What's the best old RV to fix up

[Gasser64]

I'll refurbish the interior myself to save money, don't care. Ain't scared. I was thinking the 1978 Fleetwood Pace Arrow (from dusk till dawn movie) or that one GMC made for awhile.

I grew up with that kind of interior styling. To me, the modern ones almost seem kinda soulless. Like it's all about being a super shiny, super slick, nice hotel on wheels. I don't think I'm interested in that. Plus they're also super expensive, and you can get these old ones for cheap and just redo them.

We had a member around here who used to build them and said they were all shit lol. All just substandard junk even when new. Can't remember the screen name.

Where's Soap?

[bubbaearl]

keep in mind anything but flat glass is expensive as hell and hard to find .

[ram57ta]

1986 Fleetwood Bounder. You can make meth in it like Walter White.

[TX_92_Notch]

I believe you're remembering "soap", the cow fanatic.

And screw a bunch of that. If you're going on the road, you'll likely find yourself sitting at truck stops making repairs more often than sitting at a campsite enjoying the RV life.

[cool cat]

In 2005 i owned a 1972 Travco RV, it had a Chrysler 413 and shag carpetting everywhere. It had all kinds of electrical issues so i sold it.

[32vfromhell]

All RVs are horribly constructed, and its all dominated by one town in Indiana that has the labor pool for RVs.

[bubbaearl]

Elkhart .

[Gasser64]

1986 Fleetwood Bounder. You can make meth in it like Walter White.

Looks nice, I'd love it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-kXBb_JwtY

All RVs are horribly constructed, and its all dominated by one town in Indiana that has the labor pool for RVs.

All of em? Even the legendary Airstream?

Although I'm not sure that's really a valid concern. The poorly constructed part is, but the one town thing... the company sets the standards. Like the decent products that come from china.

[kingjason]

Airstream? They want an arm and a leg for them, so how bad could they be.

[Murph Tang]

Money and frustration pits. Only way I'm picking one up is a new one. Any water issues they smell like dirty wet socks and can never get that smell out.

You can't junk them either.

[94mstng94]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cool cat]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wrong thread, lol.

[slow84lx]

The old ones are cheap for a reason,.....they need maintenance that has been deferred for years. You're going to spend months of nights & weekends on it before you ever leave for a camping weekend in it. When you do, you're going to find a whole new list full of things to repair.

Up until a few years before his death my Dad always had a RV or a camping trailer. Early years it was a small Shasta trailer, then an Airstream, and then another forgettable brand. He progressed to RV's when I was in my 20's. For most of those years the trailer / RV just sat in the driveway or backyard being used as storage. It always took them a week to clean it up well enough to use for a weekend. The RV's were awfully expensive storage.

Of them all, the Airstream was the best made. He must have got it around 1974 and it was not new, probably a mid-60's model. He added some bunk beds so that there was room for all of us kids (4) when the beds were all made. I can only remember one vacation that we took in it. When he sold it many years later he got about double what he paid for it.

If you think that you will use it regularly go for it. Find one with a driveline / chassis in good condition, gut it, and then rebuild with newer technology. Upgrade all of the electrical, heating, A/C, cooking, lighting, insulation, etc to modern stuff. Spend whatever it takes to make it reliable, a single tow by a big rig will negate any items that you skimped on.

[Gasser64]

I believe you're remembering "soap", the cow fanatic.

Yeah but he was redoing a bunch of these things for a living there for awhile. Maybe he still is, I dunno. I think they were all trailers but eh, close enough.

Of them all, the Airstream was the best made. He must have got it around 1974 and it was not new, probably a mid-60's model.

Sounds like airstream is the way to go. There's usually a best model or brand with stuff, and if you'll just buy that, you tend to stay out of trouble. Kind of like honda and toyota with gas cars.

Yall have successfully steered me away from old junk. So I guess I won't be refurbishing an interior. But what about the uncommon old stuff that is still nice? There seems to be some RV's out there with very low mileage. Makes sense, people often buy this kind of stuff and hold onto it for years, dreaming of some grand vacation that never happens.

So just as you can find an older, low mileage car, maybe I could find some old cherry RV that wasn't used much. Any thoughts on that? Surely less stuff would fail on that, than one that used and abused.

[soap]

I deal with water damaged trailers everyday. Fixing up an old one is like flushing money in the toilet. Buy a new or like new no older than 5 years.

New or pre owned. For a couple hours of your time and about 100 bucks. You can bulletproof the roof on these things yourself I’m by running some EternaBond tape along the 4 main roof seams and around the skylights/vents and AC unit. Anything that can leak. Honestly if you don’t physically damaged the rubber roof by backing into tree branches and stuff like that you should be able to go at least 5 to 6 years before needing to do any touchups up there again. And if you cover it with a good quality cover or better yet Park it under a carport when you’re not using it it will be good for at least 10 years.

https://www.amazon.com/EternaBond-Mobile-Sealant-Repair-Authentic/dp/B07F9659ZT/ref=asc_df_B07F9659ZT/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309775905500&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3131198080130171133&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9026880&hvtargid=pla-577346852067&psc=1

Anyway... good talk.