PRVCA Initiates ‘Tools for Techs’ Program

The Pennsylvania Recreation Vehicle and Camping Association (PRVCA) is offering a $4,500 set of mechanic’s tools free to Pennsylvania junior and senior high school students who enroll in the PRVCA’s apprenticeship program. Sets of Matco Tools discounted by $2,000 also are available to others participating in PRVCA’s Internet-based distance-learning program, the National RV Training Institute schools (NRVTI) in Pennsylvania and four other states and the national satellite training... Read more

Cost of Materials Cuts into Skyline’s Profits

Elkhart, Ind.-based RV and manufactured housing builder Skyline Corp. reported higher sales for the quarter and six-month period, ending Nov. 30, but increases in materials costs decreased the company’s profits. Revenues for Skyline’s fiscal 2005 second quarter were $120.6 million compared with $114.6 million during the same period last year. For the first six months of fiscal 2005, sales were $237.7 million versus $224.3 million for fiscal 2004. Skyline’s RV Group sales were down slightly... Read more

Gulf Stream Launches Lightweight Towables

The new lightweight towable division at Gulf Steam Coach Inc., Nappannee, Ind., weighed in for 2005 at the Louisville Trade Show with the entry-level to midpriced Gulf Breeze line of travel trailers and two other lightweight towable series. Several of Gulf Breeze’s 11 floorplans feature either soft-sided hybrid or hard-sided queen-bed rear slideouts. With welded aluminum frames and vacuum-bonded fiberglass walls, Gulf Breeze’s off-white parchment decor is accented by six-panel hardwood... Read more

Design Students Add Artistry to Airstreams

Students at the Pasadena Art Center College of Design in Southern California were challenged to work with an unconventional medium: Airstream travel trailers. According to a report in the Pasadena Star-News, instructor Sueann Valentine asked her students to restore and revive several aging Airstreams, creating works of art while also turning the trailers into mobile work stations. Christian Lee originally envisioned a wheeled workshop that surfboard builders could take to the beach, but changed the... Read more

Happy Holidays – ’Til After the First

On behalf of the staff of RV Business magazine, the people who generate the news each day on this RVBUSINESS.com website, we wish all of you the best of holidays until we meet again – which, according to our schedule, will be on Monday, Jan. 3, 2005. – RVBUSINESS.com Editor Dave Barbulesco  Read More →

KOA Chain Continues to Experience Growth

Focused on bringing quality campgrounds into its system, Kampgrounds of America Inc. (KOA) added another 19 campgrounds to its franchise network in the past 12 months, the Billings, Mont., company reported in December. Campgrounds were added in 12 states and four Canadian provinces. In addition, four KOA Kampgrounds have been built from the ground up. “We’ve seen a substantial level of growth in the number of independent campgrounds who want to fly the KOA yellow flag,” stated Jim... Read more

Curtin Upgrades 2004 and 2005 Forecasts

Economist Richard Curtin of the University of Michigan is taking a brighter view of the RV industry’s prospects than he did in the fall and has revised his projected shipment totals upward for both 2004 and 2005. Curtin now predicts 2005 industry shipments will decline by 3.3% versus the 8.6% dip he had forecast earlier, according to the winter 2004 edition of Roadsigns, published quarterly by the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA). Curtin anticipates 2004 year-end deliveries of 364,900... Read more

High Design Marks New Fleetwood Class C

So secret that the endeavor carried a code name – Project Sword – Fleetwood Industries Inc. partnered with BMW Group DesignworksUSA to create the new 2005 Tioga SLX and Jamboree GTX minimotorhomes with optional full-body paint. Unveiled at the 42nd Annual National RV Trade Show in Louisville, Ky., the highly stylized Class C’s feature a yacht-like interior on Ford E-450 cutaway chassis with floorplans offering a raised platform to provide basement storage. BMW’s European influence... Read more

Camping World Performs RV Makeover

Jumping on board the nation’s makeover craze, RV retailer Camping World performed a redesign on a 1989 Airstream at the company’s headquarters in Bowling Green, Ky. According to a report in the Bowling Green Daily News, Camping World launched a nationwide contest with the free makeover, upgrading the interior of a coach owned by Dr. John Erskine and his wife, Sebrina. “We’re having an RV makeover and this whole thing was to kick it off,” said Chad Selvidge, senior vice president... Read more

Rogers: ‘Parks Can’t Keep Heads in Sand’

This year has been one of the strongest years in the history of the recreational vehicle industry for sales, with wholesale shipments projected to rise more than 12% over last year’s figures, despite record spikes in gasoline prices. By all accounts, however, the campground sector, hasn’t fared as well. During a heavily attended early morning seminar at ARVC’s annual In-Sites Parks & Paddles Convention & Expo in Savannah, Ga., Kampgrounds of America President and CEO Jim Rogers displayed... Read more

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