how in the heck to pick a used class A
We have a 1999 Fleetwood class A we bought from my son and used a few times, but it needs to go to motorhome heaven. We want to buy a nice used one and are stymied as to how to know what to choose. ...
Forum Discussion
iawia wrote:
Tiffin is up there with Newmar. We liked some of the Nationals but really liked the layout of the Southwind 32VS. They're a little above the Bounder in terms of finish and maybe base options. Lots of people that have this model seem to really like them and they can be found in Workhorse or F53. We almost bought one but found a Triple E Commander with same layout which is more in line with Newmar and Tiffen. FWIW if that hadn't happened we probably would have been happy with the Southwind.
OK, speaking of national - tell me about it. After driving about 200 miles each way to New Braunfels this weekend, I have narrowed the choices down to 2. One of them (in New Braunfels) is a 2003 National. It was at the Camping World there.
2003 National Sea Breeze
It seemed to be a well built coach, and the price was within our budgeted amount. It had a small amount of water staining on the ceiling material, but it was dry when we checked it out Saturday (in a good rain). I crawled up on the roof and saw where the PO had run a fresh strip of EternaBond tape across where the front cap meets the fiberglass roof. Other than not having a gas oven, it was pretty much what we were looking for. The salesman said that the National coaches were a high-quality unit, and inferred that they went out of business because they couldn't compete with lower cost builders, or something like that.
The other one I have narrowed our choices down to is a Damon Challenger. It seems to be an entry-level model.
2007 Damon Daybreak
Anyway, we visited the PPL, Crestview (both locations along I-35), Camping World and Evergreen RV sites. It was a full two-day trip there and back. We got to see the "short list" units again during a good rain on Saturday.
One thing I will say - we have never been so amazed at the condition of some coaches as what we saw last weekend. Good heavens! Don't people take care of their expensive "toys" any more? We saw units with water damage that could have been prevented with basic maintenance, smelled some really funky things in some, and saw where cats had been allowed to rip up the upholstery. We also witnessed some pretty sketchy "upgrades" and "remodeling work", as well as "repairs" on some units. All we could do was shake our heads in disbelief (and sometimes hold our noses).
