In the fable The Three Little Pigs, three pigs build three houses of different materials. A Big Bad Wolf blows down the first two pigs’ houses, made of straw and sticks respectively, but is unable to destroy the third pig’s house, made of bricks.
In the fable, the exchange between the Big Bad Wolf and each pig goes . . .
“Little pig, little pig, let me come in.”
“No, no, by the hair on my chiny chin chin.”
“Then I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house in.”
In RV terms, instead of the Big Bad Wolf, the destructive force could be poor construction, weather, bumpy roads or some other culprit.
So, in Little Pig Talk, what’s your RV?
Hmmm. My only concern is bears. Other than that I feel pretty safe.
Given how the roads are in the US, brick might have been the choice, but sticks is my choice. Built solid, but not bullet-proof. We have had some issues which I expect given the use. Still happy with our High Country
Totally brick all the way …and it’s 14 years old to boot! My rig is a 2006 Monaco Monarch 35′ V-10 gas (with a Banks booster for the mountains). We’ve owned it six years and are amazed at how well it’s built. Even the screws holding the valence over the sink are two inches long! If there’s a rattle, it’s cargo not the chassis or body.
Of course Monaco went under in 2008 since quality is not cheap. A couple years ago at our park in Tucson, one of the big name multistate dealers had several factory fresh rigs on display at Friday morning coffee. Front and centre was a 28′ Class A with a full body slideout on one wall and a smaller one on the opposite side in the kitchen area.
Giant fluorescent green letters on the windshield. “ONLY $89,000!!!” Too many RVs are now being built for a quick trip to the scrap heap. That was one. Set the bar low enough…
Rice paper wasn’t an option. 😂
Our 2014 Winnebago Vista28 footer is very noisy on Calif roads but handles the wind very well.
Not built like a s–t house, but better than most of
our colleagues RV’s.
Ours is definitely brick! 60 year old bus re-framed with HSS, built like a trussed bridge and skinned with heavier stainless than it really should be. Weighs lots, but a tank.
We drive a 2010 Winnebago Navion (Mercedes Sprinter). Its our 2nd one. The first one got clobbered by a driver cell user and forced us off the road where we ended in a rollover. When we exited the vehicle all that was left was the ‘flatbed’ with a couch and no cabover. The driver and passenger escaped with their lives. We tend to trust the Mercedes brand.
Our Itasca is 14 years old and is holding as expected. We removed the carpet, and replaced with tile. Front TV died, so replaced with HD Flat screen units which saves storage and weight. The fiberglass roof has never caused problems.
Hours of research led me to the ORV brand. While not perfect, it is heads and shoulders above anything else we looked at. Build quality seems to be very good, and we are still making it our own with personalized modifications. Check back in 5 years and we will be able to give you better insight
Had to go with sticks, maybe sticks built on bricks foundation. Crossroads before ‘Thor’, so has been good to me, as had the company as far as covering issues thru warranty. But from what I hear from new crossroads owners I would not own a new one!
I had to go with “brick” as our travel trailer is moulded fiberglass. Think Scamp, Casita, Bigfoot, Oliver, etc. Many of these are 20, 30, 40 years old, on the road and still look’n good. Ours is only 31 years old and serves our needs very well. It seems to me that moulded fiberglass TT’s and the better bus conversions are the ones that last a long time.
We have towed a Casita that is 11 years old over 140,000 miles. 49 states, all 10 provinces and one Canadian territory. Our last major trip was to Labrador and Newfoundland. The Quebec 389 to the Trans-Labrador Highway and down the Labrador coast back to Quebec are an adventure of unpaved “roads” and long distances between habitation. It has held up fantastically, including after going airborne over a frost heave in Alaska. Don’t ask.
Since I drive a Sprinter, my “house” is made of steel. The interior walls are covered with cloth-covered board, all pretty solid. By the way, mine, too, is a Roadtrek which is starting its ninth year of mostly trouble-free use.
Our “new” TT (2014) is from an entry-level brand but had been well-maintained by the previous owner. We went in knowing there’d be maintenance and such, but we’re DIY people. Everything we fix, we fix better than original. So it’s definitely sticks, will never be bricks, won’t let it deteriorate to straw!
I have a Roadtrek van conversion. pretty solid.
Maybe sticks, duct tape and eternabond …