Severe water damage: Reno or sell?
Here we go... I recently bought a 2004 Salem camper from a dishonest seller and later found severe water damage throughout. We are on the fence about gutting it and renovating it or just selling it a...
Forum Discussion
Restoring a travel trailer can be much easier than a car or house. Cabinetry is just screwed or stapled together. Walls & ceiling paneling is just stapled with tiny staples. No glue and few fasteners that can't be easily pulled apart. Easy to gut down to bare studs and floor joists. But replacing rotten studs, rafters and sub-floor will be a lot of work. There are some good youtube vids that show what some have done with total gut and rebuild projects.
If you're younger, full of energy and ambition and a handy type or tradesman, you might fix it all up. You'll end up with a much better RV in the end too. But that'd all be time away from your family - not good... Would take a LOT of hours in total. I'd rather put that kind of time into a vintage Airstream or Silver Streak. You *could* store it somehow and pick away at it over time. You'd also want a table saw, chop saw, compressor & air nailer, various hand tools and not to mention, will need to find various RV-specific materials to do the repairs.
I'd be inclined to sell it, take the loss, suck it up, and move on. The first house I built was during the 80s recession. When it was done, had to sell it at a loss and move to another town for a new job. Life is unfair sometimes but you get over it.
If it was bought as-is where-is, that's unfortunate. Too bad you didn't come here before the purchase. It's highly recommended to spend a few $$ to hire an RV tech to go through a used RV. There's so many things a person can't see or know what to look for. Even some new RVs should be independently inspected.
On the bright (-er) side, there are usually tons and tons of used RVs on the market, esp. CL but may want to wait until the end of the season to look for better deals
If you're younger, full of energy and ambition and a handy type or tradesman, you might fix it all up. You'll end up with a much better RV in the end too. But that'd all be time away from your family - not good... Would take a LOT of hours in total. I'd rather put that kind of time into a vintage Airstream or Silver Streak. You *could* store it somehow and pick away at it over time. You'd also want a table saw, chop saw, compressor & air nailer, various hand tools and not to mention, will need to find various RV-specific materials to do the repairs.
I'd be inclined to sell it, take the loss, suck it up, and move on. The first house I built was during the 80s recession. When it was done, had to sell it at a loss and move to another town for a new job. Life is unfair sometimes but you get over it.
If it was bought as-is where-is, that's unfortunate. Too bad you didn't come here before the purchase. It's highly recommended to spend a few $$ to hire an RV tech to go through a used RV. There's so many things a person can't see or know what to look for. Even some new RVs should be independently inspected.
On the bright (-er) side, there are usually tons and tons of used RVs on the market, esp. CL but may want to wait until the end of the season to look for better deals
