Barney Gets Built

Over and over again we’ve been told that RVers are incredibly friendly and helpful.  We learned that to be true this week.

There are a number of internet forums that cater to motor home owners. I have been posting various questions on one of them for a while and always manage to find helpful people to guide us as we stumble along.

Taking an absolute shot in the dark, last weekend I asked whether anyone would be at the Tiffin plant this week while our RV was being built.  One of the folks on the forum responded that he would be there since he was getting some work done on his RV.  He said he’d try to find our rig on the line. Another RVer happened to see my request, found this blog, and saw our post that contained our build schedule.  He provided the build schedule to the other owner before I could even respond.

For the remainder of the week, we received photos of our RV as it made its way through the various build stations.

Another owner who had watched his own RV being built back in November saw my request and sent us the pictures he had taken, and someone else sent us a link to a very cool time lapse video documenting an entire build from start to finish.  I’ve embedded that video below.

Now we can share Barney’s build with all of you!  The photos start about mid-way through the build, but I’ve added some from the other owner who shared his pictures with us.

Tiffin builds all of the cabinetry and paneling for every one of their RVs in-house.

These photos also show the difference between having the slides out versus having them in.  So when we’re parked at a campground, we’ll extend the slides giving us lots of space.  When we’re driving, the slides will be pulled in, making the space much narrower.

Paint!!!

RV manufacturers LOVE themselves some swirly paint. It’s sordof a “more cowbell!” thing. Apparently, you can never have too many swirls on an RV.

Jason and Nikki Wynn are young fulltime RVers who partnered with Fleetwood, another manufacturer, to encourage design changes that would appeal to a younger demographic of RVers. They have a whole series of videos about their proposed changes and you can really see the difference in interiors.  I really like our model, but I’ll be interested to see what happens over the next several years as the number of “location independent” young fulltimers increases and presumably seek less ‘beige on beige’ and swirly paint and more muted and modern designs.

Here is that time lapse video (credit – David & Brenda Bott) showing an entire build from start to finish.  What amazes me is there is almost no automation.  Everything is built and installed by people, not robots.  It is also incredible just how many people are involved.

…And I wonder how many times those people get distracted and forget to screw something in.  Oh well… I guess we’ll find out.  🙂

It looks like next week’s work is mostly quality checks, minor repairs, cleaning and inspections. Soon after, Barney will be on his way to the dealership for their own quality checks and installation of some after-market stuff we’ve ordered.

We’re gettin there!!!