1997 S&S 9' camper

[a93sn8ke]

I have decided to buy a truck camper. I have found a 1997 9' S&S I think is a good deal I am going to look at it this weekend. S&S seems to be a well built camper. When looking at it is there and specific spots I should look for problems? The guy says everything works. In the pics it looks to be in really good shape. He is the original owner and says it has been stored in his shop from new. What are your opinions of S&S? What do you think is a fair price? This will be my first RV/camper so I am a newbie. Any thoughs and advise are greatly appreciated.


I will be hauling it with a 1998 Dodge 2500 Cummins SRW

A little more info. It is a bitterroot model, hydraulic jacks, fridge, 3 burner stove with oven, heater, and toilet/sink outside shower only. It doesn't have the corner bubble windows. Are the regular windows better? I like the regular window look better then the bubble window look.

[Gary S.]

Not sure if this could be good deal.

It all depends on the price I guess.

He says it's in great shape and had it stored inside, but it's still 14 years old which you should keep in mind.......(market value).

Watch for signs of leaking, that's the most important thing I think.
Anything else in bad shape can be fixed but rot because of leaking is a different story.

I hope it works out for you. Good luck.

[HSVcamper]

I bought a '92 model Four Winds 9.5 TC in Feb. this year off Crigs List with just three photos to go by (turns out it was on eBay also). It has A/C, new manual jacks, 2-way fridge, 3 burner stove, microwave, heater, and toilet/sink inside shower. It has many scrapes and bruses but that was ok because I enjoyed fixing all of it's problems - none of which were serious except a roof water leak which I finially found and fixed. I paid a very low price for it expecting these issues. This TC is for my use on fishing & hikiing trips by myself or with fishing buddies. We still have our 30' 5th wheel when my wife goes with me. Swapping the two with the TV isn't to bad of a deal. We have had a popup trailer and a 30' class "C" MH in the past. If it was just me, I would sell the 5th wheel because I love this TC..!

[Kurmudgeon]

Originally Posted by a93sn8ke

What are your opinions of S&S? What do you think is a fair price?

You are asking for opinions, so take this as such.

If somebody were to ask me to make a list of the 10 best quality campers made, S&S would be on my list, and it would probably be fairly high on the list. It has been a family run operation since day one, and they have a good reputation for taking care of their customers.

As for price, it's entirely up to you what you think is fair. When I buy something used, I consider how much useful life I think it has left. Something old, in like new condition might be worth more to me than many people would think reasonable, but I'm buying the remaining useful life. I generally don't consider what I might get for it when I'm done with it. I just figure I'll walk away from it, and all I'm concerned about is if I'll get as much use out of it as I've paid for. Anything I might sell it for when I'm done is a bonus.

As an example, the vehicle I drive. I've driven it for a little over four years now, and I could park it along the road and walk away from it and my total cost would be less than the original owner lost in depreciation the day he drove it off the lot. And it's served me as well and reliably as it did him. It just wasn't new when I started.

If you're looking at the one in Halsey, it appears to be a very nice camper based on the pictures. He's been listing it since early July, and there are similar S&S campers in nice condition for around that price and less, so you might be in a good bargaining position. It all depends on how desperate he is to sell.

JP