used "C": how old is too old?

Supercharged wrote:
Get a first class one 4 or 5 years old, 15,000 miles, spend $50,000 that way you don't have to lay under it to much. Look at B+ models, 25 to 30 ft. they get a lot better mileage.

This is good advise. I know at least two millionaires that buy their Class Cs used - even though they both can afford to buy a new one every year.

I bought a 9-month old very high-line unit with 5K miles on it, for 25% LESS than the guy that bought it new.

Does not make sense to buy new!

I had a TT for several years before I decided to get a class C. I was nowhere near being an "expert" and I was still learning a lot of the basics, but I had people around me to ask for instructions, etc. I didn't want to spend a lot up front (was paying cash so had a max amount available). I didn't want all the newfangled gadgetry (tvs, microwaves, generators, etc.), just the basics (water - cold & hot, lights, toilet, fridge, stove).

I ended up buying a 38 year old American Clipper. Here are the things I found to be important in the big scheme of things:

1. there is a healthy community of clipper owners who share info and technical knowledge with each other. This has been invaluable. Having a rig specific support system cannot be beat!

2. the clipper was built quality. All the original appliances are still working (I do have a leak in the propane line to the heater so I don't use it, but the heater itself is functional). The clipper is molded fiberglass which is sweet. No delamination, buckling, bubbling, etc. It also greatly reduces leak issues. Buying a quality rig will greatly enhance your experience.

3. I listened to all the advice about whether or not to buy an older RV, etc. and then I made the decision based on MY needs, wants and abilities. I put together realistic expectations as to the expense for upkeep, etc. I prioritize work as to what affects me more (e.g., rather than putting money into fixing the leak in the propane heater, I closed it off and put the money into moving the grey dump valve out from underneath the chassis).

It all comes down to what YOU are comfortable with. Make your own decision - don't just duplicate someone else's decision. Once you make your decision, embrace it. Focus on the benefits you gained with your decision, not what everyone else says you lost with your decision.

P.S. of the items you listed in the OP, only my charger is replaced. The original converter/charger still converts fine, but it wasn't charging. Rather than spend money fixing it, we took a newish PD charger/converter that was pulled from the TT and installed it to charge the battery. If the original converter ever quits, we'll just hook everything over to the PD. ALL the other items are still working at 39 years old.

kevingregg wrote:
All,
Thinking (dreaming) of buying our first RV. Not looking at new models... they depreciate too quickly. I see 10-12 year old used models priced from $12- $20K and 4-6 yr old units priced from $30K and up. I'm somewhat handy and can fix things. How long do the major appliances (water heater, fridge, furnace, A/C units, propane systems, water pumps , battery charger, inverter, etc) last? Is it a mistake to consider a 12+ yr old "C" for $10000 or so? Thanks.

Get a first class one 4 or 5 years old, 15,000 miles, spend $50,000 that way you don't have to lay under it to much. Look at B+ models, 25 to 30 ft. they get a lot better mileage.

tatest wrote:
Winnebago names change. For much of the period you are looking at, Winnebago Minnie and Itasca Spirit were "base level" twins (positioned against competitor mid-range models) while Minnie Winnie and Sundancer were the upscale twins,

Thanks much for the Winnebago model summary.

However, I'm not sure I agree on what you said about where Winnebago tried to position Itasca in the market. I considered Itasca (at least up to just few years ago) as upscale from their "Minnie" and "Minnie Winnie" model offerings.

If anyone is interested, take a look at these excerpts from a post I made in another thread where I listed what was included in and on our 2005 Itasca Class C when we bought it new out of the dealer's inventory:

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We have a 2005 Itasca Spirit 24V ("324V" - officially) with a Ford V10, but it's on the E450 chassis.

We love our 24 foot Itasca, and it came new with several great features. I'm not sure what of these are standard for that year/model or just what happened to be on it as ordered by the dealer for their lot inventory, or maybe a special order for another customer who never took delivery:

- Automatic electric coach step.
- Aluminum cab running board steps.
- Chrome wheel covers.
- Four unit set of walkie-talkies kept maintained in an automatic charging station.
- Tank heaters for cold weather camping.
- Plumbed for easy winterizing using the built-in water pump.
- Dual coach batteries.
- Exterior entertainment center with outside 120V outlet and 12V receptacle.
- Exterior shower.
- Two exterior storage cabinets run laterally all the way across coach and under it's floor storing long items.
- Weather band radio in the cab.
- Convenient battery disconnect switch right by the coach entry door.
- Dash switch for engine start boosting using the coach batteries.
- Dash switch for running the cab radio from either the engine battery or the coach batteries.
- Automatic charging of the coach batteries by the engine alternator whenever traveling.
- One piece fiberglass roof, deeply crowned, with rolled over edges.
- Full size stock-rimmed spare tire mounted out of the way up underneath, including a large lug wrench for dealing with wheel nuts.
- No slides (which for us was a "feature")
- Exhaust shields underneath the cab flooring.
- Wired internally for satelite systems (but not on the motorhome as delivered).
- Wired for a backup camera (but not on the motorhome as delivered).
- Driver's seat that can be tilted back even though the dinette is right behind it.
- Dual flooring material -> hard surface for the kitchen/rear bed/bath areas, carpets for the dinnette and lounge chair areas.
- Thick cab carpeting with padding under the carpet.
- Digital furnace and air conditioning control.
- Fully ducted air conditioning.
- Fully ducted furnace.
- Cab area and cabover bed privacy curtains.
- Rear corner bed/shower/sink privacy curtain.
- Thick and actually comfortable split cabover mattress.
- Comfortable corner bed mattress.
- Color matched mattress cover for the rear corner bed.
- Double basin kitchen sink.
- Single handle kitchen faucet.
- Built-in water purifier for the kitchen sink faucet.
- Several 120V AC outlets ... some of them GFI protected.
- Several 12V DC receptacles ... one specifically for convenient high current laptop use.
- Fully insulated floors, walls, and ceilings (about 3 inches of insulation in the ceiling areas).
- Gravity locks on all interior drawers.
- Steel slide rails for all interior drawers.
- Piston assisted openers on upward-opening interior cabinet doors.
- Overhead lighting with waist-level wall switches.
- Interior night-light at floor level near the bathroom with waist-level wall switch.
- Fantastic fan roof vent.
- Day/night shades.
- Tank level detectors not inside the tank -> they electronically sense the liquid level right through the tank walls.
- Aluminum and steel wall framing -> not wood.
- Well installed Onan generator that's not too loud or vibration-prone so as to be irritating. It can be run and tolerated for hours if necessary for full air conditioning comfort during warm weather camping.
- The 24V is a basement model, so it's steel walled and fully carpeted exterior storage cabinets are taller and more usable than those of many small Class C motorhomes. This also means that the climb-up height into the cabover bed is not as tall and that you can almost sit up on the cabover bed.
- The rear fender wells are steel lined, so a rear tire blowout may not be as catastrophic as it could be on some motorhomes.
- I'm 6'2" and can stand up in the shower with room to spare.
- The dash radio has two of it's speakers back in the coach for surround sound when camped.
- The dash radio can be controlled from the coach by a remote.
- The dash radio can be controlled by a fob on the steering wheel.
- Both areas under the dinette seats are fully available for storage - no water tanks or furnace cabinets there to take up this space.
- The cab doors have remote locking/unlocking.
- The cabover bed has storage at the head of it and the foot of it.
- The lounge chair slides and pivots.

Due to the constant flexing and seasonal temp changes RV's left unchecked will always leak. The trick is finding a single owner who knew this when purchased and maintained its seals. Good luck.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy a 10 year old Class C on a ford chassis with the V10 if it was properly maintained and checked out by a mechanic and an experienced RVer. Happy trails.

I have a 91 well maintained 28' Class C ... water tight and newer tires - everything pretty much original except the fridge which is only a few years old. The key is to find someone who maintains their rig. Focus on water tight (especially the cab over), oil changes etc, and stuff that would indicate someone cares about what they own.

RV's have stuff that needs attention all the time ... only owned a hammer and duct tape before I bought an RV. Good luck with your search.

PS Spend a $100 and have the rig pressure tested .. should reveal any potential water leak issues. Money well spent.

That's a tough one, because whether or not a RV is going to be a problem depends much more on condition than age, and if it is in good condition, economics and suitability for use depends your budget and how you plan to use it.

I'm connected to a couple RV clubs, where budget, tastes, patterns of use vary. One member has a 30 year old 30-foot Winnebago picked up in great condition (from an estate) for under $1000, and what it costs to drive it matters little because she moves it only a few hundred miles a year, 15 to 60 miles a trip mostly, for monthly club outings. I know another who uses an old trailer the same way, pulled with a late '80s Chevy van. A third bought a 30-foot Stormy new 30 years ago and used it until he died 2 1/2 years ago, carefully maintaining it himself, retired engineer and dedicated putterer.

Others insist on buying new, and won't keep anything more than five years.

If buying something for road trips, if your can afford it you want new enough to have modern chassis components. There are a couple of stages for this, first would be the upgrade of ancient V8 engines to fuel injection, matched to overdrive transmissions.

Next stage was in the 1990s when those engines were scrapped for entirely new engine series: Ford Triton V8 and V10, GM's interim Vortec upgrades, then replacement with new L-series. Going with that were modernization and beefing up the first generation of overdrive transmissions. Other chassis upgrades with this timing included improved brakes, and capacity upgrades from Class 3 to the lowest tier in Class 4 (just over 14,000 GVWR).

Most recently, Ford has made further detail improvements in the chassis, and GM has moved on to more fuel efficient transmissions and power upgrades in the 6.0 Vortec series.

At each stage, better driving performance, and marginally better fuel economy, which matters more if you drive it more. It matters little if you make infrequent small moves and most of the time the motorhome is sitting.

There are similar age issues with appliances, upgrades over the years to more features and ease of use (like spark ignition rather than pilot lights). This does not necessarily mean newer appliances are better or more trouble free, but they are newer. The biggest impact will be maintainability, finding repair parts for things that were last manufactured 10 or 20 years ago. But in most cases, if an appliance breaks down and can't be repaired, it can usually be replaced by a newer equivalent.

My choice was buying "almost new" (5000 miles) at about 18 months old, which took the edge off the first year's depreciation. I did this because the wife liked to start with new or "like new" and my plan was 5000 to 8000 miles a year travel, which we did for the first few years until she got too sick. Now it is 10 years old, mostly makes short trips, but with new tires, new brakes, well-maintained drivetrain at 36,000 miles I feel I can also take it on a long road trip any time I am ready to do that.

Winnebago names change. For much of the period you are looking at, Winnebago Minnie and Itasca Spirit were "base level" twins (positioned against competitor mid-range models) while Minnie Winnie and Sundancer were the upscale twins, fitted with nicer furnishings and constructed somewhat heavier for something closer to year-round and longer term use.

With changes in the market, Outlook replaced the Minnie, and later Minnie Winnie and Sundancer disappeared, Outlook and Spirit were upgraded somewhat but not to where the Minnie Winnie had been, and a lower cost Access and Impulse introduced with construction closer to competitor entry level models.

2011 Winnebago fiddled the names again, making it Access and Access Premier, Impulse and Impulse Silver. I don't know if the upscale versions are comparable to Minnie Winnie and Sundancer, or something closer to Outlook/Minnie and Spirit, as I've not been shopping the coaches since 2007.

How much mileage is too much, I don't know. First "tuneup" for that generation of Ford Triton engine is 100,000 miles, and I know that the E-series chassis regularly gets to 250,000 - 300,000 miles before retirement from transit, emergency vehicle, school bus, and truck rental fleets, but I don't know what maintenance cycles were involved getting to that point.

21 years old. Bought her for 7k 4 years ago and put 8500 miles on her 36k motor at the time. All my appliances except hot water heater are original and all work great expect the power converter which I'm replacing soon. It's simply not efficient enough for battery charging. Otherwise I shopped for good power train and found mine. Engine trans ect were on excellent condition and maintained. She had some water damage which as a former carpenter was able to fix and had fun doing it. Also replaced roof EPDM rubber which is a pain but so I'd consider the shape of your roof as well. I still love it too much to sell but that day will come. Good luck

Gonzo42 wrote:
For me the nost important thing is the entire power train. If you would need an engine or transmission soon, that is a huge expense. Secondly all the appliances in an RV are quite expensive, so they must be checked out thoroughly. The tertiary thing would be any water damage, all the way from the fresh water tank to the grey and black water tanks. That means all the plumbing in between, too.

I wish you the best of luck, and happy camping.

Gonzo42 has the points in a nutshell. However, I would reorder them:

1: Evidence of leaks or water damage, run. It costs far more to tear out and repair cabover leaks and damage from that than to drop a new V-10 into the "C".

2: Mechanical shape. After ten years, budget for replacing all hoses and fluids.

3: Appliances. If the generator isn't fogged or run every so often, it will need a new carb. There is a good chance that the windings are corroded as well. A/C, refrigerators, and other units can get expensive to fix as well.