Seeking input from long term & experienced owners

Hello:

I am wanting to get some input from long term,
and experienced Hi Lo owners,
regarding differing problems of several Hi Lo's for sale.

(This will probably be most boring, for the majority of casual readers)

Recently I had the opportunity to view 3 HiLo's
being offered for sale by very nice people.
I will keep them anonymous, except for mentioning the years and model.

Thanks to the great education I am getting from reading this forum,
I first look for any signs of water damage.
(A 2007 model which cosmetically looked clean,
had significant problems and exterior wall sagging
and bowing at the front corners and below windows,
so I ruled that one out.
It would be a major reconstruction repair project)

The two others, both 22 ft Towlites, one a 2004 and the other a 2008,
had different problems.
(For price guides on any trailer, and as a starting point,
I always go to NADA and look up the year, model,
and the high and low average price.)
Obviously the asking price on these two trailers was quite different.

Both trailers had been kept outside, and the 2008 had water damage
in the rear corner by the shower stall,
with an inside, slightly warped panel.

The 2004 had been kept out in sun, and had notable signs of oxidation deterioration
- but no water damage I could detect.

I wondered if the outside panel construction,
was different between the years 2004 and 2008?
When pushing on the outside lower area of the upper shell of the 2004,
particularly where water could collect,
I detected no give whatsoever,
and with weathering and some loss of gel coat,
I could see these panels were made of fiberglass mat.

However on the 2008, when pushing on the same areas
of the trailer's sides (eg. the bottom portion of the upper shell)
there was some "give" all way around,
and I didn't know whether that was due to a difference
in the construction material of these panels,
or whether it might be an indication of some softening of inner wood,
all way aroud.

I did not detect any bowing of the outside, on either trailer.

Also, the two differed on roof materials.
The 2008 looked new, some sort of interlocked and coated aluminum sheeting panels, I would guess.

The 2004 appeared covered with some continuous rubberized membrane
of sorts that was beginning to bubble up in some areas around roof vents
and in some of the broader flat areas of the roof,
seemed to have separated from its underlying rigid roofing;
as if delaminating. It obviously had been out in the sun a lot.
I think it was all original material.

Another factor in the 2004 trailer (12 years old now),
is that a lot of the different plastic components throughout
were beginning to break,
I think just the result of years of heat and sun exposure,
but I sensed a lot more of the little things would need replacing.

I may be totally off the mark on this point, and putting natural aging aside,
I can't help wondering if quality control and construciton materials
on early decade 2000 models may have been better
than on later 2000 decade models.

You certainly can't underestimate of wisdom of keeping a trailer either garaged,
or under the roof of a well ventilated car port.

Of all the things, it is the "give" on the side walls of the 2008,
which puzzled me most,
and some clarification on that would be most appreciated.

As always my great appreciation for this online forum knowledge base,
and for any person shedding light on the outside panel construction
of these two years.

Thank you.
GoCamp.

I really have no idea, but the " give" on the outside walls would seem to me to indicate something other than constructionion, unless, it is uniform all the way around n which case maybe they used a thinner substrate somehow. That said, the construction of the walls on my 2001 is foam sandwiched between a 1/8 inches fiberglass panel and 1/8 inch wall panel on the inside. If it flexes it seems it would be because of how it was fastened to frame or is somehow becoming detached. As far as internal components, plastic parts etc are pretty much industry standard and they are all going to wear out at some point. People seem to like the aluminum roof more than the rubber but there are plenty of ways to re coat the rubber. Oxidation on the glass exterior is what happens and there are products for reconditioning that.

Rick

Looking at used units.

I would have to see the RV to judge the side give issue. Many owners have found pinholes because of dissimilar metals on the aluminum roof. I have a rubber roof and like it alot. We had to do a patch and it was easy to apply. Parts are going to wear out. Some parts are common and can be found readily. We have never had trouble getting parts from our HiLo dealer. They will ship anywhere. Say where you are located and possibly another owner could go take a second look with you. Take pictures of any possible areas of concern and post. We can help you better. Many products are available to help with oxidation. We were able to use rattle can paint to help with faded decals. Only pay what you really want to pay. We had to fix/replace our bath room shower walls. It is a very doable repair. I hope this helps.

Hi sam

I have seen this question often posed by others, but for the life of me can't find the "how to" link for it.

I haven't figured out how to post a picture to this forum, since when you select the insert image link, it is requesting an html location. And all my pictures are stored locally on my computer's hard drive. It would have been so neat if the forum had a
"browse" option for selecting images, so that pics could be loaded directly from a hard drive.

Or, is it that a person has to set up a photo album on this site, before they can post an image?

GoCamp

Pictures of problem areas

Hi

Hopefully, I've managed to post pictures of the areas I was concerned about, the external stain by a window, and internal wall warpage at the rear shower, and also at another spot, which I believe was next to the refrigerator.

And many thanks to LuckyDog671 for telling me how to accomplish the upload.

GoCamp

sam said:

I would have to see the RV to judge the side give issue. Many owners have found pinholes because of dissimilar metals on the aluminum roof. I have a rubber roof and like it alot. We had to do a patch and it was easy to apply. Parts are going to wear out. Some parts are common and can be found readily. We have never had trouble getting parts from our HiLo dealer. They will ship anywhere. Say where you are located and possibly another owner could go take a second look with you. Take pictures of any possible areas of concern and post. We can help you better. Many products are available to help with oxidation. We were able to use rattle can paint to help with faded decals. Only pay what you really want to pay. We had to fix/replace our bath room shower walls. It is a very doable repair. I hope this helps.

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