ot campers

Nick167 · Jun 12, 2016

Would it be worth it to fix up an old camper its a 5th wheel that has at least one leak you can see in the roof its sat for about 10 years but it would probably be free I was just curious if it would be worth it?

TimV · Jun 12, 2016

Helped with the tear-down of a similar project recently--the new owner had been given it as the old lady that had it no longer used it and she wanted it out of her back yard. Problem was her grandkids had used it as a party pad and the inside showed it, plus it had a leak in the roof. Turned out that once we started tearing into it the walls were so full of mold from the leak we ended up scrapping it--the cost to redo the inside would have far exceeded the worth of the camper.

DoubleR · Jun 12, 2016

I just got done putting a sealer on the roof of my 30ft. 5th wheel camper today. It never leaked but being 12years old I figured I had nothing to loose. I was just talking with my wife regarding what else it might need. Maybe new carpet and linoleum floor. But I just told her, we use it 3-4 times a year I sure as heck not buying a new one for 30 thousand or so. If we travel out of state its still cheaper to jump on the Goldwing and pay for motel rooms as opposed to paying camping fees and gas dragging the camper.
So I would say its allot cheaper to fix up an older one as opposed to buying new if its worth fixing and you don't mind working on it yourself.

da.bees · Jun 12, 2016

My experience has been that by the time you can see a roof leak it's too late to fix it. Water seeps in over several months to rot framing before there's evidence inside. If you can get hold of one shortly after it's been physicaly damaged it can be saved.

coshoo · Jun 12, 2016

Probably not even worth getting it for free. If its been leaking for 10 years, its sure to be a disaster. We had a slide-in pickup camper with some rot- our trusty RV repair guy suggested we junk it, without even tearing into the rot. He said the extent of the rot is always far more than you think, and is almost never worth fixing. And he won't even take on those jobs anymore- Always ends up being more than the owner can afford, and everyone ends up with a bad taste in their mouth. We ended up giving it to a fireman, who works one day and is off two, and wanted a project. Haven't heard if he got it repaired, not sure we even want to ask him. He is a nice guy, wife is stay-at-home mom, so not a lot of excess money at their place. Hope he can make it work. He'll have some good incentive, because his very-cute kids were so excited that they were going to get to go camping.

dpendzic · Jun 12, 2016

I replaced the roof and some roof beams on my camper---if you can do it yourself it may be worth it

old · Jun 12, 2016

For free I would at the very least haul it home and salvage things. Could be an easy fix or it could be to far gone to fix or it could be turned into a chicken house or some such thing. My chickens seem to like there old camper chicken house and all it cost me was the time to haul it home then fix it up for them

JD Seller · Jun 12, 2016

Nick: It is worth dragging home IF you have some place to put it while you work on it. Even if the thing s is shot you will have a frame. axles and hitch to maybe build some thing else. I have two lawn mower trailers that completely built out of salvaged axles and steel from several boat trailers.

Also the way RVs are built is not that hard to rebuild if you a half way decent carpenter. They are a lot of 2x2 wood with steel siding and paneling inside. As far as mold. Get it dry and spray the effected surfaces with a strong mixture of bleach wait a few days and the mold will be done for.

Determined · Jun 13, 2016

I have done the roof on two over the years.
The first one I put another layer of metal on top of the existing.
The second one I gutted and replaced the interior celling, the framework, insulation and roofing.
The first one a drunk totaled 2 months after I did the roof.
The second one is still out back, it lasted 14 years before signs of leaking showed up.
We have a 28 foot fifth wheel that is starting to show a few signs of leaking now.
Knowing what it takes to do the job properly I am inclined to sell it for whatever I can get and look for another.
The labour is the biggest part of the job, if you have a building you can put it in where it can stay dry while you are working on it and you have the time it is not a difficult job.

Nick167 · Jun 13, 2016

Thanks everyone for the options maybe I will drag it home if I can find a place to put it haha. Worst case I scrap the metal and have a trailer frame

ot campers

Nick167

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TimV

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DoubleR

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da.bees

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coshoo

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dpendzic

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old

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JD Seller

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Determined

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Nick167

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