looking at a event 1980 hi lo

okay so I have been looking at campers for a while now, me and my soon to be wife needs a place to sleep and hang out at my parents house full time, my father had a massive stroke last yr and my mom could really use the help to take care of things, I am always having to go by thwre house after work to cut grass take trash off do whatever so they live on 5 acreas so my mom.said why don't I find a camper for us. anyhow I've just recently (today) found out about hi lo campers, how they work and I think it's a really neat camper..I've only owned one 77 keystone camper in my life 19 foot lived in full time about 3 months. it had stuff missing I had redo plumbing and all kinda things but it worked. ...
Anyhow I found and went and looked at a 1980 hI lo today. it's 50 miles from where I live. seems to be in decent shape.they don't have the 12v batt for the raise n lower so the guy hooked up jumper cables and showed me it does go down and up.

the camper sits way to far from.there house to see it powered up the grown up son said they ran 3 drop cord to it last week and turn on ac but it kept popping the breaker at the house... I bet it did... anyways. not sure how to know the model of it. it needs tires it has B78-13 on the spare tire but all have cracks in sides of them but do hold air or seem to.
I've looked online and it seems the B78 is same as a 175/80 . just the B78 was the old way of telling tire sizes.

I guess I just want to make sure this is correct about the tires and to know if anything good or bad about this year. did they come with trailer brakes? it has a round like 5 way plug on front of it and the 2 propane tanks and battery box. The people who own it don't seem to know much about it. and stayed in it a couple times but seemed to own it a few yrs. I know it's got a pretty good size crack in the bathtub. I was thinking maybe removing the whole tub and maybe fiberglass from. the backside to fit that. it need a good cleaning in and out. it has the stove and fridge as it should. I guess fridge runs on electric
sorry for the long post. if u look at back of tub where it goes up that's where crack is.
it seems to be about 20 foot maybe. with tongue about 23... not sure where they messure from.

Buying a HiLo

Some where on the forum is a check list for buying a used HiLo. I can't advise you as to buy this unit or not. If you are handy than you can fix anything that is wrong. Your aproach to the bath tub repair is correct. Let us know what you decide.

sam said:

Some where on the forum is a check list for buying a used HiLo. I can't advise you as to buy this unit or not. If you are handy than you can fix anything that is wrong. Your aproach to the bath tub repair is correct. Let us know what you decide.

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Well thank you for the reply, I pretty much can fix anything. I've worked on automobiles, atv,go carts all my life, lawnmowers whwn I was older. I work as a handyman helper for homes currently.
Campers are a little driffrent but still a little of the same.

The advantage to a hi-lo is that it tows so nicely with the low profile on the road. My guess is this camper is going to need a bit of work seeing as it has just been sitting and it is difficult under the present circumstance to tell what works and what does not. You need a good batterey hooked up and access to a minimum of 20 amp shore power to really fun all the systems for a good test. If it is cheap and you are really handy and interested in a project it might be fun. I would certainly check for water damage. Otherwise- you might do just as well finding a used camper with slide outs etc if you are just going to park it and use it a guest cottage ---you would likely have more room.

Rick

Just looking at the first picture, it appears there is delamination of the siding on the top half. If it's been sitting exposed to the elements for a long time without maintenance, I'll bet there are several water leaks in the top.

I agree with Rick - if you're planning to use it as a guest cottage, I'd look for a standard trailer with slideouts.

- Jack

hilltool said:

The advantage to a hi-lo is that it tows so nicely with the low profile on the road. My guess is this camper is going to need a bit of work seeing as it has just been sitting and it is difficult under the present circumstance to tell what works and what does not. You need a good batterey hooked up and access to a minimum of 20 amp shore power to really fun all the systems for a good test. If it is cheap and you are really handy and interested in a project it might be fun. I would certainly check for water damage. Otherwise- you might do just as well finding a used camper with slide outs etc if you are just going to park it and use it a guest cottage ---you would likely have more room.

Rick

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Thanks for the input. she said its never leaked except for when she used a pressure washer and was aiming directly around the AC unit you can see a tiny bit of brown on the inside on one side of the AC unit but very little its not even soft so only got wet the once.

I am thinking about using it down the road as a encloser for my model airplanes. ive looked at 7x12 enclosed trailers but there a little ruff on the mid size SUVs most say and i think with them thing coming down like it does for towing it be great for that just rip out the tables and counters and everything except the bathroom and a place to lay down and have storage and a trailer both..

All i really need is just a place to stay and lay our heads at night i mean we can come inside to cook and wash and everything else really. I have even considered buying a 10x12 building and putting my bed and making a bathroom in it for us but i think a camper would be best and again this one could be used as multi purpose later.

I do not know about other parts of the world but here it seems the cheapest campers people are selling are around the 3300.00 mark this one is well under that is oone huge reason looking at it. i looked at a 1990 suppose to be 16 foot the guy wanted 2200 for it.. its the 2nd cheapest but it just looked even older then this one did on the inside and its tires also needed replacing.

another guy up the road a bit has a 28 foot for $3300 not looked at it in person but really trying hard to stay under the $2000 mark. I paid $700 for my 19 foot keystone 4 yrs ago when they were asking 1,000

I'm betting there has been chronic leaking in the roof and sidewalls. The owner may have only seen water running down the interior after a power washing, but I bet there's been rain inside the roof and/or walls (around windows, vents, etc.) for a long time. Others have run into similar issues and find even the steel frame inside the roof/walls are rusted out. Just me, but I'd walk away from this project.

piperjim said:

I'm betting there has been chronic leaking in the roof and sidewalls. The owner may have only seen water running down the interior after a power washing, but I bet there's been rain inside the roof and/or walls (around windows, vents, etc.) for a long time. Others have run into similar issues and find even the steel frame inside the roof/walls are rusted out. Just me, but I'd walk away from this project.

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I pushed on the walls and ceiling and like i said even where the brown is on the roof (only about 6 inches by 2 inches) its not mushy at all

I would be sealing the roof as caution but it seems to be in lot better shape then my last camper