My name is Jon Reeder.  I am the General Manager of Trails West Manufacturing in Preston, Idaho.  I have been with the company for nine years, and the general manager for over 6.  I have never worked for a company that has more integrity than Trails West.  I have never worked for a company that is more driven to provide quality products to its customers than Trails West.  I have never worked for or dealt with a company that stands behind its products better than Trails West does.  There have been many half truths, and lots of bad information written on this website instigated by one person who has a personal ax to grind.  The individual has failed to tell you most of the story of which I won't get into.  However, I do feel that it is important to set the record straight about a few things.

It is true that we use OSB for the flooring in our living quarters and tack rooms.  We have used this product since 1991.  In the 17 years that we have used OSB, we have never had a warranty claim, and to my knowledge the product has never failed in 10s of thousands of trailers produced.  In 1991, before using OSB in production it was tested for nearly a year.  The company soaked pieces of OSB in buckets of water for up to six months.  Other wood products were also tested this way.  The OSB performed the best by far.  In fact, after being soaked in water for a half year, the samples were dried and there was very little change in them.  Thousands of trailers on the road, and no failures reported.  The record speaks for itself.  OSB is a good product, and doesn't deserve the bad press it is getting on this website.  If you read back through the threads, you will not find anyone saying they have had a failure, only speculation that it could fail.  Furthure, it is worthy to note that water doesn't stand on the bottom of the trailer when it does get wet.  Gravity has a funny way taking care of the this potential problem.

There was a post that stated that our structural componants are less than what they used to be.  This is false.  Our trailers have continued to get stronger over the years through improved engineering, testing, and better materials.  I would never say that we haven't had some issues.  When you build as many trailers as we do, you have a problem here or there.  We have always paid to repair trailers that have structural problems (other than misuse or abuse) and are within the 5-year structural warranty.  With regard to the 2" deflection that has been referenced, I have documentation on how this was measured.  It was not done in a way that has any validity.

I stand behind our products, and the people producing them.  I feel strongly enough about this, that I invite any of you to call me here at Trails West with any questions that you may have.  There are not many business managers in this world that are willing to do this.  This is how convicted I am to setting the record straight.  I can be reached at 208-852-2200 during regular business hours, mountain standard time.

Sincerely,

Jon Reeder - Trails West

Welcome to the Forum Jon, you sound like a stand up guy.............. don't worry about the guy making the 2" deflexion comment he is always blathering about stuff he knows nothing about.

There is always at least two sides to a story.........

Thanks Jon for posting and I apologize for the behavior of several members.  Controversy and conflict is not unusual in the business world and we not only appreciate, but encourage direct response from product manufacturers like yourself.

And we would like to welcome you and others back to address issues as they surface . . . this is a good thing.

Several others may not have noticed, but four other threads have been removed.  We want to be a "straight talking" board and one in which we can share information.  We do not want this board to be a tool for furthering personal gripes, agenda's and defamation. 

We will also delete posters using different usernames to deceive us, confuse us and use the board to further their own agendas.