A name from the past

[booster]

Some here may remember Yan Seiner who was on the old Roadtrek Yahoo board back when I first joined in about 2008.

Yan was a civil engineer then and in Oregon. He had a Roadtrek at the time and we were both working on our early adventures in putting a compressor frigs into Roadtreks. There was close to no information to be had so had to feel our way.

He later got tied in with Roadtrek in the Hammil era as a special projects engineer consultant or some such. I ran across him in an old how to video when looking for something else today so decided to see what he is up to these days.

I was, understatement, totally surprised at what he is doing now.

Per Linkedin he is "Lead Engineer" at Tiffin motorhomes in Alabama.

I think that would have put him there during the ill fated adventure Tiffin took into the class B market a while ago, I think.

So now there is a link between the old Roadtrek and Tiffin of all things.

[mumkin]

He is a member of our Roadtrek Zion/Simplicity facebook page and comes on to give helpful advice regularly as he has since he joined in 2022. At the time he was freelancing in training people to figure out their Roadtrek idiosyncrasies. Might have been his side gig.

[Sensfan]

We crossed tracks with Yan at a Roadtrek technical rally in Tobermory, Ontario Provincial Park in or around 2016. I recall Yan as being a real cool guy. He had a roof rack mounted hard shell kayak on his RT.

[booster]

Originally Posted by mumkin

He is a member of our Roadtrek Zion/Simplicity facebook page and comes on to give helpful advice regularly as he has since he joined in 2022. At the time he was freelancing in training people to figure out their Roadtrek idiosyncrasies. Might have been his side gig.

Yeah, I think side gig then, he has done that a lot over the years, I think.


IIRC, the Linkedin listing showed him at Tiffin from 2020 to present..

[avanti]

Tiffin now operates the erstwhile Great West Vans factory in Alabama. Does he live in Winfield? Or do they have multiple Alabama sites?

[booster]

Originally Posted by avanti

Tiffin now operates the erstwhile Great West Vans factory in Alabama. Does he live in Winfield? Or do they have multiple Alabama sites?

IIRC, the Linkedin site didn't say the town. It would be interesting to see if he shows up on a people finder. Those sites have become much less useful lately do to changes related to privacy laws, but might work.


That didn't tale long, it is Winfield. Appears the horrible crew and quality of Great West vans after the move continued into the Tiffin building.


Good call.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by booster

Appears the horrible crew and quality of Great West vans after the move continued into the Tiffin building.

The crew was certainly horrible (in fact, hiring and retaining staff who could pass the insurance-mandated drug test was one of the major issues leading to their demise). I have been curious how Tiffin solved this problem.

However, I have not heard about serious quality problems. Mine was of typical GWV quality, I would say. It was half-built in Canada and half in Winfield, though, so perhaps not typical.

[booster]

Originally Posted by avanti

The crew was certainly horrible (in fact, hiring and retaining staff who could pass the insurance-mandated drug test was one of the major issues leading to their demise). I have been curious how Tiffin solved this problem.

However, I have not heard about serious quality problems. Mine was of typical GWV quality, I would say. It was half-built in Canada and half in Winfield, though, so perhaps not typical.

Sounds like you lucked out.



There was a discussion on here about a Tiffin B that may never have gotten fixed correctly. It went on and one for the owner without decent resolution.


I think they discontinued the B after all the issues, but not sure on that.

[booster]

Very odd at Tiffin site.

No 2024 B van shown, but do show a 2025.

When click more information you get a rebate form?????

https://tiffinmotorhomes.com/models/year/25/

There do apear to be 171 of them at dealers, however.

https://www.rvtrader.com/Tiffin-Moto...H1%7C764997755

Looks like a rebadged Thor adventure van 19' Sprinter


Now it appears the short 4WD Thor vans are all Transits which makes sense.

[mumkin]

I think you clicked the rebate form? $8000 if you buy one of those on the lots before Dec 31. Roadtrek is doing a rebate too.

The old GWV factory... that brings back memories, eh Avanti? What a debacle. I wonder what happened with all the law suits. Such a big mistake leaving Canada in the first place.

[booster]

Many of them at the dealers are also reduced by almost 1/3, so they can't seem to get rid of them.

[RobRyan]

Tiffin does not sell in Australia anymore. They did build a RHD version of a Class A, but that seems to have died