My wife & I would like a solid coach for weekending and week or two long vacations here locally. We need a queen bed or twins. Shorter and wider better than longer. Like to be off the grid in local campgrounds. We don't need tons of storage, because we won't be taken long vacations or fulltiming in the future. What will $15,000 or less (including any needed mechanical repairs) get me? What year, what size -- would love suggestions. Not looking for SOB (I just learned the term)
Thanks, Dave

quote:

Originally posted by Dewey:
What will $15,000 or less (including any needed mechanical repairs) get me?

To properly answer this, one would need to know your mechanical background.

An off the cuff, blanket answer is a $9,000 - $11,000 well maintained Barth.

Bill N.Y.

You might find a 28' Regal in decent shape for that price range.

I don't know if this one has sold - it's in the "coaches Sold" forum...

Thanks, Bill --
I'm not a great mechanic -- I know my way around enough to understand what real mechanics want to do to my vehicles when I bring them into the shop for engine work. Some of the other stuff I can do myself, some electrical and component replacement projects.
Also, thanks Rusty. I followed that link and that was a great suggestion. Beautiful coach, but it is indeed listed as sold

If your looking to spend no more than 15k including additional repairs then you should look at anything from 13k and lower.

I think 13k may be too high of a figure but for that price it better be in real good shape. The 2k is for being blind sided. Yes, you will need it!

Anytime you spend money on anything mechanical there are bound to be things that need attention. Your going to be looking at a 15-25 year old coach, while this sounds long (it is) your talking about the mid 90's to the 80's time frame. Still plenty of parts available and because of the Barth construction actually worth while to put money into it.

If it has low mileage expect to pay for items that break from a lack of use. If it has high mileage expect to replace items that wear out from use. There is very little middle ground in that price range. Hopefully you'll find a coach that has been kept indoors and is part of an estate sale. There are some people motivated to sell just for the cash and not for the value. Then you might get a great deal.

Look at the "coaches sold forum" to see what went and for how much. That will give you a great place to start.

Bill N.Y.

There's a 1988 31' Regal listed in RVTraderOnline with 65000 miles on it for
$7900, but it hasn't been used for a few
years. It's in Novi, MI, with a phone number
of 248/568-5808. If you look at it, you may
want to bring a friendly RV mechanic with you.

Jake Jacobson

You should be able to find a very nice 28 foot Regal keeping in mind that you may put another $5-6K in a the first year or so.

My wife and I are thinking about selling our 28' Regal. Mechanically it's very good. The paint is very average. And we're on the east coast. But you should be able to get a very good 28' Regal for that price. I bought mine for 16000 and have put an additional 8000 in it. 3200 was for a gear vendors unit, 1800 for new tires and 1000 to fix the rear main seal, and another 1000 for all new brakes

HI Everyone,
Rusty made mention of ours for sale here... yes it sold! Member "Neil T" bought it. I hope he writes more in the future...
-J&A

The other side of the coin is I had a mid eighties Southwind for a couple of years and only bought soft parts. I sold it to my neighbor across the street six or seven years ago. He has only bought soft parts so far. Right now he has fridge troubles, so he might buy his first hard part. And he goes a lot.