Thor Forums

[FW28z]

Something I read recently, that at least in the Elkhart area (I live about an hour away), the starting wage for the RV industry is around $4 above minimum wage.

That does not buy much in the order of craftsmanship in my view. Basically they are unskilled workers.

So perhaps it's a combination of not having the correct skill set to begin with, inadequate training, and the rush to get the units out the door that results in what we see.

Of course this is simply speculation on my part.

In the case with my last boat - made by Carver, it was a mid-level quality boat. One time I had to repair stringer tabbing on it after running in rough water. Stringer tabbing is fiberglass cloth that attaches the stringer to the hull. Stringers are the structural members that run along the hull bottom.

As even the best boats can flex, the tabbing broke off one day. I had to repair it by adding another layer of fiberglass cloth and epoxy to the stringer/hull joint.

I bought it used when it was 11yr old (it still cost $70k after 11 yrs), but I cannot say that the drawers were falling apart. It was at least built better than that, but an 11yr old 32ft RV would probably cost about half my boat did.

Some boats self-destruct over time when they bang around on the water, causing leaks around the hatches and portholes, structural damage such as the stringers I mentioned, and loose screws in some cases. In fact some boats simply wear out over time.

Typically for boats, at least when you get into the 30ft range and beyond, they have to have a "Survey" done. A survey assess the boat's condition, and is often required before a loan can be written for a boat, or have it insured.

I had to have a survey done for my boat before I could get it insured.

Surveys are conducted by independent specialists, and are typically hired by the buyer. Most used larger boats are surveyed, but in some cases, even new boats are if the owner wants to make sure the factory built the boat right.

A surveyor often checks every inch of the boat, looking at structural issues, mechanical, electrical, electronic, safety, and so on.

More than one boat has been denied a sale due to a surveyor finding a lemon. In the worst cases, the hull bottom has turned into a sponge and has no structural integrity. That does not happen often, but it does happen.

Of course, surveys could be done for RVs I suppose, but would the typical RV buyer pay $15 per foot for a survey?

And if insurance and banks required RVs to have surveys, I could almost guarantee that the cost would be significantly higher.