Camper shopping

I missed out on one over the past few days, unknown year or model Hi Lo my wife spotted on fake book marketplace, only took the guy 4 days to tell us it wasn't available anymore.
That one I estimate was between 82-85 model by the limited pix we had and searching here and on Google for others that looked like this one.
I'd like a 21-22 footer, don't really need anything bigger.
A mild project would be alright but not a total teardown and build up from the ground.
Looking for " bang for buck" more than a certain price point.
My current camper and the one before it were both Apache hardsides, aka "solid state".
One thing scares me a bit on the hi Lo's.
I seem to see quite a few with roof leaks, and with the skeleton of the upper half rotted out. That seems like a common theme among those being parted out. Though cables seem like a common issue on these, that by itself isn't a deal breaker I don't think. I've dealt with lift issues on the apaches before.
How big of a problem is the camper skeleton rotting out?
I've even seen (if I'm interpreting the model numbers and year built correctly) 07s and 08s listed with this issue. .was it a "certain year" thing?
Or is it a "if 08s are old enough already to be rotted out that something say in the 80s/ 90s would be expected to be"dust" by now?

camper shopping

I will relate my experience. Had a 1990 25ft. Classic. We were the second owner. Didn't realize that the windows needed to be taken out and resealed. Then we had upper wall water damage. DH spent many hrs. rebuilding the upper walls. Cost us about $1,000 in materials. It is easy to not catch a slight inperfection in caulking. Leaks are not specific to any year or model. We have a proper RV cover that is used every winter. Be patient and the right unit will be coming for sale. Happy shopping.

Sam, did you take any pictures or videos of the repairs. I have some leaks and the sides appear to be delaminating. I was thinking about repairing them but I am curious as to the construction and what the best way to “peel” the siding off.

Repairs.

I did take some pictures and posted in Photo bucket. Our repair was to a Classic. Start by covering your floors and counters tops with cardboard and duct tape. I covered the couches in plastic. Remove soggy wall board until you hit the fiberglass. DH used a multi tool and many blades from Harbor Freight. The walls consist of 1/8th wall board with wall paper on it. Then sheets of foam insulation. !/8th plain underlay. We used liquid bondo to seal up the inside of the fiberglass. Can be purchased at Walmart. This will seal up any holes you can't even see.Any metal supports were painted with Rustoleum. We used Heavy Duty liquid nails from Walmart. Use in a s pattern. Could have used one trube per 4x8 sheet. All windows were taken out and aligned with butyl tape. You tube has a tutioral on how to remove windows. A two man or woman job. I might not have given you the correct order of wall material. I ordered the paneling from ACE hardware as it came with the wall paper on it. Hopefully i remembered correctly as we did our repairs in 2012. We didn't have to reattach and fiberglass. Our HiLo has gone on to a new owner and remains leak free.DH purchased a floor roller to press on the walls for good liquid nails adhesion. If you have a Towlite the walls are somewhat different. Let me know if this is a Towlite. Take measured drawings of drapery hardware. Do you need to replace the seals between the layers? That is about all i can remember. Liquid Bondo stinks real bad follow the directions and use an industrial respirator.