The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

[Thinkingboutdoi]

Hi,

Wife and I have decided that it's time for a change. About to buy a motorhome and I'm looking at a 2005 Fleetwood Bounder. It has the Cat.engine and has 14,000 miles. I'm thinking it should be good to get our feet wet, but need to ask for help. On a scale of 1 - 10 where would Fleetwood rate as a builder of these homes ? Don't really know much about all the manufactures, although I know Prevost is way out of my budget. So that's out. Thank's for any input.

Joe

[the_silverback]

check carefully for roof leaks. I had 2 Fleetwood products. Both had roof leaks.

[DSDP_Don]

You can't go wrong with a Bounder. Will there be critics....yes. It's hard to be the most popular coach ever built and not have a few with issues. I agree, I've never heard of one being called a "Blunder" and can't think of someone, who owns one, complaining of any poor quality issues for the price point.

[D_E_Bishop]

Mine is not a DP but it is old and pretty steady. My biggest problem you wont have, the lack of good carburetor mechanics. It is fun and has lots of storage.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy the one your looking at after looking it over closely and taking one of the free on line PDI forms and using that while you look it over.

I would suggest doing that when buying any used RV.

[frankdamp]

We bought our Georgetown when it was 8 years old and had >12,000 miles on the clock and 48 hours on the generator run-timer. We sold it in December with 18,000 miles and 70 hours. The generator was our only issue because I didn't get out to start it for 4 months while recovering from cardiac surgery.

It ran beautifully over all the miles we travelled. It never failed to start, got 8 mpg repeatedly (not dependent on altitude) and was in excellent shape (maybe because the original owners and we are retirees). We did have to replace the topper over the living room slide because the rig had been parked for a year with the slide out, and that side facing south. The sun had rotted out the vinyl.

Friends had a '98 Bounder and loved it. Middle of the road quality, but quite acceptable if it's been well looked after.

[janstey58]

Bounders are excellently built MHs! I have read this forum everyday for 10 years, and have never seen a reference to a lemon Bounder. Go for it!

[WILDEBILL308]

Yes I think you should listen to the Bounder bashers and miss out on a great starter coach. I looked at many coaches before I bought mine You will find problems in any coach that hasn't ben taken care of. The most important thing to look at does the floor plan fit you and what is the price.
Yes you should do your do diligence inspecting it before you buy. Check the date codes on the tiers. Take it for a test drive maybe two.
Bill

[hershey]

2001 Fleetwood Expedition DP. Bought it used 11 years ago and have full timed in it since its purchase. Can't find anything negative to say about it. Its has served us very well and continues to do so. I'd like to have a full body paint MH, the white gel coats dates the MH but I expect many more years of full time use in it.

[msmith1199]

But maybe it got the nickname of "Blunder" because Fleetwood was the biggest motorhome maker and there are more Bounder's out there than anything else? Not that I have ever heard that nickname myself.

When I bought my current National Tropical I had narrowed it down to the Bounder or the Tropical. They were pretty much the same motorhome overall and about the same price. The main difference was the Tropical has an all steel frame where the bounder is mostly aluminum, and the Bounder had a rubber roof and the Tropical had a once piece fiberglass roof. I liked both those features so that's why I bought the Tropical. But National motorhome completely folded shortly after I bought it. At least Fleetwood made a comeback and is still around.

[Tom_Barb]

The Bounder didn't get the nic of the "blunder" because it is a great coach.

Every one we looked at had some water damage to the cabinet wood, it gets wet, swells up, dries out and turns into sawdust.

[holstein13]

I had a 2011 entry level Fleetwood and thought it was decent for the price. I've seen the upper end coaches and they are fairly good build quality. The Bounder is one of the most successful products in motorhome history. I think you are fine in general. But the devil's in the details. Take msmith's advice and check it carefully.

[mike_brez]

rav wrote:
not trying to be smart- I agree with what you said- chill

ROTFLMAO

[rav]

not trying to be smart- I agree with what you said- chill

[msmith1199]

If you're trying to be smart, I did not answer his question directly as I don't own a Fleetwood. But he's talking about buying a 10 year old very low miles motorhome, so I figured he would want some input on that too. And don't be so sure you can "look" at something and determine if it's been taken care of.

[rav]

x2- we are very happy with our Bounder.

[hanko]

msmith1199 wrote:
Here's the problem I would have with what you're about to buy. It's 10 years old yet only has 14,000 miles on it. Did it get that 14,000 miles in one year and then sit unused for 9 years, or did somebody take care of it and start the engine on a regular basis and start the generator and run all the appliances etc... I once bought a used Chev truck that was about 8 years old and had really low miles. The guy used the truck in the summer to tow his trailer and let it sit unstarted all winter long every year. The truck looked and ran great when I bought it, but I could not even begin to list all the problems that truck game me over the next two years. And every single problem that truck had was all related to being left sitting for so long. Tranny had to be rebuilt, brake drums had to be replaced because they were warped, had to rebuild the carb, and to do a complete valve job, and those are just the major items I remember.

Good job answering the guys question. Fleetwoods are decent rides. As you said they are not Prevost's. Im sure you can look at it at determone if its been taken care of. Make sure everything works, maybe take someone along that knows motorhomes, good luck