Would you replace Generator, or substitue with Hondas??

[okhmbldr]

Just a little background; I purchased a 2003 Holiday Rambler Vacationer about a month ago. My plan is to live in the motor home while my new home is being completed, about six weeks until completion. We've been in it for three weeks and all is well.
I purchased it from a bank as a repo, so I knew it needed a few things. I fixed just about everything that needed attention, and it's actually a pretty nice motor home for temporary duty. My intention is to sell after we move in to the new home.
One of the items needing attention is the Generator; it was missing along with the control panel.
I've located a replacement, Onan Marquis gold 5500, but it's pricey.
Just your thoughts: Would you replace and make it as original for the next owner, or would you purchase a couple of Hondas and link them together? Doing the Hondas would be about 2/3rds the cost of a replacement Onan 5500 (it's not new, 400 hours, located at an RV salvage).
Any thoughts?

thanks,

[time2roll]

Perfect and just as expected.

[okhmbldr]

Bumpyroad wrote:
why on earth would a seller mention tire age, unless they had recently been replaced. if the buyer is happy with tread depth, or appearance, let him/her be.
bumpy

Because I want to be upfront and honest. I disclosed everything about this motor home. There wasn't a lot of disclosure because just about everything worked except one ceiling light, which I disclosed.

[Bumpyroad]

why on earth would a seller mention tire age, unless they had recently been replaced. if the buyer is happy with tread depth, or appearance, let him/her be.
bumpy

[rgatijnet1]

Fantastic! Always great when someone posts a success story. :B

[okhmbldr]

Just an UPDATE!

We moved into the Holiday Rambler on July 5th, our new home is done and we moved from the HR to the new home on Sept. 13. 10 weeks in the motor home!
I cleaned the HR out on Friday the 14th and took it to my storage. Took pictures and posted a Craigslist ad on Friday afternoon and sold the HR Saturday afternoon.
Sold without replacing the generator and seven year old Michelin tires.
I made the buyer aware of these two items, and he thought the pricing made it worth his effort to replace generator and tires.
So, I'm a "Happy Camper".
I sold the motor home for $100.00 more than my purchase price plus everything I replaced or repaired. And I think I saved about $5000 by not doing a short term rental home.
Thanks for all your previous suggestions.
Geo.

[2edgesword]

I agree with those that said if you don't need the generator don't buy one (or two with respect to the Honda's). Discount the selling price of the MH by whatever the value of a used Onan generator would be and let the new owner decide how he wants to handle his power requirements.

[rgatijnet1]

You are only about 200 miles away from one of the largest RV salvage yards in the country. You might check with them and see if they have a generator that you can use. Colaw RV
Another salvage yard in Kentucky: Visone RV

[okhmbldr]

Thanks for all the replies, some good suggestions. I think I will just replace it and make it original. This Holiday Rambler is in overall very good condition. Wasn't vandalized, just had the TV's removed, Mattress removed, Microwave removed and generator/control panel removed. Looks like the owners were trying to sell stuff to make the payments????
All the bank records for their loan were left in the Motor Home. Purchased at a Camping World in 2015 for $35K, financed the entire amount for 180 months. Total of payments would have been $58k had they completed the loan. $370/mo payments. Just a bad deal from the start. Anyway, their misfortune is helping me during transition to the new home.
Sorry builder can't get it done fast enough! (I'm the builder)!
When we put our home on the market I thought we would have about 3 months to sell and close, plenty of time to complete the new home. Wrong, sold in five days so I pursued plan B and got a motor home.
Thanks again folks,
Geo. (aka, Sorry Builder)

[BigRabbitMan]

I concur with either leave off or replace with original. Highly unlikely a motorhome buyer would want a couple of Honda’s as they are not equivalent when being used.

[Hikerdogs]

I'm in the camp with those that say replace it with an original unit if you intend to turn a profit on it. I can't imagine anyone being interested paying retail price for the the motorhome knowing someone had removed the generator. It would definitely be a red flag and beg the questions "what else has been removed, and why?

If you just want to recover your money I wouldn't replace the generator.
I would guess you got an exception deal on the motorhome primarily because of the missing generator and the fact that the bank didn't want to deal with replacing it only to find there could be other serious problems or missing components. I'm also guessing the next buyer would be looking at the same pricing structure for the same reasons.

Yesterday I Googled "Onan 5500 RV generator" and came up with at least a dozen hits for used units. They ranged in price from $1,900.00 to $4,600.00. There do seem to be several available.

Personally I would check local or regional authorized Onan repair facilities. There's always the chance someone had one repaired and either chose to replace it instead or traded for a different size or model.

Our local Onan repair station had a couple refurbished units in stock the last time I was there. That was a while ago, and I didn't ask the prices because I wasn't in the market.

[Dale_Traveling]

Hard choice. Cost to replace is high but you'll have to discount the rig heavily as compared to other comparable rigs to get someone to buy without one. You might find a buyer who will take it as is but a lot more will walk away not wanting to put the effort into an older coach even with the discounted price.

At this time I would wait. If you get a lot of lookers but no reasonable offers then consider installing the correct generator model for the coach and reevaluating the sale price accordingly. You won't recoup the cost in material or time but it will make the coach more marketable. Call it curb appear.

As a few have mentioned, I wouldn't even consider a coach without.

[A_Good_Cigar]

My opinion is that just about ANY prospective buyer of a motorhome, especially a fairly newer class A, wouldn't even consider buying one without an onboard generator!
That's one of the main reasons to choose motorhome over trailer/fifth-wheel!

[Chris_Bryant]

For resale, go for the Onan.

[Tinstar]

That is WAAAAYYY too much money for a used genset. Go on ebay and buy a used Onan for about 1/4th up to about 1/2 that price.