Our new Parkliner

[k8t]

We LOVE our new Parkliner!

We picked it up in mid-September from Chandler, Cameron and crew and camped in it that night as we headed back across the U.S. We've been home a week, and after spending 2 weeks camping our way home for a total of over 4000 miles we are pretty impressed!

Weather was an issue everywhere we went and included heat and humidity that we're not used to, heavy rains, thick fog, below freezing temps, snow, and high winds. We were quite comfortable through it all and the Parkliner towed beautifully! We pulled over and sat out winds that were in the 50-55pmh range and above, but other than that, no problems.

The MaxxFan is a wonderful upgrade and got us through the worst of the heat. We never needed to use the AC. The heater on a thermostat was the other lifesaver during the chilly nights and mornings (24 degrees!). We had plenty of room for two adults and two young 70-80 lb. Labrador retrievers. The actual queen size bed is wonderful! We left it down most of the time and ate and worked at the side dinette. There's plenty of floor space for the dogs and storage throughout is plentiful. The counter extension came in very handy and we're glad we got it.

We had been paying close attention to the wheel rub and battery issues since placing our deposit, and even considered getting our deposit back. But after going back and re-looking at all the other fiberglass trailers, we kept coming back to the Parkliner. Nobody else has the design, dimensions, and price point that suit our needs. So we went into this with our eyes wide open and we're very happy with our decision.

When we picked up the trailer we were reassured that wheel rub was no longer an issue nor the batteries. We have the original mold, the bolted axle and the batteries mounted outside on the tongue. No problems!

We have a couple of leaky windows from torrential rains at highway speed and Chandler immediately responded to our concerns. He directed us to take it to a local RV place here at home to have the windows resealed and to bill him directly. We can see a couple of marks from the wheel on one of the wells but it looks more like impact from high speed jaw breaking bumps, the kind that make you think you've broken an axle. We'll pull the wheels and take a good look when we have the windows done.

We can't say enough how much we like this little trailer! It was worth the wait and we look forward to our next trip!

[Robin G]

Well congratulations! Hope you continue to enjoy it! Do post pic's of your new glass baby! We like pictures..........

[k8t]

We'll post some of the exterior shots soon, but we don't have any interior shots worth posting yet. We will as soon as we have it all spiffed up!

[deryk]

Congradulations!

So one battery or 2, 1 propane tank or 2? What is the tongue weight?

If your not sure how to weigh your tongue weight, while its hooked to your vehicle, slide a bathroom scale under the tongue jack and crank it up till its no longer supported by your tow vehicle and check the weight. Im trying to get an idea if its feasible to move the batteries to the front tongue....thanks!

Im happy with my ParkLiner, it offers what I needed, tows well its just the company is no pleasure to deal with...they just dont return my calls or emails about the battery issue.

I hope you have a Great Time with yours!

[k8t]

Thanks Deryk!
We have 2 batteries and 2 propane tanks.
Don't know the tongue weight but will try weighing it with your suggested method, maybe next week-end? We have that on our list of things to find out.
We came home to a death in the family and the Parkliner has been parked for now while we deal with this. We're itching to get in there to play with it some more!!!
We spent most of our trip remapping our route to try to get around the worst of the weather and wound up driving much further than we'd originally planned. It didn't leave much time to noodle with stuff while on the road. We haven't even filled the water tanks yet! We basically hitched up and headed west and depended on the Parkliner fresh from the factory to get us home comfortably, which it did!

[deryk]

Katie, Im very sorry for your loss...I can relate was told today my dad is going to be moved to hospice care.


I hope you have a ton of amazing adventures with your ParkLiner! I am very happy with mine... It fills my needs, tows well, dont even feel it behind my Rav4. I have taken it offroad on almost all of my trips this summer. If you have any questions please feel free to ask!

Thanks, Im looking forward to finding out what your tongue weight is, my Rav4 is limited to 350lbs and with my generator in the doorway and a full 7 gallon water jug in the bathroom and 2 full 20lb propane tanks I was around 290lbs. Im not sure if its feasible for me to move the batteries to the tongue. Maybe bringing the waterjug to my Rav4 might help make it work...of course Chandler has not responded to my multitude of emaisl and phone calls about it so it might be a moot point lol.

Best of Luck, and again my condolences

[Ken C]

Glad to hear it towed good in that high wind. Do you use a Weight distribution hitch? What is involved with re-sealing the window leak, do they have take out the window or can they be re-sealed in place. Glad you had a safe trip and thanks for posting.

[k8t]

Thanks Deryk,

I hope everything goes comfortably for your dad, and for all in your family.

We too had sporadic luck with our communication with Parkliner, but did very well once we addressed all of our inquiries to Cameron and copied to Chandler. We regularly heard back within 24-48 hours.

Good luck!

[k8t]

Hi Ken,
We do not have a weight distribution hitch and will probably not get one at this point.
I don't know about the windows yet. We'll know more once we get it into the shop. We're hoping for this week, but we'll see how things go with family stuff.

[Ken C]

Well sounds like its balanced out great then to be able to handle those winds and no WDH hitch needed to help with sway. I get un-nerved towing in high winds like that. I thought they had a two year warranty but now I can't find it on their website. Did you get any document on the warranty terms? A few have posted here they did not receive any sort of document. Thanks in advance.

[Carol H]

First off I am very happy to hear you are!!!

Re the window - what every you do dont let the place you take the trailer to just put a bunch of goop around the windows to fix them. Make sure they pull them out and reset them correctly using bytal tape. Trust me you will thank me in a couple of years for that advise.

Originally Posted by k8t

We can see a couple of marks from the wheel on one of the wells but it looks more like impact from high speed jaw breaking bumps, the kind that make you think you've broken an axle. We'll pull the wheels and take a good look when we have the windows done.

Here is the thing. Believe me I dont wish to take away from the happy feel you have for your new trailer! But I have a 22 year old trailer that has gone over more than one too many speed bumps etc faster than it should have. The kind of bumps that everything comes flying out of the cupboards. Yet not a mark from a tire hitting inside the wheel well to be found - even though it has an equally as old an axle on it. The bottom line is there simple should not be especially on a new trailer. If the wheel well isnt large enough to allow for the big dump something is wrong. Very wrong. In this case PL know when you picked up the trailer in September that they had a serious tire rubbing issue and know that their quick fix of changing the tire type didnt make the issue go away, which if I am not mistaken why they have since changed their trailer moulds. I hope for your sake that PL actually addressed with you when you picked up the trailer (assuming you dont have one of the new mould trailers with the wheel well modification) what they were going to do to fix the problem correctly should you experience tire rubbing as you clearly now have.

[Brian M. in NY]

Originally Posted by k8t

We LOVE our new Parkliner!

We can't say enough how much we like this little trailer! It was worth the wait and we look forward to our next trip!

Hi Katie,
Welcome to the club! We love ours, too. We're just back from a FGRV rally in the Hudson Valley of NY a week ago (our 8th outing of the season, including our trip home from Gibsonville) where we got to see several other FGRVs of various manufacture. We still liked our ParkLiner best of all we looked at. It is a good fit for us and that, ultimately, is what counts. It may not suit everyone, but that would be their problem, not ours. We are looking forward to many more seasons of travel, memories and good times. It was interesting that when talking face to face with other FG camper owners at the rally, we were all respectful of each others choices and there was none of the trash talking that occurs all too often on this forum. Best wishes for all your future travels.

[David Tilston]

Originally Posted by Brian M. in NY

It was interesting that when talking face to face with other FG camper owners at the rally, we were all respectful of each others choices and there was none of the trash talking that occurs all too often on this forum.

People tend to more polite face to face. Not sure why it would ever be otherwise.

[k8t]

Thanks for everybody's candid comments. It's one of the nice things about this forum.

Ken- We do not have a certificate but we do have the 2-year warranty confirmed in an email. That's good enough for us.

Carol- Thanks for your considerate advice. You're not taking away from my happy feel! It's always good to hear what the best fixes are for the various issues we run into with our trailers. We have an appointment this week to have the trailer gone over so we'll definitely talk about the bytal tape. (I'm guessing you meant butyl?) We have a lot of faith in our local RV guy.

As far as the wheel rub issue goes, we went into this fully aware that this may be an issue for us. We had a very candid chat with Chandler and Cameron when we picked it up. The axle is now bolted instead of welded so we may need to have an adjustment there. Not a big deal. If we need fiberglass repair work, we'll send Chandler the bill. I believe Parkliner will pay it.

We haven't had any recent issues with communication like others have, and I don't know why. Today I contacted Cameron and Chandler and had an answer back by this afternoon. Some materials that they had promised to send have arrived so we're very happy.

I can't state enough that we went into this fully aware of the shortcomings of the current Parkliner. This is still the trailer for us. The layout is elegantly simple and so very functional. No one can match the interior spaciousness in this little thing! Most importantly, my 6'2" husband is very comfortable moving around inside.

So we'll continue to enjoy our new Egg and take care of the items that need taking care of as they arise.

[Tim Wood]

Congats glad to hear you are enjoying your new camper.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by k8t

T. (I'm guessing you meant butyl?)

Yup sure did!! LOL love it always interesting what happens when I try and type of the tiny iphone....

[k8t]

Thanks Tim! Thanks Brian! You guys provided lots of beneficial information along our way. So valuable!!!

Carol - OMG the auto correct on the iPhone has gotten me into more trouble than I can believe! LOL

[Robin G]

Originally Posted by Brian M. in NY

Hi Katie,
It was interesting that when talking face to face with other FG camper owners at the rally, we were all respectful of each others choices and there was none of the trash talking that occurs all too often on this forum. Best wishes for all your future travels.

Let's not be so defensive of a member or members giving their experience of the absence of tire rub with their particular trailers. Don't think anyone has issues with Katie's purchase choice. Concern for one member to another. Lets not make it more.
I as a Casita owner as well as a owner of several other rv's over my adult life time have not experienced tire run either. And would be worried if a new trailer I purchased was having an issue. You as well as many other PL purchasers have spent good money to buy the perfect trailer for you.

As K8t has stated she had read and knew of the issue and went into her purchase knowing full well. But others may not be so well read and that is where the issue could happen. This forum was designed for members to share experiences. I don't see "trashing" with the experience shared.

As I have said with other PL issues that have been commented on in other topic's if there is a problem, I hope PL fixes them. I like the trailer, but I don't believe that every issue should be hushed up.
Frankly I see glass owners making negative comments of their particular brands all the time! Just a fact not every trailer that rolls off the line is perfect. But when safety issues are issues time and time again, then that is a problem. And again, I hope PL fixes the issues!!!!

If you wanna see an example of "trash talking" hang out on a stickie forum.

Honestly if there were safety issue with other brands I would hope members would talk about it. Not hide it!

Frankly I have never seen anyone here say a particular brand sucks! Ever! Have I seen someone say that something about a particular brands sucks? Yes! Usually the particular brands owner. Every brand! If your happy with your trailer that's great!

As I said, I like PL's. But just because someone mentions a issue doesn't mean they are trashing the brand.

[Ken C]

K8T and us exchange of information equates to trash talking. I don't see your point Brian but cheers anyway.

[Carol H]

To clarify my position for those who seem to have read far more into my comments than was intended.

First of I fully respect others chooses of trailers. If we all liked the same thing and had the same trailers the world would be a pretty boring place! I have seen the PL up close and been in one and have no trouble at all seeing why someone might want one. My comments to Katie regarding the tire rubbing she has noted already after only one trip were simple meant as warning its not something one wants to see on any trailer! Especially not on a trailer that has a brand new axle. It results in a fast degrade of a tire and can create a very serious situation at a time she may lest expecting it. She has responded that she is aware of the issues and on top of it... its all good. Hopefully she will come up with a good long term fix for it. There are people here who due to lack of experience towing have no clue as to how serious an issue with tire rubbing of any kind is. If no one says a word about it then they sure as heck never will and simple carry on towing a trailer that those with more experience may not be willing to take any further than the repair shop.

Trust me I am just as likely to make comments regarding the imperfections of some of the features of the trailer brand I myself own! Actually have done it one more than a few occasions even though the consequences of the items that concern me are not nearly as serious ;-)