Fleetwood Elkhorn

[subarctic_moose]

Hi all, new to the forum here-

Wanted to ask if anybody had info on a Fleetwood Elkhorn 8s. I’ll be taking a look at one tomorrow and can’t seem to find specs other than from past used model listings.

It would be going on a 3/4 ton shortbed. I’ll add some photos from this particular listing- it’s not in perfect condition, but the seller is offering a pretty low price and just wants it out.

We just had our son a few months ago, so I guess it’s time to take the leap from tent camping to TC! Thanks in advance for any thoughts or advice.

PS I’ve also looked at Lance lite short beds from around the same mode year (late 90s, early 2000s), but they are listing at about 5-10x of the Fleetwood I’m looking at.

[subarctic_moose]

Intersting, the seller originally had it on a short bed, but I could see that mistake happening especially when you can't find old Fleetwood TC brochures anywhere on the internet.

A local "dealer" actually had a cleaner looking 8S from the same year. They wanted 10k for it.

[mbloof]

Ahhh, the Fleetwood Elkhorn... I had a 2001 8S hardside. There's a reason they were nicknamed 'Leakwoods'. As I recall the 8S is for a long bed, I hauled mine on a F250 SC LB until 2014 when I replaced it.

The only aluminum in the "framing" is in the rear section/wall, everything else is wood.

Fleetwood packed quite a bit of features into that little camper. I went on to do dozens of modifications to mine over the years.

In its prime I could dry camp for a week at a time in it. When I was younger I did not mind the climb into the bed area ether.

Sadly the only modification I was unable to do was stop it from leaking. When I got rid of it ($500 scrap) it had a number of rotted spots.


- Mark0.

[joerg68]

Thank you for the feedback! Sorry you had to drive all the way just for the "experience".

[subarctic_moose]

Thanks for the input everyone. Turns out it was in pretty rough shape. Spongy floor, spongy roof, didn’t even have a skylight in the roof, just an open 12x12 hole. Thought I was gonna fall through just standing up there.

Oh well, the search continues.

[notsobigjoe]

joerg68 wrote:
These campers are not rocket science - they can be repaired with a little TLC and ingenuity. There are many threads on the topic out there. All you need is a dry space where you can work on such a project and some time - actually a lot of time, as they all turn out to be much more work than anticipated. In that case you need to decide if you would rather travel or rebuild during that time. Only you can make that decision.

But maybe you are lucky and it is in decent shape - if it is still around; an internet search brought up an ad that had already been pulled.

If it has been sitting under the roof for some time, it will likely be dry by now. That doesn't mean it won't leak like a sieve once out in the elements again. But resealing is among the normal maintenance activities anyway.

Wishing you and your family many happy travels! With this camper, or another one!

Ditto's x2 Your going to have a great time...

[subarctic_moose]

Thanks for the insight Joe, really appreciate it. Should have eyes on this thing in a few hours, hoping for the best.

[joerg68]

These campers are not rocket science - they can be repaired with a little TLC and ingenuity. There are many threads on the topic out there. All you need is a dry space where you can work on such a project and some time - actually a lot of time, as they all turn out to be much more work than anticipated. In that case you need to decide if you would rather travel or rebuild during that time. Only you can make that decision.

But maybe you are lucky and it is in decent shape - if it is still around; an internet search brought up an ad that had already been pulled.

If it has been sitting under the roof for some time, it will likely be dry by now. That doesn't mean it won't leak like a sieve once out in the elements again. But resealing is among the normal maintenance activities anyway.

Wishing you and your family many happy travels! With this camper, or another one!

[subarctic_moose]

notsobigjoe wrote:
I know I screwed this up sorry!!!! OK, Fixed it.

joerg68 wrote:
Your pictures a not very detailed and do not show many areas of interest as far as the telltale signs of rot go.

What I do see:
The cabover window seal looks odd. Maybe was taped over at one time, or resealed very unprofessionally, or both. These windows are a known area for leaks, and so are the marker lights. Doubly so on sheetmetal siding as these are more difficult to seal properly.
The passenger side front corner of the cabover also looks odd, the edge should be rounded smoothly like the driver side edge. Another indicator for a potential leak, damage, or substandard repair.
Any water entering the cabover will pool in the cabover floor framing or run down the camper front wall, eventually compromising the structure that the front jacks mount to. If the jack mounts are "wobbly" with the camper resting on them, or already show signs of
damage control (large amounts of sealant, aluminum diamondplate patches, etc.), you are likely looking at a major project.

Open all doors and hatches and look for water stains in the lower edges. Feel around with your fingers. It is difficult to describe what to look for until you have repaired your first rot damage...

Usually, you can not smell rot, and it is often impossible to see, because most visible surfaces are covered with a very thin layer of plastic / vinyl.

What is with the furniture door lying on the dinette seat? Is there a split in the table?

I wish you luck!

I agree and I too see these things.
What I see in the very out of focus pics is something that has been sitting for a while. If it was sitting under that roof then that would be great.
It looks really dirty and dusty and these older wooden framed units are known for their rot. But occasionally a gem is found. I don't think you found one but for 600 bucks and some elbow grease you'll have a camper. I take it your young and invincible and the problems may not bother you, they didn't bother me in my first one. we cleaned it up and went camping. Just touching base on what everyone will be posting. water intrusion and wood rot are going to be the problem. Look for it. If you think you can fix it great if it's gonna sit for a year or two while you fix it I wouldn't buy it. JMHO, Joe

I think you nailed it. That’s exactly what we’re hoping for. Definitely up for elbow grease, some flooring and cabinetry if needed, and some exterior repairs. For 600 I’m willing to do that if it means we can spare the 8-10k for a comparable Lance (at least for this round). Like you said, rot would be my biggest concern. If it’s a total mess I’m hoping that will be fairly obvious.

I don’t know about young and invincible but I still have some elbow grease to give! Seems like you really have to pay a premium to avoid it these days…

[notsobigjoe]

I know I screwed this up sorry!!!! OK, Fixed it.

joerg68 wrote:
Your pictures a not very detailed and do not show many areas of interest as far as the telltale signs of rot go.

What I do see:
The cabover window seal looks odd. Maybe was taped over at one time, or resealed very unprofessionally, or both. These windows are a known area for leaks, and so are the marker lights. Doubly so on sheetmetal siding as these are more difficult to seal properly.
The passenger side front corner of the cabover also looks odd, the edge should be rounded smoothly like the driver side edge. Another indicator for a potential leak, damage, or substandard repair.
Any water entering the cabover will pool in the cabover floor framing or run down the camper front wall, eventually compromising the structure that the front jacks mount to. If the jack mounts are "wobbly" with the camper resting on them, or already show signs of
damage control (large amounts of sealant, aluminum diamondplate patches, etc.), you are likely looking at a major project.

Open all doors and hatches and look for water stains in the lower edges. Feel around with your fingers. It is difficult to describe what to look for until you have repaired your first rot damage...

Usually, you can not smell rot, and it is often impossible to see, because most visible surfaces are covered with a very thin layer of plastic / vinyl.

What is with the furniture door lying on the dinette seat? Is there a split in the table?

I wish you luck!

I agree and I too see these things.
What I see in the very out of focus pics is something that has been sitting for a while. If it was sitting under that roof then that would be great.
It looks really dirty and dusty and these older wooden framed units are known for their rot. But occasionally a gem is found. I don't think you found one but for 600 bucks and some elbow grease you'll have a camper. I take it your young and invincible and the problems may not bother you, they didn't bother me in my first one. we cleaned it up and went camping. Just touching base on what everyone will be posting. water intrusion and wood rot are going to be the problem. Look for it. If you think you can fix it great if it's gonna sit for a year or two while you fix it I wouldn't buy it. JMHO, Joe

[joerg68]

Four functional Atwood jacks will probably be worth the buying price...
They were bought out by Happijac and the jacks were discontinued - spares are hard to come by.

[subarctic_moose]

joerg68 wrote:
Your pictures a not very detailed and do not show many areas of interest as far as the telltale signs of rot go.

What I do see:
The cabover window seal looks odd. Maybe was taped over at one time, or resealed very unprofessionally, or both. These windows are a known area for leaks, and so are the marker lights. Doubly so on sheetmetal siding as these are more difficult to seal properly.
The passenger side front corner of the cabover also looks odd, the edge should be rounded smoothly like the driver side edge. Another indicator for a potential leak, damage, or substandard repair.
Any water entering the cabover will pool in the cabover floor framing or run down the camper front wall, eventually compromising the structure that the front jacks mount to. If the jack mounts are "wobbly" with the camper resting on them, or already show signs of damage control (large amounts of sealant, aluminum diamondplate patches, etc.), you are likely looking at a major project.

Open all doors and hatches and look for water stains in the lower edges. Feel around with your fingers. It is difficult to describe what to look for until you have repaired your first rot damage...

Usually, you can not smell rot, and it is often impossible to see, because most visible surfaces are covered with a very thin layer of plastic / vinyl.

What is with the furniture door lying on the dinette seat? Is there a split in the table?

I wish you luck!

Thanks for taking this time to spell this all out, great points.

The seller did mention needing to reseal the cabover window. He also mentioned a slight leak at one point, but no rot to his knowledge. I will be doing everything I can to try and see if there's substantial soft spots or mold/rot to deal with.

Not really sure what the deal is with the cabinets and table. Seller mentioned some projects that didn't get finished, so there could be some work to do there. He also stated that all appliances worked as expected, stove/oven, heater, electric jacks, etc.

Best case is there is minimal rot and this thing just needs some elbow grease. For <1k ($600 to be exact) I can definitely give that a shot if the frame is sound.

Worst case I burn a day and tank of gas to go look at this thing and see that it's not worth it. But I could use a road trip.

[subarctic_moose]

KD4UPL wrote:
I owned a 2003 Fleetwood Elkhorn 11x from 2009 to 2018. Mine had fiberglass sides, a dry bath, and, of course, was bigger. Overall I was pleased with it.
Mine had an aluminum frame according to the decals. I don't know where it was as the only framing I ever encountered was wood.
The lower edge of the front wall rotted out on mine. I fixed it with some new wood and a big piece of 3" aluminum angle on the exterior.
Also, my side entrance step well had some rot. I fixed that with new wood. The refrigerator didn't want to stay lit but a new circuit board from Dinosaur electronics fixed that.
We used the camper starting with just the wife and I. Then we had 2 kids and used it a lot. We sold it after the third child was born because it just wasn't big enough. Otherwise, I might still be using it. We had it to around 20 states I think over those 9 years.
My Fleetwood only had room for one battery; I always wished I could have added one as we camped with no hook ups quite often.
We camped in it off the truck plenty of times with no trouble.
When I was researching the brand prior to buying mine I found lots of bad reviews about rot but also lots of great reviews. With closer study it seemed like the people complain had fairly new campers and the happy owners had owned them for many years. I decided that meant that if it was going to leak it would happen early on. Since the one I bought was already 6 years old I figured it was probably solid.

Excellent to know, thank you!

[joerg68]

Your pictures a not very detailed and do not show many areas of interest as far as the telltale signs of rot go.

What I do see:
The cabover window seal looks odd. Maybe was taped over at one time, or resealed very unprofessionally, or both. These windows are a known area for leaks, and so are the marker lights. Doubly so on sheetmetal siding as these are more difficult to seal properly.
The passenger side front corner of the cabover also looks odd, the edge should be rounded smoothly like the driver side edge. Another indicator for a potential leak, damage, or substandard repair.
Any water entering the cabover will pool in the cabover floor framing or run down the camper front wall, eventually compromising the structure that the front jacks mount to. If the jack mounts are "wobbly" with the camper resting on them, or already show signs of damage control (large amounts of sealant, aluminum diamondplate patches, etc.), you are likely looking at a major project.

Open all doors and hatches and look for water stains in the lower edges. Feel around with your fingers. It is difficult to describe what to look for until you have repaired your first rot damage...

Usually, you can not smell rot, and it is often impossible to see, because most visible surfaces are covered with a very thin layer of plastic / vinyl.

What is with the furniture door lying on the dinette seat? Is there a split in the table?

I wish you luck!

[KD4UPL]

I owned a 2003 Fleetwood Elkhorn 11x from 2009 to 2018. Mine had fiberglass sides, a dry bath, and, of course, was bigger. Overall I was pleased with it.
Mine had an aluminum frame according to the decals. I don't know where it was as the only framing I ever encountered was wood.
The lower edge of the front wall rotted out on mine. I fixed it with some new wood and a big piece of 3" aluminum angle on the exterior.
Also, my side entrance step well had some rot. I fixed that with new wood. The refrigerator didn't want to stay lit but a new circuit board from Dinosaur electronics fixed that.
We used the camper starting with just the wife and I. Then we had 2 kids and used it a lot. We sold it after the third child was born because it just wasn't big enough. Otherwise, I might still be using it. We had it to around 20 states I think over those 9 years.
My Fleetwood only had room for one battery; I always wished I could have added one as we camped with no hook ups quite often.
We camped in it off the truck plenty of times with no trouble.
When I was researching the brand prior to buying mine I found lots of bad reviews about rot but also lots of great reviews. With closer study it seemed like the people complain had fairly new campers and the happy owners had owned them for many years. I decided that meant that if it was going to leak it would happen early on. Since the one I bought was already 6 years old I figured it was probably solid.