Disintigrating vinyl

[StevePowerTX]

2015 Whitehawk 27RBOK


The brown vinyl on both the sofa and the cushions is flaking off big time. Large patches are gone and the rest will be completely disintegrated within a few weeks at this rate. Ridiculous in my view for a 5 years old TT with no heavy use. Has anyone else had this problem and if so were you able to find a way to recover the sofa and/or cushions?

[Camper_bob]

It's a common problem. The dealers and manufacturers of the furniture and the units know about it (whether they admit it or not).

There is a SMALL chance you could get some traction with the furniture manufacturer, but unlikely I'm afraid, and from what I understand, Jayco won't own up to the problem. I read about another manufacturer who DID own up to it and was replacing furniture out of warranty in some cases, but I can't remember who that was.

That had begun happening in my trailer pretty early too (but out of warranty of course), and I resolved that if I had kept that unit I was going to replace the couch with recliners (RecPro). I ended up trading it on a motor home.

If I were you, and I wasn't going to replace the entire thing, I would see if an upstanding upholstery shop could re-cover it for you.

[StevePowerTX]

Thanks. that's kind of what I needed to know. The seat cushions my wife might be able to make slip covers for. The sofa is a whole different matter, especially because it folds out into a bed. I'm should be able to find an upholstery shop but that entails taking the sofa out or taking the trailer to the upholsterer. A pain either way but I'll have to do something. Really looks bad and will seriously cut the value come trade in or sell time. Sort of thing that will put me off buying Jayco ever again.

[Grumpy]

Originally Posted by StevePowerTX

Sort of thing that will put me off buying Jayco ever again.

It was found on numerous brands since they all get the furniture from the same 3rd party suppliers like FLEXSTEEL and LIPPERT. FLEXSTEEL actually got out of the RV furniture business this year.

[GABob]

Ours still look good, but the boss is telling me to find cloth covers...have to agree with her there.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by Grumpy

It was found on numerous brands since they all get the furniture from the same 3rd party suppliers like FLEXSTEEL and LIPPERT. FLEXSTEEL actually got out of the RV furniture business this year.

+1

This is NOT an issue that is isolated to Jayco.

I just wish the furniture manufacturers would own up to it and do the right thing instead of claiming it's not a widespread problem.

[clutch]

Ours did the same thing and we had the cushions recovered with different material. It didn't cost much and looks great.

A friend of ours with a 5th wheel from a different manufacturer is having the same problem. It seems that around 4 or 5 years that fake leather falls apart. Our trailer has been in the Arizona sun and theirs has spent the summers on the Oregon coast. I don't think it's the heat or cold it's just a matter of time.

[Zenar]

Is it possible it's the cleaners you use? Or should we be treating the material with a moisturizer?

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by Zenar

Is it possible it's the cleaners you use? Or should we be treating the material with a moisturizer?

I don't think that has any noticeable effect. I've heard owners who never cleaned/treated, and owners who did, and both have the same problem.

I don't know that there's any "conditioning" that you can do to it because it's not real leather. It's a paper thin cover treatment applied over cloth (probably some kind of vinyl?). So you MAY be able to squeeze a LITTLE more time out of it if you treat it, but as was said, it's really only a matter of time.

It's just a really poor design.