RV Issues - Montana Owners Club

Dam Worker · 02-19-2017, 04:52 PM

With as many issues as we have had with our 3160 I have not had any major water leaks that I know of. Hanging out in Phoenix this weekend and with the rain Saturday and today I was bored so we went looking for furniture for my wife. Just happened to end up on Gilbert st and went right by a dealership scaling DRV's which I really like so we stopped to look at them. First one was a 38'. The second was a 36'. Both nice units with fiberglass roofs, the second one was full of water in the main area and also leaking in the bedroom area. Ceiling appeared to be sagging a bit and water was dripping through overhead lights in bedroom and main light over the kitchen counter in the lower area. Made me think twice about quality control. Sad to see such a nice unit with such severe issues. I know I have had more issues than most but I am grateful that it doesn't have leakage issues.

Interesting that one salesman said that the unit would be going back to manufacture and another commented that it was no big deal and they would fix it good a new. Kind of scary when you know that the ceiling has been soaked.

Still like the DRV brand.

Tom Marty

**DQDick** · 02-19-2017, 05:06 PM

Similar issue here in the park on a brand new Big Horn.

DarMar · 02-20-2017, 09:06 AM

Definitely a problem that we would rather not have for sure. Nothing better to know than the roof over your head is properly sealed.

This makes many problems seem minor to us.

BB_TX · 02-20-2017, 09:48 AM

Typical salesman talk trying to minimize the problem. Certainly contradicts the old saying so frequently repeated, you get what you pay for. The DRVs are not cheap.

richfaa · 02-20-2017, 10:14 AM

As noted at the fall rally all manufacturing plants are at full bore and can not keep up with the demand. That no doubt leads to poor quality control and shoddy workman ship.

bigred715 · 02-20-2017, 10:19 AM

I plead ignorance! What is a DRV? Is this a name brand abbreviation?

BB_TX · 02-20-2017, 11:33 AM

DRV is a brand name manufacturer of high end 5ers such as Mobile Suites. I think it was originally called Doubletree Recreational Vehicles.

bigskyjimmy · 02-20-2017, 11:57 AM

Yep BB TX is right DoubleTree is what they used to be called they changed to the name DRV in around 2004 I do believe

jcurtis934 · 02-20-2017, 02:56 PM

One has to wonder how much the drv plant has been affected by being bought by thor and folded into the chain...and what effect to how they can run the company. When I toured the howe plant, quality control was very much present and the plant was impressive. A tour of keystone the same week did not compare to what drv looked like. Surely, every rv manufacturer is affected by the huge increase in sales and a limited quality workforce.

mlh · 02-20-2017, 05:25 PM

A friend has a DRV. I pulled it home for them about 300 miles so I had a chance check it out. I wouldn't tell them but it didn't show me much. I would just as soon have the Montana. I think my dealer has it about right when he says "they are all junk".
Lynwood

PNW Fireguy · 02-20-2017, 07:26 PM

I may regret saying this but why do we continue to spend very good money on sub-standard constructed products? I am fan of the DRV product lines and have been scared off by too many similar stories. I just can't accept the excuse that your company is too busy to do the job right. I guess things really have changed. The RV industry is huge and big dollars for sure but I don't think it is the wrong to think that if you build it better they will buy it.

MARK A · 02-20-2017, 08:17 PM

I can attest to the water-tightness of our Montana 3610. It has been on 3 trips in absolute downpours, and no leaks. This last one was almost 2" of rain in 24 hrs.
KNOCK ON WOOD!!

Mark

RonD · 02-20-2017, 09:36 PM

Sounds like someone left a roof vent open, fiberglass roofs don't leak in that way

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dam Worker

With as many issues as we have had with our 3160 I have not had any major water leaks that I know of. Hanging out in Phoenix this weekend and with the rain Saturday and today I was bored so we went looking for furniture for my wife. Just happened to end up on Gilbert st and went right by a dealership scaling DRV's which I really like so we stopped to look at them. First one was a 38'. The second was a 36'. Both nice units with fiberglass roofs, the second one was full of water in the main area and also leaking in the bedroom area. Ceiling appeared to be sagging a bit and water was dripping through overhead lights in bedroom and main light over the kitchen counter in the lower area. Made me think twice about quality control. Sad to see such a nice unit with such severe issues. I know I have had more issues than most but I am grateful that it doesn't have leakage issues.

Interesting that one salesman said that the unit would be going back to manufacture and another commented that it was no big deal and they would fix it good a new. Kind of scary when you know that the ceiling has been soaked.

Still like the DRV brand.

Tom Marty

JandC · 02-21-2017, 04:36 AM

Probably didn't get enough information from original post to assume that DRV has now fired all of their quality control workers, or that since coming under the umbrella of Thor everything sent south.

One unit out of thousands out there was observed with some water inside and a saggy ceiling. Did something punch a hole in the roof? Did a transport company run it under a big tree branch?

A manufacturer (Montana) produces a fiver for around $30,000, then sells it to a dealer for around $40,000. The dealers have this imaginary MSRP on it of $85,000. But of course that price is always crossed out and the "sale" price is listed of around $65,000. Us savy experienced RV folks get the dealer down to $58,000 and think we stole something worth $85,000.

In our minds we expect a perfect product because an $85,000 RV should be able to bounce and crash over all these defective roads in our country, withstand all the weather extremes, and never leak, peal, or age. We may have only paid $58,000 for it but the darn thing was priced at $85,000!

IMHO most new fivers hold up pretty good for $30,000 worth of product and labor.

Dam Worker · 02-21-2017, 05:01 PM

To the best of my knowledge these were major leaks, not some vent being left open or tree branch issue. One salesman got on the roof and he couldn't see anything obvious. The only thing I saw on the roof was two AC units and a newer style TV antenna. Probably was a vent as I remember seeing a vent in the front end of the bedroom. The leak was in the rear side of the bedroom. The water was in the ceiling and leaking out if light fixtures. Fiberglass roof with the front six or seven feet sloping down towards the front cap. I was curious if it might be some AC problems with water somehow getting through from the roof and into the conditioned air return lines. I thought I remember reading about an AC water leak problem awhile back.

As I stated before I was happy to not have this kind of issue with my own 3160. I am not bashing their products but I would have freaked out if I had that unit and it leaked like that. For the record we did have a lot of rain and some wind for two days.

Tom Marty

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