Hello Bryan, I'm glad you're here. I can live with repairs that are normal wear and tear. I can deal with maintenance. I've had numerous plumbing leaks that I repaired, upgraded and moved on. My main issue with this camper, which has about 2000 to 2500 miles of government roads on it, is the slide floors are rotting on the ends. I feel this is a known manufacturer defect. Delamination has been a hot topic on here.The ends of the floors look to be painted over with some type of sealer. The rain water is still being wicked up in the floor past this sealer.I went to a dealer 60 miles from my home that had 3 Big Country's about the same year of mine on their lot. All 3 had the same slide rot in the same places. I talked with customer service at Heartland and was offered the flooring only. As you know the main cost of this repair is in the labor. When I asked customer service how I was supposed to maintain the floor ends, I was told I should have used deck sealer on them. Why was this important step left out of the owners manual? Customer service also told me this issue has been addressed on later units. Thanks Jay.
Issues with my Big Country
- Thread starter kiwinraz
- Start date
Hello Bryan, I'm glad you're here. I can live with repairs that are normal wear and tear. I can deal with maintenance. I've had numerous plumbing leaks that I repaired, upgraded and moved on. My main issue with this camper, which has about 2000 to 2500 miles of government roads on it, is the slide floors are rotting on the ends. I feel this is a known manufacturer defect. Delamination has been a hot topic on here.The ends of the floors look to be painted over with some type of sealer. The rain water is still being wicked up in the floor past this sealer.I went to a dealer 60 miles from my home that had 3 Big Country's about the same year of mine on their lot. All 3 had the same slide rot in the same places. I talked with customer service at Heartland and was offered the flooring only. As you know the main cost of this repair is in the labor. When I asked customer service how I was supposed to maintain the floor ends, I was told I should have used deck sealer on them. Why was this important step left out of the owners manual? Customer service also told me this issue has been addressed on later units. Thanks Jay.
Mr Walczak your defence of Heartland is great but from what I have read in the last few days about water leaks and leftover material needs to be looked after. I just purchased a new 2012 3250TS. As soon as I got home I filled the water tank and ran the pump. There were several leaks on the compression fittings. From what I see as an easy fix is to use brass fittings. Also the duck to the bedroom was not installed. These were easy fixes, but when you purchase a new RV and only drive 1 mile home and have these problems it is not a good feeling on how long this unit will last before something else happens. Please take my advise and make some simple changes to fix the water leaks and don't blame the govermont roads.
Yours Truly
Bryon
Yours Truly
Bryon
B
bwwalczak
Guest
To isolate one cause only (roads) is unfair on my part. You are correct, not hooking up a duct is indefensible. This should have been caught at several levels of inspection. Screws and leftover material is also indefensible. When/if a leak occurs in limited cases there may be a fittning next that could use corrective action.
We have made several changes, mostly driven by this forum! For example, brass fittings are used on all current product.
This forum is exactly for this purpose. So the people who drive change (I am part of that team), can/will make that change. We cannot always fix a problem unless we know about it.
We appreciate your important feedback.
mzcummins
Active Member
B
bwwalczak
Guest
All products are continuously getting better based on feedback. We work together as a team. Not all mfgs do that.
mzcummins
Active Member
Sorry i was a little unclear
I was talking about the switch to brass fittings, with my short time on this great forum it seems that most complaints that i see are water leaks and towmax tire failures and it has me a little worried cause the folks havent even picked up their 2013 3400qb but i know this is a internet forum and bad news travels like wild fire and good news travels slow
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I was talking about the switch to brass fittings, with my short time on this great forum it seems that most complaints that i see are water leaks and towmax tire failures and it has me a little worried cause the folks havent even picked up their 2013 3400qb but i know this is a internet forum and bad news travels like wild fire and good news travels slow
Sent using Tapatalk 2
Ray LeTourneau
Senior Member - Past Moderator
mzcummins, you hit the nail right on the head. We rarely see the comments of literally thousands of folks that have very few if any problems. Regarding leaks, my 2007 Bighorn had a couple leaks at the connections for the kitchen and shower fixture. One sink gasket incorrectly installed. These were discovered by me and fixed by me the day after we picked up the rig in July of 2006. Since then, not one leak! We were full time for 4 years and currently spend 7 months or more on the road. Oops, I almost forgot about the ice maker supply line. Got that one done too as soon as it was noticed. I might also add that none of these leaks caused any damage. I also have the soft corners in the floor of the bedroom slide but since I added the upgrade kit available for our rigs through Heartland, it hasn't gotten any worse and the bed still hasn't fallen through the slide out.
I really feel bad for the folks that are having any type of issue with their rig. We pay good hard earned money for these things and hope that they last a while. At least we have a place here to vent a little when needed and find ways to resolve our problems.
I am a newbie. We will pickup our new Big Country 3510 this week, having slide-toppers put on it. I am a little concerned about the drain pipe hanging down. It seems that it is lower than most of the other 5th wheel drains. Has anyone had a problem with it being knocked off? From what I have seen here the plumbing is one of the first thing I will check when I get it home.
jimtoo
Moderator
Hi Buster537,
Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and to the family. We have a great bunch of folks here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge when needed.
I have never heard of anyone having a problem with the drain connections being to low. But don't wait till you get home to check everything out. Do a really through PDI before you ever leave the dealers lot, or even sign the final papers if you can. That way you can make sure everything works and you can work everything. Do it slow and try everything out from top to bottom ... front to back.
It would even be good if you could stay on the dealers lot for a day or so checking everything while camping out.
Enjoy the forum and your new Big Country.
Jim M
Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and to the family. We have a great bunch of folks here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge when needed.
I have never heard of anyone having a problem with the drain connections being to low. But don't wait till you get home to check everything out. Do a really through PDI before you ever leave the dealers lot, or even sign the final papers if you can. That way you can make sure everything works and you can work everything. Do it slow and try everything out from top to bottom ... front to back.
It would even be good if you could stay on the dealers lot for a day or so checking everything while camping out.
Enjoy the forum and your new Big Country.
Jim M
Keith, good luck with the flooring, I asked the same thing when my Big Country flooded my basement time and time again. They should start a unhappy camper forum for the rest of us.
Last edited by a moderator:
- Well we got it home and went for a trial run last week. Heartland maybe using brass fittings now, but in this 2013 I had a leak in the kitchen and bath. Leaks were plastic to metal fittings, both hot and cold sides. No problem with the drain, but I am concerned that it runs for about 5 feet, approximately 2 inches below the 'I' beam before turning 90 degrees out. There were a few other minor thing we found but we really enjoyed the outing and the our Big Country.
cte.mactools
Member
I'm wondering if my 2011 Big Country bought new will stand up to full time travel when my wife and I retire in a little while. Had black tank problems in warranty period that HL first refused to correct. Many water leaks in pressure lines they blamed on travel on rough roads..pulled camper home on Interstate a total of 55 miles to house. Had to pull down wall in storage area to fix a leak, and was greeted with a dirty t-shirt, a bucket full of plumbing scraps, pieces of wood, wire, and anything else that needed thrown out of the plant. Using camper approx. 6 weekends a year. It is pulled 3/4 mile from parking slip to site to be set up.Front and rear fiberglass caps are in such bad shape they are going to have be sanded and painted this spring. My concern is if all these problems I've listed [plus a significant amount of others] have happened with no road miles being put on this unit, can I expect it to survive 3000 miles of towing and living in it mostly full time very shortly? We like the camper, but not very pleased with CS from HL.
danemayer
Well-known member
Hi cte.mactools,
Even when trailers have more than their share of problems, things usually settle down over time. In your case, although you've had the trailer for a few years, it sounds like you haven't really used it enough to gain confidence that you've worked through everything.
One thing you might consider is to start using it for longer periods before going full time. Perhaps there's a campground near you that would give you an attractive monthly rate. You could live in the trailer for a month or two, but still have your home as a backup if things don't go as well as you'd like.
A month of two in the RV would also give you a good idea of how well you'd adapt to full-timing.
Even when trailers have more than their share of problems, things usually settle down over time. In your case, although you've had the trailer for a few years, it sounds like you haven't really used it enough to gain confidence that you've worked through everything.
One thing you might consider is to start using it for longer periods before going full time. Perhaps there's a campground near you that would give you an attractive monthly rate. You could live in the trailer for a month or two, but still have your home as a backup if things don't go as well as you'd like.
A month of two in the RV would also give you a good idea of how well you'd adapt to full-timing.
cte.mactools
Member
Hi Dan, we've really enjoyed using a fifth wheel over other types of camping and don't mind fixing small problems that arise. My concern is if this Big Country will stand up to being used like a quality piece should. Would love to hear from other HL owners about manufacturing short falls cropping up after hitting the road. I actually have very little confidence in the quality of this camper standing up for the long haul. Maybe it will prove me wrong, but with the problems we've had so far and what has been uncovered behind closed doors, all I can do I hope for the best! Thanks, Charles
VKTalley
Well-known member
Hi Charles, My hubby and I live full time in our BC3690SL since September 2012. We have had our share of minor problems that we have fixed ourselves but we have had more fun than problems. We have traveled lots of miles through 28 different states (camped in a total of 25 of them). We are now making our plans for this next year and the places we will go. My hubby writes our blog, check it out and see all our fun and minor problems we have had. I know there are others on here who will give you their stories..the good, the bad and the ugly.
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