Need some opinions on a Lance 825 I've been looking at...

[Fishin_musician]

Everything looks really good on it but this has me concerned... are the showers installed/glued against a backing and is this delaminating? Owner says he thinks it's from the daytime heat as it straightens back up when it cools off...??? Weird.

It's a 4 hour drive so I don't want to waste a bunch of time going over there to look at it in person unless there's a good chance it's coming home with me, TIA

-FM

[Bonesquatch]

A couple of months ago when I was looking for a good, used camper, I would have chalked this one off the list immediately. As others have mentioned, there's a serious possibility of structural rot. Bulging like that is characteristic of water damage. That means the likelihood of compromised walls, flooring, and who knows what else. Not worth the hassle and eventual cost in my opinion.

[Rangerz]

Disregqard

[bedrocker]

820's are nice I love mine 🙂

[Fishin_musician]

mellow wrote:
The guy has already came down $1500 on it which means he is willing to negotiate the price, I would see if he can have it inspected by a 3rd party RV repair center, then you can rest at ease, if I was selling it and knew it was trouble free I wouldn't hesitate to have it inspected just like a car.

He actually told me his wife wouldn't let him sell it for less than $8500 after he said he would sell it to me for $8000. That combined with the shower issue and I ran the opposite direction. Good thing, too, because I subsequently ran into a much better thing. Lance 820 with built in generator (only 37 hours on it), bigger fridge, dual propane tanks, electric jacks, bigger bathroom, AC, Fantastic fan, big crawl through window, etc. Extremely well taken care of for $8500. Did the deal.

[mellow]

The guy has already came down $1500 on it which means he is willing to negotiate the price, I would see if he can have it inspected by a 3rd party RV repair center, then you can rest at ease, if I was selling it and knew it was trouble free I wouldn't hesitate to have it inspected just like a car.

[retiredtoo]

Run, don't walk from that one. OR get an expert repair guy to look at it and see what he says. There are many many good camper deals out there. I agree with one poster that if this is happening in bath, who knows what is happening elsewhere. Looks to me like water behind the wall.

[monkey44]

Only thing I'd worry about, whatever is doing it could be doing it elsewhere, and you can't see it -- not so obvious.

It's probably an OK price with nothing wrong with it -- but who knows what caused that. A small project at minimum, maybe a large project.

[Fishin_musician]

I talked to the owner again and he texted me a video of the inside of the camper in which he does acknowledge the bubbling going on in the shower and it's night time so we know it's not "straightening back up" when it cools off. It's a 2008 825 that is pretty much barebones; other than the microwave it doesn't have much of anything in the way of amenities. It's in crazy good condition (besides the shower); still has the plastic on the step to the bed, toilet has never even been used. He wanted $9500 and I talked him down to $8k. Not so sure I want to go ahead on this now-- I don't need another "project".

[Rangerz]

I have an 825 and have never seen that, even here in the Vegas heat.

The shower is an option in the 825. Looks like the panels they use to make the shower box are coming apart.

I would probably pass unless you could get it cheap enough to replace the shower panels.

[billyray50]

IMHO I would pass and keep looking. My 1998 Lance with dry bath is still excellent shape. That camper I would pass on.

[Buzzcut1]

ok from the Lance website that looks like the OEM set up for the 825 shower. Something is really not right with that wall

http://www.lancecamper.com/truck-campers/825/lance-825-truck-camper-gallery.php#2

[monkey44]

That does not look like an enclosed shower ... it looks more like someone glued laminate or some kind of plastic sheet on a wall.

I've never seen anything but completely enclosed shower unit in Lance. I've seen others like this (other Mfgrs) , where someone (owner, or the Mfgr) added or modified a shower with 'laminate sheeting' ... but laminate sheeting will not flex like that, it might bow, but not bubble like that.

If it were me selling it, and it 'unflexed' when it cooled off, doncha think I'd take a photo of it when it was 'unflexed', instead of like it is ...

Based on that specific image, I'd think very long and hard about that shower and how much trouble it might give you later. It certainly looks more like in the wall bubbles to me, rather than a heat-flex like the seller claims.

If it's there, behind the shower, and if it's 'moisture caused' no telling where else it might be in the walls too. My personal take, it's moisture inside or behind that wall -- and only say that because that's what moisture would do, as opposed to what heat-flexing would do. JMHO ... M44

ON EDIT: If the deal is good enough, I'd plan on removing that entire shower and seeing what it is, and than re-doing that shower in a way that eliminates that flex. If the pan is good, it's not a difficult process, but labor intensive ... probably not material expensive unless you find damage behind it. But in any case, I'd not leave it, I'd figure it out and fix it if I bought the camper.

[clotus]

The shower in my 03 Lance 820 is more like a plastic shell inside and not glued to a backing (i.e. you can press against it and it gives slightly) however mine is not deformed like the photo. I do not know what would cause that and I have camped in 100+ with no issues of deformation........ Might be nothing though.