We bought our Antigua in 2005, new.  In the first year the hot water tank failed, the bathroom counter delaminated, two cupboard doors warped, the bathroom door wouldn’t close properly, and the bar top was not level.  They also neglected to put a rather large decal on one side of the trailer.  At the end of the season we found that the A/C needed to be replaced.  Then it leaked twice after that, once during our last camping trip of the season and once during the winter. The bathroom skylight also leaked during the winter.  What a mess.  This year we started using a television in it but found that whenever we plugged in the cable to the antenna the booster would go out and we wouldn’t get any signal; you guessed it, while building the trailer they put a nail through the coax cable so that it was shorting out.  It took me several hours of work tearing the cabinets apart to fix the problem.

But the big surprise was in November last year when I noticed excessive and uneven wear on all four tires.  I got the stock answers:  it’s either overloaded or the tires are under-inflated.  But I had it weighed on the scales three times last year and it was 1,800 lbs under GVWR every time.  And the tires are checked for proper inflation before each trip.  I'm pretty fussy about that kind of thing.

After exchanges with the wheel manufacturer, Dexter Axle and Starcraft I had the trailer inspected by Malmberg Truck in Ottawa and they found that one spring hanger was off a quarter inch and that the alignment was way out.  They said the axles were fighting each other going down the road, hence the tire wear.

Starcraft, somewhat to their credit, eventually provided free replacement axles and the old ones were shipped back to Dexter by my dealer.  Dexter confirmed that they did have “excessive toe out, have lost camber and that one axle had a strange ‘W’ shaped bend in it,” but that “the material properties of the steel axle beam tubes did meet specifications.”  Starcraft further told me “that the toe out and camber loss are the result of loading and being subjected to road conditions in the course of normal use.  The toe out and camber loss are what are causing the accelerated tire wear."  They refused warranty coverage.  So they effectively told me the steel was fine.  Ok.  But it was how they put it all together that was the problem, an opinion shared by Malmberg over hours of analysis. 

So that was after one season of “normal” use!  We didn’t hit anything (I would have known about an impact that significant), didn’t overload it and didn’t run the tires under-inflated.  If that is normal use I figure I have to be ready to buy a new set of axles and tires after each season.  Strange enough we did around the same amount of towing in 2006 and the new tires/axles are wearing perfectly. I'd even say we were on worse roads overall this year than last.

I ended up footing a bill of $1,200 CDN plus $400 more to replace all four tires. My dealer went to bat for me and convinced Starcraft to pay $600 CDN towards the repairs.  Still, I was left to pay $1,000 to repair and re-tire what was a six-month-old trailer.  It leaves one with a pretty bad taste. 

Of course I've had a bit of influence with three other identical Ants being bought so Starcraft has done well by me.

After a lot of back and forth the president of Starcraft wrote to say that they are "truly sorry that I'm disappointed."  That helps.  I expected a better built product and better customer support.  Starcraft has lost me as a customer.

Do I think they're a bunch of big boobs at Starcraft?  Yes I do.  Will I ever buy another Starcraft product or recommend one again?  No I won't.