Coachmen Catalina Summit Series 8 reviews

We purchased our 2000 Coachmen Catalina 279SA for three reasons: the open floor plan, the easy towability and overall quality of the trailer. We have not been disappointed! After 20 years of moderate use, we just as happy with the Coachmen today as we were when we first towed it off the lot. If we were to improve one thing, we would replace the carpet with hard surface floors in the main living area. Other than that, we have thousands if mules and years of great memories in the trailer and it's still going strong! Show less

This is our first ever camper experience. We bought this 2022 Coachmen Legacy 283 in May 2023 brand new from A & L RV Sales in Richmond VA. We were tickled pink with it. We've never taken the thing out of the yard. Then May 2024 we lost our ac in the house. As of today, June 23rd 2024 we're living in the camper in our backyard. This is a nice sized camper to spend a weekend or maybe a week in. Sleeping in it daily and living in it daily it's not so great. Keeping up with the black tank level and the grey tank level is a chore. And holy moly it gets H O T . The AC runs constantly. Sure, we're parked where we have shade for a few hours in the morning, but between noon and dark, it's just about unlivable. We have nothing to compare to, so I don't know if other campers are more insulated or even insulated at all. But we manage. The kitchen is nice. Again, not really enough storage space for long term living, but then again, it makes you realize what's important and what's not. I'm fairly tall and it's all I can do to reach the back of the pantry. It's really deep so find you a step stool. Then find a place to store it. The kitchen table and bench seats are perfect for my skinny husband. He slides in and out just fine. My wide hips do better in the recliner. Which is very comfortable, as is the sleeper couch. That's comfy too, the couch made in a bed. Speaking of beds. We have a king size mattress in a queen sized room. My husband has a bad back and watching him crawl into bed is hard. It's worse getting up in the middle of the night to pee. ** I think the worst thing about this camper is how the bed is made. The mattress is on a piece of plywood and the plywood has UNFINISHED edges all around it. Sure, we could sand them down and round them off, but why should the customer have to do something like that ?! It looks like that was overlooked during assembly. ** The bathroom is nice. Haven't used the shower yet (we go in the house for that. Hot as hell, but better than using up all our water in the camper ). My husband says pulling the camper with our 2002 Ford F350 Super Duty is a breeze. Hooking up to the truck is easy. Overall, again having nothing to compare to, I'd say this is an okay camper. It's not perfect, but I'm sure there is not a perfect camper. I'll give this one about a B+. Happy camping everyone !! Be safe. Show less

Overall livability is excellent. It's obvious they skimped on quality, both in materials and workmanship. Cabinets and doors are made of MDF finished in a thin vinyl paper. The floor plan offers two bedrooms. Ours has two queen beds and no outdoor kitchen. There are no draws in the main bedroom - only cabinets. Upon delivery the furnace stopped working because the back of the furnace wasn't secured and the blower was packed with construction sawdust. The ductwork was also packed with sawdust and cut-outs from the flooring plywood. The sliding glass door vertical blinds are very cheap, they do not close fully and will need replaced with a better quality patio door blinds. They installed an emergency exit window where there should be a headboard - when there is a bedroom door making the emergency window redundant. Cold air flows off the window and onto our heads when sleeping. We'll be retrofitting that with a headboard. The two 3-step fold out steps are very flimsy and unstable. I fell the first night due to the shaky steps outside the bedroom door. I'll need to replace those with SolidSteps. Show less

We bought our 2019 Coachmen Catalina 243 RBS new. I have to tell you, it's been nothing but problems. First the air conditioner on the roof wasn't tightened down and when it rained, we had to put a bucket under it. The repair shop said they could almost turn it sideways, that's how loose it was. Second issue was rain dripping on us while we were sleeping. The seal in the front where the roof meets the metal needed to be caulked all over. I did that myself. This happened twice. Third, the switch on the power jack went out and I had to replace that. Fourth, the factory didn't caulk one side of the travel trailer. The dealership noticed that when we brought it in to have the air-conditioner tightened. Fifth, one day we noticed they didn't even bother to put trim where the floor and wall meet. They did it in some areas and not others. I would have to say that I am disappointed in the workmanship of this travel trailer. I would tell anyone that is considering buying any travel trailer or RV, to buy one that is a couple of years old. Otherwise it'll sit in the shop half the time getting repairs done. Show less

I bought this travel trailer to live in, it's a piece of junk. Links on both sliders, ceiling fell on first trip. And bed in front room fell to the storage underneath. Jack's fell and now we are stuck with no help or way to fix it. First time buyer and I will not do this again. Everyone said move out and it will take months to get anything with the warranty if any at all. We got no where to go. Never should have done this but we did and now we are stuck. Show less

Purchased this trailer with much higher expectations. I never thought it was possible to manufacture and assemble a trailer this poorly. Cheap finishings and poor materials throughout the entire trailer which you do not notice until living in it. All the walls and wood finishings are made of cheap paper and are delaminated from the surface. Awning LEDs were working upon inspection and are now not functioning. Fridge makes terrible noises, front slide out leaks water. Had to re-do 50 % of all the caulking in the trailer as it looked terrible, interior caulking looked like it was put on by a 6 year old. The list is endless. My recommendations are to stay away from ANY Catalina Trailer as they are poorly assembled garbage. It’s clear from the other ratings I am not the only one who feels this way. Show less

We bought a brand new Coachman Catalina Destination MKTS. We owned an older Coachman and were happy with the quality, etc. We are extremely disappointed in the quality and warranty service we have received - or lack thereof. Our camper service technician shared that it is unbelievable how these campers are thrown together so poorly. EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED!! Show less

This looked like a very nice RV however the a c in bedroom blows fuses the kitchen leaking so bad it damaged the cabinets I only just bought it two weeks ago brand new 2023. This is not acceptable paying the price and never used. It’s not that easy just to take it somewhere to be fixed and can’t believe the damage already my whole counter top I came in one day right after purchased and it was like someone poured two gallons of water thank goodness I came in that I could soak it up but still leaking going to call the dealership however to me not the dealerships fault it’s a manufacture issue and inside it’s so cheaply made some places on material looks as it was left over from a project so I’m really not happy with this RV but it looked very nice I suppose since it was brand new and couldn’t see every flaw until it was delivered so don’t know I would recommend this Model so sorry to say. My grandson bought a 2015 hydeout Keystone RV and purchased right before I did mine he has no issues what so ever to say the least not a happy camper Show less

We have had our trailer since new and love it It tows great behind our 1500 dodge Ram It’s roomy inside And we find it perfect for two seniors Love the shower and the fireplace and the bedroom Easy to clean easy to park Love it Right size right price Show less

Overall it is comfortable. Plenty of room to move around. Has one of the largest bedrooms in trailers. Easy to tow with our Dodge Ram 1500 with the 5.7L motor. There are three slide outs in this model. We have had leaks in all slides. This has caused the flooring at the interior corners of the coach to deteriorate and cause spongy floors. The slides have been the main issue with this coach. Forest River cannot seem to manufacture a decent seal for the slides. Shame on them. Another issue was the refrigerator. It is an all electric Everchill brand. It does not require propane to operate. This brand does not seem to be reliable. After the refrigerator was replaced for the third time, we finally got a refrigerator that works. The slide motors needed to be replaced. The hitch jack needed to be replaced, the electrical panel needed to be replaced. Awning vinyl is poor quality. Too much junk is used to manufacture these RVs. The parts are not reliable and the manufacture is charging too much for what you are buying. And value for the money? It stinks. Some of the defects were repaired under the warranty period. But the leaky slides and spongy floors were not because they appeared some time after the warranty period expired causing us to pay $$$$$. Show less