Well as usual the worst was realized. I started to take off the rear molding under the door and that's as far as I got. The bottom of the rear wall is delaminated and severely rotten about 8 inches up the wall. Half the screws were missing threads and all were severely rusted. Half the screws could be pulled out without turning. So it's now a guest cabin.
I bought this during covid and realized my 3/4 ton truck would be well over its max weight rating once I loaded up all the camping essentials so I worked on it over the last 2 years doing upgrades and maintenance until a 1 ton came up at a reasonable price. Here in canada a totally miled out 1 ton is still 25 to 30k. While working on it I did notice delamination around the bed windows and corresponding soft spots on the roof. I resealed everything and accepted it for what is was.
I thought I would go over all the water systems so I put water in it for the first time this week that's when I found the leaky grey water tank. Now that I know the back wall is rotten I'm throwing in the towel and not spending anymore time or money on it. I will put it back together and use it as guest accomodations.
And for the leaky grey water tank I'm not going to continue to rip the bottom sheeting off, I'm going to cut a hole in the bottom, put a screen over the hole and let it drip to the ground.
Lessons learned 1)when buying assume the sellers are lying 2)old people can lie to, so can their spouses especially when asked specific pointed questions 3)people can lie while smiling 4)on camping units do your due diligence 5)spend several hours checking out every nook and cranny, tanks, appliances etc 6)bring someone with you to help you look the unit over 7)older camping units are highly likely to have water damage 8)what ever looks like it maybe a problem, it's probably worse than what you think 9)don't gloss over potential problems because you think it's a reasonable price 10)sometimes you pay for something that's worth a lot less VS you get what you pay for.
Yes I'm grumpy and ultimately it's my fault for buying it. I do appreciate the help I got from the forum members.
