Buying a known (?) problem

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

Would you willingly buy an RV with water damage if the price was right?

Hubby and I own a 2004 Gulf Stream Class C which has served us faithfully; but now we're pondering going south with our 3 dogs to escape some winter, and since we need a big towing vehicle for our work anyway, we thought a 5th wheel with a big slideout would be more spacious than our non-slide C for extended stays (and would still be tons cheaper than upgrading to a slideout motorhome).

Today we looked at a very nice 2004 28' bunkhouse with a floor plan I LOVE. Everything appears to be in good condition: it's clean and not stained or mildewed - BUT - when I went to push on a bubble in the wallpaper in the back bunk area; my fingers went right through. Clearly, there's been a leak for long enough to rot away the luan plywood at that point (I'm guessing the leak is in a marker light?). The wallpaper is also wrinkled along the front side of the master bedroom, although the wall behind it is still solid.

The 5th wheel has the ribbed aluminum siding, so we can't see the extent of water damage. There was no ladder, so we couldn't take a look at the roof.

I'm a pretty handy girl when it comes to fixing stuff; and I have an RV-savvy mechanic at my disposal, too, who ironically owns this same model. I'm hoping we could buy this for less than $5k - and probably spend less than $2k to do the repairs and buy it a fresh set of tires. All we need this 5er to do, is go down the road to somewhere warm for a month; then come back. And it will live the rest of its life stored indoors.

Are we insane?

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

Thank you, Travelnutz! Yes, the rest of the GS was in beautiful condition, for its age; and our offer was ridiculously low. Thanks to the input from other forum members, I was planning on about 100 hrs for repairs, which I'm able to do during work...LOL! Since it's wood framing - the costs involved are negigible.

The search continues!!

[travelnutz]

Deb and Ed M,

Thanks!

Per your initial post admiration of the floorplan etc for your needs and wants and subsequent water damage perhaps findings as I had interpeted them, $4335 would be a very very cheap price for the RV if the rest of it is in good condition. Remember that you actually saw the RV and I have not and can only speculate by using your words and the NADA etc type publications and the 50 years of RVing and the many RVs we've owned and have experienced. Very smart in waiting if it had been on the block before and perhaps still did not go. 2 times at the auction and not meeting a reserve could spell out what about what range any buyer is even willing to spend for it. You'll lose nothing by taking a chance it will go on the block again except a little time as you said.

It can be extremely hard to sell an RV with known and visible water damage and you having poked actual holes thru the damage will make it even harder as it's no secret. In the end, you may eventually get the Gulf Stream for like $4400 or $4500 and that will leave a lot of room for any and all repairs and still let you re-coupe all monies spent and make a profit even though that is not your immediate goal. I'll bet that scenario wouldn't hurt your feelings a bit though and still have had the repaired RV to use before you'd sold it! You'd have to put a $ value on your labor needed to repair the RV and it's not likely to be thought of as $5/hr and it's also not an actual business venture and ofcourse has to be kept separate.

The good part is that you won't pay taxes on any profit $ made with the selling of the used personal registered RV and it sure won't appear on your own personal tax returns as in not connected to your car business in any way. As a past longtime business owner, I know dearly how incredibly high the tax burdens etc are!

Good luck with your continuing RV unit venture!

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

travelnutz wrote:
Do you know what bid $$$ took it?

It stopped at $4335; but we suspect we were bidding against the auction house, who WILL bid up an item to protect the reserve price set by the seller. In a few days, I'll see if it gets listed in an upcoming auction in a few weeks. It had been auctioned before - the high bid then was $3975.00; so it must have a reserve that's higher than we're willing to pay. Which is fine - it gives us a few weeks to look at other units and find out if EVERYTHING in our hoped-for price range is damaged somehow; and if so, then we'll rethink what we want to do.

Time is our friend right now - a lot of people want these RVs gone before winter.

[Me_Again]

Deb and Ed M wrote:
Thanks, Re and Cheryl - the "good thing" in this 5er is that the damage is in the bunk area. If I have to tear up the floor, I don't have much to move out of the way except the bed frame. The area under the full-sized bunk is currently carpeted and is the storage area where we'd put the outdoor carpet/chairs/etc, so I would tear out the carpet and put in linoleum anyway.

Me Again, as we look at other 5ers, we're astounded at how many have problems, but then again, that's probably why their owners got rid of them? Sometimes, leaks will be glaringly obvious (especially with the fiberglass walls) - but even then, the '09 Holiday Rambler Savoy we looked at looked fine. Until Ed noticed that the keys had an inventory tag for a large local dealer - and he said "Why wouldn't they sell something this nice and relatively new, on their own lot? There's something wrong, somewhere..." and we finally found the rotted back corner.

Granted, when you're poking around auction lots, you're dealing with the "cesspool of vehicles" to start with.... but when you're paying 60% less than a dealer's lot and you're not expecting to find a gem to start with - you can do alright, with a heavy dose of Due Diligence.

Did I not say way in the beginning that you are better off dealing with a private party? But then you own a car lot, right? Sorry! Chris

[travelnutz]

Do you know what bid $$$ took it?

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

Well, the journey continues. The auction is over and we weren't high bidder; we quit at $4300. Maybe we'll kick ourselves later when we buy something, then discover the hidden problem rather than having bought the known problem. Of course, we're hoping to find someone's beloved 5er with NO problems.... as they say: stay tuned!

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

Thanks, Re and Cheryl - the "good thing" in this 5er is that the damage is in the bunk area. If I have to tear up the floor, I don't have much to move out of the way except the bed frame. The area under the full-sized bunk is currently carpeted and is the storage area where we'd put the outdoor carpet/chairs/etc, so I would tear out the carpet and put in linoleum anyway.

Me Again, as we look at other 5ers, we're astounded at how many have problems, but then again, that's probably why their owners got rid of them? Sometimes, leaks will be glaringly obvious (especially with the fiberglass walls) - but even then, the '09 Holiday Rambler Savoy we looked at looked fine. Until Ed noticed that the keys had an inventory tag for a large local dealer - and he said "Why wouldn't they sell something this nice and relatively new, on their own lot? There's something wrong, somewhere..." and we finally found the rotted back corner.

Granted, when you're poking around auction lots, you're dealing with the "cesspool of vehicles" to start with.... but when you're paying 60% less than a dealer's lot and you're not expecting to find a gem to start with - you can do alright, with a heavy dose of Due Diligence.

[Me_Again]

Deb and Ed M wrote:
Well, a lot of people on this forum will think we're crazy - but we decided to bid on the Gulf Stream. The infrared thermometer clearly defined an area of delamination on the (fiberglass-walled) Holiday Rambler Savoy we liked (but now will avoid); but it didn't work so well with the Gulf Stream. We rapped on the walls everywhere - the only spot that's soft is the one we knew about from the start. I've watched all the videos on repairing rotted walls/ceilings/floors - and it doesn't look too scary (at least "wood" is the construction material I know the best....LOL!)

I'll know Wednesday night if the GS's owner is willing to take a financial beating 😉 Because that's the only way we'd buy it.

Well good luck! Keep us in the loop with pictures etc when you tear into it, as it will be educational to all, as sooner or later many of us will face this issue.

Chris

[Re_and_Cheryl]

My wife and I bought our first 5er the same way. It was a 2001 Prowler with a soft spot in the left rear near the pantry closet. Water had come in through the outside corner that had opened up. We bough it because it was nearly 1/3 off due the water damage and I figured "how bad could it be" I fixed it the following winter and was stunned when I pulled it apart. All the kitchen had to be removed. We replaced the last four feet of the floor and had to rebuild the last three feet of the wooden frame of the floor. Money wise the repair was cheap. Including a new floor I had under $300 in the repair. But I also had over 100 hours labor in it. In the end we ended up selling the camper because I could not trust it. For me, camping is all about relaxing. I can't relax when I'm worried about what is going to fall apart next.

We love our new 2013 Coachmen.

On an up side. The metal siding is easy to remove. Our Prowler was fiberglass and the skin could not be removed.

[Tom_Diane]

I could have done the repairs for the 2000,00 but I sure wouldn't go the 5 k for the unit. Since you poked your finger through the wall, Im guessing the damage is more at that point and an indication that ther was no proper maintenance on a 2004 model. That's a lot of deferred maintenance time.

[Tom_Diane]

I could have done the repairs for the 2000,00 but I sure wouldn't go the 5 k for the unit. Since you poked your finger through the wall, Im guessing the damage is more at that point and an indication that ther was no proper maintenance on a 2004 model. That's a lot of deferred maintenance time.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

Well, a lot of people on this forum will think we're crazy - but we decided to bid on the Gulf Stream. The infrared thermometer clearly defined an area of delamination on the (fiberglass-walled) Holiday Rambler Savoy we liked (but now will avoid); but it didn't work so well with the Gulf Stream. We rapped on the walls everywhere - the only spot that's soft is the one we knew about from the start. I've watched all the videos on repairing rotted walls/ceilings/floors - and it doesn't look too scary (at least "wood" is the construction material I know the best....LOL!)

I'll know Wednesday night if the GS's owner is willing to take a financial beating 😉 Because that's the only way we'd buy it.

[travelnutz]

Ha ha ha, missed ya by only a few mintues. Maybe next time! Just the 2 girls manning the store for the last Sunday before the winter schedule kicks in. The girls play with our Siberian Husky we bring into the store as do the customers too. She's very popular!

The last cuple years only the Jayco Jay Flight trailers were redesigned and much better built and insulated and had more CCC. Before that the Jay Flight line was a very light weight and basically a warm summer use trailer only. Of course, the newer to higher the price too! Jayco does make a decent RV and they holdup quite well. Any RV can get a leak and if not caught fast, damage will soon occur.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

LOL!!!! Travelnutz, we were probably at American about 3:30! Found a nice Jay Flight there! The problem with some of these lightweight 5ers is the lighter CCC. Enjoy your scooters! I told Ed we'll need to get him a bicycle - being a "car guy" he just groaned....

Ed and I will be at the lot fitst thing tomorrow morning to scrutinize the GS after studying the construction info you linked to. I do water quality sampling, so have a pretty good infrared thermometer and am hoping it can outline the extent of the water damage. We've got a price in mind that would be worth tearing an RV apart; otherwise, we'll start looking at some we found on Craig's List. We'll be 5er owners sooner or later...lol!!