Are Scottsman's poorly built?

The 1957 one I bought, and took apart for a full rebuild was a "complete POS". Bad design, bad materials, bad workmanship, only a 2" channel frame, very small and few windows, I could go on.

Mine will be someday rebuilt, with a normal canned ham style wall shape which allows much better storage inside the trailer.

You gotta' love that shape, I do ! Looks like a cupcake that overflowed !

My son just said it looks like a piece of toast!  We are having a good laugh!  When you go to a rally,  you should park it next to a Shasta 2nd gen Compact that is shaped like a toaster.

I've heard great things about the eco-boost. I had a V-6 which struggled in the mountains which is why I moved up to a V-8. I'm old-school, and I had a little trouble believing that a V-6 with a turbo charger will hold up over time as well as a V-8. In my day "boost" systems equalled short life span. I know, I know, I have to join the 21st century.

My Forester (no bathroom) is a little longer than my Shasta. The reason I mention it is because a couple of years back I wouldn't have believed a camper 20% larger could weigh 120% more, but it does. I even put it on scale because I couldn't believe it. One thing I forgot to mention, the frame also adds a lot of weight. Forester overbuilt the frame, in my opinion.

teachndad, common sense would dictate that a 12 foot Shasta, 12 foot Deville, 12 foot Forester, etc.  all weigh the same. But that isn't the case. And as wiser people on this forum have pointed out, just because your car is rated to tow 3500 pounds doesn't mean it will be a good experience in the mountains. My v6 was rated to tow 3800 pounds but really struggled with even hills when loaded with 500 pounds of gear and a 2400 pound camper. 

My advice, rent a uhaul trailer for the day that weighs 2500 pounds and tow it around town. It may be an eye opener. 

Foresters were built by boat builders during the off season on the east coast. When I worked on one I told the owner that it looked a lot like something a boat builder would design and then he told me the story. He had researched the company and even got in touch with an old worker from the plant who told him everything.

I've worked on a couple of Scotsmans and the ones I worked on had press board walls not plywood. That stuff melts when it get's wet. Either way the walls are solid and heavy and they fall apart when they get wet. So you can plan on a lot of work. Also you can't run electrical or gas through the walls as they are solid. Big pain. But ya they're cute...

The framing reminded me a lot of boat type carpentry. There's a trailer called the Lakewood and they have boat anchor cut outs in the sliders and magazine racks.