clskinsfan
Member
- Dec 14, 2013
- 17
Hey everyone! My family of 4 has been tent camping for almost 10 years together. Well after this past summer the girls (wife and daughter) said no more tents for them. Money is a little tight for us right now. So I was concerned about losing the quality family time together. I have been trying to get a pop up through trade on Craigslist for almost 9 months now. My goal going into this was to not spend a dime on a camper. Well yesterday the hard work became a reality. And not only did I accomplish my goal. But I scored BIG TIME!
I posted an ad on multiple locations basically telling the same story I just told you above. I got A LOT of responses. But one really interested me. It was an older gentleman who had a stroke last year and was not able to use his pop up anymore. Hence he purchased a travel trailer earlier this year. I arranged to go down and meet with him yesterday morning. He is one of the nicest men I have ever had the privilege of meeting. We struck up a nice long conversation about our love of the outdoors, fishing and hunting. He then showed me the pop up he had. It is a 2003 Flagstaff Classic 425D. It is a 12 foot box with a dinette bump out. It has King and queen bunks. It is a huge pop up. I immediately told the gentlemen that what I was offering in trade was way below the value of his camper. He told me that did not matter to him as he knew the camper was going to a family that would enjoy and use it.
Long story short: I traded 2 handguns and some ammo to this fine gentlemen for his beautiful pop up camper. It did need some work. Had a leak in one corner of the roof which caused some damage to one of the cabinets in the trailer. I immediately found the issue is missing caulk from the roof line. I cleaned up the roof and recaulked it. Leak is gone. He told me none of the roof lights worked. I traced that down to a faulty kill switch under the sink. The propane system did not work (this model comes with a RVQ grill). Traced that to a loose fitting under the front frame rail. The only things I was not able to fix in one afternoon is the water filter housing is cracked (I am guessing from not winterizing the system correctly) That part is 30 bucks and I had to order it. I will also have to pull out the rotten cabinet and replace or rebuild it with something. Sounds like the perfect time to install a porta-poti to me. The fridge works perfectly on ac, dc and propane. I dont know about the water heater until I get the water system fixed.
Moral of the story: There are deals to be had out there. Be patient and honest with people and good things will happen. And if Neil happens to be member here. I want to thank you once again sir!
I tried to post some pics. But I cant figure out how to do it on this site.
I posted an ad on multiple locations basically telling the same story I just told you above. I got A LOT of responses. But one really interested me. It was an older gentleman who had a stroke last year and was not able to use his pop up anymore. Hence he purchased a travel trailer earlier this year. I arranged to go down and meet with him yesterday morning. He is one of the nicest men I have ever had the privilege of meeting. We struck up a nice long conversation about our love of the outdoors, fishing and hunting. He then showed me the pop up he had. It is a 2003 Flagstaff Classic 425D. It is a 12 foot box with a dinette bump out. It has King and queen bunks. It is a huge pop up. I immediately told the gentlemen that what I was offering in trade was way below the value of his camper. He told me that did not matter to him as he knew the camper was going to a family that would enjoy and use it.
Long story short: I traded 2 handguns and some ammo to this fine gentlemen for his beautiful pop up camper. It did need some work. Had a leak in one corner of the roof which caused some damage to one of the cabinets in the trailer. I immediately found the issue is missing caulk from the roof line. I cleaned up the roof and recaulked it. Leak is gone. He told me none of the roof lights worked. I traced that down to a faulty kill switch under the sink. The propane system did not work (this model comes with a RVQ grill). Traced that to a loose fitting under the front frame rail. The only things I was not able to fix in one afternoon is the water filter housing is cracked (I am guessing from not winterizing the system correctly) That part is 30 bucks and I had to order it. I will also have to pull out the rotten cabinet and replace or rebuild it with something. Sounds like the perfect time to install a porta-poti to me. The fridge works perfectly on ac, dc and propane. I dont know about the water heater until I get the water system fixed.
Moral of the story: There are deals to be had out there. Be patient and honest with people and good things will happen. And if Neil happens to be member here. I want to thank you once again sir!
I tried to post some pics. But I cant figure out how to do it on this site.
![[8D]](/smileys/smile_cool.gif "Cool [8D]")
![[CAM]](/smileys/smile_camera.gif "Camera [CAM]")
