Congratulations thecatsfan, on your new rig. I am sure you will enjoy it. Keep us posted as to the adventures your going to have.

I bought my first MH last fall, used from a private owner. I did months of research and went through lots of units both at dealerships and private owners rigs.

Lessons learned:
Make sure your spouse drives the unit if they will spend time driving. I drove and loved it, but My husband HATES the cab space. At the time, we were fixated on the Class C since it was going to be our first MH experience and didn't want the challenges of learning to drive a bus. Now at least I wish we had driven a short A the driver space is so much better in an A.

Check thoroughly! and if you think you checked everything, check it all again. I got VERY lucky in that the only problem after purchase was a tear in the roof that cost $220 to repair, it could have been much worse. Now as I have used this rig many times, I can tell that it has had more extensive use than the owners claimed. On the other hand, the use of it is probably why everything still works I feel very fortunate that it works as well as it does after reading the nightmare stories on the internet.

Ask for records, if its a private owner and they claim there are no records, wonder why and STRONGLY consider walking away right then and there. When I asked for records I was told it had never had any problems, never been wrecked, and the oil had been changed every 3k miles, blah, blah...yeah right. I am sure that my MH has some great stories to tell, and I will never know them. For instance its a 2000, bought in jan of 01, the chassis built in 1999. So, why oh why are all the tires from 2001? it has only 18k miles...hmmm. And one tire is another brand, so I see there had been a blowout or something. Had I inspected much more closely I bet I would have walked away from this deal.

Still, I love my motorhome and it does exactly what I need it to do. My RV repair shop has helped me with upgrades and feels it is a solid unit.

Folks this is great info and perfect timing we hope to pick up our new 05 Four Winds 31P in a couple weeks and wasn't sure exactly all to check. Excuse my ignoramacy but is there such a thing as a standard check list of sort. There is a couple items noted here I hadn't thought of on my list. Yes I'm one of those FNG's (funny new guys) to the RV world and lookin forward to it. This site has been a tremendous help over past couple months prior to making our decision.

Twincam,
There are several members here that have created PDI sheets. Do a search under PDI checklist.
There is also THIS one available.
Mike

This message has been edited. Last edited by: "007",

Unfortunately, you cannot check everything 100% on a PDI. I did a thorough PDI on my new coach last fall when I took delivery, they fixed everything I found and all seemed well and good. Several months later, when the first hard rains came in Northern California, I found I had a very significant roof leak. Since the leak was at the edge of the roof (both sides not sealed) the water had to run in for a little while before it showed up in the windows and presented itself as a window leak.

This was after I was happy from the first 4 hour rain with no obvious water intrusion. To make a long story shorter, the manufacturer wound up having to nearly rebuild the coach due to significant water damage. The roof liner had to be replaced along with most of the cabinets, the carpet and the wood floor, several of the walls had to be repaired and all the windows and roof sealed.

Do the best you can on your research and PDI, but remember that "stuff" happens to the most prepared of us sometimes. I am a quality assurance manager, and it happened to me!

WeBrnz2, thanks for the info, you're right about the "schlock" happens.........Bill

On "007's" essay:

For several weeks we agonized over buying a new or late model class A. Considering our situation we could not at present justify the ~100K or even 50K for something we might use at best 2-4 months per year. And yes we did consider that modern units are complex in terms of technology...and thus the possibility of some large RV maintenance bills. And we were not totally sure we wanted a class A (upgrading from a truck camper).

So, we decided to buy an older (at a fraction of $$ of a new or recently new) but good conditioned RV...we ended up with a 86 Holiday Rambler Presidential. It in fact has most of the necessary bells and whistles (all working very well after 20 years...this was not a "lemon" then or now) found in a modern unit.

We drove the unit back to FL from OR and learned a great deal about class A, driving/handling etc....all a part of the learning curve to prepare us for something more modern in 2-3 year. The engine (454 chev) has an old fashioned carburator, easily changeable fan belts, and hoses...etc. in other words you can work on it.

This approach may not be acceptable or workable for some people,...but for us it has been and continues to be a good trial period....

"Hemi"

Nice looking rig hemi!
We had a pretty good experiance buying our latest RV. It was our first MH...and we were sure enough about it that we put a little down to hold it. The dealer let us take the owners manual home over the week end to study, along with the build sheet, and the original window sticker. So, when we did the PDI, I had studied quite a bit about the coach, and knew what questions I needed to ask.
What I have learned is that when I buy used, I need to arrange to wash the rig in question. I always find stuff when giving them a bath. I washed our coach this weekend and found something to fix (took ten minutes), and also found that it could've been wrecked. I found some paint overspray, that I probably wouldn't have found if I hadn't been washing it. I'm not too worried, cause it drives nicely, and and I've not found any other thing wrong with it. But, I do think in the future, I'll be going over any used rigs with a wash mit.

D

Dsnook, I agree, washing reveals a lot....in fact each time I wash our new used unit I discover something...a little imperfection here or there to take notice of. Anyway, we are still very pleased. We bought our unit privately from a friend....he gave us all the manuals, service records etc...such records are interesting to study...you can learn a lot too.

Good luck, IWD

GOOD LUCK & MANY HAPPY MILES, Hemi on your new used rig it looks like a good find. Can remember changing my manifolds on a 88 CA Ford 460. What fun Things were simpler in the good old days. --"007"