1992 Bounder 34' - Just Shoot Me!

[Mahlon]

Well, gang, please forgive me for interloping here, but I am in a serious quandary and could use some advice, or at least a beer. Here's the deal:

Thanks to my wife's ex-husband's bankrupcy I've been stuck with a 1992 Bounder 34. Though the chassis is OK (so far) and the genset runs, the coach itself has many problems. The main ones so far are that the forward TV and the microwave oven are gone (as in missing, not simply inop). There's also corrosion in the storage compartments (I think the door seals are all shot), there's water marks under most of the windows, wall-mounted lamps, etc. that seem to indicate that the interior walls were wet for a long period of time at some point. I haven't tested the fridge yet, but at minimum the door latches need to be replaced. There is no 12V power from the batteries (I do have 12V while on the genset as well as while the chassis engine is running, so this may be simple). All six tires need to be replaced (you saw that coming) and, yes, you guessed it, there's money owed on the coach, so throwing it away isn't an economical option. I think it needs circa $1000 in parts, at least so far, and a LOT of my spare time. I'm not afraid of diving into this thing, but %*& $&*%# it, I had OTHER plans for this summer!

So: do I fix it up & sell it, or do I try to trade it in and cut my severe losses? Letting it go back to the bank is not an option due to the credit impact. Keeping it is also not an option; we already have a far newer coach and the Bounder reminds my wife of He Who Must Not Be Named. Constructive opinions, please, unless you offer me a martini.

[Mahlon]

Well, gang, please forgive me for interloping here, but I am in a serious quandary and could use some advice, or at least a beer. Here's the deal:

Thanks to my wife's ex-husband's bankrupcy I've been stuck with a 1992 Bounder 34. Though the chassis is OK (so far) and the genset runs, the coach itself has many problems. The main ones so far are that the forward TV and the microwave oven are gone (as in missing, not simply inop). There's also corrosion in the storage compartments (I think the door seals are all shot), there's water marks under most of the windows, wall-mounted lamps, etc. that seem to indicate that the interior walls were wet for a long period of time at some point. I haven't tested the fridge yet, but at minimum the door latches need to be replaced. There is no 12V power from the batteries (I do have 12V while on the genset as well as while the chassis engine is running, so this may be simple). All six tires need to be replaced (you saw that coming) and, yes, you guessed it, there's money owed on the coach, so throwing it away isn't an economical option. I think it needs circa $1000 in parts, at least so far, and a LOT of my spare time. I'm not afraid of diving into this thing, but %*& $&*%# it, I had OTHER plans for this summer!

So: do I fix it up & sell it, or do I try to trade it in and cut my severe losses? Letting it go back to the bank is not an option due to the credit impact. Keeping it is also not an option; we already have a far newer coach and the Bounder reminds my wife of He Who Must Not Be Named. Constructive opinions, please, unless you offer me a martini.

[Northern-Canadian]

Well Mahlon grab yourself and beer and sit down.

I would say you did the right thing and posted your thoughts for an honest opinion. Now is not the best time to be selling an RV but then again what other choice do you have.

How much is still owing on the RV? Can you or have you attempted to sell the RV to a dealer who would give you what the outstanding balance is on the RV? If so you can wash your hands to the entire affair. Otherwise I would think that a RV dealer would be the most likely person or organization that could do the proper repairs at the lowest cost and turn around and make a profit on it. At worst the person or dealer may tell you all that is wrong with the RV.

If you cannot get any interest from a dealer or organization you might want to spend some money and have someone who knows more than yourself to look over the RV and tell you exactly what they think you might be getting yourself into before you dive head first into a large expensive repair process.

Perhaps you might know of someone looking for or who is willing to make it a hobby project. The value of the RV to you is little but might be worth more to someone who is willing to purchase it for the purpose of fixing it up themselves. This option may mean you still owe money to the bank but at a much more manageable amount.

As for the TV, Microwave and door latches you might want to look into wrecking yard/recycled parts/used parts, EBay or the front TV is due for a nice LCD upgrade and might be cheaper than putting in the original. The storage compartments could use a little elbow grease and some new rubber seals. As for the interior I think other people would have much more knowledge then me on this one. I hope this helped if only a little. These are only my first thoughts on your predicament. Good luck in your decision and sorry for the long post.

[TXiceman]

Late 80's and early 90's Fleetwood motorhomes were really bad leakers and had lots of delamination problems. The problem is you can not see the internal damage in the wall. There can be lots of rust and rot.

You can always find used appliances to put back into them, but having had a leaking 89 Pace Arrow, I'd cut my losses and unload it for what you can get. I'm sure many will disagree with me, but that is mt 2 cents worth. You can put 3 more cents with it an you will have a nickel.

Ken

[MonacoMama]

OK.. the credit impact will effect your wife only...UNLESS you refinanced it in both your name & her name. I arrange loans...so I have a little knowledge in this field. My personal opinion in this situation is this:
If your credit:<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI> is strong and <LI>she was on the loan with "HWMNBN" and<LI>You did NOT refinance it with her[/list]then you would be better off giving it back to the bank.
YES...it will effect her credit (and more than likely- That has already been effected by other pieces of credit which had been included in the BK)- BUT remember your credit is strong and a well written "letter of explanation" by her will always help when the two of you go to buy something together.

Good Luck with your dilemma...

MM

[exrench]

Might be time to talk to your financial guru and discuss the tax inplications of making a charitable donation to the Kidney Foundation or similar.

[Gary RVRoamer]

My choices would be, in order of preference:

(1)Try to fix the easy things (or at last determine what the fix is) and then see if you can find somebody who wants a cheap hobby project. IN other words, make a modest investment in time and dollars and get out of it for whatever you can.
(2) Invest more time & money and fix it up better, in hopes of widening the pool of buyers. This choice depends on what you find as you look into it further. If it is going to require a lot of dollars ($1000 is getting there, I think) or far too much time, proceed to choice #3.
(3) Give it to the bank and take the credit hit. Or better yet, give the motorhome back to the ex and let him deal with it (unless the divorce specifically gave it to your wife). Send letters to the three big credit rating agencies explaining that the bad loan is a holdover from the previous marriage. That's a common occurrence and new creditors are used to it, so your current credit situation will likely prevail in their evaluation.

In the fix and sell options, I'm kind of assuming that a 16 year old motorhome is mostly paid off, i.e. the balance is not too much more than the small amount you can get for a 92 in fair-to-poor condition. If that is not the case, I'd dump it and either take the financial loss or the credit hit, whichever is more palatable to you.

Look up the value in www.nadaguides.com. You will get less than low retail for a mediocre coach in the current, poor market. Probably substantially less given the condition, unless you find a really naive buyer.

[Howard Leap]

Mahlon,

Something just doesn't add up. They weren't doing 20 notes on RVs in 1992, 15 years was the max you could get. So, sombody has been paying on this for 16 years? If more than a few payments were missed the bank would have repoed it long ago or my guess is that's it pretty close to being paid off. Perhaps it may have been refinanced at some point. Am I missing something here?

[Mahlon]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Howard Leap:
Mahlon,

Something just doesn't add up. They weren't doing 20 notes on RVs in 1992, 15 years was the max you could get. So, sombody has been paying on this for 16 years? If more than a few payments were missed the bank would have repoed it long ago or my guess is that's it pretty close to being paid off. Perhaps it may have been refinanced at some point. Am I missing something here? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I still think it's on a 20 year note, but I found out last night that the coach was bought a year or two after it was built (still new). I have no idea how that came about (it's of course before my time, and my wife either doesn't remember or doesn't want to remember).

All: Thanks for your opinions; you've basically been playing back the same scenarios that I've come up with. Most probably I'll minimally rebuild it then sell it.

[quikduk]

IMHO (maybe worth $.02), if you are lacking time and the desire (true desire to keep at it when other problems surface until it can be finished and sold) and depending on what the payoff is...

I would find an RV surplus outfit and ask if they would be interested in buying it for the payoff amount. This assumes that the payoff is less than the coaches net worth in its current condition. Some of these outfits buy units like this because they have or can easily source the replacement parts themselves and have staff that can do this.

Walt's RV in Fontana, CA is one of these places but I don't know where you are from and if any are near you.

It would be the easier way...unless as MM suggests that your DW already has other credit issues related to HWMNBN. In that case, give it back to the bank with a very carefully worded letter of explanation as I wouldn't imagine it would change the credit thing much.