How I got my Rig

[ibdilbert01]

Sent: 5/26/2007

I havn't shared the story of how I got this rig and I think now I'm going to bore everyone with it. lol

My wife and I last summer were looking for a camper of pretty much any kind to take the kids camping. Her and I grew up with family's who enjoyed camping. We talked about getting a pull camper, but with three kids, its hard to travel when they all need to go pee at different intervals. We also felt we could always pull our boat with an RV if we had the urge. After a bit of time, I convinced her a RV would be better than a pull camper. So she and I started looking in the papers and on Ebay. She found it, and I knew I wanted the classic toaster design when I seen the pictures online.

It was rather ironic, the guy who was selling the RV on Ebay was the son of the owner of landolls castle. http://www.landollsmohicancastle.com/

Guess that makes the rig "fit for a king!"

We picked up the RV at the castle, about 20 mins away from were we live in Mt. Vernon OH.

The guy told us he had sold the rig on ebay twice before, one guy didn't pay after he seen it, and the last person took it to PA and the tranny started to slip, and she wanted her money back. So the guy gave her money back, picked the rig up and put a junkyard tranny in it. he then relisted it and I was the sucker who bought it.

A few days after its purchase, it took its maiden voyage to MI, Traverse City, about 425 miles from home. Ran like a champ. We drove her all over Traverse city. Had a ball! Traverse City was having their cherry festival so the local camp grounds were full, we ended up staying about 20 mins away in a really nice campground called Sleepy Bear Campgrounds. http://www.sleepybearcamping.com/

Now don't get me wrong, the RV drove like a champ, but the water tank had rusted out and I was afraid to use the LP for the fridge.as the hoses looked bad. No Prob, we got a camp site close to the shower houses, and every time we moved, I use an electric cooler for the food.

On the way back home, she broke down about 1 hour from home. I heard the sound of rocks in the tranny case, then she stopped pulling. I got under the rig and seen pieces of flex plate in the bell housing through the inspection plate. 170 dollar tow fee and a few hours later I had a new flex plate installed. I replaced the water tank w/ a plastic one, replaced the plumbing w/ plastic, and added a sure flow pump. A month later we did the trip again. (This time I bought the RV Package on my AAA card).

The rig did fine. We took her many places last year after that w/ no issues. Towards the end of the summer I noticed the roof was leaking rather badly. I parked it at an angle and recoated it with koolseal, hoping it would last the winter.

This might sound odd, but I'm enjoying fixing her up just as much as using it. I really enjoy reading everyones post.

Ok, I've bored everyone enough.

[hose-man]

Great story!     Like you, I enjoy the project as much as the use.    In fact, it wasn't until I found this site that I pulled the trigger on my rig.     Les (The_Handier_Man) had great images of his roof work which inspired me.    A good look around the rig showed me that I could probably tackle about anything that might come up, so the adventure was on.   

We haven't hit the long road yet, like you have.    Come summertime we're hooking on the boat & heading an hour or two in any direction that looks wet.    Hopefully without significant issue.

Fun to hear you tell your tale.    Thank you & have fun w Her

-Jed

[hose-man]

Just looked at your gallery & realized that yours was the other set of pictures that gave me the confidence to go for the project.     Thank you for posting the images of your projects.

I've added a larger step, but I covet your power step set-up.   Is it adequately protected from the front wheel road grime to be reliable.    My step caught 25 lbs of snow & ice on our recent trip to the ski hill.   I'm gonna have to find some mud flaps for the front.     Wish I could find ones with the "W" like on the rears.   

Kudos on your great rig.

[GulfCoastFighter0]

I also bought my Minnie on e-bay.  I was looking to replace our pop-up because it needed new canvas and I wanted to use the opportunity to move up anyway.  I was looking for a smaller bumper pull but they were around $7,000 for what I wanted.  I happened to stumble across the Minnie on e-bay, it was local and nobody else placed a bid on it.  I won her for $1250 after going and looking her over, including a test drive in the front yard (oh yeah).  I noticed the tires were very dry-rotted but thought they'd make the 45 mile trip.  WRONG!  The outside passenger side blew within a mile of the PO's house.  I limped the rest of the way home at $30mph, but with no more problems.  I too enjoy working on my rig as much as using it!  I don't think I'd have as much fun with a new one as I wouldn't want to tackle my custom projects!

[tiinytina]

I joined this site back in summer of 2005 because I almost bought a 1987 Chieftain from a friend's brother. The Calypso pop-up became too small to house our growing zoo.  Internally, the rig was all redone and beautiful. I demanded a State inspection and she failed across the  boards and the owner wouldn't come down on his price.  Found Gone on eBay but had no time to go see her and wouldn't place a bid sight unseen... notified seller and asked to see her after I got back from a biz trip. She flew through inspection with honors and the rest is history... She ran fine although we found she had a warped carb that needed immediate replacement as gas dribbled down over the engine!  PO's all had saved every receipt, even her original purchase papers from Florida and the guy we got her from had redone all things important like tires and hoses etc...  Stayed on the site and the gang said we could stay even though she isn't a Winnie.  She thinks she is a Winne at this point, after 5 years of hanging out with our CWVRV family.
Tina Pat
Rufus, Abigail, Rosie, Charlotte
Gone to the Dawgs