Repair / Replacement Advice

[dmessner]

Hello, I purchased a 2001 Wildwood by Forest River 26BHS camper last summer and my wife and did a pretty extensive remodel of the inside. She is now wanting to sell it but might need a repair / replacement of the whole rear exterior / interior wall due some older water damage from the previous owner. I have called a few local repair places and none of them will give me estimate over the phone and ask me to bring it in. The only problem is I don't have a pickup truck with the 5th wheel trailer and would have to pay them to transport it. I am just looking for a ball bark figure on what this repair would cost. Is it $500-1,500 job or much more. Any idea's would be much appreciated!

I have attached a photo of the rear interior wall where I noticed the damage in our bunk bed corner.

Thanks,
Drew

[D W]

No pics showed up in your post. As for cost of repairs, the fair market value of a 21 year old rig will have to be considered.

[Thomas ho]

sell it as is during hunting season . i would say, you might get 5.000k. my neighbor sells salvage 5/w's for 10k +or-. repos 10k / 18k. pretty rough , and under 10 years old.

[Terier]

Selling it “as is” might be a good option as Thomas suggested. I had a couple of hunters inquiring about my travel trailer about buying it. I can’t but think of time & money you can invest elsewhere. It’s a matter of time before available inventory will impact sale price. I could be off the mark but it seem there was a shortage of RVs during the COVID shutdown.

[KMP44]

As somebody who is into his second vintage camper rebuild, a couple things I can tell you for sure- water damage is always more extensive than you think, and you don't know the extent until you take the skins off the outside. And second, it's a labor intensive job. If you are paying for a pro to replace the back wall, it's definitely not a $500 repair.

Your 2001 isn't a vintage camper, but its a "stick and tin" construction, just like a lot of 60's and up campers. There is a very active community of diy'ers and pros that do these types of repairs and share their knowledge. There is a forum called Vintage Trailer Talk that would be a good place to start if you want to get a better idea of what might be involved.

As others have suggested, your best bet may be to sell it as-is with an honest disclosure. Very doubtful you would get your money back on the cost of a repair.

[Reverse_snowbird]

Anyone who buys your trailer will be subject to the '10 year rule' that some private campgrounds enforce to keep out any rig over 10 years old.

If you're going to sell it, I agree with others that getting someone to repair that rig isn't going to be worth what it costs in terms of resale value. If you had to expertise to fix it yourself, it might be worth repairing.

You should probably sell it 'as is' and let the buyer decide if it's worth the repair.

BTW.... Welcome to the forum!

[dmessner]

Thanks everyone for your advice. It’s refreshing to read the common theme of not wasting the money and to seek it as-is, which is what my I thought. Thank you

Here is the picture of the bunk room and some other before and after photo’s of our remodel.