Gulft Stream Coach

I purchased a gently used 2018 Gulf Stream Amerilite 279BH. I am a handyman by trade, so it's very fortunate that I have the skills and knowledge to identify and fix the issues I share in this review.

I'm confident in saying the previous owners of this unit were very likely heartbroken they had spent so much only to be given a lemon that no dealership would want to touch. The price I paid for this Gulf Stream camper made me feel like I almost stole it, however, wisdom comes from experience and now I understand the dealer I purchased from sold it for a price that was likely higher than a Gulf Stream is worth. That is a subjective statement, so here is a list of the issues I've found since acquiring the vehicle and you can judge for yourself:

- The pedestal-style dinette table was properly anchored to the floor with six visible screws through the flange of each of the two pedestals, however, the factory put only one screw of each pedestal up into the tabletop leaving the table loose at best and potentially dangerous at worst.

- The shower stall leaked through the walls and into the living area because it wasn't caulked/sealed properly and/or using poor quality sealant.

- The shower drain pipe leaked, as in the pipe itself leaked. I've repaired much residential plumbing and I've never even seen this issue before: there were pinholes in the P-trap section of the drain pipe from the extremely poor segmented-molding process used to make it.

It wasn't a PVC pipe, rather a very poor quality fragile plastic.

- The bathroom vanity mirror was factory-installed loosely, using a wood screw on either side of the mirror to hold it it long enough to get the camper out of the factory. It's very lucky someone hadn't closed the door hard enough to shatter the loose mirror and cut themselves.

- All three closets in the camper are both too short and too shallow to fit standard-sized hangers or garments, so the closets are useless and just waste highly valuable space.

- Large voids behind cabinets where there should be drawers, leaving unused space when storage space is already severely lacking due to very poor storage and cabinet design.

- There's a 'pantry' of sorts but there's only access to 1/2 side of it, the other side is equal amount of dead space covered by paneling that should have doors or shelves installed. More valuable space wasted.

- I have a 27 gallon water tank underneath a queen bed where a 50 gallon tank would fit, meaning there's another huge void of unused space where they didn't bother to put drawers or a proper-sized water tank. That leads to another perplexing design decision: a 27 gallon water tank for a large bunkhouse camper intended for use by a family of 4 or 5?

That's inexcusable, in my opinion.

- There are only three drawers in the entire camper and where they should have put three more drawers, instead, they just put cabinet doors to access floor-level storage space so the storage down there is impossible to utilize without crawling on the floor to see in or to reach items. Additionally, the doors installed are approximately 2/3 the width of the available space, leaving large blind corners to the left and right of the tiny doors.

- Underneath the main working area of the kitchen counter top is a dead panel, where the main kitchen drawer should be. Instead, it's just more wasted space.

- I have a range but no oven and they put a cabinet door on this space instead of drawers, assuring the space is difficult to access and to use.

- The range is installed out-of-level, so it's actually lop-sided when the camper sits level.

- The slide was not adjusted properly for level so water drained into the unit instead of running down and away from it, causing water damage to the flooring of the slide.

- The kitchen counter is made of cheap laminated masonite (essentially a paper-like product) and there's no structure underneath to support it in the middle, so the kitchen counter sags in middle.

- The edges of the counters in both the kitchen and bathroom have a plastic edging that was not fitted properly at the factory, so it isn't adhered to any inside curve of the countertop leaving a big gap everywhere there's an inside curve.

Summary and opinions of my experience with this Gulf Stream camper:

- The cabinet and storage designs seem to be done with little or no consideration of the customer, let alone for the long-lasting impression it leaves the customer towards Gulf Stream Coach as a brand.

- The materials choices are abysmal - a masonite countertop? OSB walls and flooring?

Cabinetry that is wrapped in a wood-grain printed ricepaper-like laminate that easily peels away? Fragile plastic piping that literally leaks through the walls of the pipe?

- The manufacturing quality is nothing short of embarrassing. As I go about fixing all of the issues described above and I come face-to-face with how the vehicle was put together, I can get no other impression than the manufacturing staff have complete derision for their job.

- There are stickers on the camper that suggest it was QA-verified, but I can only think QA does not mean Quality Assurance at a Gulf Stream. I mean that honestly, not pejoratively.

- I was shocked when experiencing all these issues to find that Gulf Stream Coach is a private company, suggesting to me that there should be pride and value in the brand by accountable owners.

This Gulf Stream camper expresses to me that the company holds a very short-term view of their bottom line and is not building a brand they want customers to value and buy again. While there are likely people at the company that want to design and build a quality product, it doesn't appear to me that company culture is designed to support and nurture that prideful spirit.

In the simplest of terms, my Gulf Stream camper is objectively garbage and my perception of Gulf Stream Coach (as a company) is such now that I will steer everyone I meet away from buying the brand. I want American companies to succeed, so that is a shame for me to say.

2018 gulfstream 30 friendship travel trailer. The roofing plywood under the rubber membrane is starting to buckle.

To inspect the problem I have cut a small hole in the membrane to evaluate what the issue is-there are no screws or hardware holding the plywood down at the joint to the next plywood; also there is no structural framing at the edge of the plywood for the plywood to attach to.

The plywood is unsupported at the back edge across the trailer for some distance until it gets to the next beam going to the front of the trailer. This problem is on 2 joints running the entire width of the trailer.

HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!! WARRANTY REPAIRS REPORTED 3 MONTHS AGO, STILL NOT REPAIRED!

DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM THIS COMPANY!!! THEY DO NOT VALUE YOU AS A CUSTOMER AND THEY DONT STAND BEHIND THIER WARRANTY OR WORKMANSHIP. I have a 2016 Gulf Breeze 30dbs, Brand new never used. The trailer has small bubbles going from front to back in straight lines, at 4 or more different heights an all fiberglass surfaces.

I had it looked at by 2 professional repair shop that have been in business over 30 years. Both shops said the fiberglass is DELAMINATING. Both shops also said the only way to fix it is to send it back to the manufacturer and have them replace all the fiberglass. The Issue was brought to the attention of Gulf Stream in November by phone, E-mail, and certified letter.

They acknowledge the issue but never return calls to tell you how they are going to resolve the issue. They have a secretary that they use to screen their calls so you can never speak to the people responsible for making the decisions about the repairs. I HAVE SENT MULTIPLE E-MAILS AND LEFT MESSAGES WITHOOUT ANY RETURN COMMUNICATION TO PAM LARRISON AND JOHN SMITH Finally after 2 months of harrassing them with phone calls and e-mails, they finally spoke with me and said they would be out to pick up the trailer after the first of the year, offered a flight to the repair facility to inspect the inside of the walls to assure no damage had occurred before replaceing the fiberglass, offered to extend the warranty for 2 years on the exterior and replace the tires if needed because of the 4.5K miles round trip they would be putting on the trailer to get it fixed at their facility. ALL LIES!!!!!!!!!!

The new year came and guess who is up to their old tricks. They asked me for the third time what the address was to pick up the trailer, but never answer the question on when to expect someone. It has been 3 weeks and they do not answer e-mails or phone calls. John Smith and Pam Larrison are both in charge of handling these warranty claims and have been completely worthless to say the least.

If they do respond to an e-mail, they always leave out any of the important information needed to get this issue resolved. They take days to weeks or NEVER respond to any form of communication. They require customers to report warranty claims within 15 or 30 days or the warranty is no longer valid. I reported it within hours of noticing the issue, and it is obvious that tHey are not held to the same standards for repairing their defects as we are for reporting them.

MY TRAILER DEPRECIATES MORE EVERY DAY AND I CAN'T SELL IT BECAUSE OF THE DELAMINATION ISSUES.

iF YOU HAVE BOUGHT A TRAILER FROM THIS COMPANY RESEARCH HOW TO SPOT DELAMINATION AND CHECK YOUR TRAILER IMMEDIATELY. THE TRAILERS EXTERIOR WILL LITERALLY FALL APART IF NOT FIXED.