We didn’t want to just give our story of buying a used camper, because, it’s always good to hear from more than one person about these kids of things. When I mentioned on Twitter that we were scouting craigslist for our next home on wheels, Linda (@minniemom) whom we met at the Travel Blog Exchange last summer said her family loved the camper they bought on craigslist. I asked her to share her story so you could see some of the options out there – even on craigslist. Here’s her story.Tomorrow, we’ll tell you ours.
We love to travel, but as a family of six, hotel rooms are hard to find and often expensive, and eating out adds up in a hurry. This summer, we decided to try our luck at camping. Read on to see how it went.
We had looked at renting RV’s in past years, but rentals would have cost as much or more as our traditional travel when all things were included, so that hadn’t panned out. Still, we kept the idea of camping in the back of our minds. We knew one thing for sure, that our budget wasn’t much. We could afford more than a tent, but $7,000 for a new popup or $15,000 for a new travel trailer was definitely beyond our spending allowance. When we worked on the numbers, we figured we’d save about $100 a day camping and cooking over staying in a modest motel and eating out. We figured out that it wouldn’t take too many nights for a camper to pay for itself, and if we didn’t enjoy camping at all, we’d be able to get some resale out of it.
Once we got serious about it, I took the kids on a daylong trip of looking at camper stores for a used pop-up that we could pull behind our minivan. Taking four children to camper lots was not fun, nor was it very productive. There were few used popups available in our area, new ones were beyond our price range, and simply putting a hitch on our van would have cost $500. We started thinking bigger.
We already had a crew-cab pickup truck, but I was hesitant to use it as a six-passenger vehicle since there was only a lap belt and no headrest in the center position. Finally, I remembered discussions I’d seen in carseat circles about the E-Z On Harness (http://www.hipmonkey.com/Ez-On-86Y-Universal-Harness_p_135.html) that can be used with a lap belt. My oldest son is still short enough that the low back of the front center seat offers adequate protection for his neck, so with the harness installed, I was comfortable using the truck as a family vehicle.
But we still needed a camper.
My husband was able to free up part of a summer Saturday afternoon, and we headed to the nearest RV store to look for a travel trailer. We arrived at 3:01 p.m. They had closed at 3:00. A few quick calls told us that all the other area stores also closed at 3 on Saturdays. So much for our day of shopping. Knowing that we weren’t likely to get another free afternoon for quite a while (that’s how it goes with farmers in the summer), we started to think outside the box.
We each have a BlackBerry-type phone, so we sat in the parking lot of the camper store and pulled up Craigslist ads. I had peeked at Craigslist before, when we were looking at popups, so I had a vague idea of prices. I had also stepped into a few travel trailers on my excursion with the kids, so I had a basic idea of what we would need in a travel trailer.
The first listing we called about had been sold. So much for that one. The next was in a town about an hour from where we were sitting. They were selling a 1989 26.5-foot Jayco travel trailer for $3500. That price was within our range (and substantially less than similar models at RV stores), so we called. A man answered, and said we could come to look at it right away.
We arrived at his farm and looked at the camper. It slept six and was in good shape. The owners had moved up to a bigger trailer with bunks so their older kids would have more space. While we were looking it over and asking questions, my husband inquired about the price, and the owner offered to drop off $500; he’d had three other families look at it but didn’t like waiting around for a sale.
We went into town for supper to give us time to think it over. Perhaps we didn’t know what else we would need in a camper, perhaps it was because our options were limited as far as shopping time, perhaps it really was a heckuva deal; whatever the reason, we decided it should be ours.
Back to the farm we went to shake hands on the deal. The owner said he’d have to wait until Monday morning to do the license and title business in town, and he said we could just bring a personal check at that time. He only asked that if we changed our minds over the weekend that we give him the courtesy of a phone call. Otherwise he’d declare it sold if anyone else inquired.
So, on Monday my husband went to pick up our new camper, and we started our new family adventure. We made three camping trips this summer, two to state parks and one to an RV resort, and we’ve enjoyed the family time. We can put all of our bikes in the back of the pickup, so we’ve found camping areas with bike trails to enjoy. We already have a reservation for a week next summer, and we’re toying with the idea of going to the Black Hills or Yellowstone with it.
We’ve had a few small problems, one with the refrigerator (which was just two years old) that seemed to be a freak thing, and the water heater had to be replaced after our last trip; after 20 years it had rusted through. We knew that would be part of the risk of buying an older model. Still, for a starter camper, it works well for our family. We’re planning to keep it until our kids get too big for the sleeping areas, and at that time we hope to upgrade to something newer and/or bigger. For now, however, our Craigslist camper is working out just fine for us.
Linda (minnemom) writes about camping, hotels, daytrips, and whatever other fun her family can find at Travels with Children.
