Community Forums

expretj13 · 07-15-2013, 07:52 PM

Hello all, I am brand new to this forum. I was hoping someone could give me some advice, not sure where else to turn! I have never owned an RV so I am very new at this whole thing. I bought a 2002 34' Keystone Montana 5th wheel about a week ago to live out of full time with my wife. And by "bought" I mean that I paid for it and signed documents, contingent upon walking through it with an inspector to make sure everything checks out. Keep in mind the inspector is employee for the RV lot where I bought it.

Today I walked through it and was pretty disturbed by what I saw. As we were walking through I noticed a soft spot on one of the slideouts. I pulled back the carpet and found that it was completely wet and rotted. I was able to stick my finger through the wood, it was soft as can be. The inspector really downplayed it, as did the owner of the RV sales place when I showed him. After looking through the rest of the trailer I found what I thought may be other signs of water damage, rust trails coming from the screws, possible mold in the cabinet. Problem is I really don't know what I am looking for or if it is a big deal. They made it sound like water damage in the slideout is a very common thing and said they would dig out the soft spots in the wood and cover it with resin.

I left with a very uneasy feeling. Not wanting to get myself into a $15,000 mistake, I made some calls to see if I could get someone NOT working for the RV place to come look it over, someone who knows what they are doing. So far no luck. My question is, what would you do if you were me? Would you walk away from it? It seemed like a really good deal and if they were to replace the floor and there were no other issues, I would be a "happy camper"

We really love the layout and it has everything we need in an RV at a great price. I just don't want to make a big mistake.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Half Dimes · 07-15-2013, 07:55 PM

Get out of the deal and walk away!

Tugboat · 07-15-2013, 07:59 PM

Run do not walk away. Water damage is death to a RV and can be very expensive to fix right.

jesilvas · 07-15-2013, 07:59 PM

Why do you think it has a great price? It's a piece of junk.
No trailer should leak water. Ever. Or rot.

jamesrxx951 · 07-15-2013, 08:04 PM

Stay away from water damage unless it is really cheap and you are well versed in this type of repair. When I was getting my motorhome fixed from hitting a deer, they had a travel trailer in the shop with slide out water damage. Most of the interior was gutted to repair all the rot. This was a newer travel trailer also. When I was looking at a newer motorhome, part of my inspection was to physically push on every inch of wall I could to find soft spots from water damage. There are many other options out there that does not need this type of extensive repair.

Mr_D · 07-15-2013, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jesilvas

No trailer should leak water. Ever. Or rot.

Maybe not, but they do if not taken care of.

hjsdds · 07-15-2013, 08:18 PM

Water damage is BAD JU-JU. Expensive to fix and usually the job ends up much bigger once you open things up.

hjs

jesilvas · 07-15-2013, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_D

Maybe not, but they do if not taken care of.

Let me rephrase: no trailer is designed to leak water or rot.
Trust me, I know about water leaks and rot.

TXiceman · 07-15-2013, 08:27 PM

Water damage can kill the RV. If it is a little bit, it can be fixed, but can be expensive...replace the floor in a slide $3K to $4K. But you do not know what is damaged in the walls.

Personally, I'd let it go and get my money back...It failed the buyers inspection.

Ken

hjsdds · 07-15-2013, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TXiceman

Water damage can kill the RV. If it is a little bit, it can be fixed, but can be expensive...replace the floor in a slide $3K to $4K. But you do not know what is damaged in the walls.

Personally, I'd let it go and get my money back...It failed the buyers inspection.

Ken

x 2

And by the way, the way they are downplaying the issue and telling (BSing) you that it can be fixed with some resin tells me that you are dealing with couple of crooks!

hjs

BFlinn181 · 07-15-2013, 08:56 PM

All the above advice is pretty good. In addition, the solution they suggested, to "dig out the soft spots and fill it with resin." Would not solve the problem, just delay it. Rot and mold would continue to spread and cause future structural damage and perhaps health issues with the mold. There are lots of good RVs out there, keep looking.

Grimesy · 07-15-2013, 09:00 PM

Put on your track shoes and boogie. These guys are what we used to call in the trade flim flam artists.

Don G.

expretj13 · 07-15-2013, 09:19 PM

Wow, thanks everyone for the responses, it helps a lot. It confirms my gut feeling that water damage = bad news. I guess my line of thinking was that if the RV place were to fix the rotted flooring and I were to have someone who knows something come out and look it over, maybe it would still be worth it? That combined with the impression they gave me that water damage is a common thing and made me believe that I would probably find it in any other RV I look at, all this led me to wonder what I should do. But it sounds like I should just walk away and count my blessings that I didn't end up with a huge mistake!

Scotty14 · 07-15-2013, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by expretj13

Wow, thanks everyone for the responses, it helps a lot. It confirms my gut feeling that water damage = bad news. I guess my line of thinking was that if the RV place were to fix the rotted flooring and I were to have someone who knows something come out and look it over, maybe it would still be worth it? That combined with the impression they gave me that water damage is a common thing and made me believe that I would probably find it in any other RV I look at, all this led me to wonder what I should do. But it sounds like I should just walk away and count my blessings that I didn't end up with a huge mistake!

Always follow your gut. Its telling you what to do. Walk away like everyone else has mentioned. There is always another 5 er waiting out there in good shape.
Good luck.
Scott