Long term review, who's got the oldest and hows it holding up?

[pjcd]

How long has anyone had their Camplite? Hows it holding up in the real world? Mine is two years old and no major issues with it, other then the frame welds, which I hope to take care of when the weather clears up, ( in the spring). No leaks, all the appliances work as they should, no problems with the slide.

[DavidM]

Mine was built in late 2013, several months after Thor's purchase but before the first move. So it might be considered pre-Thor. It has had no mechanical, structural (except for some gnarly frame welds) or electrical (well sure, aluminum shavings in the lights) problems but does have some rain water intrusion from below.

I have mostly fixed the shavings problem and will caulk the wheel wells this spring as part of a bit of PM- grease the wheel bearings mostly. I have reconfigured the breakaway circuit to do away with the small battery. I did have to replace one tire prematurely and will do some measuring this spring to see if axle alignment might be the cause.

It has served us well and we hope to keep her for a long, long time. We tow our 16TBS with a 2013 Pathfinder just fine.

A side note on the Pathfinder- The CVT transmission has been a problem since day 1. It would shudder as you slowly accelerated through 20-25 mph. It was believed to be a torque converter lock up problem, but who knows. Nissan has been tight lipped. A recent class action lawsuit settlement forced a recall and warranty extension. My transmission just had its valve body replaced as part of the recall and the ECU was reprogrammed.

It seems to have solved the problem, which wasn't very noticeable anyway. So hurray for Nissan!! Don't tell the class action lawyers I said that ;-).

David

[graham]

I have an "early" 2012 13QBB with the more angular front design. Other then normal maintenance like needing to replace the tires and bearing grease, it has required no attention and has not had any issues. Definitely the most reliable and lowest maintenance camper I've ever had!

Graham

[mojospeople]

Ditto graham's comment only we just sold a 2012 13RDB after owning it for two years. Everything still working as expected with only wear and tear items replaced. Hope our new 16TBS does as well!

[Pinstriper]

Ours is a 2014 14DBS, the first ones with the slideout. This will be our fourth year camping with her.

Most serious problem (not self-induced): um....two of the screws holding the front trim on the edge of the diamond plate disappeared and the dealer replaced them. That, or I had to bend the contact inside the thermostat to get it to turn on and off.

Oh ! I remember. They didn't connect the wire that runs between the cable TV port on the outside and the TV. Dealer repaired under warranty. We only used it once, so far, as we camp almost exclusively at state parks, and generally despise "RV resort" campgrounds. Too close together, infested with kids running amok.

[Merlin]

Mine was built only 2 1/2 years ago in the late summer of 2014. It was a bad time at LL and it was a mess of assembly problems. I'm still chasing electrical issues (clearance lights stopped working again). I won't post the complete list of original assembly problems because it's scary. One more round of trips this spring and summer and I hope to finally have all the gremlins worked out and have a reliable, safe camper for years to come. The only good thing that came from all the problems is that I can say really know all the systems of the camper really well and can fix anything further that comes up (unless I find bad welds, which a pro will have to tackle).

[rideandfly]

We had a 2010 Camplite 11. We were going to trade it in to a LL dealer and they told us it was in the first batch of 10 travel trailers LivinLite built. Don N. at LL said it was a very early TT, too.  We purchased it new during 2012 and sold it during 2016 after buying a larger travel trailer.

Our trailer did not have LP gas system, but had a 13,500 BTU AC and sink with hand pump and 5 gallon portable tank. No other water system.

This camper was rugged and did not have any major problems.  It had aluminum sheet interior/exterior walls, aluminum ceiling/roof, and aluminum plank flooring.

















Some of the modifications we made after purchasing the Mighty 11, vinyl tile floor, wood counter top, microwave, and TV.  It was a great camper with many fine memories. Before we sold the Mighty 11, we converted the it back to original, like the above photos, but left Vinyl flooring installed shown in these photos.

[whitefish]

I have a early 2013 16 DB (I think pre-Thor). In 2014 I became the second owner (too puritan for first owner) and other than some weld cracks, no major problems. The crappy Jensen TV/Radio antenna has never really worked from day one, but I've replaced that. The previous owner apparently had excessive tire wear which he attributed to the axles. Dealer replaced both axles under warranty. I've had no problems since (tires in great shape after at least 10k miles).

Some fit and finish is kinda crappy. The roof intersection with the front wall sheet wasn't mated properly. As a result, the aluminum roof at this joint is bent all to hell, resulting in a judicious use of Dicor. No water leaks that I can see, but these may be hidden in the front wall. Regardless I'm going to reseal this spring. The decals are cracking and peeling off, but this is likely a problem for any RV that's going on 4 years old.

One window was broken when I bought it (previous owner mistake) and I was lucky enough to deal with LL parts dept. before Thor took over. Amazing service from Don!

I've been very happy with my Camplite and will have it for years to come.

[Merlin]

I have a early 2013 16 DB (I think pre-Thor). In 2014 I became the second owner (too puritan for first owner) and other than some weld cracks, no major problems. The crappy Jensen TV/Radio antenna has never really worked from day one, but I've replaced that. The previous owner apparently had excessive tire wear which he attributed to the axles. Dealer replaced both axles under warranty. I've had no problems since (tires in great shape after at least 10k miles).

Some fit and finish is kinda crappy. The roof intersection with the front wall sheet wasn't mated properly. As a result, the aluminum roof at this joint is bent all to hell, resulting in a judicious use of Dicor. No water leaks that I can see, but these may be hidden in the front wall. Regardless I'm going to reseal this spring. The decals are cracking and peeling off, but this is likely a problem for any RV that's going on 4 years old.

One window was broken when I bought it (previous owner mistake) and I was lucky enough to deal with LL parts dept. before Thor took over. Amazing service from Don!

I've been very happy with my Camplite and will have it for years to come.

That joint where the roof meets the front is an unholy mess of bent aluminum on every Camplite of that era. It's asking fairly thick aluminum sheeting to bend smoothly in 2 directions and it's not going to happen until pigs fly. Good idea to reseal it periodically, and maybe yours really wasn't done right, but they are all ugly in that spot!

[charliem]

That joint where the roof meets the front is an unholy mess of bent aluminum on every Camplite of that era. It's asking fairly thick aluminum sheeting to bend smoothly in 2 directions and it's not going to happen until pigs fly. Good idea to reseal it periodically, and maybe yours really wasn't done right, but they are all ugly in that spot!

Pig flight is strictly regulated by the FAA. They cannot fly above 5 feet, and then only in rural areas at night, away from people and other farm animals. However our new president has promised elimination of pesky and onerous over regulation so there may be hope for pigs. As for aluminum (aluminium) bending smoothly in two planes...not so much. Mine has the same problem but not severe.

[pjcd]

I would assume thats a common problem, some worse then others, mine looks like sh*t, but no leaks so far. The new TT's have the TPO or rubber or what ever material and the transition from the roof to the front cap is smooth.

[charliem]

I would assume thats a common problem, some worse then others, mine looks like sh*t, but no leaks so far. The new TT's have the TPO or rubber or what ever material and the transition from the roof to the front cap is smooth.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The TPO roof is warranted for 10 years or the first encounter with a tree limb, which ever occurs first. The aluminum roof will outlive you, wrinkles and all  .

[craigd]

Just coming up on the 2 year mark for me, I have done 2 long trips one 6 weeks and the other 5 weeks both took me across the country. A few 1 week trip's and quite a few long weekend trips. Have about 20,000 miles on it and will be putting a lot more. Have done most of the mods from the other forum and have had some of the issues that most people are seeing. Roof looks fine no leaks anywhere. I think I may have the best year of construction 2015, which was probably made in 2014. Loving it and will probably never sell it until I can't camp anymore, suits me to a T.

[pjcd]

   

I have a 2015, if mine is an example of their best year, well then, there are a lot of poorly put together trailers out there! Poor QC, tanks installed incorrectly, damaged flashing, poor and cracked frame welds, leaking gas line, (to furnace), if aluminum chips were gold, I'ld be a billionaire. I'm sure there's more, just can't recall all the issues off hand. Don't get me wrong, I still like the TT, the fact thats there's no wood in it trumps all the QC issues, the only one that pissed me off to no end is the welds and the lack of them.

[whitefish]

That joint where the roof meets the front is an unholy mess of bent aluminum on every Camplite of that era. It's asking fairly thick aluminum sheeting to bend smoothly in 2 directions and it's not going to happen until pigs fly. Good idea to reseal it periodically, and maybe yours really wasn't done right, but they are all ugly in that spot!

Good to know that its not a common leak area. Yeah, its butt ugly, but I'm not up there often