Montana RPOD

Thank you all for the tips and advice! 

Originally posted by tcj I can not open the door from the inside if the outside hand rail is across it.  I can't see any way to bevel any bracket edge that would make it possible to open the door.  The hand rail must be lifted about a half inch before it can be rotated out of the way.  Ours is a 2019. Maybe older models have a different design??

You can open the door, even with the hand rail across it. We've tried it, and you do have to push a little harder, but you are by no means locked in. If it seems too hard, look around on this site. Several people have added a small metal bar, or filed the notch to make a "ramp" of sorts. Not a big deal.

Some information on quality of RV builds I learned this summer.  We visited the Elkhardt, Indiana area where 80% of the RVs in this country are made.  We actually visited a plant to see how they are made (not a FR plant).  We found out regardless of brand they are all basically made the same way and people move around alot and the pay is great.  The people who built my RPOD in 2017 could have built my Keystone in 2018! They are paid on a per unit basis.  In this factory the magic number was 12 per day.  Any less and they got docked pay.  Any more (up to a maximum of 17 that was the record) and they got bonus pay.  Thus the incentive is for speed NOT quality.  And if someone is sick or on vacation they have to do the same work without him/her! Only a few manufacturers have a QA dept that actually goes back and docks workers for poor quality.  If they see a common problem (eg the WFCO converter failing, they tell me they will change manufacturers or else change the RV design). They lose money on warranty work and try to avoid it if possible but,  if it costs less to perform warranty work than make changes then they will keep allowing something to break and then fixing it later).  In terms of dust shavings, we saw RVs with dust at each step in the manufacture. They do NOT vacuum until the RV is done.  Therefore while bouncing along the highway all of that hidden dust keeps coming out.  It was this way for both of our RVs.  So all RVs (maybe the Airstreams are different) are built this way.  Just have to hope that your RV was built with all employees present and was not one of the last ones they were trying to finish for the day and that bonus check.  The good news is that most of these things can be fixed if you are reasonably handy.  If not, please buy from a local dealer even if it costs more money because you may have to make several trips back for warranty work

I don't know. I went out tonight and proved again I can open door with hand rail closed. I also have to lift mine to rotate but pressure causes it to release. It is not that a substantial of resistance. If they changed the provider, I have not heard of it.