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
That looks like a better candidate.
It does have a hitch, so you probably could tow something. I assume it's the V10 motor, and it's an E-450 chassis, so it probably would do so reasonably well when properly set up.
The "repairs" to the two corners should get attention. I'm not convinced they're properly sealed. It looks like the damage was mostly to the basement or skirting portions, so there's a decent chance that any damage or leakage doesn't affect the house part proper. The cabover section doesn't appear to have any blatant signs of water damage. (This part of a class C is notorious for getting leaks.)
I personally like that it does not have a slide out. You don't have to worry about the seals and mechanism of the slide when it doesn't exist. The layout looks pretty nice, too; in fact, it's quite similar to my '98 Coachmen Santara, the biggest difference being that the dinette and sofa are swapped side to side.
As always, there's only so much that can be discerned from pictures. Do a thorough inspection, and if you don't trust yourself to look for the right things, get someone to help with it who does. I don't think you'll find an absolutely perfect RV in this price range, but you should be able to find something in good usable shape overall and free of major problems. You will also find many that are money pits—granted all RVs are money pits to some extent, but some much more so than others.
(Also good to see that it has Florida plates in some of the pictures, and that identical ads are not posted in many different cities around the country. When the same exact unit is simultaneously for sale in New Hampshire, Montana, Texas, and Georgia, it just possibly might be a scam....)
It does have a hitch, so you probably could tow something. I assume it's the V10 motor, and it's an E-450 chassis, so it probably would do so reasonably well when properly set up.
The "repairs" to the two corners should get attention. I'm not convinced they're properly sealed. It looks like the damage was mostly to the basement or skirting portions, so there's a decent chance that any damage or leakage doesn't affect the house part proper. The cabover section doesn't appear to have any blatant signs of water damage. (This part of a class C is notorious for getting leaks.)
I personally like that it does not have a slide out. You don't have to worry about the seals and mechanism of the slide when it doesn't exist. The layout looks pretty nice, too; in fact, it's quite similar to my '98 Coachmen Santara, the biggest difference being that the dinette and sofa are swapped side to side.
As always, there's only so much that can be discerned from pictures. Do a thorough inspection, and if you don't trust yourself to look for the right things, get someone to help with it who does. I don't think you'll find an absolutely perfect RV in this price range, but you should be able to find something in good usable shape overall and free of major problems. You will also find many that are money pits—granted all RVs are money pits to some extent, but some much more so than others.
(Also good to see that it has Florida plates in some of the pictures, and that identical ads are not posted in many different cities around the country. When the same exact unit is simultaneously for sale in New Hampshire, Montana, Texas, and Georgia, it just possibly might be a scam....)
