Musing from a new Scamp owner

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by gordon2

Oh I like the Plisse screen door! It's so easy to open and close. I am constantly going through the door while working on things here at the house and its effortless to open it and close it right back up. It's resilient and the only thing I have done to maintain it is to vacuum the track and apply a little silicone spray a few times.

That is good to hear! I like the old style mostly because it is simple and user serviceable. But it's not a hill I would die on.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Mr Lynn

Gordon's situation is different: he bought his Scamp new, and his warranty is just running out. He's having problems that should not be occurring on a new trailer.

/Mr Lynn

Mr. Lynn you are 100% correct when we buy a new product we rightly expect everything to work well and for years to come. As we all know, sadly that is often not the case whether it be a new trailer or a new car or a new appliance at home or a brand new home just built.

As the buyer it is frustrating!

But the truth is with every popular brand of trailer whether it be fibreglass or not there have been situations were poor workmanship comes up that somehow were missed in the quality control check.

I know of two owners of brand new trailers from two different VERY popular FG manufactures who's price tags are at the middle to higher end of the FG trailer offerings, who had long lists of poor workmanship issues with their trailers from the beginning. Both sold their trailers after a year of use due to their concerns with poor build quality.

I own an SOB that has by most peoples standards a stupidly high new price tag. Yet its not uncommon to see on that trailers user forum a thread like this one where someone has a long list of problems with a brand new trailer in regards to workmanship and finish. But on the same forum its also not uncommon to see someone report on their first shake down trip that they had no issues/concerns. Does that seem right - nope - but it happens!

Currently shopping for a home builder! LOL thats an eye opener! Have learned one needs to go into at least two ( 4 is probable better) different homes the builder has built that are near complete or completed to take a real good look at the finish quality, Even from the same builder with the same sq ft pricing, finish workmanship can be all over the map!

Suspect the variances all comes down to the workforce. Someone who normally is known to do good work for what ever reason has a bad day? Perhaps there are some new staff on who's work is not up to par and the management for what ever reason has not figured that out yet or your product is the first one that employee worked on and has since been fired.

I see people here suggest they would not buy another of what ever brand trailer they have due to disappointment over build or finish quality and they are going to buy another brand expecting better build quality. While I expect that the odds are pretty good that they will get a better build/finish quality, as the old saying goes "you get what you pay for" BUT I am not so sure their new trailer will in fact be completely problem free.

Sad but true.

Personally think the only thing a consumer can do to protect themselves is to go with a manufacturer who has an outstanding customer service record. I do not think any of them no matter what they are building can guarantee they will deliver a product that does not have any issues what so ever. But the ones with good customer service record will more often than not do their best to fix any issues.

[Donna D.]

I feel for you Gordon when it comes to "extra holes." Even my 1988 Scamp has four extra holes in the front. Not for curtain rods, has those too. And not for an upper cabinet, doesn't have one. It's like someone drilled the holes for the curtain rods and decided they were too low. The solution? Rivet and cap. Other than looking stupid, it works. I just have four extra holes to maintain that do absolutely nothing.

[gordon2]

I have started a new thread to specifically detail the problem I had with a leak from screw holes through the roof. While I believe the trailer came from the factory this way, I cannot say for certain. Furthermore, making warranty claims has become a slow and annoying process to the extent that I found it easier to fix things myself, so that is what I did. It was easier to go to the hardware store and get a few feet of hose to replace the kinked and unusable shower drain hose, and then replace it myself, as opposed to getting one from Scamp under warranty which I would replace myself anyway.

The roof leak took me half a day to fix, but I did not want to deal with local dealerships who know nothing about fiberglass trailers, and I did not want to allow the leak to continue while I dealt with the warranty. If I lived close enough to Backus I would have gone back, but I don't. So I dealt with it myself and documented it here: http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...tml#post607334

[gordon2]

After repeatedly dealing with water intrusion in my Scamp (now 18 months old) I am afraid I am going to have to conclude that it is not possible to always keep the interior completely dry while the camper is stored outdoors and is not under cover. The latest find was water apparently coming in through the refrigerator vent and making its way to the floor. My experience has been that water coming in the fridge vent does not happen often and usually not unless it is wind driven rain or you are traveling through the rain. But today the wood in the fridge compartment was wet so I pulled out the carpet in the storage area under the fridge to find it was wet also (layout 4 with large fridge on starboard side by the door). The carpet does a great job of hiding the water so you would not know about it unless you looked under the carpet, or until the floor rotted and / or mold developed. So here I am again, drying out my camper and trying to keep it from getting water damage.

[Darral T.]

Dont THINK I've had that problem. My Scamp stays under my carport except for the 2-3 weeks of 95% rainless outings. I HAVE washed the Scamp several times...I need to check that compartment. I know mine had the white paint/sealer....maybe "Kilz" or similar?

Originally Posted by gordon2

After repeatedly dealing with water intrusion in my Scamp (now 18 months old) I am afraid I am going to have to conclude that it is not possible to always keep the interior completely dry while the camper is stored outdoors and is not under cover. The latest find was water apparently coming in through the refrigerator vent and making its way to the floor. My experience has been that water coming in the fridge vent does not happen often and usually not unless it is wind driven rain or you are traveling through the rain. But today the wood in the fridge compartment was wet so I pulled out the carpet in the storage area under the fridge to find it was wet also (layout 4 with large fridge on starboard side by the door). The carpet does a great job of hiding the water so you would not know about it unless you looked under the carpet, or until the floor rotted and / or mold developed. So here I am again, drying out my camper and trying to keep it from getting water damage.

[gordon2]

Originally Posted by Darral T.

...I know mine had the white paint/sealer....maybe "Kilz" or similar?

In my photo you can see where they painted white on the right, but under the carpet no paint.. only a little adhesive, so little in fact that the carpet came up easy.

[ShelbyM]

I like the Calmark cover. It would probably prevent wind blown rain from getting in and it really helps keep the trailer cleaner.

[mary and bob]

Gordon; we have a friend that owns a Scamp 13 and has the problem of water entering through the fridge vents and soaking the unpainted OSB board (or whatever it is there) His Scamp is about the same age as yours. His calls to Scamp did not result in a solution. I recommended he try the stick-on RV gutter above the vent and it may have helped. How about the stick on window rain guards that are sold for cars & trucks, if you could find the right length.

[gordon2]

Actually, going back to the first time I saw water in the fridge compartment over a year ago, I have had many online discussions about the problem, and also conversed with Kent Eveland at Scamp Headquarters. It seems that the problem is inconsistent and no one has solution that always works. Some things, like the gutter, help in some situations but not in others. If Scamp would build the camper so that water that does get into the compartment would safely drain out, that would ideal. But that would cost more. It would also be nice if Dometic offered fridge vent(s) that could be completely closed up and pretty much water tight, for use only when the fridge was not in use.

No cover for me since I hope to relocate and have a carport. In the meantime I just dry out the camper when this happens. Luckily it mostly stays dry, most of the time.

By the way, I have used the stick-on RV gutter over the door and that does seem to help keep water out of the door area.

[mary and bob]

Correction; our friend Bruce has a Scamp 16, with the same fridge vent water intrusion as Gordon.

[Paul O.]

Even if the stick-on RV gutters help, it would still bug the heck out of me to know there is a possible leak.

I had a leaking roof fan and I thought I had it repaired - not so, the touch up did not last. This time I finally drilled out the rivets and lifted the thing up, discovering there was no sealant between the FG shell and the fan mounting flange. The only seal was a bead around the flange and dabs of sealer over the rivets and screws. The flange overlaps by an inch or so and it is sealed completely now with Lexel and riveted and screwed back.

I don't know why Scamp wanted to rely on only the bead along the outside edge of the mounting flange. The cost difference would be practically nil.

[C&G in FL]

Originally Posted by Paul O.

Even if the stick-on RV gutters help, it would still bug the heck out of me to know there is a possible leak.

I had a leaking roof fan and I thought I had it repaired - not so, the touch up did not last. This time I finally drilled out the rivets and lifted the thing up, discovering there was no sealant between the FG shell and the fan mounting flange. The only seal was a bead around the flange and dabs of sealer over the rivets and screws. The flange overlaps by an inch or so and it is sealed completely now with Lexel and riveted and screwed back.

I don't know why Scamp wanted to rely on only the bead along the outside edge of the mounting flange. The cost difference would be practically nil.

Paul, I found the exact same condition on my Scamp 19 when both Fantastic Fans began to leak at 16 months after delivery. After spending hours removing, scraping silicon, reinstalling with butyl tape, and resealing the edges and rivets, I was not a happy camper. So I called Scamp and posed the following question to the parts manager, and then to the shop foreman: The Fantastic Fan is leaking on my 16 month old Scamp 19. Could it be leaking through the rivets?
Both persons told me that it was doubtful because we put butyl tape under all of them.
Does that tell you anything?

[gordon2]

Originally Posted by CPW

... Could it be leaking through the rivets?
Both persons told me that it was doubtful because we put butyl tape under all of them.
Does that tell you anything?

Tells me they missed the butyl on a few trailers. It has to be SOP to use butyl put someone failed to do the job right.

As documented above, I once suspected the VanAir bathroom powered vent was the source of a leak and I pulled it off because there was a gap in the silicone sealant that went (almost all the way) around the vent. When I pulled it I found it was bedded in butyl just as it should be, and in fact they did a fine job on it. So now I think it was not leaking, and after I got done putting it back in, it surely is not leaking.

[C&G in FL]

Originally Posted by gordon2

Tells me they missed the butyl on a few trailers. It has to be SOP to use butyl put someone failed to do the job right.

As documented above, I once suspected the VanAir bathroom powered vent was the source of a leak and I pulled it off because there was a gap in the silicone sealant that went (almost all the way) around the vent. When I pulled it I found it was bedded in butyl just as it should be, and in fact they did a fine job on it. So now I think it was not leaking, and after I got done putting it back in, it surely is not leaking.

Actually, I would believe it is more than a "few" trailers. I have spoken with at least 8 owners who had leaking fans and found no butyl tape when they were removed to correct the problem. The one common factor was that all of them, including mine, were "deluxe" models. Makes me believe there are two types of Scamp deluxe trailers, those that have or have had leaks around the vent fan, and those that will have leaks around the fan, and I don't mean from "old" age, which would be expected. And frankly, I don't appreciate being lied to. While I am capable of making most of my own repairs, some people are not and would likely call Scamp. Therefore, I also have to believe they are aware of the problem yet it continues to happen. That, to me, is disturbing.

[gordon2]

Originally Posted by CPW

Actually, I would believe it is more than a "few" trailers. I have spoken with at least 8 owners who had leaking fans and found no butyl tape when they were removed to correct the problem. The one common factor was that all of them, including mine, were "deluxe" models. Makes me believe there are two types of Scamp deluxe trailers, those that have or have had leaks around the vent fan, and those that will have leaks around the fan, and I don't mean from "old" age, which would be expected. And frankly, I don't appreciate being lied to. While I am capable of making most of my own repairs, some people are not and would likely call Scamp. Therefore, I also have to believe they are aware of the problem yet it continues to happen. That, to me, is disturbing.

Interesting.. perhaps a different crew involved.

I would share your outrage if I were in your shoes. But my shoes are that I have had a couple of email discussions with Kent Eveland about the things I have written about in this thread, and my overall impression is that he has been very honest. It sounds like whoever you talked to knew that they were supposed to use a bed of butyl. Did he know they failed to do that at times? I sure don't know what he knew or when he knew it. But if at any point they knew, or if they now know, that they did not do proper installs they should let everyone know that if they have a problem, it might be one of the trailers they missed, and that they would fix it at no cost wherever you are. In my case, if I knew then what I know now, I could have saved a lot of time, effort and expense getting things fixed. The same would be true for someone who has an unidentified leak but knows that the fan might have a bad install.

[John Linck]

I use RV gutters over my fridge vents and even on the leading edge for towing in the rain. Not 100% effective but really helps. I also put them over the front and back windows and over the door.

I chose a vent cover over my fantastic fan so I can keep the vent open all the time. No leaks yet.

Happy Trails to you.

john

[floyd]

Originally Posted by John Linck

I use RV gutters over my fridge vents and even on the leading edge for towing in the rain. Not 100% effective but really helps. I also put them over the front and back windows and over the door.

I chose a vent cover over my fantastic fan so I can keep the vent open all the time. No leaks yet.

Happy Trails to you.

john

No gutters,no leaks around the fridge. I have the old school metal fridge vents though.
As for the fantastic fan no leaks in 13 years.

[gordon2]

In the spirit of fairness and full disclosure I thought I would mention my experience with my Scamp for the month of August 2017...

1,970 miles of towing, four different campgrounds (two of them occupied on two different occasions), seventeen total days of living in the Scamp.

Everything worked and preformed flawlessly.

[Darral T.]

Gordon, if they'd hire you and I for their "Finesse" dept (QC), ALL Scamps would go out of there "flawless"!!

Originally Posted by gordon2

In the spirit of fairness and full disclosure I thought I would mention my experience with my Scamp for the month of August 2017...

1,970 miles of towing, four different campgrounds (two of them occupied on two different occasions), seventeen total days of living in the Scamp.

Everything worked and preformed flawlessly.