Sunline's Quality

[irishguy101]

I don’t want to rehash old stories but I am still at a loss as to why Sunline is no more and reading all the problems that all other brands have (RV Net) and some just brush off those problems as well you will have that with trailers.
Sunline was never on a topic about poor Quality or problems that were not taken care of by the MFG as Sunline’s were.
I read FLOOR PLAN, FLOOR PLAN, as an excuse as to why they didn’t purchase this TT over that TT, I don’t think there is a TT made out there that is the answer to everyone’s so called floor Plan, I believe that there are takes and give’s in any unit unless there is one that just happens to fall into one’s wants which to me is far and few between.
I do believe that Sunline was passed over by some because it may not have had all the eye candy as others did and some purchased the Eye Candy and not the Quality.
I am sorry if I step on a few toes as I post this but I just have to vent.
I am a Proud Owner of a SULINE.

[kanyonkitty]

Very very well said. I'll keep my "quality" Sunline, even if it means doing without some new gadgit or gizmo. And with the wonderful input from all the folks on this site, shoot, I know there will always be "special Sunline specific" mods to add.

Kitty

[nickster60]

When we bought or t1950 the only other choice for us was an Airstream. The interior quality was better in the Sunline. The price was also much better. The new Airstream had not been check over very well there where many quality issues. We bought the Sunline also because of the floor plan, I dont like the dinettes they take up to much room and how much can you eat. I like the chair and sofa arrangement

[nickster60]

Oh by the way I hate RVnet, seems like a bunch of people with to much time on there hands looking for a fight. Everyone here is very helpful and this is the best board I am a member off.

[rich2500]

ahh yes sunline quality you gotta love it,our camper has been by no means flawless but after attending rv shows and looking at just about every other manufacture out there I'm still very pleased with our sunline.our last trailer was a nash by northwoods another very well built unit(and what we would have now if our local dealer would not have quit carrying them)After lots of research it led me to a sunline as our next choice.here is my 2 cents on why sunline is no longer
1-bad management when bought by the new owners
2-lack of family friendly floorplans,just look around on this site how many members here camp with children as apposed to those that don't have children camping with them,I'm sure it has alot to due with the lack of family floorplans compared to other manufactures
3- price, yes you get what you pay for but how many buyers are actually willing to spend that extra couple of thousand dollars for a better built unit,friends of ours just got into rving last year and they loved our sunline but they did not wanna pay the price of a sunline,so they bought a forest river with almost the same floorplan for 7 thousand less then we paid for our sunline,now after all the problems they had in the beginning they wished they would had bought a sunline,luckily stoltzfus made their camper right and they are now happy again.
I'm a member of rv.net and yes you read about alot of troubles over there,but just like many forums you only hear from most people when they have problems except for the crowd as nickster mentioned that seems to have way to much time on their hands.you also need to consider the volume of rv's that the big manufacturers sold compared to a co. the size of sunline,I would be willing to bet that over the next few years your going to see many more of the smaller manufacturers going under just as well,because they to will not be able to compete with co. like forest river or keystone.just like wal-mart is doing to their competitors,we can just hope they never start selling rv's.

[donreitz]

I'm sure "eye candy" is part of it, but mostly I think the the decision for any RV buyer when choosing a particular brand is balancing cost and quality. For example, when we were looking at campers for the first time, we recognized that having kids and a fairly lightweight checkbook meant that we would be looking at less expensive, less well built units. That was okay because although we'd be doing more maintenance on the unit (replacing staples with screws for instance), we could camp without breaking the bank. For us, lower quality was acceptable.

Now that the kids are gone and we have more disposable income, we can adjust the cost/quality balance more toward quality. That's why we have a Sunline. We're willing to pay the cost (in purchase price and weight) to get higher quality. One way or another, every member of this forum has made the same decision. Obviously though, not enough people were willing to make the same tradeoff to keep Sunline in business. This raises the question of why a company like Artic Fox/Nash--having much the same reputations as Sunline--is still in business while Sunline is not. Perhaps it has something to do with floorplans after all.
Don

[Tweety]

I won't go into the MANY theories of why Sunline has closed it's doors. But, Arctic Fox/Nash DID have to close their Winchester, VA manufacturing facility, and are now only made in Oregon. IMO the one thing they have over Sunline, and possibly the reason they are still around, is that they are a true 4 season trailer, and there aren't really many of those on the market. Especially affordable 4 season units.

[HappyCampers]

Rich you said it. The cost of a Sunline over the cost of a chaper trailer with the same floor plan. My buddy and his family (they camp with us every week-end) got into camping after going with us a few times. They bought a used Jayco and used it for 2 seasons, it was a nice trailer by the way. Well they had another child and needed a bigger unit. He wanted a Sunline, but she wanted a new trailer. They bought a brand new Dutchman for the price of a 2 to 3 year old Sunline. But you know the story, the quality just isn't there. They have a list a mile long for the dealer this spring.