He should have bought a fiberglass trailer

[Christian Dakoona]

Rat fur

Junior Member

Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 19

glued on the walls should solve the problem ?



Infested!
Well, I have owned my trailer for a month now. Today I went to put something into it and found a large pill of dust on the floor next to the garage entry door. I thought it was just some more manufacturing dust coming from cracks.

To my surprise, I look up the wall and found groups of small holes going up the wall. Upon further investigation, I looked at the dust on the ground and found what appeared to be small beetles in the dust. WTF!

So I did a quick search and it appears the wood frame is infested with Postpowder Beetles. OR LYCTID beetles. They can lay dormant and the adult beetles will bore out of the wood to mate.

What do I do? Is this covered by warranty? This is nuts!!!
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Junior Member

Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 19

I have been in contact with FR today via email and phone. Just initial claims and will see what the will do.

The issue is the beetle was already in the wood prior to construction. The beetles in egg and larvae stage can take months / years to make themselves known. When conditions are right they will mature into the beetle you see and exit the wood via holes the dug. I.e my walls. From there they will look to reproduce. The female will then find more wood in my trailer and lay eggs.

This could be a potentially huge issue. Due to I don’t know how wide spread the infestation of the wood is. There could be hundreds of beetles in the walls reproducing, or hundred lying dormant.

As far a treatment. The walls need to be opened and damaged wood replaced. The wood directly need to be treated. Not just spray chemicals on the wall or let off a fogger in the trailer to fix the issue. It is a lot more complicated then that.

The trailer is brand new and I just made my first payment on it. The trailer rolled off the production line per VIN and FR in August of this year. So in 2 months my trailer did not just get infested with a beetle that takes month to years to mature and pop out.

It is going to be interesting to see what happens to the trailer. I will keep everyone informed
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Senior Member

Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Pensacola, FL
Posts: 889

I certainly think that a buyback is in order.
__________________
2015 T12RBST Flagstaff Hardside
2008 Itasca Meridian 37H

Junior Member

Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 19

So spoke with a rep with FR warranties.

He wants me to drive it back to the dealer I purchased the trailer from. No one else.

From there the dealer is going to remove and replace all the paneling in the rear garage. Also the dealer will inspect for further damage and go from there.

Hmmmm.

Won’t let me take it to a FR dealer down the street from me. He stated he would not do a buy back of the trailer. He stated he is doing what he feels is the right thing and attempting to make the fix.

So now some time next week, I have to drive several hundred miles round trip to drop off the trailer at my dealer and let them have the trailer for god knows how long.

This is going to be an interesting thread as I update the process.

I will say I do trust the dealer I bought the trailer from. Small dealer and I feel they are trust worthy.
__________________
2018 Puma 351THSS
2016 Ram 3500 LARAMIE 6.7 SRW W/ Aisin

[k0wtz]

I owned an old building that had been remodeled I saw this exact same thing coming out of the woodwork that had been repainted. Cause? termites! since the building was over 100 years old I let them keep gnawing!!



bob

[Kai in Seattle]

So, Christian, utter bummer; but I'm a little baffled by what kind of a trailer you have that is infested? I understand that insects can get into everything / anything, including any wood products in any trailer...

My sympathies!

Kai

[Jon Vermilye]

Originally Posted by Kai in Seattle

So, Christian, utter bummer; but I'm a little baffled by what kind of a trailer you have that is infested? I understand that insects can get into everything / anything, including any wood products in any trailer...

My sympathies!

Kai

Maybe a Forest River Flagstaff?

[Mike_L]

Good luck with that.
While the apparent damage can be repaired, it is likely this issue is throughout your unit and will be difficult to eradicate. I would be looking for a "buy-back and another unit from another manufacturer. A new unit should be new and without these problems!
The dealer should also cover your out-of-pocket expenses related to the issue, like towing the unit back to them.
You may get a better response if you state your position through a lawyer, the cost of which the dealer should cover.
Maybe even the mention of a lawyer will soften the dealer's position.

[rbryan]

Originally Posted by Casita Greg

Obviously doesn't have a clue about what he bought.

Perhaps he does. Although I don't think the post belongs on FGRV (other than as a cautionary tale), check out the title of the thread.

Additionally, this appears to be one of NUMEROUS complaints about powder post beetle infestations in new or relatively new Forest River trailers. A simple google search reveals lots of links.

https://www.google.com/search?q=fore...hrome&ie=UTF-8

This tells me Forest River is now using, and has been using, a wood supplier that gives them infested material - or, they store the material at their factory and the infestation occurs there. Either way, seems to me they would have corrected the issue by now, if they cared. Some of the complaints go back a decade.

[mary and bob]

I read it as the OP does not own the infested trailer, but is posting a quote by the actual owner. I also take it as being posted as a humorous post meant for entertainment only.

[Casita Greg]

It just reinforces the argument for fiberglass vs wood. Those nasty little critters probably wouldn't enjoy feasting on fiberglass and resin for lunch.

[Tom 72]

I think his title explains why he posted here: Lesson learned, and a lesson for others. I found the information useful, and the title implies that his subject was that he hadn't bought fiberglass. No foul.
It turns out you can skip posts that do not interest you, and there is no need to comment.

I am curious whether these are essentially termites. Sounds like the pine beetles that have been wiping out forests here in Colo.
Too bad they don't pressure treat their lumber.

I would want to either inspect the frame once disassembled, or have them shoot time lapse pics from a tripod. Not too hard.

[Raz]

Perhaps this is more relevant then we think. Scamp and Escape and others? use wood for their furniture. Insects should not survive kiln drying which is the only lumber they should be using. Perhaps the manufacturer used cheap lumber or stored it in a poor location.

[mary and bob]

So here's another new member that probably got a bad first impression of this forum, and perhaps another one. He made an attempt to post something of interest and ended up with criticism responses. Think he'll be back ??

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by mary and bob

So here's another new member that probably got a bad first impression of this forum, and perhaps another one. He made an attempt to post something of interest and ended up with criticism responses. Think he'll be back ??

Well, it would have helped if he had been more clear what he was posting about. Made no sense to me and took many posts to figure out that FR may stand for Forest River.

[k0wtz]

well I hope he comes back. sort of a strange post but who knows I think he was trying to help out!

bob

[k0wtz]

mike you maybe right.

too bad


bob

[wilyoung]

Originally Posted by Civilguy

It's a thread from a Forest River forum.

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ed-147620.html

If the OP had just posted this link all would have been clear. As it is it makes no sense. Starts off with rat fur and gluing to the walls, etc. Obviously the OP chopped a bunch of quotes from this forum without any explanation or source reference.

Thanks, Civilguy, for finding it.

[Daryl and Wendy]

Back in 1986 I built our children a ladder to the upper bunk using ash, that I didn't know at the time had powder post beetle. Sold trailer and put the ladder aside for nostalgia. The beetles are still active to this day, 31+ years later. Now I'm simply curious how long they will stay active.

The strength doesn't seem to be dramatically effected in the small pieces I used. Common sense however says it can't be as strong as it was. And my story is ash, which is an unlikely framing wood.

I wonder how many of these trailers have been sold to other less observant buyers?

[wilyoung]

Just do a Google search on Powder Post Beatles and you will find this is not a problem unique to RVs. One post I found was about an infestation that emerged from a wooden chair 35 years after manufacture. It seems it can happen anywhere, anytime, to anything made out of wood. Especially hardwood. It might be, for insurance purposes, listed under "Acts of God." A natural occurrence mostly undetectable until it happens.

I've noticed lately that a lot of campgrounds, especially public ones, (NP, USFS, State Parks, etc.) prohibit bringing in firewood from out of the area to prevent introducing "foreign" pests. No, it's NOT a conspiracy to promote local firewood suppliers. Those of you old enough may remember the "Dutch Elm Disease" plague back east. Killed every stately old elm in the northeast. We lost the two on our property in upstate New York.

Well, I can remember back in the early days of fiberglass boats that there was talk of the polyestermites that bored holes in fiberglass boat hulls. And if God had meant boats to made of fiberglass He would have made tree sap out of polyester resin. But that's another story.

Good luck if you've got Powder Post problems.

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by wilyoung

Well, I can remember back in the early days of fiberglass boats that there was talk of the polyestermites that bored holes in fiberglass boat hulls. And if God had meant boats to made of fiberglass He would have made tree sap out of polyester resin. But that's another story.

Good post.

[k0wtz]

wil I remember the dutch elm desease wiped them out everywhere. my folks had a huge one it must have been well over 100 years old now on just my yard I have had 13 while oak trees die all of a sudden.


with my back surgery I haven't scoped out all 50a yet but I am assuming I have a real problem going on. I also recall the loss of all our chestnut trees all this in my lifetime I am 75 you know.


this beetle post has been interesting to me as I had heard of things like this with termites but no beetles. I wonder what else is in store for us?


bob

[k0wtz]

As I think of this I recall a Methodist church in Charleston Mo that got infested with these beetles they had to leave that church, tear it down and build a new church. They must be real munchers!!


bob