It's amazing to me as expensive as these vans are, one would think the manufacturer would use just a bit higher quality adhesives to prevent these issues. Keeping the van owner from having to visit repair centers for small, preventable problems.
When I bought my rv, I told them they would never see me again. Just fix all the stupid things. If you have to get parts, do it right away. You have a good attitude, just get it done. Happy trails.
Picking up my Solis PX tomorrow and I'm stoked! Really appreciate your videos, which are helpful, informative, and entertaining. I learned long ago that the audio quality is more important than the video quality for the viewer. Small tip - wear the lav mics a bit higher - up around your collarbone area if you can. The further from your mouth they are, the more ambient and background sounds will mix with your vocal. Looks like you're using Rodes - so you chose well. Keep the great content coming!
So happy for your getting the Solis! Hopefully our videos helped you with your decision and gave you a few things to check for during your pre-inspection. We appreciate the positive feedback and tips. Yes, we are using Rodes now and appreciate your suggestions. Thanks for watching and have fun with the new Solis!
It's honestly minor stuff....love your pocket...Im going to look at a Vanworks tomorrow built on a Promaster 1500 chassis. They're a custom builder in Fort Collins. Not as much "stuff" for the money but the build quality seems to be really good.
I appreciate your videos, and am cheering you two on with your adventures! It torques and concerns me (for myself) that even with spending so much money on these high-reputation manufacturers' (Winnebago in this case) Class B RVs, so much time has to be spent fixing their cheap goofs, instead of spending that time doing the outdoor "fun stuff" which is the purpose in paying so much for a fun get-outdoors RV. I'm irked at the manufacturers getting away with such "stupid stuff" in their builds and charging SO MUCH for them. Good on you for having the patience and wherewithal to take care of these things for them!
Hi there! Thanks for watching and for the feedback! This van has no hot water and no toilet so it is pretty straightforward to winterize using anti-freeze or air blow-out. We might do a video on that at some point. As far as dealers, you can search rvtrader.com to get an idea for prices and what is available. There are some used ones on the market also which can save a bunch of $$$. Your basic choice is: far away dealer for best price, or local dealer for reliable service after purchase. Owners report that it can be hard to get these serviced if you did not buy it from a local dealer, even for a warranty issue and this has been our experience also. Maybe you will get lucky and find the best price locally! Good luck in your search!
Great video good that you can do all the repairs yourself, l travelled all around Spain, Portugal and Morroco in my motor home and it is fair to say that motorhomes are not very good for long team travel, l replaced a fridge freezer, 2 roof lights repair to split in my shower tray it is fear to say that moter homes are an ongoing maintenance project l dont think any manufacturer sleeps in their vans let alone live in them.
Thanks for watching and for leaving your comment. The more we meet people with various vans/RVs, the more we realize what you say is true. There is always something needing investigation or attention. Safe travels!
Hello! Thanks for watching and for your question. We drove around the Blue Ridge Mountains which included some steep paved roads, and did not experience any issues. Nothing too crazy though. It seems to have plenty of power. It has also has a "towing" mode on the van which reduces ghost shifting on steep hills or when towing a trailer. We have not taken the van on any steep non-paved inclines. I think the stock tires would not be great for that. Take care!
Yes that would have been better, but unfortunately the van was winterized when we picked it up as it was winter and we were immediately driving it north - so there was no water in the system to test during pre-inspection. It was when we added water and de-winterized that the problem appeared. Yes, we could have had the dealer put water in it, test it with us there, then wait for winterization again but we chose not to wait for that. Thanks for watching.
Maybe use some plumbers tape on the threads if you still notice a leak down the road. I’m sure all the vibrations from driving loosens those up from time to time. Thanks for the video…I’ve been considering the Solis 36A. I love the layout but I’m a little concerned about the quality of materials used. Take care…
Thanks for your suggestion. Hopefully the videos have helped you understand the trade-offs with the 36A. We love the van, it is a good value, despite some of the finish issues we have shared. Thanks for watching.
I agree it would be nice to have the build a little tighter. I hear mixed opinions vs other vans, some say others are "so much better" and others says "not as good as Winnebago". With this van, you get a lot for your money and unfortunately some corners are cut. I have friends who paid close to 80K for a Mercedes 4x4 empty shell or well over 40K for a Promaster shell. The amount of time, effort, and to a lesser extent cost to build it out from there should not be underestimated. Thanks for watching.
Randomly found your video. Glad to see another new Class B couple. We just started out too! Subscribed. I have a couple vids posted, tell me what you think.
Thanks for watching and for your comment. Welcome, and it is great to find another couple starting out just like us. Nice intro video, we will follow your journey too!
Thanks for watching and for your comment. According to the package, it says "for best results let cement become tacky before bonding." I'm not sure how long that would take. So far my repairs are holding but maybe better to wait a little longer than I did? Thanks.
I noticed your Pocket van comes with Lithium battery. Is it standard or an option? My wife and I are really interested in this van. May I ask how much you guys paid for the van so we have an idea during negotiation with the dealer.
Hello and thanks for watching! Our Pocket 36A came with and still has the standard two AGM coach batteries. We took out the portable toilet and put a Goal Zero Yeti 1500X battery in that compartment to give us 120v power when off grid. That is lithium but it was our own upgrade. As far as prices, a good way to track them is rvtrader.com. We ended up paying 87k all in. Good luck!
I really like this solis, however, the entegra comet/arc has solid surface counters huge TV (im a gamer:) loaded minus lithium (i will install goal zero 4000 x or blue yetti 4000.etc.........tighter build quality and they are selling for 65,000 currently msrp 99,000............. Thank you ordinary people, however, your extra ordinary like the super heros because your free of the grid (matrix:) Thanks
Yes. That might be our next step. It is still leaking after 9 months if you can believe it. Or it might be on the input side, we need to investigate. Thanks for watching.
He shouldn’t have to do these repairs. WINNEBAGO is getting a good price for these fitted out vans and should be utilizing perfection and a good final inspection.
It’s incredible all of the crap that B class van owner has to go through in order to get their moneys worth out of these products. I own a Thor sequence 20 L and I’ve proudly been able to take all the badges off so that no one knows the crappy product I purchased for$107,000 and I’ve spent two years trying to improve on the poor engineering, and the poor quality of workmanship to get the RV to a point where I’m proud for people to look at it but it’s more mine now than it was Thors
I agree. The couple warranty items we did raise were addressed promptly, but for the other things like I am fixing in this video its simply not worth the hassle - easier to just deal with it. Thanks for the comment.
We have a Solis 59P that we've had for over 2 year now. Other than a couple of warranty issues (stove and furnace), we have not had the issues that these folks have had. It's frustrating when a rig doesn't have fit and finish you were expecting.
I really can’t believe how the RV manufacturers get away with making such sh**ty products! Any normal person just wants to go out there and have fun camping and nope, you have to deal with all of these other things that are made poorly. And these RVs are not cheap. You are pouring a lot of money into them when you purchase it. Not to mention all the other time and money you put into trying to get warranty work taken care of or just trying to fix things that you just don’t have the time to waste over going through the warranty process. I know they have RV inspectors and I think every single person should hire an RV inspector before you purchase any RV. They don’t have any skin in the game. You are paying them to find every single little problem that is either currently there or looks like it’s going to fail in a short time. You can use this information to barter with the RV dealership because you’re gonna have to use your own money to fix certain things, or you can just move along and try to find some thing that’s made properly. They certainly do not hire carpenters or electricians or plumbers to put their products together! This we all know. I believe that the best idea is to purchase a really solid and well made cargo van with the raised roof and the extended wheelbase. Then come up with a schematic drawing of how you would like your van to be. Then hire carpenters electricians and plumbers to do the build out for your van. It will be done in a quality way with hopefully not all of these ridiculously stupid issues that a seventh grader could fix in shop class. You do have to be sure that you are hiring professional well-qualified tradesmen to do the work for you. Otherwise you’ll just be stuck with a piece of crap.☹️
Thanks for your comment. I don't feel the van is a shitty product. Some of the materials are lower end for sure. We have found some quality control issues as you can see in the video. However, what you get for the price is a good value, in my opinion. The top end vans run 250K plus - you can buy 3 Solis Pockets for that. So we knew going into it that we making some tradeoffs. Despite the issues we have documented, we really like the van, and we are handy enough to deal with most issues so far. Take care.
You spend your money on a van that already built outready to go to end up with cheap build materials. Yes, i know not everyone has the skills or time to build a van , some vans sell upwards of 200k ouch or a brand new van blank slate from 65k to 80k , everyone situation different as money to spend, im not a fan of dodge promaster main reason front wheel drive and gasoline, i bought a 2017 Mercedes Benz sprinter cargo van 170 high top 3.0 v6 diesel with 300,000 on odometer all highway miles runs excellent for 4300.00 no rust , or dents , i will build the van my way with real materials not cheap laminate veneer like so many rv builder do it's not right or fair to the consumer you could have bought a 4x4 ford sportsmobile 100k out my price range he really builds a true offroad van to last for years , my build will cost all in 30k that mostly upgrades like flare sides 4k both sides front aluminum front bumper 2500. Rooftop rack 2k its things like this that run up any build i don't need or want 4x4 , i know what you are thinking 300k on odometer no way, im a truck driver 36 years diesel engine will run forever with proper maintenance my current work truck has almost million miles on it 20 years old diesel engine offers longevity over gasoline also it's a Mercedes built the under coating the attention to details but its still a van sheet metal the best way to buy any vehicle is too look at wrecked vehicle that you're planning to buy to see how well it handles in a accident and the repair cost today vehicle are junk that why so many air bags my 1988 e30 bmw has no airbags you can feel how thick the metal is compared to modern vehicles you can feel the metal flex vehicles that last from good materials will make manufacturers go out of business if this was my van and cabinet peeling i replaced with a different material that has no laminated material like real wokd or bamboo just because someone built the van doesn't mean you have to keep the materials used good luck 😀
Thanks for your comments and insights. I am sure will be upgrading the van along the way, for us we made a conscious decision to get something pre-built and you are right, these are some of the tradeoffs. Hopefully people can gain more insight from our experiences. Thanks for watching and take care.
We don't have anything to compare it with as this is our first van/RV. There were some fit/finish concerns as we shared, but so far they have approved both things I raised under warranty - the missing cabinet latch and replacement cushion cover.
Those were minor issues glad you didn’t have major ones…thanks again love watching your channel still negotiating my 2024 solis
Good luck with your negotiations and thanks again.
It's amazing to me as expensive as these vans are, one would think the manufacturer would use just a bit higher quality adhesives to prevent these issues. Keeping the van owner from having to visit repair centers for small, preventable problems.
I agree! Thanks for watching and for the comment. The 3M tape is still holding perfectly.
When I bought my rv, I told them they would never see me again. Just fix all the stupid things. If you have to get parts, do it right away. You have a good attitude, just get it done. Happy trails.
Thanks for your input! I am starting to understand why you told them that. Even more developments recently, stay tuned!
Picking up my Solis PX tomorrow and I'm stoked! Really appreciate your videos, which are helpful, informative, and entertaining. I learned long ago that the audio quality is more important than the video quality for the viewer. Small tip - wear the lav mics a bit higher - up around your collarbone area if you can. The further from your mouth they are, the more ambient and background sounds will mix with your vocal. Looks like you're using Rodes - so you chose well. Keep the great content coming!
So happy for your getting the Solis! Hopefully our videos helped you with your decision and gave you a few things to check for during your pre-inspection. We appreciate the positive feedback and tips. Yes, we are using Rodes now and appreciate your suggestions. Thanks for watching and have fun with the new Solis!
Those laminated cabinet corner; I ripped the skin on my hand by hitting one of those corners, ended up doing a small filing on all cabinet corners.
That is a good idea, too bad to hear about your experience though. Thanks for sharing.
:) THANKS MUCH for sharing! I was looking at the Pocket a while ago. ALL the best and Safe Travels! Cheers :)
Thanks for watching!
I am excited to see the next video on how you travel with multiple bikes.
Should be a good one! Next week I hope. Thanks for watching and for the comment.
It's honestly minor stuff....love your pocket...Im going to look at a Vanworks tomorrow built on a Promaster 1500 chassis. They're a custom builder in Fort Collins. Not as much "stuff" for the money but the build quality seems to be really good.
That is a sweet van, very nicely made. Good luck with it.
I appreciate your videos, and am cheering you two on with your adventures! It torques and concerns me (for myself) that even with spending so much money on these high-reputation manufacturers' (Winnebago in this case) Class B RVs, so much time has to be spent fixing their cheap goofs, instead of spending that time doing the outdoor "fun stuff" which is the purpose in paying so much for a fun get-outdoors RV. I'm irked at the manufacturers getting away with such "stupid stuff" in their builds and charging SO MUCH for them. Good on you for having the patience and wherewithal to take care of these things for them!
Hello! Thanks for watching and for your encouragement!
Love your review & imput!! Is it easy to winterize?
Recommend a dealer?
Thanks!
Kathleen
Hi there! Thanks for watching and for the feedback! This van has no hot water and no toilet so it is pretty straightforward to winterize using anti-freeze or air blow-out. We might do a video on that at some point. As far as dealers, you can search rvtrader.com to get an idea for prices and what is available. There are some used ones on the market also which can save a bunch of $$$. Your basic choice is: far away dealer for best price, or local dealer for reliable service after purchase. Owners report that it can be hard to get these serviced if you did not buy it from a local dealer, even for a warranty issue and this has been our experience also. Maybe you will get lucky and find the best price locally! Good luck in your search!
Great video good that you can do all the repairs yourself, l travelled all around Spain, Portugal and Morroco in my motor home and it is fair to say that motorhomes are not very good for long team travel, l replaced a fridge freezer, 2 roof lights repair to split in my shower tray it is fear to say that moter homes are an ongoing maintenance project l dont think any manufacturer sleeps in their vans let alone live in them.
Thanks for watching and for leaving your comment. The more we meet people with various vans/RVs, the more we realize what you say is true. There is always something needing investigation or attention. Safe travels!
Quick question. How does the pocket perform on steep hills/mountain inclines? Thank you!
Hello! Thanks for watching and for your question. We drove around the Blue Ridge Mountains which included some steep paved roads, and did not experience any issues. Nothing too crazy though. It seems to have plenty of power. It has also has a "towing" mode on the van which reduces ghost shifting on steep hills or when towing a trailer. We have not taken the van on any steep non-paved inclines. I think the stock tires would not be great for that. Take care!
Pre inspection purchase for plumbing leak and getting AT tires
Yes that would have been better, but unfortunately the van was winterized when we picked it up as it was winter and we were immediately driving it north - so there was no water in the system to test during pre-inspection. It was when we added water and de-winterized that the problem appeared. Yes, we could have had the dealer put water in it, test it with us there, then wait for winterization again but we chose not to wait for that. Thanks for watching.
Maybe use some plumbers tape on the threads if you still notice a leak down the road. I’m sure all the vibrations from driving loosens those up from time to time. Thanks for the video…I’ve been considering the Solis 36A. I love the layout but I’m a little concerned about the quality of materials used. Take care…
Thanks for your suggestion. Hopefully the videos have helped you understand the trade-offs with the 36A. We love the van, it is a good value, despite some of the finish issues we have shared. Thanks for watching.
Good video I'm in the market for pocket good information.
That's great! Thanks for watching and for the feedback. Good luck in your search!
I have the 2022 Solis pocket for three years now and I must say it’s a damn shame WINNEBAGO Doesn’t utilize perfection in their built.
I agree it would be nice to have the build a little tighter. I hear mixed opinions vs other vans, some say others are "so much better" and others says "not as good as Winnebago". With this van, you get a lot for your money and unfortunately some corners are cut. I have friends who paid close to 80K for a Mercedes 4x4 empty shell or well over 40K for a Promaster shell. The amount of time, effort, and to a lesser extent cost to build it out from there should not be underestimated. Thanks for watching.
Randomly found your video. Glad to see another new Class B couple. We just started out too! Subscribed. I have a couple vids posted, tell me what you think.
Thanks for watching and for your comment. Welcome, and it is great to find another couple starting out just like us. Nice intro video, we will follow your journey too!
Contact cement I have used is supposed to dry before bonding the parts together
Thanks for watching and for your comment. According to the package, it says "for best results let cement become tacky before bonding." I'm not sure how long that would take. So far my repairs are holding but maybe better to wait a little longer than I did? Thanks.
@@Outapkt My experience is that you wait several minutes. I think you also coat both surfaces.
Great, I'll try that with the next one.
I noticed your Pocket van comes with Lithium battery. Is it standard or an option? My wife and I are really interested in this van. May I ask how much you guys paid for the van so we have an idea during negotiation with the dealer.
Hello and thanks for watching! Our Pocket 36A came with and still has the standard two AGM coach batteries. We took out the portable toilet and put a Goal Zero Yeti 1500X battery in that compartment to give us 120v power when off grid. That is lithium but it was our own upgrade. As far as prices, a good way to track them is rvtrader.com. We ended up paying 87k all in. Good luck!
Installing the light,you didn’t clean the surface with alcohol,keep your tape at the ready
Good point. I should have. At the moment, the VHB tape is still holding. Thanks for watching.
I really like this solis, however, the entegra comet/arc has solid surface counters huge TV (im a gamer:) loaded minus lithium (i will install goal zero 4000 x or blue yetti 4000.etc.........tighter build quality and they are selling for 65,000 currently msrp 99,000.............
Thank you ordinary people, however, your extra ordinary like the super heros because your free of the grid (matrix:) Thanks
That seems like a great value, thanks for watching and for sharing.
9:48 maybe some plumber's tape would help.....🤷♂️
Yes. That might be our next step. It is still leaking after 9 months if you can believe it. Or it might be on the input side, we need to investigate. Thanks for watching.
He shouldn’t have to do these repairs. WINNEBAGO is getting a good price for these fitted out vans and should be utilizing perfection and a good final inspection.
Interesting
thanks for watching
It’s incredible all of the crap that B class van owner has to go through in order to get their moneys worth out of these products. I own a Thor sequence 20 L and I’ve proudly been able to take all the badges off so that no one knows the crappy product I purchased for$107,000 and I’ve spent two years trying to improve on the poor engineering, and the poor quality of workmanship to get the RV to a point where I’m proud for people to look at it but it’s more mine now than it was Thors
I agree. The couple warranty items we did raise were addressed promptly, but for the other things like I am fixing in this video its simply not worth the hassle - easier to just deal with it. Thanks for the comment.
We have a Solis 59P that we've had for over 2 year now. Other than a couple of warranty issues (stove and furnace), we have not had the issues that these folks have had. It's frustrating when a rig doesn't have fit and finish you were expecting.
I really can’t believe how the RV manufacturers get away with making such sh**ty products! Any normal person just wants to go out there and have fun camping and nope, you have to deal with all of these other things that are made poorly. And these RVs are not cheap. You are pouring a lot of money into them when you purchase it. Not to mention all the other time and money you put into trying to get warranty work taken care of or just trying to fix things that you just don’t have the time to waste over going through the warranty process. I know they have RV inspectors and I think every single person should hire an RV inspector before you purchase any RV. They don’t have any skin in the game. You are paying them to find every single little problem that is either currently there or looks like it’s going to fail in a short time. You can use this information to barter with the RV dealership because you’re gonna have to use your own money to fix certain things, or you can just move along and try to find some thing that’s made properly. They certainly do not hire carpenters or electricians or plumbers to put their products together! This we all know. I believe that the best idea is to purchase a really solid and well made cargo van with the raised roof and the extended wheelbase. Then come up with a schematic drawing of how you would like your van to be. Then hire carpenters electricians and plumbers to do the build out for your van. It will be done in a quality way with hopefully not all of these ridiculously stupid issues that a seventh grader could fix in shop class. You do have to be sure that you are hiring professional well-qualified tradesmen to do the work for you. Otherwise you’ll just be stuck with a piece of crap.☹️
Thanks for your comment. I don't feel the van is a shitty product. Some of the materials are lower end for sure. We have found some quality control issues as you can see in the video. However, what you get for the price is a good value, in my opinion. The top end vans run 250K plus - you can buy 3 Solis Pockets for that. So we knew going into it that we making some tradeoffs. Despite the issues we have documented, we really like the van, and we are handy enough to deal with most issues so far. Take care.
From all the horror stories I’ve been seeing here, yours look really minor. Good luck!
So far, nothing too serious, thankfully. Thanks for watching!
You guys shouldn’t need to do this. Quality seems to be a problem with the Solis. I am turned off!
Thanks for watching, yes quality has been an issue for us but fortunately we have not hit anything major yet.
You spend your money on a van that already built outready to go to end up with cheap build materials. Yes, i know not everyone has the skills or time to build a van , some vans sell upwards of 200k ouch or a brand new van blank slate from 65k to 80k , everyone situation different as money to spend, im not a fan of dodge promaster main reason front wheel drive and gasoline, i bought a 2017 Mercedes Benz sprinter cargo van 170 high top 3.0 v6 diesel with 300,000 on odometer all highway miles runs excellent for 4300.00 no rust , or dents , i will build the van my way with real materials not cheap laminate veneer like so many rv builder do it's not right or fair to the consumer you could have bought a 4x4 ford sportsmobile 100k out my price range he really builds a true offroad van to last for years , my build will cost all in 30k that mostly upgrades like flare sides 4k both sides front aluminum front bumper 2500. Rooftop rack 2k its things like this that run up any build i don't need or want 4x4 , i know what you are thinking 300k on odometer no way, im a truck driver 36 years diesel engine will run forever with proper maintenance my current work truck has almost million miles on it 20 years old diesel engine offers longevity over gasoline also it's a Mercedes built the under coating the attention to details but its still a van sheet metal the best way to buy any vehicle is too look at wrecked vehicle that you're planning to buy to see how well it handles in a accident and the repair cost today vehicle are junk that why so many air bags my 1988 e30 bmw has no airbags you can feel how thick the metal is compared to modern vehicles you can feel the metal flex vehicles that last from good materials will make manufacturers go out of business if this was my van and cabinet peeling i replaced with a different material that has no laminated material like real wokd or bamboo just because someone built the van doesn't mean you have to keep the materials used good luck 😀
Thanks for your comments and insights. I am sure will be upgrading the van along the way, for us we made a conscious decision to get something pre-built and you are right, these are some of the tradeoffs. Hopefully people can gain more insight from our experiences. Thanks for watching and take care.
You really can’t trust Winnebago
We don't have anything to compare it with as this is our first van/RV. There were some fit/finish concerns as we shared, but so far they have approved both things I raised under warranty - the missing cabinet latch and replacement cushion cover.
Jesus...i m done😂😂😂😂 get a New Van 😂😂😂😂
Thanks for watching. We need to deal whatever issues come up with this one!