Buyers complaining about Ultra-Lite floor. What to do?

Huntindog wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:

jungleexplorer wrote:
I am trying to sale my Ultra-Lite and I am getting a lot of lookers, but everyone of them is turned off by the floor. They say it feels spongy, and it does, but that is the way it was from day one, because it is an ultra-lite. Some have even started bouncing up and down on it saying, "Look! See how spongy it is!" When I try to convince them that it just way ultra-lite are, they say that they believe that there is water damage. But there never has been a leak. I am getting tired of showing it to people that get turned away by the floor and there is nothing I can do about it.

What can I put in my add to weed out these people that want and concrete rock hard floor?

Have you considered that there MAY BE water damage and you have gotten used to the extra spongy feel?

Realistically it is a possibility.

Have you considered that your RV may not be priced realistically (IE over priced)? Sometimes it is hard to price something you own to sell, perhaps a trip to your local RV dealer for an appraisal may be in order..

Other than lowering the price (IE negotiate) there is not much you can do..

Although, you could RAISE the asking price 50% then when someone pulls that stunt you could "discount" it by 25% and in the end get more for it :B

It's not really a possibility. Those floors have very little wood in them. It's mostly foam, and it is a well known problem. If the little bit of wood there is in the floor was water damaged, you would fall right thru it.

Actually EVERY trailer has MOSTLY FOAM in it, that IS the normal.

Think of it like a Oreo cookie sandwich, you have a layer of sheeting, then the foam, then another layer of sheeting, all are glued and squeezed under pressure.

All trailers use a LAMINATING PROCESS and the foam becomes a "ply" in the floor.

What changes in "lite" versions is the THICKNESS of the top and bottom sheeting.

In regular trailers the thickness of the top will be about 1/2" and the bottom will be 3/8".

In lite trailers the thickness might be 1/4" for the top and 1/8" for the bottom..

Saves considerable weight but tends to flex a bit more than regular trailer floor.

The downside however is you CAN break any or all of the "layers" in a lite version much easier or even slight water damage can make a spongy floor even worse.

In both cases, you will tend to get used to the extra flex as you use the trailer and eventually you don't notice it as much..

And YES, I HAVE been in NEW "lite" trailers, and YES, I did notice more flex in the floors in NEW lite versions..

Even so, it STILL is a real possibility that the OPs trailer may be suffering from a case of water damage and they just don't realize the extra flex since it often is a pretty slow process.

gbopp wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:
Although, you could RAISE the asking price 50% then when someone pulls that stunt you could "discount" it by 25% and in the end get more for it :B

Do you sell used cars and RV's for a living? :B :B

No, but I do have lots of experience with selling at flee markets and craigslist over the years..

Sometimes folks get suspicious when you price things reasonably, often thinking you are trying to sell them junk..

What I have noticed in more recent yrs is most folk won't even "offer" or even haggle.. They either buy it at your price as marked OR they simply walk away and never look back..

Now days I rarely setup at flee markets or even bother posting on the Internet nickle and dime stuff, I throw cheap stuff out instead of dealing with the tire kickers wasting my time.

My "ultra lite" is #5000 GVWR and does not have a 'spongy floor'... It's 15 years old now and still tight as a drum.. :)

My 2003 "ultra lite" does not have that feeling to me.. Owned it since brand new in 2002..

I think I responded to your "picture" post, so don't want to rehash that..

Just trade the thing in for whatever the dealer will give you.... Even if it's only a grand, it's better than trying to sell it on your own for only a couple of grand more, unless you are looking to unload it on some newbie that has no clue about old RV's.... That's all on you and why I don't buy from private sellers.. No matter how honest they are...

I'm not saying you are trying to scam anyone, but you also have to have some realistic expectations about used RVs....

I will never buy a used RV after my experience in looking at them..

I would also not expect anyone to want my used RV once I decide to get a new one... I'd just take whatever the dealer would do to take it off my hand without having to deal with it...

That's just me and my trailer has been paid for and used every year since 2005, so I'm good.. :)

For those that are upside down on you RV.. Well, there you go...

Good luck!

Mitch

jungleexplorer wrote:
How accurate do you feel NADA Value is? Here is what it says about my TT.

Most of those options are probably not options... NADA for some inexplicable reason lists these as options, but they also say not to add them to the value if they came standard. You can be reasonably certain that the only actual option on the list was the 15K A/C, an upgrade from the standard 13.5K unit. Stuff like awnings, stab jacks and water heaters are included on every trailer built.

jungleexplorer wrote:
When I was searching for this trailer, I was looking for an ultra-lite specifically. I walked in several TT before I bought this one. The first couple times I step on the spongy floor of an Ultra-Lite, I thought the exact same thing. Wow, this floor is spongy. I too turned away from those first two because of that. But by the third and forth ultra-lites, I came to realize, this is just the way they are, and bought this one. It does not bother me now, but I understand where the people are coming from.

I just wish had a way to prepare them for this.

Same as my sons. He said it was barely noticeable when he bought his used but his girlfriend at the time loved it and that may have clouded his judgement. He got rid of her and later married someone else so this TT could never stay around even if it had a concrete floor in it. :)

When I was searching for this trailer, I was looking for an ultra-lite specifically. I walked in several TT before I bought this one. The first couple times I step on the spongy floor of an Ultra-Lite, I thought the exact same thing. Wow, this floor is spongy. I too turned away from those first two because of that. But by the third and forth ultra-lites, I came to realize, this is just the way they are, and bought this one. It does not bother me now, but I understand where the people are coming from.

I just wish had a way to prepare them for this.

Probably a bad idea but I would consider giving a warranty that the floor is normal and offer to refund money if found otherwise.

At 3,740 pounds dry and 22 feet I consider my Winnie an ultra light. A spongy floor is not normal. Have your floor inspected by pro and certified....if it's not a leak issue.

What about installing laminate over the floor? Some of the systems are very rigid

On my Rockwood, I overlaid the original floor with 3/8" plywood. I was too lazy to do it, but vinyl or tile could have been applied to make it look good. I did it before the floor was real bad and removed the overlay before trading it in.