Casita vs. Scamp

[Rzrbrn]

I have only owned 2 RV's; first, a 17' Casita Spirit Deluxe towed by a Toyota Tundra 4x4 with 5.7L engine, and now a Big Foot 25B25RQ with cargo box, towed by a Ram 2500 4x4 diesel (which does a superb job of towing, for a number of reasons). Prior to owning the Scamp we drove to MN and toured the factory. Did the same with Casita (TX), and also the Oliver (TN). Should have bought the Oliver. Had we done so we would not now have a BF. However, my wife really liked the Casita. The BF is the highest quality of all three, but is long, heavy and too wide, making it much more difficult for me to handle, although that may be due in part to the Ram (turning radius), rather than the BF. The BF is the most comfortable in which to live. My wife does not frequent this forum so I will speak openly: I should have kept the Casita and the Tundra. I have done two things that pushed my marriage to the brink of catastrophe: Selling the Casita and pushing my wife to sell the family farm after her parents died (wife and I are not farmers). If my wife does ever read this, well...life would be most difficult.

[Darrell in Al]

As a 16ft Scamp Deluxe owner, if you live in humid areas it can be a negative. But, I still would get it again, due to options availability vs standard. Mine has suffered from the humidity and full time living for years.
The sale point for me of Casita vs Scamp was ceiling height the Casita was to short and heavy of tongue weight. At the time my T.V. was my 05 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, towing weight both fit but not tongue weight.

Dang now that I've built my cabin "tiny house" I need to do a refresh on my Scamp.

[Meadowlark]

We are preparing for our first trip out. Part of that was taking our 2011 Casita SD to have the brakes checked and the wheel bearings packed/replaced. In the past I've taken it to my local horse trailer dealer, but as he was booked solid until June, I went to a RV dealer. And I'm glad I did. Much as I love my horse folk-I'm a horseman to my bones-campers aren't horse trailers.

The RV tech did the whole brake thing, replaced bearing races, packed wheel bearings, etc, and then the tech said oh, I have to show you this. While he'd been working on the camper, he found that a brake cable had rubbed against the tire to the point where the insulation was gone and the wires exposed. I asked him does this happen often? and he said, no, to him, it looked as if it'd had been installed at the factory that way. He repaired it and I'm happy. To me, stopping is way more important than going.

But as much as I love my Casita, still, over the years, I've found little things the factory did to cut corners and save labor. Using rivets instead of bolts (because rivet installation needs only one person, rather than two), holes drilled for the rivets being crooked or in one case, the wrong diameter! as if the guy building it had dropped a drill bit and just grabbed another without checking the size, or the water pump being held to the bulkhead with two pissant screws rather than four as it should have been. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of QA/QC at the Rice factory. This brake cable is just another indication that as good a camper as the Casita is, still.........it's only as good as the yob doing the installation/build.



I'm too old these days to go shopping for another camper. We've fixed ours up, learned a LOT on how to repair/replace/ (it helps that my husband is an engineer) and are happy with the Casita. But as I mentioned, they all seem to come with...errors.

[jerrybob]

I agree with Meadowlark.....if you don't do the work yourself....you need to ensure a qualified person is servicing your trailer properly....especially when it comes to greasing hubs and brake work. With that said......quality across almost all industries these days has suffered......not just trailers but cars and trucks.....plumbing fixtures......appliances...etc..... Even worse......when you do encounter a problem.....getting helpful information is difficult. After 15 prompts to speak to a computer...even if you do get to a live person....often....you can't understand them unless you are from India or the Philippines. Oh well....it could always be worse......you could be sitting on a new plane when the door blows off because some worker forgot to put in the bolts! Hope ya all stay safe out there....enjoy your trailers.

[Meadowlark]

Jerrybob, I've learned a way to get around a telephonic computerized 'receptionist' . As you know, you're invited to "you may ask to speak to representative at any time' but there's no 'any time' on my phone. Shouting "representative" never helps. It doesn't obey. (Cussing it out makes me feel better, but I am very careful to not cuss out a real human, even if they can barely speak English.)


What I do is when the computer asks me what I want, I speak gibberish. "Glaugh deebo puuf nnoano? Momoonoon! Mommo noon?"
After a few go rounds of this, the computer realizes I'm speaking Klingon and ...'please wait, I can get you to someone who can help."


Once, thouogh...I can't remember what company it was, I had tried to get around the computerized voice and said something to the effect of ..."you piece of electronic s...t" and a different voice, one said in Grandma's tone.."WHAT DID YOU SAY?"


The best, though, is what a former boss told me he does, especially to telemarketers...he'd hand the phone to his three year old granddaughter, who was absolutely DELIGHTED to talk to the voice on the phone.

[jerrybob]

[QUOTE=Meadowlark;865244]


What I do is when the computer asks me what I want, I speak gibberish. "Glaugh deebo puuf nnoano? Momoonoon! Mommo noon?"






I swear I met your sister in a bar several years ago....she spoke the same gibberish! LOL!

[Meadowlark]

Oh, heck, jerrybob...she must have been sober that night. ;-)

[jerrybob]

Love it!