Help deciding on 1996 Roadtrek 190 Versatile purchase

[Ottoparts]

After a few months of searching, my wife and myself finally found a used Roadtrek that ticked off all the boxes in our want list. The price is very low for the area, but it has a few problems that are making us think twice.

Some of them (needs a new cabin AC, gas gauge doesn't work)I have been able to cost out by searching these forums and other online sources, but it has several window leaks and possibly a roof leak that has caused some water damage to the interior. One is the front right roof window, the others are the back windows and possibly the roof at the rear.

Im pretty handy, but I am not sure how much these leaks (that have been going on for a while) can affect the structural integrity and how much they would cost to resolve. Given the price we are getting it at, we can afford to put about $2k into it and still come out ahead, but if it is much more than that, we may have to walk away.

Can any of you give me some guidance on this?

[mkguitar]

a leak is a bad thing- and there is no way of knowing if there is damage without getting in there- which you may not want to do. wood rot, rust, mold???

a poorly maintained van is probably poorly maintained through-out.

on that model, the gas gauge repair alone would involve dropping the gas tank and replacing the fuel pump and gauge as a unit...about $250 for the parts alone- dealing with the gas is an issue and jacking the van up requires stuff most of us don;t have.

I would bet this would be 1/3rd of your repair budget

window seals are easily replaced - esp the windows what are flat ( not curved) steele rubber products is a source for new seals- you replace "old school " with a piece of string and grease to seat the seal(s)

there are various caulk like formulations to seal roof/van seams- plan on digging out old stuff and replacing- same at roof vent, around vent stacks and antenna- this is a good couple of days work- most of the roof stuff on my pleasure-way was easier done once the vent was removed, standing on a stool inside the van.

part of that job will be to wash and wax the roof to protect the paint/fiberglass

mike

[Bruceper]

Water leak = walk away

Water leaks cause tons of hidden damage as well as promote mold growth. Unless you can fix all of the water damaged areas yourself then it would cost a small fortune for a shop to do it for you.

[BBQ]

Originally Posted by Ottoparts

After a few months of searching, my wife and myself finally found a used Roadtrek that ticked off all the boxes in our want list. The price is very low for the area, but it has a few problems that are making us think twice.

Some of them (needs a new cabin AC, gas gauge doesn't work)I have been able to cost out by searching these forums and other online sources, but it has several window leaks and possibly a roof leak that has caused some water damage to the interior. One is the front right roof window, the others are the back windows and possibly the roof at the rear.

Im pretty handy, but I am not sure how much these leaks (that have been going on for a while) can affect the structural integrity and how much they would cost to resolve. Given the price we are getting it at, we can afford to put about $2k into it and still come out ahead, but if it is much more than that, we may have to walk away.

Can any of you give me some guidance on this?

The windows are easy fix. There are lots of video on youtube.

The roof is fibreglass. The back extension is fibreglass. They will not rot.
The van is steel. You can easily check for rust.

You should be more concerned with underbody rust than leaks from windows. Unlike a class C, which is made out of plywood (1996), a class B should not have integrity issues from water leaks. But then, never say never. I would pull all the cushions and check inside the cabinets.


Just my 2 cents...

[Ottoparts]

Thank for the replies folks, we ended up walking away from the deal. Every time we looked it was another small thing and the owner was being evasive abobut maintanance records, so we are going to put a bit more away in the bank for the next few months and look again in the new year.

[mkguitar]

the more units you look at, the better you will develop an 'eye" for good/bad and see various features.

we spent part of a day at a consignment type lots which had a bunch of smaller RV's

after going through them and discussing the layouts and features- when we saw the rv we ended up buying we knew petty much right away we'd found a good design and a good seller

Mike