We're getting very near the time to buy a trailer, so we're looking at few right now.

One in particular is a 21 coachmen 2963bh that's in cosmetically rough shape inside but seems to be dry and mechanically sound. We'd get a pretty decent deal on it(~$25k).  

One concern that I had was that the hatch over the outdoor kitchen and the main entry door dripped water when they were opened. It had rained pretty hard the day before we looked at it.

On the entry door I wasn't able to identify exactly where the water was coming from (it was dripping onto the ground from the bottom hinge side corner).

The hatch over the kitchen seemed like it was leaking from the edge/channel moulding and I could make more drips come out by squeezing the panel above the moulding.

Is this normal?  The floor inside the openings was dry and not squishy at all.

The other issue in this one that was a little concerning was that (according to the seller) the water pressure in the shower was so low that the shower was basically unusable but the sinks all work fine. Is there a common failure that can cause this?


The other trailer we're looking at is a nearly perfect '18 Forest River Hemisphere Hyper-Lite 26bhkhl. I like the layout of the kitchen and living area a little better in this one but it's older and $10k more expensive.

If there is XXX visible damage there is XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX invisible damage.

I believe it.

I'm mostly curious if it's normal for water to "hide" in the doors and hatches and drip out when they get opened.  It doesn't seem like it should but I'm not an RV tech so I'm not sure.


One upside to the rough one is that the cabinets got beat up enough that I was able to get in with a flashlight and look at the plumbing and floor inside them and things seemed fine but the trailer wasn't hooked up to water or power so I can't be sure.

It was stolen as a brand new trailer from the dealership and sold at an auction after it was recovered after a couple of months of being lived in.

The more I think about it, it probably would be a good deal as a project if I had the time to get it all sorted out but we may be needing it usable in the next month or so.

For that amount of money I'd look for a good,clean late model used camper rather than one with unknown problems.Water leaks in RVs are a HUGE pain in the ass to find and fix.....and the damage is always more than you expect.

Good luck!

Thanks!

We're both leaning towards the forest river hemisphere because it's cleaner and not having the counter way out in the living area makes a big difference in how big the interior feels. It also has aluminum framing, which seems like it should be more durable.

We went back and looked at the forest river hemisphere 26bhkhl with all the kids to make sure it wasn't too crazy with everyone in it.

I'm still surprised at how roomy it seems despite being a smaller trailer for 5 people.



Aside from finding a couple of drawer slides that are broken in the bedroom and the bathroom door not liking to latch easily, the only thing I found that was of any concern was the edge of the cdx panel on the bottom of the slide.


Attached File


It was raining when we were looking at it today and it looks like water just runs down the wall and onto that edge, which seems like a bad idea for them to leave it like that.  The edge of the cdx that you can see is starting to swell up a little for about 1/4"-3/8" back from the edge.

Is this common and is there anything that can be done to stop the rain water from getting to the edge of the panel?

I checked all of the top corners of the walls that I could get to and couldn't find any evidence of leaks, like discoloration, wallpaper coming off or the paneling warping.  I also checked all around the slide opening and on the bottom corners inside the hatches and in the cabinets for the same stuff.

I found a few dryer sheets thrown inside the lower kitchen cabinets, which I thought was kind of weird, unless someone had a package of them that came open in the drawer or something. Are dryer sheets some kind of trick to try to cover something up?

I wouldn't buy that.

Leaving the edge of a wood floor cover exposed to weather is a shit way of building an RV.

Forest River knows this - They build thousands of RVs.

They just don't care.

Fabric softener sheets can be used to mask odors - like mildew, for example.

We put dryer sheets in during storage for mice. Supposedly they don't like the smell and keep out.

How is it covered up on other makes?  

It doesn't look like that panel is structural beyond riding on rollers for the slide, but actual plywood probably would have been a huge improvement over the OSB/cdx/whatever that's on there. Marine plywood would probably be just fine for the life of the trailer, but it probably would have added $50-$100 to the cost. Can't have that. Lol




Any mice in yours?

I looked around in there as best as I could and didn't see any evidence of rodents or moisture. The sawdust that's left in there from when they built it was still dry. Lol

A second opinion

Thanks for that.

Sounds like there might be different bottom edge trim for the slides.

I'll keep digging, both for the trim and around on that forum. Looks like it might be handy.

no evidence that i have seen. it is in the shop with a couple cats, so it might just be because they're doing their job.  if i ever end up with a  mouse nest full of dryer sheets ill stop doing it.

My slide was like that, I bought some ‘skis’ that fixed that problem rikki tik.

Took about hour per slide to install/trim to fit.

Now water is zero concern.