Quote:
Originally Posted by BrucePerens
Trailmanor has been close to bankruptcy for at least a year with a number of unpaid creditors. One of the extremis measures by the current owner has been moving the factory to a large, mostly vacant building they owned in a different state from the previous factory location. This appears to have caused the company to shed all experienced fabrication workers and to attempt to train new hires. It sounds like this year there has not been a sale that actually was accepted by the dealer and the customer, and the one or two attempts we have heard of were delivered months late with obvious flaws. One recently-fabricated unit is listed on Craigslist, apparently as an extremis measure due to the souring of dealer relationships. Only one prototype of the Rise is known to exist. Elkmont had many QA issues which resulted in financially damaging returns or warranty repairs and the destruction of dealer relationships, and the market is now saturated with "light" non-folding trailer designs so there is no future for Elkmont. The persistent can still get the company to answer the phone and ship parts.
The current owners are good people who are trying to make a go of it. We all wish them well. It is, however, difficult not to be dubious about the future of the company as this continues. The Trailmanor is obviously a great idea, and some of us have speculated on the potential to continue the design, with improvements, if the company fails.
There is a corps of devoted owners and aspiring ones who would love to have your used unit if you choose to sell it. Please list it here if you do so. But I'm not sure I would recommend the ownership of any 12-year-old RV to someone who isn't a DIY mechanic. You will note that most of the correspondents here do their own maintenance.
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Wanted to follow up with my post a week or so ago with regard to service. I didn't want to post an aggravation and then leave it without giving the latest "good side". Need to be fair.... They did end up reaching out to me. Since then we have been in contact almost daily. As BrucePerens says above "the current owners are good people who are trying to make a go of it". Sonya in parts has been working with me quoting the many, many parts I would need to do a restore of my 3326. Not that easy since they stopped making this model. I am getting quotes on every flap, every seal and many other broken or warn parts.
We will see if the total costs of parts in addition to many of my hours in labor will be worth it. I still have some issues that I would have needed the dealer to help on, i.e. adjusting/rebending or replacing the torsion bars. What a tough decision: fix it or push it off a cliff???