First time buyer needs help land yacht 31footer

[ANakri]

Find one land yacht 31footer inside is empty he is asking 4500 i'm planing to offer 2500 is this sounds good ? what i should check before making this offer ? Help will appreciated. i'm planing tot build inside modern and simple. not planing to travel with it its going to still most of the time. Thanks...

[Lumatic]

For $4500 I would expect an unrestored unit with working original appliances, and no plumbing leaks. There are some common serious problems the 70s units are prone to. You can almost guarantee if it has the original axles they need to be replaced, which will cost $1500 to 2 grand. Also the longer 70s are prone to rear end separation from the shell. If the furnace is original it probably needs replacement and may be dangerous. If the fridge is not working that's another $1500.If you are not traveling these may not really matter, but may be good bargaining chips

[ANakri]

Thanks. Basically i'm paying for the shell noting inside should i offer 2K ?

[Isuzusweet]

I would pay him scrap value for the trailer. As a previous poster has stated, you will be paying for new axles, possibly refabricating parts of the frame and a whole ton of work into the interior.

Reality, even if you do ALL the work yourself in fabricating all new aluminum walls, all new cabinets along with plumbing and electrical you will spend at least $7,000.00 on the interior alone. We won't go into frame work or new subfloor.

These projects are not for the meek and mild. I renovated my 310 motorhome this summer and even though I replaced the subfloor and redid the main door hinges last year, it still took me most of the summer to get everything back together. I was smart and reused all interior gables with new vinyl covering.

If I was to quote you on replacing all your interior, you'd be looking at almost 2000 hrs of labour.

Cheers
Tony

[AWCHIEF]

Ditto, scrap value and that would be close to $500, but probably not even that much.

[Lumatic]

I looked again at the photos. Doesn't look too good. I would start with $500 to $750 and would think twice about paying 2. But keep in mind whether its $500 or $5000 this but a fraction of what it will probably cost to fix her up. When all is said and done you will end up with an old Airstream that the market value is half of what you put into it, sweat equity not included.

Is this a rear or center bathroom? Looks like a center bath. There are a lot fewer central baths and they are worth a bit more, but if you are going to gut it it doesn't matter to you.

There are basically 2 kinds of Airstream suckers. #1 Is a seller who thinks any Airstream is worth it's weight in gold and #2 The newbie buyer who is preyed upon by #1.

[jump]

There's ALWAYS another deal.

There are several trailers in the classifieds here on this forum ... Look in the vintage section.

[Isuzusweet]

Originally Posted by jump

There's ALWAYS another deal.

There are several trailers in the classifieds here on this forum ... Look in the vintage section.

Yup, totally agree, move on and find yourself one with all the bits and pieces intact. If you want to renovate, you can then decide what you want to keep and what you want to replace.

Cheers
Tony

[tjdonahoe]

Looks like a leaver rite,leave her right where you found it......

[Gnorts]

This one looks like it's ready for the crusher

[ANakri]

wow thanks everyone but i still consider buying it. it in the city i live easy to tow for me i know it request a lot of work but i will enjoy doing it and i dont need a picture perfect airstream at the end interior i'm going to build anyway and at this stage its going to still in my garden for a Airbnb rental. let see if i can get it for 1000 or 1500 will let you know how i went...