Buying cheap to fix, good idea?
Hi all, I have a question that hopefully some of you experienced RVers can help me with. I am currently in the market for an RV. I don't have any experience with them, but I have been doing an extre...
Forum Discussion
I think I would approach it this way, if I were you.
First your trip sounds great and should be an experience of a life time, do it while you can. Before to long life comes along with kids etc, and the chance is gone.
Second whatever you buy, 3 or 4 years later, it is not going to be worth much, but you will have got your use out of it.
I would not worry so much about the house part of the rig. Be it 5 years old, or 25 years old, heaters , fridges etc can and do break. Just less often with a newer one.
The house part you can Gerry rig, small residential fridge, portable heater, ice box if you have too. Not ideal but it would work.
Generator is nice but something you can live without.
What would really kill your plan, in my opinion, is having the engine or tranny blow up. So I would concentrate more in that area than the house part.
The old dodge 360 was not the best engine in the world. But I would not be afraid of a ford 460, or chev 454.
If you do find one you like, spend some money, have a mechanic check it out as much as possible. Run a compression chk, take a close look at the tranny, brakes etc. Last thing you want is to be broken down with a major issue in some small town.
Roof leaks. would be another area I would work on avoiding. And even that, if the thing isn't totally rotted out, that is something else you could Gerry rig. (problem is without ripping the roof of you can not tell the extent of the damage) But there are lots of leakers running up and down the road. And from the point of view, you are going to use the rig up and junk it out. Even that could be ok. But of course avoid if possible
But again for your plans I would not worry about resale value, how pretty, new or old it is. Or the house part so much. I would concentrate on the running gear. And in that light I would probably try for the 5K range and keep the rest in reserve.
And remember what ever you buy chances are you will need new tires right out of the gate. And that's another 1200.
Good luck with your plans, sounds super fun
First your trip sounds great and should be an experience of a life time, do it while you can. Before to long life comes along with kids etc, and the chance is gone.
Second whatever you buy, 3 or 4 years later, it is not going to be worth much, but you will have got your use out of it.
I would not worry so much about the house part of the rig. Be it 5 years old, or 25 years old, heaters , fridges etc can and do break. Just less often with a newer one.
The house part you can Gerry rig, small residential fridge, portable heater, ice box if you have too. Not ideal but it would work.
Generator is nice but something you can live without.
What would really kill your plan, in my opinion, is having the engine or tranny blow up. So I would concentrate more in that area than the house part.
The old dodge 360 was not the best engine in the world. But I would not be afraid of a ford 460, or chev 454.
If you do find one you like, spend some money, have a mechanic check it out as much as possible. Run a compression chk, take a close look at the tranny, brakes etc. Last thing you want is to be broken down with a major issue in some small town.
Roof leaks. would be another area I would work on avoiding. And even that, if the thing isn't totally rotted out, that is something else you could Gerry rig. (problem is without ripping the roof of you can not tell the extent of the damage) But there are lots of leakers running up and down the road. And from the point of view, you are going to use the rig up and junk it out. Even that could be ok. But of course avoid if possible
But again for your plans I would not worry about resale value, how pretty, new or old it is. Or the house part so much. I would concentrate on the running gear. And in that light I would probably try for the 5K range and keep the rest in reserve.
And remember what ever you buy chances are you will need new tires right out of the gate. And that's another 1200.
Good luck with your plans, sounds super fun
