new 16TBS. It might be interesting to contrast yours with our pre Thor 2013 16TBS, built during Scott Tuttle's watch.

It does have the aluminum shavings problem. Apparently that has been a CL legacy that will stay forever -as long as the ceiling is aluminum -;). But none of the other fit and finish issues that you describe- well, maybe a steel bracket or two underneath . Good craftsmanship really doesn't cost more money, you just have to have someone in production who cares.

And BTW, how is your two step step working? It has been the topic of much discussion in the past here with no simple fix. Could yours work with older CLs and if so can you tell us the brand? How about a close up picture of the step.

David

[jimt]

David

I will post a picture as soon as I can. Will also see if I can find out who makes it for them .
When we were looking at one in Claremont NC ( Carolina RV and Marine ) they had the one step on their 16TBS. Was a huge step up to enter the camper. The one we bought came from Sunny Island.
It makes the enter, exit much, much easier and safer. That last step is not a long way down like the one step was. My wife and I found this to be a huge improvement. I would think it mounts the same on older ones. Just has the extra fold down step. It is very light weight compared to our old campers heavy steel one.

Will update with pictures as soon as I can.

Jim T

[daplumbr]

No problem with posting frustrations. Most of us have been there and I empathize with your QC problems. No excuses really, for the QC issues LL and the rest of the RV industry has. I like the idea of sending Thor a bill    Once I got over my initial disappointment, my attitude has been that fixing all the QC problems has let me get to know my camper really well. Once you go camping, I bet you'll feel better!

[idlerockfarm]

All of the QC issues make me want to get a 2014 or 2015 when I upgrade and make me less eager to upgrade as well.  But, I know this isn't just a Livin Lite problem, and, in fact, it IS better over here than with most other brands.

[queen]

I really want the 16TBS, but my dealer will have to expend the energy to fix a long punch list when the time comes.  I'm moving to a camper because my body is too beat up to sleep on the ground anymore, so I'll be damned if I'll crawl around fixing a brand new camper.  And still disappointed that they went to a single axle.  *sigh*

[jimt]

[quote timestamp="1474307849" source="/post/24735/thread" author="@queen"] And still disappointed that they went to a single axle.  *sigh* [/quote]It is a downer , but not in anyway a deal breaker . At least they beefed up the one they put on now. Shame you're down for the count with a flat though. Speaking of, has anybody figured a way to remount the spare on the 16TBS. That under the frame is a disaster waiting to happen I think.


Jim T

[jimt]

David

You asked for a few images of the steps and I have tried to post them on here. Hopeless I guess.
I do have a link to the images on my Flickr account. At least you can see them there.

I would say that the one step model is only about 2 inches lower than my top step. Very high first step.
You would have to ask LL , but I think they mount the exact same way.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/45000801@N03/albums/72157674018993336


Jim T

[david]

[p]Jim:

Thanks for the step pics. Now we just have to find out who makes them.[/p][p]
[/p][p]Edit: I just found this on Amazon [a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lippert-341500-Double-Manual-Radius/dp/B00JMHHFVE/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1474330582&sr=8-16&keywords=rv+steps"]https://www.amazon.com/Lippert-341500-Double-Manual-Radius/dp/B00JMHHFVE/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1474330582&sr=8-16&keywords=rv+steps[/a][/p][p]
[/p][p]Is that it? You gotta love Amazon.

I also like the rear platform. It looks well built and supported.

Looking at one of your last pics, it appears as if you have dual LPG tanks, and an electric tongue jack, but have not installed batteries. Consider putting in two 6V golf cart batteries wired in series and installed in a Noco box. But that will add substantial tongue weight and you probably have a bunch already with the single axle rig.

David[/p]

[jimt]

David

Yes that one on Amazon is a dead ringer for mine. One steppers there ya go.

I think the picture was taken before the battery was mounted. It is a nice 75 amp hour battery. Deep cycle of course.
Sunny Island put that one on. It sits right behind the propane tanks about a foot. I do a lot of astronomy in the filed and I use 12 volt deep cycles for all of my equipment when I'm out there. I have 4 100 amp hour batteries for that . So if I really need battery power I have it.

 My only real issue now is finding a way to remount that spare tire. I hate it being under the camper like that.
Will have to carry it in the back of my truck for now.

Part of the reason for having a camper is my other hobby. Astronomy. There are many of us who gather to observe while camping. They call them star parties. I call it a field of nerds lol .

And just in case anyone is interested.

I run a small one myself called ECVAR.
http://nightskyobservatory.wixsite.com/ecvar

and my website is http://nightskyobservatory.wixsite.com/nightskyobservatory


Jim T

[charliem]

[quote timestamp="1474329454" source="/post/24754/thread" author="@david"][p]Jim:

Thanks for the step pics. Now we just have to find out who makes them.[/p][p]
[/p][p]Edit: I just found this on Amazon [a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lippert-341500-Double-Manual-Radius/dp/B00JMHHFVE/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1474330582&sr=8-16&keywords=rv+steps"]https://www.amazon.com/Lippert-341500-Double-Manual-Radius/dp/B00JMHHFVE/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1474330582&sr=8-16&keywords=rv+steps[/a][/p][/quote][font size="3"]There's a dimensioned drawing on E-trailer.com.[/font]

[jimt]

And the hits just keep on coming. I leave out today ( LATE NOW ) for our first trip with new 16 TBS. Last night I started the fridge on gas so it would be cool for items today.

UH YEAH ABOUT THAT. After troubleshooting with Sunny Island RV ( guy named Brad , good guy) We have found the Dometic fridge to be DOA also. Does not work on GAS or DC or AC.

 Now my one main trip of the year each year is kind of spoiled by this. I do have a cooler that I plug in and it does work about as well just can't freeze any items. This is just icing on the FREAKING CAKE. I am really starting to think Livin Lite's are a POS. OH and to top it off now my inside lights don't work after plugging in the cooler to the DC outlet. Hope it is just a blown fuse.
 Yes I can blame LL. They put it in and they should have tested it along with Sunny Island RV. To me this looks as if nobody did a dang thing. Again lazy useless workers. All the way around. Nobody must have waited around for it to get the coils hot in the back. only takes about 20 or 30 minutes. Then you know it is cooling. Does not matter that you can see the gas burner working if the coils don't get hot, just for get it. Same goes for the Ac and DC .

Oh they will cover it under warranty sure, but WHAT DA HAYEL ? I did not pay for a new camper to start warranty repairs before it even goes on it's first trip.

Really P O'd now with LL. Guess you can tell. Right now I say Don't buy a thing from LL. They are POS and if someone ask me I will say as much. I may even put a sign on the back of mine, saying do not even look at buying this POS , it's JUNK.

Rant over now.

Sorry.

Jim T

[hogtyd]

While unfortunate, your problems are not unique when it comes to the RV industry. I hope the dealer can get everything sorted out for you...once the initial problems are resolved it should still be much more durable then nearly any other camper.

[sheepcreek]

Jim,

ust read your post about the long list of problems with your brand new 16TBS. What a tremendous disappointment!

I am a new owner of a Camplite TT as well (picked up a 2015 16DBS a few months ago). During the orientation the technician warned us about the fridge. He mentioned that it was one of the most common phone calls they get at the dealership. He told us to run the fridge for at least one day and one night (at setting #2), as it could take that long to begin cooling, let alone freezing. We plugged the RV into the house (with the adaptor) and turned the fridge to 'auto'. The dealer was right, it took that long, and even then I was not convinced it would ever get cold enough to freeze. But we went camping in it anyway, and kept the fridge going on propane. By the end of that first day we had cold drinks and the ice cream in the freezer was doing great.
I don't know anything about coils in the fridge, but why not turn on your fridge and give it one more go, you have nothing to lose at this point...

I hope this will all get sorted out, and that when the repairs are completed you will be able to go have some fun with your trailer and forget about the rough start.

Karen

[jimt]

Karen

I'm doing just that while in the campground with shore line power. Never seen one of my old campers take this long to cool down ,but while sitting here why not try.
My fingers are crossed.
The RV doc comes on Monday to look and maybe replace this one if not. Ya have to love the RV doctor. He comes to the campground and can fix or replace anything just about. He may have to wait a few days on the fridge though if I need one.

OOO OOO just checked it now. Seems cooler than before. Not cold but cooler. Wishful thinking or just colder out here last night . Higher hopes now.


Jim T