Sanibel (by PrimeTime/Forest River) - RV-Dreams Community Forum

pamc · RV-Dreams Community Member

Sanibel (by PrimeTime/Forest River)

SnowGypsy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Try the Forest River owner's group as it is very active and should be able to get info there. I looked some at Prime Time on the internet and it did look like an interesting possibility. I would like to see one but the dealer is a couple of hours north of us. Most manufacturers have the Owner's groups and they are an excellent source of information. We had an entry level Forest River product, worth the money we paid, only a couple of minor issues under warranty and FR didn't hesitate to allow the work done by the local RV tech in our case.

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Someone had a Sanibel at the 2012 Fall Rally in Oregon, but I do not remember who.

If you do a search on "Sanibel" you will find some discussion here.

Glenn West · RV-Dreams Family Member

Lots of people will disagree with me on this. Most all the mass produced units are basically equal in quality. They all use Lippert chassis, lippert components, and the typical rv "junk". If you are going this route, find one that stands behind their unit, also a good dealer (you will need them) and find a floorplan you are happy with. You will need to likely upgrade the tires and maybe the axles since they will have the bare minimum they can get by with. Know this is not what you want to hear but I'm being honest.

SnowGypsy · RV-Dreams Family Member

This is a link to the unit: www.primetimerv.com/default.asp and the cargo carrying capacity looks about 3000 lbs. I am not sure of the price range anymore but I know lots and lots of people were happy with the Cardinal by Forest River and I have seen the used ones and they do hold up. It appears the bigger the RVs get, the more likely they are to be overloaded. All manufacturers have problems, high end or not. I would guess that probably 95% or more of the full-timers are in entry level and mid-range RVs.

Glenn West: It might help if you share which manufacturers you had these issues with, especially if you had to change out tires, axles, etc. because with our 8 RVs, none high end, we just never saw these issues. Spent 6 years either full-timing or living among full-timers in AZ and AL and what you describe is news to me.

-- Edited by SnowGypsy on Tuesday 16th of September 2014 07:49:53 AM

Glenn West · RV-Dreams Family Member

All mass produced. Wouldn't put New Horizons, Country Coach, Space Craft in this. Do believe the Cardinal would be over her truck rating though.

sdman · RV-Dreams Family Member

We are the ones with the Sanibel at the 2012 Oregon Rally. Our Sanibel was just a few months old then. We are now going into our 3 rd year living in the unit. The very good it that Primetime has stood behind every issue we have had from small to large. Their warranty is for 2 years. For example, this past April at almost the end of the warranty I had an issue with one of the recliners. Primetime sent me a new recliner to our campground in South Texas. I had a Lippert leveling controller fail which I troubleshoot with lippert on the phone. The controller was about $300 and wasn't under warranty from lippert (just one year with them) but Primetime again, sent me a new unit to where I was.

The bad is just what Glen West said above, these units are made from all of the same parts. Most are made by Lippert on the Sanibel. I will say that Lippert has been real easy to work with on the phone though. Now for a bigger issue, the lippert frame. The frame is a 12in I-beam construction but it looks like it is not braced enough in the front area where the hitch is. This can be looked up on line just google Lippert frame flex. There isn't a lot written about it on the Sanibel, but lots on other manufactures who are using the larger lippert frame. Our Sanibel has the issue right now and is going to be repaired next week in Indiana. The repair required the bed slide, dresser, front nose cap, and the bedroom floor to be removed. Then a multitude of gussets and and a couple of larger frame cross pieces are also put in. repair takes 5 days. A good thing for Primetime was that they are the ones who told us about it when we had some minor last warranty work done in Indiana back in May. Due to some commitments, we are just now having the work done.

We have also upgraded the wheels and tires to 17.5 in with road range H tires. We haven't done the axles but we have not seen any need for that.

So, bottom line for us: we like the layout of the Sanibel and Primetime does stand behind the unit for a long 2 year warranty. If I was buying one now with what I know, I would upgrade the wheels and tires and axles from the start. The other issues we had, except the frame, were small stuff. As for the frame, I would just watch it and get it fixed if need be. It's sort of the devil we know sort of thing. It is also hard to find units in this price range without this lippert frame. I could talk more about the frame issue but there is so much written on the internet about it.

Glenn West · RV-Dreams Family Member

All you stated is typical of a mass produced unit today. It is a sad fact. We as consumers have accepted this and until we demand better it will continue. None of you would accept an automobile with these problems. We would put them out of business. Pamc if you like the floorplan get it. In your price range this is bout as good as you get. Are you dead against used? You can buy a quality unit used in your price range. Look at used hitchickers by Nuwa. They were well built and a decent compromise between weight and function while keeping quality up front. God bless

SnowGypsy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Be careful of the Hitchhikers as some had issues and I was following them because our friends had one. There were some lawsuits filed and they went out of business. Older ones were good and solid and we still see a lot of them (probably from the 90's) here going strong. They are located about 2 hours south of us. I do see that they have started producing again which is good since the area needs the jobs.

It is very important not to overload any of the units and most do it anyway thus so many of the problems when not weighing the unit. Sort of like when you know you have gained weight or not lost weight and you are not wanting to get on the scales. Ignorance is bliss thing.

I would not hesitate to look at Jayco either or the Winnebago 5th wheels.

Glenn West · RV-Dreams Family Member

Actually the new Hictchhikers are Excels built for them. Nuwa no longer builds units but has an excellent repair facility.