I took a 500 mile round trip road trip today to look at and hopefully buy a 1976 24' Argosy. I thought it was about 80% good. That is until I stepped into the rear bathroom. I used what I learned from this forum and became very suspicious about the squishy, squeeky bathroom floor. I peeled back the linolium floor a tiny bit and thought the plywood looked and felt solid, but when walking on it it just didn't feel or sound right. Then I layed on my back and checked out the underside. I saw rust. And when I punched on the underbelly I heard the little pitter-patter of rust particles dancing around. It appeared that the water lines under the bathroom sink had been replaced, maybe indicating a leaky sink, once upon a time. The current owner purchased it about 4 years ago, parked in her yard and used it for a guest house a few times. She knows virtually nothing about the trailer except what the receipts she has from the previous owner show. There was one can of some sort of rust remover. He should have bought a few more. Also, the cord that plugs into the back of the tow vehicle had been cut to remove the 7 pin end and a 4 pin straight end had been spliced in. I assume this means it wouldn't have functioning brakes for the journey home. It was hard to do because everything else seemed quite good, but I returned home with an empty hitch.
Since the back end repairs would be something I wouldn't be up to doing myself my search continues. But it was fun crawling around on the floor inside checking out all the compartments and discovering where all the functional things are, like the water pump, the converter, and the water tank. And I finally got to see how the roof vents work and how the windows work. And since on most of my long trips I'm pulling my 10,000 lb SOB Toy Hauler I got to check out the fuel mileage on my Dodge Diesel. With the air running the whole time I averaged 26.5 mpg.
Now I'm tired. Good night!!
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