Two of the country's largest recreational-vehicle makers, pummeled by high gasoline prices and the slumping housing market, face serious cash crunches and are taking drastic measures to ease the strain.

Coachmen Industries Inc., whose sales have declined 40 percent over the past three years, is borrowing against the value of life-insurance policies it holds on employees and retirees. So far, the Elkhart, Ind., company has tapped about half the cash value of those policies, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Fleetwood Enterprises Inc., which has posted five straight years of losses, recently sold its Riverside, Calif., headquarters and is seeking buyers for other properties, in an effort to raise $100 million to finance a looming bond redemption. In addition to RVs, about 25 percent to 30 percent of Fleetwood's business comes from mobile homes, a market that has been skidding even longer.