Livin'Lite closing down

[ADR]

Hope it's a rumor but word is out that after June or July 2018  Livn'Lite will be no more.   Being shut down for good they say.

[pjcd]

Yeah, I'm gonna have to raise (the bad rumor) flag on that one. That one would be an easy google search to find out about and nothing pops up on any search I did.

[ADR]

Just having bought a Camplite with warranty issues I sincerely hope it is NOT true....

[Capt J-rod]

It's all over the Facebook Livin Lite owners page. Dan Miller "retiring", new fiberglass walls, I'm gonna say this is more than possible.

[Steve Sanders]

Yeah, I'm gonna have to raise (the bad rumor) flag on that one. That one would be an easy google search to find out about and nothing pops up on any search I did.

As a long term employee of a large corporation, I strongly disagree. If Thor is discontinuing the product line, they won't even tell the LL division employees before full press release. The internet will have no advance information.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[pjcd]

As per a FB message I sent to LL, they are open for business, they are going through a "transition role and KZ, as the management group, is fully committed to supporting the Livin Lite product, they unable to comment on any opening and closing of any company before it's publicly announced".

There was more, but thats the jest of it.

[Paul]

As per a FB message I sent to LL, they are open for business, they are going through a "transition role and KZ, as the management group, is fully committed to supporting the Livin Lite product, they unable to comment on any opening and closing of any company before it's publicly announced".

There was more, but thats the jest of it.

I also sent them a message and got a similar reply

[djsamuel]

Here is the latest according to a post on Facebook:

The LivinLite name will disappear.
The product lines will continue under Venture RV, also managed by KZ.  So, Camplite will continue as a product line.
2018 is the last year for the aluminum frame, steel frame after that, but construction of the trailer remains the same.

[charliem]

So Doug,

The AL floor, sides and roof are gone; the outside storage below the dinette window is gone; the square cornered outside storage doors are gone; the inside electric WH switch is gone; the AL cabinets and aircraft latches are all but gone; the axle capacities are reduced; the torsion axles are gone;the AL frame is going; the customer service and responsiveness are gone; but other than that the construction remains the same?? Scott, we need you ..................................

[djsamuel]

So Doug,

The AL floor, sides and roof are gone; the outside storage below the dinette window is gone; the square cornered outside storage doors are gone; the inside electric WH switch is gone; the AL cabinets and aircraft latches are all but gone; the axle capacities are reduced; the torsion axles are gone;the AL frame is going; the customer service and responsiveness are gone; but other than that the construction remains the same?? Scott, we need you ..................................

Very good summary!  They can still say no wood, which is still significant.  But I'm VERY glad I have a 2013, although I never had an electric water heater or the outside storage below the dinette window.  The biggest change that bothers me is the change in axles.  They've gone from a camper with pretty large design margins to one more in line with the rest of the industry; i.e. little to no margin.

[Merlin]

So Doug,

The AL floor, sides and roof are gone; the outside storage below the dinette window is gone; the square cornered outside storage doors are gone; the inside electric WH switch is gone; the AL cabinets and aircraft latches are all but gone; the axle capacities are reduced; the torsion axles are gone;the AL frame is going; the customer service and responsiveness are gone; but other than that the construction remains the same?? Scott, we need you ..................................

Very good summary!  They can still say no wood, which is still significant.  But I'm VERY glad I have a 2013, although I never had an electric water heater or the outside storage below the dinette window.  The biggest change that bothers me is the change in axles.  They've gone from a camper with pretty large design margins to one more in line with the rest of the industry; i.e. little to no margin.

Good observation on the axles. Construction is important, but safety is critical. Small margins of safety are widespread in the RV industry, something I didn't realize until LL shifted from 2 to 1 axles on the 16. Other brands are guilty of this cost-cutting too. When looking around at other campers of similar construction, I noticed the Lance 1475 has only 180 lbs of cargo carrying capacity before hitting the axle capacity. (According to Trailer Life magazine.). Almost everyone loaded for a trip will be over that! 

[ADR]

I'm a big fan of torsion axles having owned many trailers of all types with a mix of both. 
No comparison, the ride is exponentially better with the torsion axle- that reduces a lot of the stress from road "pounding" of the trailer.
I'd already planned to switch out the leaf axle on our new Camplite if it turns out to be a keeper.  If I do I will up the capacity as well for more safety factor.
You can't necessarily carry more as the frame may not withstand it but at least you won't be dealing with bent axles, which is very common on Forest River products.

[Capt J-rod]

I feel like the original trailers were designed and built then assigned a price accordingly. KZ assigns a price then tries to build a trailer to align with their profit margins. Hopefully they remove the name camplite from these new ones before they confuse the steel frames and press board with our trailers.

[charliem]

Good observation on the axles. Construction is important, but safety is critical. Small margins of safety are widespread in the RV industry, something I didn't realize until LL shifted from 2 to 1 axles on the 16. Other brands are guilty of this cost-cutting too. When looking around at other campers of similar construction, I noticed the Lance 1475 has only 180 lbs of cargo carrying capacity before hitting the axle capacity. (According to Trailer Life magazine.). Almost everyone loaded for a trip will be over that!

According to the Lance folks during a factory tour the 1475 was introduced strictly as a "competitive product". Probably to compete with the RPODs and smaller CLs. That said, I don't know where Trailer Life comes up with the 180# number. The Lance site indicates 1200# cargo capacity before reaching the 3700# GVWR limit. If you assume the 10/90 tongue/total weight ratio that puts ~1000# on the axles. I'm guessing the axle itself is rated 3200-3400#.

[Merlin]

Good observation on the axles. Construction is important, but safety is critical. Small margins of safety are widespread in the RV industry, something I didn't realize until LL shifted from 2 to 1 axles on the 16. Other brands are guilty of this cost-cutting too. When looking around at other campers of similar construction, I noticed the Lance 1475 has only 180 lbs of cargo carrying capacity before hitting the axle capacity. (According to Trailer Life magazine.). Almost everyone loaded for a trip will be over that!

According to the Lance folks during a factory tour the 1475 was introduced strictly as a "competitive product". Probably to compete with the RPODs and smaller CLs. That said, I don't know where Trailer Life comes up with the 180# number. The Lance site indicates 1200# cargo capacity before reaching the 3700# GVWR limit. If you assume the 10/90 tongue/total weight ratio that puts ~1000# on the axles. I'm guessing the axle itself is rated 3200-3400#.

The axle rating on that Lance is 3500#. The interesting thing to me is that when these rigs are actually weighed, some "discrepancies" show up compared to manufacturers' claims (surprise!).  When Trailer Life does their full tests of various units, they use accurate scales and check all the weights. When they did that with the Lance 1475 test unit and did the calculations (including the tongue weight considerations), they came up with only 180 lbs of cargo capacity. That's on page 18 of the February '18 issue. Pretty amazing. It's also a recurring theme with their trailer tests. Many, but certainly not all, campers have very little margin for cargo weight.