Looking at a 96 Coachmen Santara....
Good morning all! I am new to the RV community, and whatever RV I purchase, will be my first! I am wanting to purchase a RV that I will use a couple times a year, but also to have on my property fo...
Forum Discussion
How are you thinking of towing? What sort of transmission is in your vehicles? If they're automatic, there's a very good chance you won't be able to tow them without a dolly or trailer; I'm nearly certain that's true with the Corolla, not so positive about the element. Check their owner's manuals to be sure. Most manual transmission vehicles can be towed with four wheels down.
Does the RV have a hitch? If not, towing obviously won't be possible, at least without adding a hitch. That's a pretty large RV for a 350 chassis, so there's probably not a lot of excess weight capacity. Adding a hitch would cut down on what capacity there is (by the weight of the hitch) and the tongue weight on the hitch would further limit what you can carry. A two-wheel dolly or a tow bar doesn't have much tongue weight, though. On the whole, I don't think it would be an ideal towinging rig, although it may be possible.
As for the RV, it looks like some work was done on the right side of the cabover section at some point, probably because of water damage. It may or may not have been done properly or thoroughly. Further, it looks like there may be some rather serious water damage to the main walls of the RV under the two front windows of the house section and perhaps elsewhere. There are a lot of places that the pictures you have don't show--the front of the cabover, the back wall, etc. Maybe there's a reason why they aren't shown, or maybe it's just happenstance.
Low mileage on an RV is not always a good sign, as sitting unused and possibly unmaintained is troublesome. My general impression is that there wasn't a whole lot of care lavished on this RV, at least on small cosmetic things. If larger things were also neglected, it may be in pretty rough shape under the covers. The interior does look admirably clean. In general, though, condition is much more important than mileage.
Make sure you verify that the systems all work before you make an offer. Generators, fridges, water heaters, furnaces, levelers, slider mechanisms, and other such things can get expensive to repair or replace quite quickly. Also verify the date codes on the tires and make sure they aren't too old. (Five years is a good rough guideline; beyond that, they should be at least inspected for dry rot and quite possibly replaced.)
If a branch put a gash in the rubber roof membrane and that was then replaced properly with new rubber, I'd think that would be a net positive rather than a detractor. It does depend upon the workmanship and proper procedures being followed.
Does the RV have a hitch? If not, towing obviously won't be possible, at least without adding a hitch. That's a pretty large RV for a 350 chassis, so there's probably not a lot of excess weight capacity. Adding a hitch would cut down on what capacity there is (by the weight of the hitch) and the tongue weight on the hitch would further limit what you can carry. A two-wheel dolly or a tow bar doesn't have much tongue weight, though. On the whole, I don't think it would be an ideal towinging rig, although it may be possible.
As for the RV, it looks like some work was done on the right side of the cabover section at some point, probably because of water damage. It may or may not have been done properly or thoroughly. Further, it looks like there may be some rather serious water damage to the main walls of the RV under the two front windows of the house section and perhaps elsewhere. There are a lot of places that the pictures you have don't show--the front of the cabover, the back wall, etc. Maybe there's a reason why they aren't shown, or maybe it's just happenstance.
Low mileage on an RV is not always a good sign, as sitting unused and possibly unmaintained is troublesome. My general impression is that there wasn't a whole lot of care lavished on this RV, at least on small cosmetic things. If larger things were also neglected, it may be in pretty rough shape under the covers. The interior does look admirably clean. In general, though, condition is much more important than mileage.
Make sure you verify that the systems all work before you make an offer. Generators, fridges, water heaters, furnaces, levelers, slider mechanisms, and other such things can get expensive to repair or replace quite quickly. Also verify the date codes on the tires and make sure they aren't too old. (Five years is a good rough guideline; beyond that, they should be at least inspected for dry rot and quite possibly replaced.)
If a branch put a gash in the rubber roof membrane and that was then replaced properly with new rubber, I'd think that would be a net positive rather than a detractor. It does depend upon the workmanship and proper procedures being followed.
