Thinking of buying new or used?

How do I attach some photos to show you the extent of the damage?

And... this is not just surface rust.... most of the 24 bolts holding something together were rusted off and to do an adequate job, according to my husband, the holding tanks would have to be removed first. It is badly rusted.

Well, I would have thought the manufacturer would have known about the rust.... after all, didn't they build it????

We've owned a couple of Jaycos. It says right in the manual to inspect for rust and recommends cleaning it up and painting the frame. Starcraft is owned by Jayco so I imagine the manual has similar wording.

The reality is that your trailer may have indeed sat in an open field. If it was a lot trailer it sat at StarCraft's lot for a time, then your dealer may have an outlot somewhere where trailers are stored until they are preped. Our trailer was built 6 months before we bought it. There is some rust in a few spots and the brackets for the propane tanks are really rusty. Its clean up work.

bgum wrote:
There are rust treatments on the market that will stop the rust dead in its tracks. They can be applied by the consumer.

X2, and as long as nothing is rusted through, you should be good to go. There's a product called Rust Destroyer (you can google it) that is fantastic and can be painted over with black paint. My old 2004 trailer had a lot of rust underneath on the frame too btw. Surface rust is common and won't hurt anything, but you want to treat it as noted above.

Its going to take a long time before it will fall apart. I have looked at TT and 5er that have been pulled by people going south late in the winter in states that use salt and they are an absolute mess underneath. Maybe yours had a dose of salt? They are not made for that environment at all.

Surface rust can be normal and self protecting.

I would have not expected a lot of rust on a 2011 camper, My 2010 TT has a bit here and there but not a lot.

My pop-up frame rusted after several years so I set it up on jack stands on the drive. Out came the creeper and Rustolium. Not a very comfortable way to paint the underside of the camper.:(

when I purchased my 2010 TT and the frame was one of the first thing I looked at while my DW checked the floor plan. At least I can slide under the TT.

Since the dealer and the manufacturer do not know the units history it is not surpising that they would not do anything about it. I would have thought the dealer might have mentioned it but he probably never look under it.

There are rust treatments on the market that will stop the rust dead in its tracks. They can be applied by the consumer.