How bad is this?

[BurbMan]

Have been RVing for years and have undertaken extensive repairs on my TT to remediate water leaks.

I know in general how RVs are constructed and am not afraid of tearing into them for repairs, but don't know much about truck campers per se. DW and I have been contemplating selling the TT and getting a TC or Class C, and this one popped up.

This is a 2001 Lance camper with a slide, dry inside, but the RF corner where the jack goes is shot. It's sitting on cinder blocks and not sure how to get it on a truck to move it.

We were looking for a project, but am concerned about the fiberglas buckled on the opposite corner....it this a major structural damage?

The price is right, what are your thoughts?

This is the RF corner where the jack attaches




Here is the other side

[Bedlam]

The published weight is typically with no options, no batteries, no LPG tanks, holding tanks empty and storage empty. Depending on options, it may 500 lbs heavier than published even when emptied out.

[Kayteg1]

The manufacturer listing weight never meets reality, so I think you are facing 4000 lb ready to travel.
We have members who went SRW route, so they will tell you how much time and money they spend on 19.5" wheels before they bought dually.

[BurbMan]

Yeah I was afraid of that...may have to get one of those Harbor Freight portable garages. So if the camper was the 1061 with 2860 dry weight, what's a good gauge of loaded weight? In the TT world the rule of thumb is to add 12 lbs on average...my TT has a dry weight of 6900 but weighs at 8500 loaded. I'm sure there is less room to pack stuff in a TC. Would a 3500 SRW handle this OK?

[Bedlam]

I doubt it will clear the door while on the trailer and may still be too tall if unloaded. My Arctic Fox was about 9’ tall at the top of the air condioner (just for reference).

[BurbMan]

So Lance only made 3 slide out models in 2001, and based on a quick look at the unit it's either one of these two:

[BurbMan]

The slide seal on the TT was leaking and I held off till the end of camping season to fix it, and it got away from me, this is the floor inside by the slide:



I also had an issue with the front passthru storgae compartment, this is the front left corner under the bed:



I also had to deal with rotten floor under the wall which infected the bottom frame:



Frame fixed:




Floor patched:



Of course I needed to replace the entire floor in the trailer, took me about 6 weeks of nights/weekends working under a tarp in January temps. All back together and you would never know it had been fixed. I had a thread on the whole repair in the TT forum but for some reason can't find it.

[BurbMan]

I'm thinking about renting one of these, like the one I posted earlier but without the beavertail gate:



Thanks to all for good suggestions here, I'll enlist a few buddies and we should be able to get it on/off the trailer without too much trouble. Only going about 3 miles.

I have a 9' ceiling in my garage with an 8' door height, think it will fit?

[burningman]

I have winched campers onto flatbed tow trucks (impounding abandoned ones usually).
If I were doing this one that way, since it’s sitting up on stands with no easy way to lower it, I’d back up to it and tilt the deck so it went right up under the front of the camper, lift a little with the deck, and remove the front sawhorses/supports. Then I’d winch while extending the deck out, so the camper stayed exactly where it is but the truck deck slides under a bit over half way.
Then just winch it the rest of the way on.
Run the straps around the back of the camper across the rear corner jack brackets, so it doesn’t crunch when you pull on it. And set some wood under the lower leading edge of the camper so you don’t grind it up. I always already had 2 or 3-foot pieces of 2x10 with a strip of 1x4 screwed across one end. Put that under something being dragged on, the strip of 1x4 catches and keeps it from sliding all the way under.
If you call for a tow truck, I’d suggest having these already made up in case you don’t get the world’s greatest operator.
I wasn’t going to suggest this because unless you have a buddy in the biz, the tow bill might be more than that camper is worth.

It appears to be just a little 8-footer. Any half-ton would carry it home without issue, and a single axle trailer would do it too. It’s not that heavy.

[mountainkowboy]

If you have the ability.....get it. I got the S&S 11 years ago, bought a truck and TC as a unit and sold the truck for what I paid for the pair. It took us 6 months to repair/update the unit to what we have now. Then we used the H3ll out of it after that. Now we can't decide if we want to replace it or redo it again...lol.

[work2much]

Here is another one that a guy looks to be giving away.


https://www.facebook.com/groups/163976137004676/permalink/2038688279533443/

[notsobigjoe]

The one on RVTrader and the one the OP is talking about are absolute, nightmarish, rotted to the core junk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OP, Walk away and never turn back. Save your money and buy a good one that needs a little TLC.

That was my quarterly post for the year, see you all in June.

[Kayteg1]

work2much wrote:


Something like this?
https://www.rvtrader.com/listing/2001-Lance-1121-5005304186

Of course any used RV can have hidden rot or other problems.

OP Just out of curiosity sake I am interested to follow the rehab of this project. Post some more pictures once you dig in!

That one sits at the dealer for almost a year. They started with $14k price to drop it around New Year.
One of the members call the selling dealer and even they did not show it on the listing, the camper has extensive dryrot damage.
Most likely would cost more to fix that the free camper in question.

[BurbMan]

Just looking at the dealer closest to me, he has 2 2018 Lance 855S, one for $49,237 and one for $50,883 on his website. Seems that ones with a slide like this one are more expensive. I thought Lance was top of the line?

I've towed a TT for 20 years but don't know anything about TCs, hope you guys don't mind me hanging around this part of RV.net...

I have no doubt that guys have spent north of $5k on minor repairs, the hours it takes to do a job like this at dealer labor rates make almost any RV uneconomical to fix after problems like this. Fortunately I have the tools and skills to do a decent repair on my own time, and when it's done will be a big source of pride for me. Of course there will a lot of custom adds to the interior, new flooring etc.

It is kind of a hobby now that you mention it....I've made so many mods to our TT over the years based on stuff I read here, it's just fun I guess.

[work2much]

jimh425 wrote:
Have fun with your hobby.

For the record, most new TCs aren’t anywhere near $50K and you can buy really good ones for $5K to $10K used. In any case, if that TC was perfect and new, it also wouldn’t be anywhere near $50K.

It would be nice to report back what you have spent in money one after repair. Some here have suggested having minor repairs is near $5K or more.

Something like this?
https://www.rvtrader.com/listing/2001-Lance-1121-5005304186

Of course any used RV can have hidden rot or other problems.

OP Just out of curiosity sake I am interested to follow the rehab of this project. Post some more pictures once you dig in!

[jimh406]

Have fun with your hobby.

For the record, most new TCs aren’t anywhere near $50K and you can buy really good ones for $5K to $10K used. In any case, if that TC was perfect and new, it also wouldn’t be anywhere near $50K.

It would be nice to report back what you have spent in money one after repair. Some here have suggested having minor repairs is near $5K or more.