Bought another one! 1988 Fleetwood Southwind 31

[fasteddie313]

$500, 3X,XXXk miles on the carbureted 454..
Runs like a champ, runs smooth as silk like a cadillac compared to my 81 Rambler that sounds like a muscle car..
Sprung a leak in the trans cooler.. Cant find one in a MH at the junkyard yet, but am about to just find any decent pressurized cooler and plumb it in.. Out of a truck or something..

Interior is/was excellent other than the cloth on the ceiling drooping.. But I have been living in it for like 3 months and have dirtied the carpet a bit more, the couch bed ripped a little, bathroom door handle broke but I replaced it already.. Little things..

The bad is that the walls on the outside are pretty messed up.. Delam bad.. No fixing it..
I out a bunch if screws in it and put some siding lapping a side seam..
It is what it is..

We have been going camping a lot lately in borrowed tents, and last time we got rediculous soaked in a borrowed tent, ruined my laptop, I spent all night outside by a huge fire in the pouring rain wearing my raincoat.. Was fun..

So we are looking to buy our own tent (me and chick friend) and darn, by time I buy a nice tent I might as well just insure the MH and take it.. Dont need any license plates due to corona.. Minimum legal insurance on it is only $175 for a whole 6 months!! Tires arent the best in the world so Ill make sure I get towing

I have 2 spare wheel/tires for it so whatever.. Already drove it like 60 miles home and it did fine.. Might as well just take it out ripping..
Whats the worst that could happen??


Im going to play with this one and stay in it and stuff, but the plan is to eventually cannibalize it and put the good stuff in my Rambler..
The Rambler has an about perfect body, but is older and has more than twice the miles..
Rambler needs windshield wiper work, brake work, and itââ,¬â,,¢s tires are really really bad..
But this southwind one, like everything just works and its basically drivable just fine as is..

I am not going to put a bunch of work and money into it.. Im probably just going to bomb it until it doesnââ,¬â,,¢t go anymore, or until I decide to start putting the good stuff in the Rambler...

Battery system is weird in it, like it has 3 seperate batteries on 2 converts and is confusing, trying to hook them all into 1 system because I want to..
Its been chilling with no batteries in it though, just plugged in..

Has a smaller onan, like a 4000w or something, and looks in great shape, but it doesnt turn over when I hit the start button.. Havenââ,¬â,,¢t messed with it..

Propane works, has propane in it.. Has a cool wall heater.. Water system has a pipe off of it and havent messed with it.. Almost all the electrics work other than a couple 110 plugs for some reason.. Has a really cool old TV but havent tried hooking anything to it..
Drains and tanks work good.. Microwave is crappy.. Fridge is like perfect.. Stove and oven work.. Awnings work..

Its in really good shape other than the unfixable exterior..
Might as well take it 2 tracking and boondocking around not too far from home..

I drove it into the woods and cleared a neat little spot for it.. Its pretty cool, all shade, firepit, in the woods

But Im wanting to get it out and play with it..
Been working on it a bit making it a little more road worthy and slightly more presentable..

Gonna reseal the roof too.. Bought goop but need to buy a wire wheel for my geinder to get the old crap off first..

I also broke a window on accident leaving it cranked out and driving too close to a tree, but I found another whole window at the junkyard for it already and got it home.. Just need to grab a roll of butal tape and do that..

Might post pics tomorrow or something..

[Rickf1985]

You ask what is the worst that can happen? You can blow a front tire. You will go off the road and you will crash. Then you will find out these things are not as strong as you think and hopefully you don't take someone out in the process of driving your unregistered vehicle with bad tires!!!  I used to drive a heavy tow truck so I saw my share of these things. And by the way, your insurance will refuse to pay anything real fast as soon as they find you are unregistered, same with towing.

[Oz]

Good to see you again!  For $500... yeah, lots of things to worry about, but sounds like a blank canvass on which to start painting!

[fasteddie313]

Just got back from camping again..
Tents again

[Oz]

 You know the drill.  You'll get there, and all the sweeter it'll be!

[Preese]

Oh yeah, the good old days, sitting in the RV in a rainstorm sipping beers watching the drips land in the pot below the ceiling vent. (Ok it was last month...but still).  Anyway with limited budget hereââ,¬â,,¢s to safe stuff first, like stopping, tires holding air and staying on the road, potential fire sources, and then max fun like we are having.  Cheers!

[Oz]

I know, right?!

[fasteddie313]

Been resealing the roof but darn the old stuff on there is sticky nasty..
Very difficult..

All the running gear on the thing is like perfect other than the rear tires.. Brakes are great..
An it is ââ,¬Å"registeredââ,¬Â to a family member of mine but itââ,¬â,,¢s just ancient..

I swap plates on my cars all the time and canââ,¬â,,¢t because the gov crap is closed..
Got pulled over with the wrong plates in my car and the police told me to just drive it with no plate.. So I have been..
I havenââ,¬â,,¢t had ââ,¬Å"legalââ,¬Â plates on any car all summer and have no problems..
I love it..

[fasteddie313]

It doesnââ,¬â,,¢t leak like drip or anything but it has a couple ruined places in the outside walls so itââ,¬â,,¢ll never be worth dumping a ton of money and time into..

[Oz]

Lol! Glad the police were cool about it.
Yeah, I was just reading over Schmitti's "project"... roof, floors, side wall rot...
I'm picking up what your putting down.
I was the same with my first '74 Indian.

[fasteddie313]

Their is a travco nearby for $700 but it doesnââ,¬â,,¢t look like it runs..
Little water damage inside.. Has those weird old dodge wheels..

[fasteddie313]

https://youtu.be/WZ36LuWeqTI

Little video of it..

[Oz]