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Old 02-10-2019, 03:53 PM   #7
elmerfud
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Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Howell
Posts: 32
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Flower,
I own a 2012 VISA 19 RGU. I had numerous problems with the build quality upon delivery. Great engineering design- poor execution. Almost 30 things I had to fix upon delivery. BUT, Ultralight is synonymous with ultra-cheap. Less structure is light. I am about to put the third axle on it. BUT, I think you are in luck. The tandem axle rigs I believe use leaf springs. They have more capacity and mount to the light weight/cheap frame in 4 locations not just 2 per axle. In a tandem they mount in 6 places I believe. If torsion springs are overloaded, the tires will have excessive wear on the inside only. I had my delivered with the factory supplied and dealer installed 4" lift kit. I have had no problems with clearance. All Vista's I have seen are lifted. The quality of newer trailers are not what I had in a 1979 I restored. Buying a 7 year old camper could be a good thing. The previous owner has already fixed all of the manufacturing construction flaws. IE: water heater and fresh water tank held in by one metal strap and the water fittings. 6 months in I found the furnace fell through the wimpy shelf it was mounted to and was hanging by the GAS LINE! A lot of the caulking in and out was next to the seams, not sealing the seams. My cabinet over the right window tried to fall off. I discovered that there only a few studs in the whole trailer. The cabinet was screwed to the wallpaper covered Styrofoam only. My water pump failed due to chunks of the tanks fouling the pump. When I replaced it with a quality pump, the installation instructions insisted there be a filter before the pump. My black water tank clogged in the first few months. I had to reach up into the drain (YUCK) and pulled out the round piece of the floor from where the drain went through the floor. Someone dumped the scraps into the toilet. All current sinks are made of paper chip thin plastic. Watch out, the awning mounts at the top are screwed into the single layer of fiberglass/foam. The bottom awning screws were installed without pilot holes and subsequently split the 4" chunk of wood behind the skin. I epoxied the top screw holes and replaced the lower split wood. The rear bumper is too thin to mount anything to it. The "stabilizing" jacks are under rated and are not capable of correcting a tilting situation. I replaced them. They did use 5 ply plywood for the cabinets. But, it is about 1/8" thick. I installed shelves and drawers in the kitchen. It came as just big open boxes inside. The original Dometic single door fridge was not properly installed to duct the heat correctly up and away from the coils. We could never keep things gold in 80 degree weather. It died last year. I replaced it with a 2 door NorCold. Note: when you defrost the fridge the melting water drains out the back of the fridge all over the inside of the trailer behind the fridge, starting to rot the fridge shelf. I installed a drip pan under the water drain to send the excess water out of the camper. 2 doors are the way to go. I did take it out a few times in the salt in winter. The "powder coated" frame is now totally rusting. I am going to paint the frame this spring. All in all the VISA/VISTA platform is a great start, with some elbow grease, vs a $100,000 Airstream. I also wanted the fiberglass roof and am happy with my Purchase.

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