The Ugly Side of Purchasing a Used RV

First, back in February, we announced that we purchased a 2^nd RV and explained WHY we did this; especially since we had already found Our Perfect RV in a Travel Trailer! Well, as things usually go when purchasing anything used, there have been numerous unplanned issues come up. There are good, bad, and ugly sides of purchasing a used RV. This is The Ugly Side of Purchasing a Used RV.

Renovation and Remodeling

We’ve had our fair share of remodeling RVs. From small leaks to outright major water damage, we’ve seen it all. This used RV is no exception. We knew there was SOME water damage in the front cab of this motor home. Furthermore, we knew most older Class C motor homes have this issue. However, we never dreamed it would be this bad. Because we have dealt with these issues before, we were up for the challenge. (I say “we” but we all know it’s not ME doing these renovations, it’s Mark and my Dad)!

Current Conditions

We hoped this would be a small renovation and remodeling project, but due to the amount of damage, this has turned out to be a complete renovation project in the front upper cab area.

At the moment, our Motor home has had all carpet/linoleum removed, the mattress removed, the upper cab area completely gutted, and there isn’t much furniture left to speak of.

OH! Did I mention that we now must put a new roof membrane on it! UGH!!!

Consequently, this has been very frustrating, but I keep reminding myself, we only paid $8,000. for this used RV. It has low mileage. It’s going to be much safer for our son, Aiden, once everything is replaced.

Our NEW Plans

Painting

Our hope that we would paint the cabinets and walls are slowly dissipating. We are now focusing on just replacing things that MUST be replaced.

Furniture

For example, the sofa needs replaced. Seems like they might have tried to be a bit artistic with the sofa they had in this thing. The sofa consisted of literally 3 different sofas combined into one! WHAT?!?! Yes, there was the back from one sofa, the seats from another sofa and a bed insert from yet another sofa! Don’t ask because I have no comprehension of WHY! Haha!

Flooring

Even more, there is the flooring. Like I said, it’s been completely removed throughout the entire RV. We believe the carpet was the original carpet from almost 20 years ago-YUCK! The linoleum was also original linoleum, so that has been removed.

Above the Cab

The upper bunk above the cab had water damage from an ATTEMPTED repair by previous owners. Consequently, the cushions were of course damaged. ALL WATER DAMAGED. ALL REMOVED. Mark and my Dad are now completely replacing the entire area above the cab. As much as I’m complaining because we are all frustrated and tired of asking “what’s going to be wrong next?”, I am so very thankful we now know of these issues. This situation could have been much worse if we didn’t find these problems and fix them.

Roof

Like I said earlier, the motor home also needs a new roof membrane. This is what the guys are currently working on. Nice timing since it’s April in Kansas and raining at least every other day!

The Exterior

As far as the exterior goes, the awning fabric needs replaced at some point as well as the 2 slide out toppers.

Our plans of painting the exterior or doing a total wrap on it have been put on hold for now as well.

Change in Plans

SO, our plans have changed quite a bit about HOW and WHAT we are going to remodel with what’s left of this motor home. Our plan currently, obviously, is to replace anything with water damage. Then we will replace the mattress in the bedroom, the living room sofa, and figure out our best options for the 3 captain’s chairs (driver, passenger, and living room passenger).

Our goal is to brighten this place up to the best of our ability without painting the walls/cabinets. However, I am struggling with this one so things may change!

The floors will need to be replaced, of course.

Finally, we still are trying to decide how we plan to use the upper cab area. We are considering using it as an additional sleeping area as it was intended to be used. However, Mark and I are too dang old to be climbing up and down for a nap! Aiden is no way going to be placed up that high, and our tiny little chihuahuas couldn’t get up there even if they wanted to.

Another option we are considering is using it for storage, while the idea of driving down the road and having stuff falling on our heads doesn’t sound too appealing either, therefore, having everything tied down appropriately will be a MUST!

What’s the Rush

We are not necessarily in a hurry to get this done. Thankfully, we do have our main new Travel Trailer to use throughout the summer months. We do want to enjoy the summer so working on this motor home so much that we don’t get to enjoy our summer family camping time is not going to be in our plans. However, with my mindset of not being able to move on until a project is finished, we may just push to get it done just to be DONE with it!

SHARE A PIN TO PINTEREST BELOW!