1998 affinity

Just noticed in his description he says walnut woodwork...it's oak. Still beautiful either way.

I am a woodworker by trade and run my own business doing custom cabinets and furniture. I have a friend who bought a 94 affinity and had me do some work in it.

I upgraded the cabinets to fit new flat screen tvs among other things and can say the woodwork in those motorhomes are top notch. The quality of the joinery and use of solid wood throughout rivals any of the high end work I've done in people's homes.

I've done some work in other rv's and found the use of materials and construction to be disappointing at best. Faux wood veneer over particle board and lots 1/4 inch panels where at least 1/2 inch should have been used and lots of staples. None of that in the country coach.

As far as maintenance on an older rig I can tell you my friend had to have his generator rebuilt, cruise control fixed, tires replaced, shocks replaced, clear coat was starting to flake so he re cleared it, some radiator hoses replaced, new backup camera installed, and a few other little things. Now that's over thousands of miles he's put on it since buying so not too bad.

He's got less into it than my parents who bought a 2003 Winnebago brave brand new and his is quite a bit nicer in my opinion.

I say go for it! Of course, it's not my money...

The motorhome is at a man's house who buys and sells motorhomes, rvs and other vehicles as a hobby. He drove from LA where he picked it up from another wholesaler friend and said it ran like a dream. The original owner let it go back to the bank but we have his name and contact info. The salesman called country coach to get history and it's been back to the factory for a recall.

We spent nearly the entire day with him working on all the "stuff." We did get all three ACs running on the gennie and they were cold. We drove it for about an hour, including stopping for fuel and propane. I walked around the back looking for annoying noises and only one pocket door rattled. The wooden doors hiding the washer/dryer had some rust on the back of the latches, but I'm thinking someone must have run it with those doors closed. I'm sure it puts out some moisture but we've never had one before. It looks like it is vented to the outdoors.

Regarding the plumbing... haven't looked at the style of plumbing yet to see what kind of pipe. It's got electric low point drains (3) for the fresh water system and one of the drain valves isn't closing for some reason. We put water in it, turned on the water pump, and it proceeded to dump water on the ground through a valve - even though the "voice" said the valves were closed.
So, an RV repair guy is looking at that issue now. Plus, we haven't figured out how to get to the generator. Some mysterious electrical switch we haven't found. The owners material is lacking drawings to indicate exactly where to find some items.
It has a tow bar for a car and a Direct TV dish receiver installed that looks fairly new along with a Kingdome. Since we've never had anything but the batwing, this is also a mystery.

So far, we haven't found anything truly wrong except the gaskets in the windows are warped due to being in a hot barn. But there's no film or moisture and the windows were checked out by a glass firm who said it was just cosmetic. You notice it from the inside - not the outside as the windows have some sort of tint.

The awnings are perfect. original with fabric I think. Kind of a old-style spring loaded style arrangement. But they all have metal covers.

We will probably make an offer obviously below the asking price.

Sorry for all the long post. We are doing our best to make a good decision here.

Firstly I would not take the salesman's word on anything unless he puts it in writing, has it notorized and warranties it :)

How do you know the previous owner started everything regularly?

My concern would be all of the plumbing - if it's gray PB then it's likely to split - if it's white PEX than that's a lot better. The waste tanks seals, the toilet seal. Check for any corrosion around the LPG tanks. I'd need to do a 100 mile trip (offer to pay for the gas) to confirm the engine and transmission was good and no seal leaks after it gets up to temperature and load.
Run the genny up to temperature and load it up with all 3 ACs and let it run for an hour.

You are putting close to $100k into a 15 year old unit that could have hidden issues that you have to get checked out before you purchase.

since we are completely new at this...
What in particular should we check out regarding non-use? The owner started the engine and gennie regularly.
The water system is being fixed as it indeed had a split..

The only systems we didn't tryout was the hydro heat as we don't know how it works or anything else related to the water system like the washer dryer.

What else are we missing?

Just a word of caution and not to cause alarm, but there is often talk about the issues associated with lack of use as well as over use. The issues seem to be that seals, rubber components etc deteriorate when not being moved, flexed etc and then begin to fail prematurely when it starts to get used again.

Given that the rig has hardly moved over 15 years, you might want to budget some funds for early repairs, especially on the 'house' part of the rig.

Also, why did he buy 6 tires in addition to the 2 that the previous owner mounted on the front? It doesn't have a tag axle.

Also, he just purchased it from auction for resale and yet writes his description as if he was buying it for himself "I knew I could never afford an $800k new one"

Caveat Emptor - you are dealing with a used car salesman.

Yeah... its hasn't sold yet because it's cash only... but it shouldn't take long if we don't buy it. We are thinking this is a
great way to see if we even want to motorhome vrse the 5er without breaking the bank... and getting a quality rig - if yet somewhat dated interior colors and old tvs.

linkhttp://www.rvtrader.com/listing/1998-Country-Coach-Affinity-40--Grande-Chalet-110208216

It is exactly as pictured...

A 1998 Affinity with 8000 miles on it? Dont let it get away!

I can give you a tip. We have bought another MH before the old one was sold twice, did a house that way, and a boat. Sell the other one first. Take it from a slow learner.

KampingKris wrote:
But, its before we get the 5er sold.
Decisions..

And who knows how long that will take??