advice on buying a project popup

Water leaks are the killer issue that destroys these. Dang near anything else that goes wrong is fairly easy to fix. Inspect roofs hyper carefully and the lids and surrounding areas of front trunks (if applicable).

Mouse infestations are another potential killer, I suppose, but you don't need to look too hard to notice that!

Lift issues are almost always the result of rotted flooring. Not the end of the world to fix, but check inside cabinets if the lift system is broken. I'd look for pop-ups with the Jayco lift system. Doesn't have to be a Jayco per-say, but many others license use of the Jayco lift system.

On older pop-ups look for a one piece roof. I think most brands now use a one piece roof, but most older ones do not. I know Coleman branded pop-ups had some models with one piece roofs. I think these were the first ones to do this.

Jayco pop-ups at least from the early '90s on were pre-wired for AC.

We had a Starcraft Venture for 6 years. I think it was a good one. Check out older Starcraft pop-ups.

I'm not so sure that a "one piece roof" is automatically a good thing. The Colemans in particular had a lot of problems with their solid ABS plastic sagging and cracking.

The old school aluminum roofs are more fragile and are totally dependent on good caulk maintenance, but if you DO that good maintenance they are the better choice. With the one piece roofs, you are a helpless bystander. There is nothing you can do to improve your odds of success. Either it holds up or it cracks. Aluminum is better for the diligent owner. One piece is better for the sort of guy who needs a mechanic to change the air filter on his car....
Decide for yourself which sort you are.

manualman wrote:
I'm not so sure that a "one piece roof" is automatically a good thing. The Colemans in particular had a lot of problems with their solid ABS plastic sagging and cracking.

The old school aluminum roofs are more fragile and are totally dependent on good caulk maintenance, but if you DO that good maintenance they are the better choice. With the one piece roofs, you are a helpless bystander. There is nothing you can do to improve your odds of success. Either it holds up or it cracks. Aluminum is better for the diligent owner. One piece is better for the sort of guy who needs a mechanic to change the air filter on his car....
Decide for yourself which sort you are.

Having had 2 pop-ups with that old style I have to disagree. As much as the Colemans had their roof issues, split roofs sucked.

And I'm the guy that's not afraid to rebuilds the valve bodies on my transmissions. I just like things to be simple and lower maintenance. ;)

I like work as little as the next guy. But if my choices are
1. a product that is dead reliable if I do the maintenance work; or
2. a product that requires no maintenance, but has a good chance of turning itself into a worthless junkpile if it does have a defect...

I'm all for product #1. Cracked and delaminating ABS roofs are pretty much unrepairable. The pup is a write-off if you get one of those.