Bigfoot RV closes doors

[Road Ruler]

We have always said that if we didn't own an Airstream our 2nd choice would be a Bigfoot.
It's hard to believe that after 31 years in business the highly respected Canadian built Bigfoot RV line has shut down. The reports are saying that the credit flow to the company was stopped. Sad new to say the least.

bigfoot owners club.... Welcome to Bigfoot Owners Club International, the website dedicated to Bigfoot RV products (campers, trailers and motorhomes) and the people who own them.

news report.... CHBC News - Job Losses

web site... Bigfoot RV - Motorhome, Truck Camper, Travel Trailer - Recreational Vehicle Manufacturer

[wheel interested]

We too looked into getting a Bigfoot, or an Arctic Fox for their superior insulation and quality, before we purchased the Airstream. I was talking with a dealer all the way in Colorado, there were none to be seen around here. What a shame and all because of credit closing down. It's a terrible thing.

[willyd]

I also considered a Bigfoot, also due to quality and reputation. Sorry to see this happen. I wonder who is next?

[craftsman]

Sorry to see them close. Our second choice also.

[Al - K4GLU]

I also considered the 21' Bigfoot when I went fulltime. But I made a mistake and chose the Airstream which has had many problems including filiform corrosion. While its very unfortunate that Bigfoot went belly up I suspect there is more to the story. Even with things the way they are at the moment I don't think the bank would have pulled the financing if they had really been in good shape. They laid off a bunch of people earlier this year so things apparently haven't been going well for some time. They won't be the last.

[Sixty3TW4US]

Al-k4GUL It's never to late, you can always pick-up a used Bigfoot.

[Bob Thompson]

The weak dollar about a year ago had to contribute to the problem. The price of Bigfoots was especially high when purchased with US dollars, and this may have persuaded some buyers to buy cheaper brands. Now, the US dollar is nearly 20% stronger against the Canadian dollar. I'm a Bigfoot fan so I hope they can ride it out and get back on their feet. It's hard enough to find top quality products and it would be a shame to see one of the best fall by the wayside.

[SilverGate]

We also considered Bigfoot RV and looked inside one before deciding on Airstream...

Another sign... and sigh of the times.

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by Bob Thompson

The weak dollar about a year ago had to contribute to the problem. The price of Bigfoots was especially high when purchased with US dollars, and this may have persuaded some buyers to buy cheaper brands. Now, the US dollar is nearly 20% stronger against the Canadian dollar. I'm a Bigfoot fan so I hope they can ride it out and get back on their feet. It's hard enough to find top quality products and it would be a shame to see one of the best fall by the wayside.

Bob, I read the President of Bigfoot's message on their website, and in that message, he spcified Bigfoot is done as a company. If they manage to start another company with the remains of the old one, it will be a different company. His words, not mine, and I wish it wasn't so. I think they had a good quality product.

[Ike T]

Not Bigfoot news, but this was reported in our only major metro newspaper site:

RV maker Fleetwood to shut 2 South Georgia plants

Associated Press
Monday, November 24, 2008

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Recreational vehicle maker Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. said Monday it will shut several plants, including two in South Georgia, and cut jobs in response to reduced demand for manufactured housing. The RV manufacturer is taking the actions to “match current production to market demand and improve capacity utilization,” it said in a news release.

Fleetwood notified workers of shutdowns at its manufactured housing plants in Woodland, Calif.; Auburndale, Fla.; Willacoochee, Ga.; Benton, Ky.; and Pembroke, N.C.

All the plants will complete orders and will begin moving production to some of the remaining 13 Fleetwood Housing Group facilities. The plants are expected to close in about 60 days.

In addition, Fleetwood’s Trendsetter Homes plant in Douglas, Ga. — one of two producing modular housing — will be closed immediately. Impending shutdown announcements also were made at Fleetwood’s travel trailer manufacturing centers in Crawfordsville, Ind., and Mexicali, Mexico. All Fleetwood travel trailers and fifth wheels will be produced at the company’s three plants in Ohio and Oregon.

Fleetwood said it will try to place a limited number of employees within the company, but that most of the jobs will be permanently lost. A message was left with a company spokeswoman Monday seeking details on how many workers will be affected by the plant closures.

Tim

[KKbambi]

I was very sad to see the demise of Bigfoot. I owed a Bigfoot truck camper for over ten years and was very pleased with it, just could not get up and down the stairs any more so I bought an Airstream because it looked to be about the same quality of product. Love the Airstream but will always miss the Bigfoot.

[ronstory]

KKbambi--

Welcome to the forums and yes, it's a sorry thing to see another quality RV company go by the wayside.

[lynn]

NuWa and Country Coach also are out of Business

[Silvertwinkie]

I had never seen or heard of Bigfoot until a forms member here who sold his Airstream for one came to a forums rally with it. Sure it really wasn't retro and cool like the Airstream, but it was very well built. It had features that Airstreams should have and of course, it was better assembled than my Airstream.

As we all know this won't be the last RV builder to disappear and from rumors I've heard, even Jackson Center has cut back on shifts and extended the holiday downtime. It is one thing to hear about hard times in the RV industry, but for those of you who have visited Jackson Center and met a number of the folks out there, it starts to hit a bit closer to home, as I am sure Bigfoot owner's now are exp.

I do hope the economy does pick back up soon because there are some really great folks who could get in a heap of hurt, and as much as I may come down on Jackson Center for their shortcomings with the product lines, that's an issue I take with mgmt, not the overall Airstream employee(s).

As many of the jobs out there dry up, particularly in the RV manufac sector, there aren't a whole lot of options for some of these folks, so my thoughts and prayers are with all of them.

[Silverwanabe]

Hi,

Just checked the web,
Big Foot, NuWa and Country Coach have their web sites up and running.
Web sites look current, no mention of going out of business...

[jcanavera]

Web sites are sometimes hosted by servers not affiliated with the company or on their premises. Pages usually don't go away unless someone affiliated requests them to be dropped or at the end of their subscription when the ISP hosting the pages pulls them for lack of renewal.

Here's a clip from a Canadian newspaper confirming the Bigfoot closure.

B.C. RV maker Bigfoot goes out of business
Downturn in U.S. was death knell for Armstrong manufacturer
Darron Kloster, Victoria Times Colonist
Published: Friday, November 21, 2008
One of Canada's largest recreational vehicle manufacturers has closed its doors after 31 years, with sources citing the "unprecedented stress" of economic conditions in the United States.
Bigfoot Industries, based in Armstrong, ceased to exist Friday, with a spokesman for the company saying only the company had "officially closed."
The plant in the Okanagan, about 65 kilometres north of Kelowna, made fibreglass-moulded fifth-wheel trailers, holiday trailers and truck campers and had about 200 employees - with about one-third of those already laid off in June.

[Road Ruler]

Wondering when the economy recovers if many of these RV industry folks will return with new companies and new innovative designs and concepts. Will be interesting to see what happens.

[Garfield]

Originally Posted by Road Ruler

Wondering when the economy recovers if many of these RV industry folks will return with new companies and new innovative designs and concepts. Will be interesting to see what happens.

I have absolutely no doubt in time there will be more innovative startups. Right now there's way too many manufacturers offering identical products built for yesterdays market. Time for a shakeup.

The masses of retiring baby boomers will ensure the RV market is not going to die anytime soon.

[Silvertwinkie]

Originally Posted by Garfield

The masses of retiring baby boomers will ensure the RV market is not going to die anytime soon.

Though I tend to agree that new innovations will most likely come from the shakeups today, I'm not entirely sure the baby boomers can ensure anything in face of $4/gal gas again.

A number of boomers have caught on that selling of their house (if they still can nowadays) and buying a depreciating six figure MoHo to spend the golden years on the road wasn't such a smart idea.

Though now oil is low, the damage has already been done and amplified by credit crunches, housing bubble bursts, etc. With over a trillion dollars in debt and growing, the US Gov is running out of places to borrow and many jobs continue to move overseas making the US a service oriented economy.

The good old days may return again, but this recent downturn may be the catalyst for change in spending habits and patterns of a good portion of the present generations who will drive the economies for the next 40 years or more. Many of the mature crowd that I know who lived through the Great Depression forever changed the way they thought as a result of that event, even when the booming 50s came by, these folks were a LOT more cautious. As it was then, it is becoming now a significant global problem, effecting all worldwide economies.... history could again repeat itself.

[Garfield]

Hi Silver; I won't disagree with any of your comments except to say that whatever the dire economic consequences of living beyond our means for the past three or four decades, it won't be a repeat of the Depression. I think we are in for a particularly bad year(s). I, for one, am just old enough to WANT to see our younger generations be force fed some "financial attitude adjustment" which is something they've never had to face. But although the standard of living for most of is in North America is going to take a big hit while the Global standard of living improves, life will go on.

MY DW and I are just over 10 years from retirement, and even at this stage it's obvious now that my overly optomistic thirty-something thinking of retiring early, living in a nice condo 6 months of the year, Florida for the winter and RV'ing all over in a $200K Class A isn't going to be in the cards.

That has been replaced by a more realistic dream of a reasonably comforable retirement in an apartment and touring all over North America 6 months a year in a used Airstream pulled by a minivan or it's future equivalent. And you know, there's nothing wrong with that!

I do expect the nature of RV's will change, but not the nature of RVing.