Forum Discussion

Monster1's avatar
Monster1
Explorer
Aug 17, 2018

New to RV's but not really

First time posting here. I grew up around RV's since before I could walk. My family owned a dealership since before I was born. By the time I was a teenager, I was a a full time lot boy scrubbing RV's all day long and doing misc work. I started in sales when I was of legal age to do so and did some repairs. Our dealership closed due to the recession in 94. Forward nearly 25 years, I'm looking at buying my "first" RV (lol). I might as well be new to all this because so much has changed. We used to be a skyline and cobra dealer. Cobra has since become forrest river of I'm not mistaken. 25 years ago, construction used to be more maticulous. I'm hearing now that some RV's are able to be assembled completely in 8 hours. My mind is blown. I can't imagine quality control would be up to par in those cases. Anyway, I've started looking for a 26-32ft travel trailer. I figure trailers are not as popular as 5th wheels and tend to sit longer for sale. They always sat longer on our lot anyway. I'm not in a great rush. I know buyers season is approaching with the fall/winter being prime buy time. I'm looking for something around 10k. I looked at a Tango 32ft travel trailer yesterday. I was impressed with the build quality. It seemed well made. But I read some very negative things about that brand. I looked at an Outback today. It was nice as well but the front and rear cap was bubbled. No big deal if nothing is rotted as I've done skin jobs. If I can buy something heavily discounted that needs repairs, I'm fine with that. But I dont want something that is poorly built right of the bat. What advice can you give a "new" guy and what brands should I stay away from? My tow vehicle is a 2500 5.9 Cummins so weight isn't an issue. PM me if you'd rather not publicly down talk any particular brand.

Thanks
Monty
  • campigloo's avatar
    campigloo
    Explorer
    Aug 17, 2018
    Good luck on everything from build quality to price.
    I have a 2011 Outback 298re. 36’long. I think it was reasonably well built if you don’t use it too much. My wife and I spend a few months a year in ours, probably 100,000 miles on it. The first thing on any of them is check the tires. Manufacturers seem to like to put the tire that is just barely enough to carry the prescribed load. Ours only has a payload of about 1900lbs so we probably overloaded it from time to time. 90 gal of waste water is heavy. Look at the A frame every once in a while. Ours broke and was on the verge of catastrophic failure. The repair shop was agast at how light weight the components were. Even so, I think it’s probably built as well as any of them, just always keep an eye on the running gear. Be prepared to work on it frequently. They do take a beating on the highway.
    Enjoy. Shopping is so much fun!!!
  • 2012Coleman's avatar
    2012Coleman
    Explorer II
    Aug 17, 2018
    Check out the Imagine Series from Grand Design. Grand Design is one of the few companies that will certify their products for full time living without voiding the warranty. Consider the TV placement. You want to be able to sit across from it - not look at it from an angle or across the room in a corner. Good luck!
  • Monster1's avatar
    Monster1
    Explorer
    Aug 17, 2018
    Thanks for the replies. I'm trying to stay at about 10k for my purchase. I'm not going to be living in it or full time rv'ing. My plan is to do several weekend trips and a few one week trips a year. I'm primarily a boater, but I'm just looking for an upgrade from tent camping with the family that we've been doing. Here's a link to the 07 tango I'm looking at.

    https://bakersfield.craigslist.org/tro/d/ft-tango/6668657329.html
  • Jayco-noslide's avatar
    Jayco-noslide
    Explorer
    Aug 17, 2018
    I question if there really was a "good old days" in RV quality and I think it's really hard to pin down the quality of all of the various RV's. We currently own a 15 yr. old Itasca(Winnebago) 30 ft. Class C on a Ford E-450 chassis. If I ever have another one I will stick with Winnebago. It's not that quality is guaranteed but I do think a lot of the company and have visited the factory. Apparently you can get any part for any unit ever made. We've had ours 5 years and have spent plenty on repair, replace and improve but have no regrets.
  • Turtle_n_Peeps's avatar
    Turtle_n_Peeps
    Explorer
    Aug 17, 2018
    Monster1 wrote:
    Thanks for the replies. I'm trying to stay at about 10k for my purchase. I'm not going to be living in it or full time rv'ing. My plan is to do several weekend trips and a few one week trips a year. I'm primarily a boater, but I'm just looking for an upgrade from tent camping with the family that we've been doing. Here's a link to the 07 tango I'm looking at.

    https://bakersfield.craigslist.org/tro/d/ft-tango/6668657329.html


    After reading about the company that makes that trailer I wouldn't touch that thing.

    Do you research or you will be sorry.
  • old_guy's avatar
    old_guy
    Explorer
    Aug 17, 2018
    when I went to work in the rv dealership, they told me that building a rv was not rocket science. what a under statement. they can fall apart in a heart beat and take weeks to get them back together. no recommendation for you, because they are all built the same, fast and bad. only thing I would say is one that had a metal frame .
  • JAC1982's avatar
    JAC1982
    Explorer
    Aug 17, 2018
    I think with a 10,000 budget, your main focus should just be to find a trailer that doesn't have any major problems individually, since it will be an older model in that price range and when you're at a 10+ year model, the manufacturer doesn't really matter at that point... how it's been maintained and used matters much more.

About RV Newbies

4,026 PostsLatest Activity: Jun 15, 2017