CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Skyline Customer Satisfaction is more than just a promise. We believe you deserve quality in every aspect of ownership. To ensure your continued satisfaction, we’re dedicated to providing you with a quality product along with the very best service available in our industry. Skyline’s “Commitment of Excellence” will be a source of pride and satisfaction
for you.
Contact your Westland Camping for details.

NO-NONSENSE WARRANTY

Manufacturing defects reported to Skyline within one year after original retail delivery of your new RV by an authorized dealer will be corrected without charge and within reasonable times. Excluded are misuse (including lack of reasonable maintenance), minor imperfections, alterations, and dealer or owner improper transportation, installation, or hookup.

This warranty gives you specific legal rights. You may have other rights which vary from state to state.

Skyline’s suppliers often provide additional warranties on their components beyond the Skyline factory bumper-to-bumper warranty. For example – the range, water heater, furnace and convertor carry two-year supplier warranties while the air conditioner, refrigerator, microwave and awning carry three-year warranties. The one-piece roof carries a 12-year warranty. Ask your dealer for full details.

Manufacturer’s Notice: All specifications, equipment, and prices are subject to change without prior notice. Production of all models subject to seasonal scheduling. Skyline Corporation reserves the right to improve a model without incorprating these changes in similar models produced at an earlier date.

Consult your automobile dealer and your recreational vehicle dealer to assure the proper match between tow vehicle and trailer. Tow vehicle and recreational unit must be properly equalized for efficient product performance and safety. Before you purchase your recreational vehicle, carefully consider the number of people it will accommodate and its end use. Manufacturer’s load capacity restrictions and recommendations must be followed for safe and efficient product performance.

Your Retailer, an independent contractor, who is not an agent of Skyline Corporation, is the party responsible for your purchase contract and any additions, deletions, alterations, or attachments made to or in your recreational vehicle.

Question: I recently read about formaldehyde use in manufactured homes and RVs. Can you provide more information regarding formaldehyde usage in Skyline products?

Skyline Corporation is concerned about the safety of our customers and wants to provide this useful information regarding formaldehyde usage in the products we build.
Formaldehyde is a chemical found in many products used to build residential and commercial structures. Depending upon various factors, formaldehyde may be emitted into the air of all commercial and residential structures including manufactured housing and recreational vehicles. Formaldehyde is also present in the outdoor air.
Numerous consumer products and industrial processes such as particle board furniture, dry cleaning, permanent press fabrics, beauty supply products including nail polish, deodorants and shampoo, paint and many other products use or contain formaldehyde.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulates the building of manufactured homes. HUD has established standards regulating the levels of formaldehyde which may be emitted from building products used in constructing manufactured housing. Skyline complies with these regulations and uses only products which either contain no formaldehyde or are certified by their manufacturer as emitting levels within those permitted by the HUD Standards. These regulations also require that our homes contain an Important Health Notice that is affixed to the kitchen counter of every home manufactured and is repeated in the Homeowner Manual.
Prior to January 1, 2008, recreational vehicles did not require the use of low-emitting formaldehyde products. However, Skyline has voluntarily used them for many years since low-emitting products were available in the marketplace.
The level of formaldehyde in the indoor air of any home, building, or rv is dependent in large part upon temperature, humidity and ventilation. Proper ventilation will improve air quality, while closing up a home or rv or using inadequate ventilation can result in poor air quality. The level of formaldehyde also dissipates over time.

Westland Camping Presents Walkabout by Skyline

If you have never heard of Walkabout travel trailers, you are missing out.  So in the name of education, we at Westland Camping are providing you with a list of features about Walkabout.

• Luxury Lightweight with Tow-Lite Technology
• 5-Sided Laminated Construction with Aluminum Framing
• Azdel Sidewall (no Formaldehyde) – 50% lighter, won’t absorb moisture, no rot, no mold, odor free, R-2 Insulation Value
• Italian Poplar Plywood cabinet stiles, Glued and Screwed together, instead of particle board or Lumbercore – 40% lighter
• Italian Poplar Plywood substrate for Countertops, Bed Tops & Table Tops – superior strength, and 40% lighter than particle board
• Extra-long 4-inch Gutters on all corners and slide outs
• Aluminum Tube Framed Bed bases, dinette bases & bunk bases
• Enclosed & Heated Underbelly (40 gall Grey / 40 gal Black / 42 gal fresh)
• Twin 30# LP tanks w/Auto changeover Regulator
• Aerodynamic Front for easier towing
• Lamilux 1000 Exterior
• Safe Tandem Axle running gear with E-Z Lube hubs, E-Z Flex Suspension
• Radial Tires w/Aluminum Wheels
• Swing away assist grab handle for Safety
• Quick disconnect LP gas fitting on exterior for gas grill
• Exact Weights from factory including all options

Westland Camping Presents Walkabout by Skyline

In today’s economic environment, and with gas prices over $3.75 per gallon, people are buying smaller vans and SUVs.  We get asked the question whether or not minivans, crossover’s, and smaller engine trucks can tow travel trailers.  Not everyone is in love with pop-up or tent campers, but really want their family to enjoy the RV/camping lifestyle.  Until recently, I would have said, “Any travel trailer you can pull, won’t have the space to sleep your family”.  Now, things ave changed.  Westland Camping is introducing for the 2012 camping season: the Walkabout, by Skyline RV.

Walkabout is a brand new way to provide trailers for the growing market of small tow vehicles.  Most minvans and smaller SUVs, if properly equipped can tow a maximum of 3,500 pounds (check with your vehicle manufacturer for your exact capabilities).

Walkabout offers 5 different models that start under 3,000 pounds, ranging from 17-20 foot boxes, making sure that you and your family have plenty of room.

Another question we get is about crossover SUVs, and vehicles like the Ford Flex, or Ford Edge, which can tow up to 4,500 pounds.  In addition to the 5 already mentioned, there are 11 more models under 4,500 pounds.

The secret is the smart use of composite materials such as Azdel, with the use of Itallian Poplar for use in the counters and tables, which is 60% lighter weight then the particle board counters others use.

Look around the site, and learn more about Walkabout trailers, and how they stack up against the competition.

I’ll be posting more about these remarkable trailers

Westland Camping research team at Sleeping Bear Dunes

I know this may sound counter-intuitive for a camping professional to say, but it is true: Camping isn’t easy. There is a lot of planning that goes into a camping trip, planning routes, destinations, menus, etc.

But the value of going camping far surpasses (in my opinion) any other family vacation option. I grew up in a camping family, and every year we would travel to some new destination such as the U.P. or the Smokey Mountains. We even camped at the Wisconsin Dells one year, and it was awesome.

It took some planning on the part of my parents, but the time we spent playing catch by the beach, learning about animals, and perfecting S’mores was worth it to me – and them.
I am taking this opportunity right here to thank my parents, Dave and Irene, for taking the time to plan out our camping vacations.

To help get you into the planning groove, do a little research. Practice makes perfect. You have the advantage of the internet, so use it. To make preparations easier, there are checklists available online that other campers have put together and published for the common good, but feel free to adapt them to your specific needs.

Find what works for you and do it. Your kids will thank you in twenty years.

33" Pike, caught on a 15' Ocean Kayak Prowler

I headed out to Harsens Island for some pike fishing this past April,with about 35 of my closest kayak fishing buddies for a multi-day fishing tournament.

Harsens Island is a perfect location for pike due to lots of shallow weeds for spawning, and dramatic drop offs for hunting pike.  It was a little early for spawning this year, so we trolled from our kayaks over 15 foot depths.  Most people had success with rapala  size 11, in fire tiger, but most of the fish I caught were on X-raps, size 14, in hothead or glass ghost.  I felt that size 14 might be too big, but hey, go big or go home right?  Caught lots of hammer handles (23-29 inch pike) on that size, so I kept with it for the first two days.

Saturday was the big fishing tournament, and that’s when I broke out my secret weapon, the River2sea V-joint, a fantastic jointed lure with excellent color choices. With $100 for the first place fish, plus bragging rights, I thought I might use something that the pike haven’t seen yet.  We hit the water at about 9:00 Saturday morning, and it started out slow.  I cruised up the middle channel, without so much as a nibble for about an hour.  So I decided to change tactics a bit.

One river mouth in particular had been producing good sized pike, so I beached the kayak, and started casting from knee deep water to the drop off at the mouth.  Still nothing, except very cold feet.  That’s when I decided that today’s biggest fish probably wouldn’t be very big at all.  I thought that I would have a good chance of winning if I caught any fish.  So back into the kayak to troll a bit more, and cover as many inlet mouths as I could. I also switched out the running depth of the lures from 5 or 6 feet, to 3 foot, and kept the kayak tighter to shore, in about 8 or 10 feet of depth.

As it turned out, that was the winning strategy.  I hooked into a 33” pike, and she dragged me into some shallows, managed to rap the second line I had out around the kayak.  After I landed her, I had to get out of the kayak and unravel the mess she had made during the battle.  After a couple of photo ops, I headed back to base camp to break the bad news to everyone.  It turned out up until I showed up with 5 hours to go in the tournament, the largest was 29”.  The angler who had that fish gave me a dirty look, put his dry suit back on, and headed back out to try and top me.  No dice, and I walked away with the kitty, and a year’s worth of bragging rights.

Might look odd, but it is tasty, and easy.

The first time I saw this, I was drawn to the look of it.  Really weird.  My second thought was why would you make s’mores in the microwave?  But the truth is, more and more campers are made with microwaves, sometimes more than one, counting the trend towards outside kitchens.  But when thinking practically about the steps involved in making s’mores over the campfire, I thought maybe this could very well be an easy way to get the gooey s’mores I wanted, in an easy to use, home and camper friendly fashion.  So I decided to give it a try.

I first tried this product in our home microwave as a treat for family movie night.    I filled the back with water, placed the gram crackers, chocolate, and marshmallow under the arms and popped it into the microwave.  30 seconds later I had a warm gooey S’more (minus the burnt exterior I get from the fire pit).  My daughter and I watched the S’more heat and it was amusing to watch her eyes grow with the marshmallow as it heated up.  The thing grows like crazy, easily tripling in size during the cooking process.

Some tips for use; use a thin chocolate bar if you wan the chocolate to melt through.  Stale marshmallows don’t expand as much as fresh ones so the melting process is not as even.  There are all sorts of different flavored chocolates and marshmallows it might be fun to experiment.  While nothing beats that over the fire S’more, I would recommend this product.  No sticks required.

Prowler 13T from Westland Camping

The Prowler 13T sit on top kayak has hit the perfect balance of speed, maneuverability, performance and stability. This kayak performs well in almost any water application but you’ll notice the superb performance in breaking surf and rough seas.

The great Part of sit on top kayaks is the stability you get naturally due to it’s design.  It works great on any of your Michigan waters, and is so versatile, that you can fish, surf, paddle, explore, and camp right off the boat.

I like this boat so much, I bought one for each myself and my wife, and the cargo hold even sits my 5 yr old daughter perfectly.  I think you will be happy with this boat on any waterway in the midwest.

RV Toilet

RV DUMPING; NOT AS BAD AS YOU THINK: Part 2 (Standing to the side)

Last time I discussed the things you need to do every time you use the sewer system, let’s review:  The proper chemicals with a few gallons of water, and the proper tissue.  Everybody caught up now?  Good, let’s move on to the actual job at hand…

You may be at a site that has a full sewer hookup, or you may use some sort of Tote Tank, or just stop at the dump station on your way out, but the basic procedures are about the same, although the specifics vary from trailer to trailer.  Hook up your sewer hose, pull the valves and wait for it to drain, then close the valves, rinse.

Do yourself a favor and invest in a good quality sewer hose kit.  They may be a little more money, but not leaking on your shoes is totally worth it.  Try to get a set that has a sewer fitting attachment, so that you get a good seal at both ends.  Also get yourself some disposable dump gloves.  I know some people have heavy rubber gloves they store and use over and over again, but I prefer to use fresh ones every time (and always stand to the side when taking off the cap to the dump valve, there is almost always a teeny amount of liquid in there).

After dumping both the black and grey water tanks, many places have a hose you can use to rinse your sewer hose, or if you have a sewer tank back flushing system, now would be a good time to use it.  The more water you have circulating in that tank, the more effective the dumping is, and the less likely you will have issues later on.

Only one more installment to go: Home maintenance and Storage!  I have goose-bumps.  Seriously.