I've assisted in fixing water damage in a RV, wood replacement in a TrailManor hard side popup. After that my friends now have an understanding, if I bring a old RV home for any reason other than some static living quarters or to rip the big block out and push the rest into the woods, they are to shoot me and burn my body in the RV.
I was always sorta captivated by the thought of converting a box truck to RV status. Think big Mitsu, Isuzu, or Hino with a GVWR of 25,950. With smaller wheels, air springs, and ramps, you could easily load a car into the back if it and still find room in the 24 to 25 foot long box to build in a kitchenette, lavatory, and some sleeping nooks.
As those trucks are designed to move more weight than most RVs.. they go down the road better and get decent Miles per gallon
Yeah, water intrusion pretty much makes me run. It would be an interesting project to totally gut and redo the interior but I'm not up for that sort of thing right now.
I think this one might be my new favorite: http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/rvs/5454791132.html
BrokenYugo wrote: I've assisted in fixing water damage in a RV, wood replacement in a TrailManor hard side popup. After that my friends now have an understanding, if I bring a old RV home for any reason other than some static living quarters or to rip the big block out and push the rest into the woods, they are to shoot me and burn my body in the RV.
Now you know why most people who live in RVs fulltime tend to be either the most easygoing people you will ever meet, or stark raving bonkers.
eastsidemav wrote: I just had a dumb idea. Sell the van, and replace it with a 3/4 ton van or pickup. Buy a 20' or 24' enclosed car trailer. Put up a dividing wall and kit out the front with a cooking and bath area. Build folding beds and tables into the back. Boom, a travel trailer when you want to bring along the family, and a car trailer when you want to go racing
This will work fine as long as you want your RV to be little more than a hard tent. As soon as you want to add "RV stuff" - things like a bathroom and the various water tanks - it gets trickier. RV trailers have higher deck heights than car haulers because car haulers don't have to be concerned about all those tanks: fresh water, grey/black water, propane, generator, etc...
"I ask because there are some pace arrows on the Deere chassis with a Ford 460 and if course plenty of other manufacturers on the p30 chassis. Which is more problematic?" That make from that era just aren't... made well. But if you can find one on a Deere chassis, that would be better. Most if not all of the p30 chassis RV's are very near, or even over, max gross weight as built, before you load the tanks or put anything in them. The Deere may be in the same boat; I dunno for sure. But in any case you want to look at the dataplate for weights, and run the thing over a scale as part of the test drive.
Good advice! Is it as simple as just rolling up to a truck stop that advertises that they have Cat Scales and talking to the folks behind the register?
The charts I've found from that era show GCVWR gor the P30s of 7 tons to 9 tons depending on axle while the Ford/Deere chassis have only a 10 ton option.
I don't imagine there's anyone in the Harrisburg, PA area that would be willing to check out a 28 foot unit for me? (Heh heh) The seller of that one sent me a bunch of pictures this morning and it looks pretty good for the money. A little small, but that just means less weight built in to it already!
wae wrote: Good advice! Is it as simple as just rolling up to a truck stop that advertises that they have Cat Scales and talking to the folks behind the register?
Pretty much. I did it last year with our truck and trailer when we were starting a trip. They do charge for it, but it's not much, like $5-10 or so.
I happened to be in Indianapolis yesterday for work and my dad texted me a craigslist ad that I had already kind of dismissed. Coincidently, the coach was in Indy -- which is weird, because Dad didn't know I was in Indy -- so I figured I might as well take a trip up and look, so I did.
http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/rvs/5442003318.html
It's an '87 Winnebago Elandan 37 footer. I believe that if you steer it in to the wind, you can conduct flight operations on the roof. I really want to like it because it's so freaking big and it's got basically every option that Winnebago could dream up in 1987 and they all work. Most tires are good, a couple are okay and it started right up as did the generator. The exterior needs some serious cleaning and the striping is all faded and cracking, but I was able to rub the grime off with my thumb to reveal a nice beige color underneath, so I think some cleaning and maybe a little vinyl graphics would take care of that. The headliner was all droopy, but it felt not-presently-or-previously-waterlogged and had no smell to it, so I suspect they used the same headliner that the big three were using in cars with the same self-removing adhesive, so I'm not terribly worried.
There was a drip-drip-drip coming down from right between the two seats. Good news is that he had cut out the roof there to add a rather large flatscreen so it was coming right off the roof structure and on to the wood console. He claimed that he forgot to seal the seam between the rubber roof and the cab area and that it had never leaked there before. I'm sort of inclined to believe him because that console that was taking the water was basically raw wood with a stain and it was wet but not water damaged, discolored, or warped yet. The windows had leaks in the past, so there were a few areas on the walls where the wallcovering was rolled back and stiff as a board. All of the windows were currently dry except for one of the rear bedroom windows which was pooling. He said he had replaced many of the window gaskets and the water damaged spots were firm and dry and the floor wasn't soft, but who knows. I'd have to start cutting that paneling out to really see what was going on back there and how much mold was growing in the insulation. Weirdly there were also a bunch of things hanging down on the outside - the trailer electric plug has obviously been dragging along the ground for some time, one of the foglights was dangling in the front, and the sewer cap was resting on the pavement.
As much as I really want to like this one and I keep trying to tell myself that just replacing a little section of wall and slapping up some new wallpaper wouldn't be a big deal, I think the prudent choice is to walk away. The impression I had was that it spent the last couple years with great attention paid to the drivetrain while the "home" part of it was just kind of ignored. The seller even remarked that it "had a few good years left in her" which gives me the feeling like he approached it as something to be used up instead of doing anything to combat entropy.
On a helpful note, I did find out somewhat accidentally that in order to transfer the title into KY, not only do I have to get the regular sheriff's VIN inspection, I also have to have it inspected by the Modular and Manufactured Housing part of the Kentucky Public Protection Cabinet to get what they call a "B Seal". Apparently they check emergency egress, electrical, plumbing, and appliances. Also, I discovered that Enterprise charges about $0.40/mile between branches as an add-on drop fee to do a one-way rental and if you change your mind and bring the car back to the original branch the drop fee just goes away. That will be easier than trying to rent a car dolly or anything like that when I finally find a unit to bring home.
Ill give some input here. If you can find one with a fiberglass roof it will be much better than the EPDM ones. Generally 90's+ and class C.
I bought my rv with water damage. I only bought it because it was a unicorn and cheap. It will fall apart at some point. Its the nature of the beast. The fiberglass on the outside is bonded to 1/8" ply, moisture gets in the ply and breaks the bond. It just works it way around until the FG skin is loose everywhere. I sealed everything back up, and re epoxied the really bad loose spot on mine. And its still lose in spots. Nothing I can do to stop it.
If you can find a E450 class C, you will get better towing capacity. They don't max out the chassis as much as the class A, but don't have quite as much room. Might be tight with that many people. Mine is a 17' box, and three of us and 2 100 lb dogs and its decent. Its 21' overall. The v10 pulls my boat fine, just eats gas, although it got nearly identical gas mileage with and without the boat (2-2.5k lbs).
I had a customer meeting that popped up in Columbus today, so I took the extra couple hours and went up to the south side of Cleveland to look at an '88 Itasca: http://cleveland.craigslist.org/rvs/5458458470.html
Mechanically, it seemed fine, but there was a signficant bit of delamination on the outside from the bottom of the rear bedroom window all the way to the trim rail such that you could see up between the layers. The interior had a few spots around the windows with water damage, but it still felt mostly solid despite that. Reflecting on it, it's not a bad deal at the asking price but I'm starting to think that I might have underestimated what my initial investment is going to need to be in order to meet my original expectations. Basically, I think it seems pretty good for a $4500 RV, but maybe I don't want a $4,500 RV. Granted, my sample size is a little small at this point. The other side to it, though, is that I could buy that today and be camping in it tomorrow -- it actually looks pretty good still. For now, it stays on the short list, I think.
Stay away from delam unless you want to use it for less than 10 years....
Opinions on delamination in both the RV and boat worlds seem to be either that it's not big deal and just use this whizbang product or this odd-duck technique or that it's basically scrap. Maybe if I had a ton of years of experience with fiberglass or knew a guy I might push forward, but between that and the number of soft spots, I'm crossing it off the list. Which is a shame because I really wanted to like it and the seller seemed like a genuinely good dude. But I did say in the thread title that I wished to be saved from myself, so thank you for being a voice of reason.
The search continues, but I'm learning that about 90% of this price range is going to have water damage in some fashion. I either have to be able to jump on one of the 10% that is also mechanically sound or I need to be prepared to do some remodeling.
This one looks really promising. Only having 13k miles on it is a little worrisome and I don't like the 110-only fridge they put in it, but the seller claims there has never been a single leak and it runs and drives just fine with good, no-rot tires.
http://northmiss.craigslist.org/rvs/5467959008.html
Pictures look good.
Good call on staying away from delam.... Unless it's a steal you only want to use for a few years.
I'm getting ready to leave right now to make the 9 hour drive to Mississippi to take a look at that one. I'm told that it was just serviced and the tires are good, there's never been a single leak so there's not a bit of water damage. I'm a little concerned that the price seems a little too good to be true, but we shall see.
Good luck!
In all sincerity, would renting a few times a year make better financial sense? Especially since all the maintenance and repairs would be on them.
In reply to foxtrapper:
Not really... Rental prices are nuts! I looked into it before I bought my RV
Yeah I've looked in to it and it's usually around $200 a day (and up) plus .40/mile which adds up fast.
So no deal on the Bounder. Crack in the windshield (1200-2000 to fix), the LP system had been totally disconnected because (and I quote) "why'd you need gas far?", and there was a soft spot up above the front passenger seat. Plus I just got a vibe that she wasnt telling me everything I needed to know. It was pretty solid and I might have gone for it except that KY wouldn't let me transfer the title until I put in a windshield without a crack.
So on the way back, getting some BBQ in Grenada, MS and we'll continue the search.
Something about a state that calls itself "KY"... 
This adventure hasn't been forgotten!
I'll admit that the bust of a trip to Mississippi has me a little gun-shy about going too far to look at a coach. The lesson that I have learned - rightly or wrongly - is that 90% of the stuff in my price range is going to have some sort of water intrusion so it's a matter of managing that or finding the rare good deal. As a result, I've tightened up my search radius a bit.
Here are my current leaders:
The Mirada has a 1996 build tag on it from both Ford and Coachmen, so I don't know what year it really is. 44k miles and it doesn't look bad. There is one very small (4" diameter, maybe) water spot on the ceiling of the bedroom, but not currently leaking and it's not real soft at all. The door is in need of work - some rot on the wood inside. The recliner is gone and the original owners allegedly had a wood-burning stove in there. Two of the tires will need replacement in a year or two. LP tank is empty so we couldn't test the various appliances. Generator cranks but didn't start, but I didn't have any ether with me. The 460 started right up and nothing is really leaking from it. Power steps need some work. He's waiting on getting the title back from the county clerk, so I didn't make an offer, but I asked him to call me as soon as he has the title and we can talk. I might offer 6? I'm adding up the cost to fix the various things so I can justify it.
The 91 Newport has 100k miles on the 460 but if said to have no water damage. Generator starts right up and everything is said to work. I haven't seen it yet, but might do that this weekend. I spoke with the guy and he said the driver windshield had a big crack in it but that he'd let it go for 3500. I need to check on the cost for a new windshield to see if that makes it worth it.
How much should I be worried about a Ford F53 chassis from 1991 with 100k on the clock?
How much better is the 1996 version than the 1991 version?
Well... I'm still not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but I pulled the trigger on a coach yesterday. It's a 1993 Winnebago Itasca on the Chevy P30 chassis. It's not perfect of course, but it's got about 96k on the chassis and about 12,000 on the motor, has six brand new tires on it, and was clean and dry on the inside. Of everything I've looked, $7,500 seemed like a fairly decent deal. It needs a few things, but it's got the one-piece fiberglass roof and the only water leakage was around the driver's side window and the kick panel is a little soft. No delam, and no signs of any other water ever getting into the RV.
There are a few little things that need to be done to it yet before it's really road-ready to take a trek with the family, but it handled the ride down from basically Valparaiso, IN to Northern KY without any problems whatsoever.
Oh right. Pictures!
Seller's pictures of the inside/outside:
And safely stashed at my dad's store:
Sweet! I need to come over and check it out sometime soon.
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