What would you do?
We own a 99 Four Winds 31S, in 2004 it developed a HUGE bubble of delam under the passenger side back window. I called and talked to Four Winds and we agreed since it was just barely out of warranty that they would replace the entire passenger sidewall if we paid half. ($5000.00 at the time) So in 2004 my husband and I drove it back from Seattle to Indiana to have them replace it. We flew home and then in 3 weeks the whole family flew back out and we drove it home.
Fast forward to now and the passenger side of RV is golden not a problem EVER, but the driverโs side every year is a new problem. We have had the roof resealed by Camping World several times, we have resealed and re caulked all the windows, but inevitably something new happens each summer when we uncover it. (it is outside with an RV cover on it for the winter and the spring) And each and every year it seems we find a new โbubbleโ on the driverโs side. We keep fixing them and resealing and re caulking, and who knows maybe I am just seeing the same ones each year and I have forgotten about it, I should probably draw a map and take pictures so I can remember each year, but this year is just seems to be to getting me down more. (there has been no water intrusion into the RV just delam on the outside, we very thoroughly check every time we are in it and most of the time we have been able to get to the spot and re glue it back down)
And this year the rest of our punch list just seems to be longer than ever, and I am wondering at what point do we give up? It only has just over 14,000 miles on it and just 127 hours on the generator and we have owned it since it came off the lot. But it is the little things that are getting old and are starting to need to be replaced. Like the trim that goes around the dining table, it does not want to stay in the groove anymore, and the joints in a cupboard door are coming apart and need to be re glued. The backup camera doesn't work and we have to figure out why, the vent fan in the bathroom has stopped working. And the roof I think just needs to be totally re done with Liquid Roof/Liquid Rubber.
Some background on us, we LOVE our RV and when my kids were little used it all the time (they are now 18 and 14) Then my husband lost his job ad we started our own business that was seasonal and we didn't get to use it at all for a couple summers followed up by a my husband getting a job that was totally encompassing 24/7/365, even his days off were not really off. Vacations we managed to take were interrupted constantly by work. And for 6 years we maybe used it once a year and every time was so stressful trying to make sure he still was able to be โconnectedโ. BUT we had a ton of money and so we just hired out a mobile RV tech to fix any issues we had and dreamed of the day when we could use it again.
This past year my husband found a new job that is so much better in almost every way, he now has free time, his weekends belong to our family again and we are dreaming of having fun again in the RV before our kids are grown and gone. New problem is that he had to take a 50% cut in pay to take the job. So now we are cash poor, but time rich again.
๐ the RV is completely paid for, all we pay for each year is insurance and camping spots. BUT all these old things needing to be fixed/replaced is weighing us down.
So what would you do? Would you just work your way as money and time allowed and fix things that need to be fixed? (by the way we are not very good DIYโers at all, if you need technology fixed then we are golden, but otherwise, well we use youtube a lot to figure out how to fix things) OR would you cut your losses and sell it to someone who has the know how and the want to, to fix it up and we just donโt RV anymore until we can save up enough money to buy another one brand new?
Thanks for your insight, Tracy in WA
Tracy in WA
1999 Fourwinds 31S
1997 Geo Metro
Falcon 2/Brakebuddy
