~2000 Lance 825 or comparables?

Question

Hello again everyone,
Well I'm suffering a sort of mission creep from my last post but that's ok. What had started as finding a hunters special has turned into finding something we could weekend in as a family as well.
I've seen some Lance 825 TCs around model year 2000 that make me think I could afford one (although some asking prices for that year are absolutely nuts when you compare to what's available in 2014 closeout, but I digress). The 825 seems to be just right - light enough for our truck, short bed model, a (wet) bath, and dinette and fold down bunk above. It's always hard to piece together used unit info so after searching for awhile online I thought I'd ask here...
- Is there anything else from around that year that is comparable in floor plan / price / weight? Wanting to stay around 1800 dry weight to stay within my RGAWR when loaded.
- I did find a brochure online from MY2000 Lance TCs. It says the 825 has split tanks but then says in the specs that the shower drains into the black. What am I missing?

mbloof · Answer

As I recall, the majority of TC's in the 2000 era were wood construction. The #1 enemy of any TC is water leaks.

With that said, the < 9' floor models would often have showers that drained into the Black tank. Not a big deal if your at a full hookup site or simply don't use the inside shower.

The holding tanks on the < 9' models (even today) are fairly small. Good for a weekend adventure (with some conservation efforts).

There are also quite a few "orphaned" models from that era that might be worth looking at - as long as there is no water damage. Just about everyone had a shot bed model.

The BIG thing to remember is that even today all Camper manufacturers weight listings are bogus - the "dry weight" listed can be 100's if not 1000's of Lbs lighter than the unit that you are looking at.

(back in the late 90's and early 2000's nearly EVERYTHING was an "option" and therefore not included in the "official weight" of the camper.)

Best of luck!

nautiquefamily · Answer

Look at Lance 845's and 830's which preceded the 825's.  We were looking at those for a light weight SB PU.  Good (and different) floor plans........

nomadictxn · Answer

Sunlite M850, Alpenlite Cimarron and Lance 815 and a little bit before that the Lance Squire Lite 165 S. Happy Hunting.

triumphguy · Answer

Thanks you guys, really good input. After looking at a couple floorplans and reading capacities it's clear to me that in this size it will be a bit of a squeeze ... but i'm hoping this can be a tryout of the TC idea and when we get a DRW in a few years we can go bigger. Certainly will be an adjustment coming from a 35' 5er.

We enjoy our 5er for "destination" trips but for roaming around the mountains and stopping at the random apple stand it's not great. It would be nice to go smaller for that flexibility but I'll admit for 10 days at the beach it will still be the big rig.

Also good point about the wood framing. I thought I had read that somewhere, not sure when they went to aluminum but either way I've had experience with water intrusion (and the subsequent repairs) on a past 5er so I've definitely got an eye for that now. I've seen some TCs on craigslist that claimed no leaks but from looking at the ceiling in the pictures I could tell something was going on...

Thanks!

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~2000 Lance 825 or comparables?

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