I didn't set out to be the RV industry's critic. I set out to live in one.
I bought my first RV, a Winnebago Navion (2018 model), and went full-time for two years. It was everything I'd hoped for: the freedom, the views, the strange tribe of people who live this way. I was a convert. I thought I'd RV forever.
Life changed and I quickly outgrew the Navion. I needed more space — a real bedroom and room for the gear that comes with a bigger setup. So I traded up.
The Coachmen Pursuit looked great on the lot. It lived in the shop. I started keeping a list — fixtures that fell off, slides that wouldn't slide, water leaks where there shouldn't have been water. I ate a lot of the cost myself because warranty work meant losing the RV for weeks.
Around this time I started paying attention to a pattern. Most of the legacy RV brands had been bought by two or three giant holding companies. The independent operators I'd grown up trusting were now subsidiaries with quarterly numbers to hit. Quality was the variable that gave when corporate pushed for volume.
I did my research and bought what I thought was the antidote: an Alliance Paradigm fifth wheel. Alliance was independently owned at the time, founded by industry veterans who said they were doing it differently.
Some were small — trim that fell off, switches that didn't switch. Some were not — major structural issues, water intrusion, electrical problems. I learned that "independently owned" wasn't a guarantee of anything when the industry's whole supply chain and labor pool were under the same pressure.
I started posting the story. The reaction was immediate and overwhelming. People weren't surprised — they were relieved. "I thought it was just me." I heard that hundreds of times. RV owners had been gaslit by dealerships, ground down by warranty processes, and told they were the problem. They weren't.
By 2023 I'd had it with the first Alliance. Then the owner of Alliance reached out to me personally — he wanted us to give them another chance. A brand-new Alliance Paradigm. His personal word that this one would be different.
I traded the first one in.
Lots of problems ever since. Same builder, same playbook, different sticker. We're stuck with this one too — and this summer we're taking the family back out on the road in it, knowing something will break.
Five years after CrappyRV started, the channel and the community are still here. I still RV. I still love the lifestyle. And I still think the industry deserves to be held to a higher standard than the one it's set for itself.
It is: an independent voice for the RV community. Honest reviews, hard questions, and pre-purchase guidance for people who don't want to learn what I learned the hard way.
It is not: paid by manufacturers. CrappyRV doesn't sell RV products and doesn't take dealership money. When there's a sponsor, you'll know — and it won't be anyone whose product is supposed to be reviewed honestly.