April 7, 2019

Raven Goes To The Spa

Raven is finally getting her much needed spa treatment! 

  

Forest River approved the repairs from the tire blowout as well as some other warranty issues.  They make a good product.  We never had any issues with Roamin.  However, Raven has had her share of woes. The awning arms are somehow just not right.  The entire awning system is getting replaced.  I'm not sure if it's entirely the arms or if the fabric is also to blame but when it is brought in, the arms are quite bent.  The microwave will get replaced due to condensation between the door panels.  The oven will be replaced due to the igniter not working properly.  The water pump is being replaced as it sometimes overheats and turns off.  Imagine if you were using it for a shower :-/  The front slide is going to be taken out and the walls replaced.  WOW!!  I hope I can get a picture of that!  The bedroom slide also needs to come out.  Likely caused by the tire blowout, the plastic piece that the slide runs on (hard to describe) has become torn and malformed.  Whenever we bring in the slide Ron has to be outside pushing up on the piece so it travels into place (somewhat) properly.  Plus, the body work on the fender housing and slide.  With all of her treatments, Raven is expected to be at the spa for one to two weeks.

We began the approval process in October, first talking with Forest River to determine our options.  Although our warranty period was close to over, they agreed to let us get a quote.  We had contacted an RV shop that is not factory authorized.  We had a working relationship with them and thought it would be reciprocated.  We set up an appointment to have the rig looked at in November.  Two weeks went by and we had no quote, neither did Forest River.  We called a few times but never got a reply.  So, we made the decision to go to a different repair shop.  Again, we made an appointment to have Raven looked at.  It was early December at this point and we'd be leaving for Oklahoma in two weeks.  This shop took us seriously :-)  Affordable RV in Auburn, CA is factory authorized.  They worked up a quote, sent it to Forest River and got the approval back within a couple of weeks.  Imagine our relief.

Now all we had to do was wait for Affordable RV to receive the parts. The parts arrived mid-March and Brittany called us to schedule Raven's spa visit.  April 8th was the soonest they could see her.  We could work with that!

This past week, we've been cleaning out the slide drawers and cabinets.  We'll be hitching Raven up today and spending the night in a nearby hotel.  That will make our trip over to the spa so much easier tomorrow morning.  We've reserved an AirBnB stay in a nearby town.  The property is 7 acres so Rufus will have plenty of room to run around.

Wish us luck that two weeks is all it takes!