24" 2010 Major LEaks

Picked up this Elkmont about 6 months ago. We are not happy.

Now we're dealing with two leaks. Spoke to Ed at TrailManor said probably just need a little silicone. Huge puddle on the floor in front of door and extended to closet and floor in front of closet. We are hesitant to take it to the dealer. Not confident in them. We will have another RV mechanic who we trust try and figure this out. We live in Portland Oregon so obviously we have lots of rain.

Multiple issues needed fixing after we initially picked it up and Dealer pretty much was "put out" by the list, eg, sink drain full of caulk, etc.

First travel trailer. Thought we were buying a high quality rig. Very upset and will pursue this until fixed and at this point may unload afterwards. A total drag with all the other posts I've seen!

Pat Sullivan
24 Elkmont Bunkhouse 2010
Portland, OR

Pat,

You are not alone.

Do a little search in this section and you will find that several of us who purchased early versions of the Elkmont have had similar problems.

Ours was returned to the factory where they completely re-caulked the roof area near the door and replaced/re-caulked the bath fan. They used a newer 3M polyurethane caulk (not-silicone) that seems to adhere to the shiny plastic bits much better. In my case there was an actual depression in the roof which they covered and caulked with a layer of plastic.

So far these repairs have worked well, and Ed was very helpful.

I do get the impression that Trailmanor is improving the Elkmont as they go along, but it was a new model, introduced at the beginning of the recession, and the company was going through some management changes, so the 2009 and early 2010 models do have more than their fair share of problems.

If you can find a good repair place, Trailmanor should help you out with the repairs.

We took delivery of our new Elkmont 26 in late October after being assured by the dealer that the leak issues had been dealt with using the new 3M 360 caulk.

Our dealer is nearly 500 miles away in So. CA. We stayed at a local campground for 3 days prior to returning home to get acquainted w/new model (traded in 2008 3326). It hadn't rained while we were there, although there were no leaks evident when trailer was washed prior to delivery.

On returning home it rained steadily for several days. We discovered a small leak in a bedroom wardrobe and the fan in the bathroom ceiling.

What saved the day for us was finding a local RV parts and service only (don't sell RVs) place that had many years of experience of servicing only RVs. Working w/Ed Lytle at TrailManor all these issues and others were successfully addressed under warranty.

We hope you'll work w/Ed to successfully address your issues and finally be able to enjoy your Elkmont.

We had leaks also in our 24' Elkmont. Above the door, but not until we had 5" of rain in Chicago. We called TM and told them of our destination (Western NY) and they said take it to Menter RV in Ohio. Which we did. Have had not problems as yet. But then we don't get 5" of rain here in CA.

OK, so Robert from Rose City RV (independent repair) in Portland Oregon worked with Ed from TrailManor. We were told that there were multiple areas where the sealant used at the seams was loose and popped out. TrailManor is picking up the tab for the repair.

We also got an email from Cleo (who introduced himself as a new owner of TrailManor) who seemed very interested in facilitating correction on this and other issues we've had. If we were close to the factory we'd have brought it directly to them.

We'll keep the faith that this rig is fixed. We appreciate the courteous and customer service attitude both Ed and Cleo related in working with us and Robert from Rose City RV.

It's good to hear that Trailmanor is fixing these problems.

So far our factory roof repairs have held up well through several heavy thunder showers. I hope yours do as well.

It is a relief not to have to worry about it.

I'm almost hesitant to post this for the fear of bringing bad luck upon myself, but I went to check on my Elkmont yesterday, and despite several large / heavy / long rainfalls here in SoCal, there are still no signs of leakage in my trailer.

Knock wood!

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by Bigbit

I'm almost hesitant to post this for the fear of bringing bad luck upon myself, but I went to check on my Elkmont yesterday, and despite several large / heavy / long rainfalls here in SoCal, there are still no signs of leakage in my trailer.

Knock wood!

It's nice of you to post that. That's the problem with boards like this. Very few people will chime in and say, "I don't have that problem". In reality, if everyone that didn't have a problem posted that, it would be hard to find the ones that do and what the solution was.

I'm actually impressed at how few real problems have come up on this board about the Elkmont. That means that either they are having a high success rate or are selling very few trailers. You can be sure that most people that have had serious issues have found their way here and that's been relatively few.

My wife and I bought our 2000 2720 new and have obviously been happy camping for going on 11yrs. Being from and engineering background, I have the following issues with TM concerning the Elkmont. We have been considering moving into an Elkmont 22 but we are scared!

1. It seems that they decided to change the caulk that served them so well for so many years. Why?
2. Why did they select a caulk that obviously was not intended for the application?
3. Did they start using this inferior caulk on the expandable line of trailers?
4. Do they have structural problems in the door area of the Elkmonts?
5. Why doesn't TM recall their known units that have problems?
6. Why doesn't TM reassure buyers of corrected problems on units built after a certain date or serial number and state what corrective measures have been taken?
7. Management reorganization is no exuse for shoddy work.

We copied your post verbatim and sent it to Ed Lytle at TM. We'll post his response on this thread as soon as we receive it.

Our Elkmont 26 had 2 minor leaks--at the roof light and the bathroom fan. We had these repaired under warranty. Since taking delivery it has rained some every week and recently it rained steadily for over 7 consecutive days. No leaks; knock on wood.