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Bottom feeding in the used TT market
Bottom feeding in a used TT saga!
Had an 80s Allegro MH 10 years ago, Did the job while I spent a few nights a month in the employee parking lot at Denver Airport right next to the runway. 7AM alarm clock was not needed! Retired and sold it. Now we thought about a TT to do some traveling in. Have an 06 F150 w/tow package.
Wanting to get in for no money to speak of we looked in the bottom feeding area of old and cheap. Under $3000. Of course 90% are junk. We knew that going in. I'm good at fixing things and nothing is too complicated in a MH or TT. All ads and sellers either misrepresent or do not know what they are talking about. "Excellent condition", "everything works", etc, have no meaning. It's no different in the airplane world with used airplane only much more expensive if a mistake is made. Looked at 6 units on a 1700 mile trip (the trip was fun anyway) all on Craigs list and all were junk with rotted walls and/or ceilings. Happened onto one one our last day going home that turned out OK for us (still needed things) but not for the 'not handy".
One owner, 1977 Excell 20 ft TT. Obviously sitting for a few years but no rot and everything still worked (?). Way under $2000. It needed tires before we could drive 50 miles. On Sunday, Los Angeles, and no one had tires. Called Pep Boys as last resort. They said they would drive to other stores and get what we needed. Whooppeee! Done deal. Back on the road to home (500 miles) with it in tow and riding on 4 new STs. Even came with a very little used WT tow hitch.
Items that needed fixing? All the trailer lights (stop, turn, clearance) needed work. All new clearance lites and clean and rebulb stop/turn. Old breakaway/light wire junction needed to be replaced due to corrosion. Resealed all roof seams with Eternabond tape and painted roof white. No rot just some stains, roof solid. No plumbing leaks, all appliances work. Had a cracked outlet to gray water tank. Tank was poly so even epoxy won't hold. Saw a youtube demo on fixing with a soldering iron and extra plastic to weld into place. Cut up an old plastic pail for "welding rod" and proceeded to repair the crack. Just like aircraft welding that I have done only much lower temps . It worked great. Once cold, nice and solid. Replaced both dump valves with new and rebraced outlet pipe in 3 places.
I had a leak in the toilet water inlet. Turned out to be the vacuum breaker seal. New vacuum breaker $50-NOT. Took old one apart and saw bad rubber seal. Went to Ace Hardware and found a 1/16" thick neoprene washer that replaced the bad part perfectly. Cost- .21 cents! Toilet going back in this morning with a spray nozzel added to system. Looks like that completes what is needed for first trip tomorrow for a week. I'm sure I'll find something else during the week.
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