Lifestyle Looking for a Used Trailer Today

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We got thrown a curve-ball a couple of days ago. The only written offer on my grandmother's house arrived, and they want an owner-carry contract. Since several other people have tried to get bank loans for the place and failed, my mom (the executor of Grandma's estate) has decided that we'd better take this offer. Hopefully the people will be able to make the payments (the guy is a doctor, which might be a better occupation than some in the times to come).

Anyway, I had never considered this possibility. I was planning on having some money right way so we could move across the country to be closer to my two older daughters, and buy some land and build a little cabin. Now we won't have the money up front, it will come in as monthly payments. So. Major change of plans. Mom and I are going to look at several cheap used trailers today and tomorrow, hoping to find one that DD and I can live in through the winter. We'll have to park it at my mother and step-father's place, which is about sixty miles from here, but will take it to our place first so I can clean it up, do any fixing necessary, and pack our stuff in it.

Without having looked at any of them yet, I'm favoring an ugly old 40' 5th wheel (we'll have to get someone else to move it, as I don't have a 5th wheel attachment on my pickup). It's got plenty of space, and has been used for living in before, so it's set up for that, rather than just being set up for camping. We will have electricity at my mother's place, but not running water or a drain hookup. I'll be able to get water from their house.

Tips? Thoughts on things to look for as we check these trailers out? I know we need to watch out for leaks or prior water damage, and broken pipes, etc., even though we won't be using the plumbing. We'll need the heat to work, and the cook stove. Better insulation would be a plus, but none of them will be as well insulated as I'd like (it can get below zero here in the winters -- the record low is minus 25 degrees F, although we've only seen minus 12 below since we've lived here).

Kathleen

 

[nomifyle]

I bought a "used" FEMA camper last year and looked the inside over very well and saw nothing indicating any water leaks. I did not however look at the roof, didn't think to take a ladder with me. I was in a hurry and very anxious about finding something I could afford. Right after I got it to my permanent location I noticed the floor on the side of the door was getting weak, ultimately had to put down some plywood there to keep from stepping through the floor. There is a leak somewhere but can't find it. I've resorted to tarps in the area where it seems to be coming from and that has helped. But the roof itself looks like hell. I've been living in it full time for a year and have no plans to move (nowhere to move to). I love where I'm living and have a nice life, so I guess its a trade off. I'm living my dream. Best of luck.

A 40'er would have lots of space, and you might be able to find one in your area (I lived in Goldendale for six months about 10 years ago, beautiful area, just not home).

Judy

 

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We bought a 28' 5th wheel today (the 40' one needed too much work). This one will need a few things done to it, too -- for one thing, I bought enough 1/2" plywood to cover the entire floor as there's a soft spot. I'll stain and finish the plywood and use that for the finish floor. But for it's age (it's an '89) it's not in too bad of shape, just filthy dirty as it's been in use as a hunting-camp trailer!

Now we are trying to figure out how to get it home! The people included the top part of the hitch or whatever you call the part that bolts into the pickup bed, but weren't able to give us the plate that goes under the bed of the truck because theirs had been welded in (and the truck has been totaled so they have no way to haul the trailer anymore, which is why they were selling it). I've checked with three different places in town and can't find anyone willing to install the old hitch! I tried a trailer sales place, a general equipment place, and a welder. Have a message out to a friend who will hopefully have an idea, or know someone who can tow the thing for us -- it's still out in the woods at the hunting camp and we need to get it out of there before some bozo decides to trash it!

I like the trailer, though. It's got the bathroom across the full width of the trailer, between the living area and the 'upstairs' bedroom, so there's room for me to get in there to help my daughter when she needs it. And the kitchen and dinette are at the front end of the trailer, so no traffic through there. It has a nearly-new heater in it, too, which is important with winter coming on.

Now we are just waiting to see if the potential buyers are still going to go through with the purchase of the house! They made an offer, Mom counter-offered, they sent back two counter-offers to choose from, neither of them good. Mom turned down (nicely) their counter offers, so we'll see if they decide to play nice, or back out entirely.

Kathleen

 

[tnhillbilly]

I think your on the right track. Get someone to move it for you, even if you have to hire someone. You are not planning on moving it around like a camper so that should be cheaper than getting a hitch installed. Also plan on underpinning it once you get it set up. That will help you with the heating this winter. You might also put additional plastic (clear) over the windows to stop air infiltration. In that small of living space moisture build up could be a problem, most have a vent in the bathroom that you can keep slightly open to help with that. Depending on how close you park it to your mom's place, you might be able to connect water to it. All you need is a hose, wrap it with a heat tape and insulation. Also you might be able to connect to your mom's sewer if the placement is right. Or use a tote that you can take and empty at a dump station. Hope some of these ideas help. tnhillbilly

 

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Thank you for the ideas. I hadn't thought of heat tape for the water hose, was just planning on carrying water from either the house or the pump house.

We did get the trailer moved -- I found a friend whose husband tows a six-horse gooseneck trailer, and he was able to do the job. But since it had expired plates on it, he just took it through the back roads directly from the hunting camp to my mom and step-father's place. That means a couple of extra trips between here and there for me, with my 12 mpg pickup, but oh, well!

My step-father had a place ready to put the trailer, very close to their pump house, so we can plug into the pump house for our electricity (we could manage without any electricity, but it will be handy to have it). I don't know if we'd be able to have water through the winter or not, but will be able to run a hose for a while, until it gets really cold.

We plan to put a tarp over the top of the trailer, possibly with straw on the roof under the tarp. Will definitely skirt the trailer and put plastic over the windows. This being a dry climate most of the time, the extra moisture in the trailer may turn out to be a plus!

Paid $1,600 for the trailer, by the way. They could have gotten more for it if they'd cleaned it up and if it hadn't been stuck way out in the boonies at their hunting camp! I think we'll be able to make it pretty nice inside -- have to, or it will be too depressing to live in for six months or a year!

Kathleen

 

[nomifyle]

Gee I need to use the heat tape myself. Sounds like you are making progress.

Judy

 

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I went up there yesterday (it's about sixty miles from our house) and did some cleaning. It was FILTHY!!! All I got done was cleaned the kitchen and dinette area, and feel like I need to go over them one more time before I dare put my dishes and food in those drawers and cabinets! We'll go up again Friday and Saturday, stay overnight (going to take our little oil-filled electric heater, since night temps are dropping into the teens and twenties, and I haven't filled the propane tanks yet). I've got to try to figure out how to take out the sofa, as it's a hide-a-bed. Then I think I'll have to build a new box around the water tank that's under the sofa, to support a wide shelf where I can put some storage cabinets.

Also found a spot up in the bedroom wall where I'll have to put a plywood patch -- the accident that the trailer was in did a little more than just dent the outer siding -- it also broke a stud in the wall and pushed things in a bit there. It was hidden down behind the mattress, so we didn't see it before. But it looks like it will be an easy fix.

Kathleen

 

[nomifyle]

I have an older camper that I loaned out a couple of years ago and when that person moved out another moved in (without permission, but it was parked in his Dad's yard) and this second person moved out after a year. Fortunately, I was able to get the camper back and it was in a mess, filthy. The power cord had been cut for the wire among other things. I couldn't stand to go in there by my self (rodent droppings), so I paid someone to help me. For now I'm using it for storage, but in an emergency it could be used for shelter. I threw moth balls all around and have not seen any rodent droppings, course you couldn't do that if your were staying in it. The weather here is almost cool enough for me to get in there and get my things better organized. At some point DH will redo the power cord. Unfortunately, I still have things in a storage unit that I have to get out by January because Medicare kicks in and will be taken out of my ss check and I won't be able to afford the storage unit.

Keep up the good work, its all worth it in the end.

Judy

 

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There were mouse droppings in our trailer, too. There was a container of rat poison in a bottom cupboard that had been chewed into and a bunch eaten and some scattered around (I haven't cleaned all that up yet -- don't want to touch the rat poison until I have rubber gloves on). I guess I'll find out when we get back up there Friday if there are still live mice in the trailer.

Kathleen

 

[nomifyle]

Before I cleaned the camper I put out rat poison for a couple of weeks. Alot was eaten in the living room/kitchen, but not in the bedroom. Since then (and with the moth balls) I've seen no signs of rodents. Good luck. Its worth it in the end.

Judy

 

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I've got to take some bait and traps up there next trip, because there were fresh droppings on the kitchen counters and on the dinette table. Yuck.

We got the trailer plugged into the pump house this trip, and the power works fine. It was nice to have lights in there! And heat -- I did take the little oil-filled heater. Didn't need it for long, just to take the chill off early. I brought my step-father's 25 lb. propane tank home with me and will fill it before I go back up on Tuesday. He said to get a longer hose for it, too. Got the old mattress out and the one my Grandmother had in, after cleaning the bedroom area. Also managed to get the sofa/hide-a-bed out, with much difficulty! I'm going to build a new, sturdier plywood box where it was, to contain the water tank, etc. It seems like, with new upholstery and a little extra padding, that sofa could be built into a cabin or someone's tiny house, because I got it out intact.

And I got most of the carpet pulled up (that stirred up a dust storm! Doubt that carpet had been vacuumed or cleaned in years!). Still have to get it out of the bathroom (who in their right mind puts carpet in a bathroom?!?) -- was running out of steam by then, and DD was completely out of patience!! She's had supper and is in the tub right now, and is MUCH happier! When we go up again, I'll get the plywood floor laid -- can poke a screwdriver right through the old plywood subfloor! We put some plywood scraps down over the bad spots temporarily, just to make sure nobody goes through!

It's a lot of work, but I think it will be worthwhile in the end. I hope I can get these last bits done quickly, because it's supposed to start snowing here in a few days. Probably won't stick at first, but that's coming, too.

Kathleen

 

[nomifyle]

You are inspiring me to get some things done around here that I have been putting off. Keep up the good work.

Judy

 

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I'm glad to be doing some good for someone! Feel a little discouraged right now. Today we (my mother and I) got the big upright freezer and a 7' long cabinet out of the pump house here at the house, loaded them on my pickup along with some other stuff (including the propane tank), did some errands in town, and then went on up to Sprague River. I picked up some of the stuff that's been thrown out of the trailer and put it in the little trailer my step-father uses for hauling things to the burn pile; got most of the carpet out of the bathroom (the carpet in this trailer is unbelievably difficult to get up!!); got the shower curtain assembly out; and we moved an old dead frig out of Mom's pump house and got the cabinet and upright freezer unloaded along with the propane tank and the other miscellaneous stuff. I just don't feel like I really accomplished very much, since I didn't get nearly as far with the travel trailer as I'd hoped to today! But at least the two biggest items from here have been moved up there! We saved the old 7' cabinet only because it was built by my uncle who died a few years ago. Mom said she thinks he built it while in a carpentry program post-high school, so it's close to sixty years old. Very sturdy and VERY heavy, LOL!

We'll go back up on Friday, planning to stay overnight. Anyone who prays, please pray that I'll be able to get the floor done in the trailer! We are supposed to have snow this week, and winter will be here before we know it! There are two routes between here and there, about equal in length (close to sixty miles), and neither one is especially fun to drive with snow and ice on the road -- I really need to get all this stuff finished, and get moved up there.

Kathleen

 

[nomifyle]

Sounds like you did alot today. Made me tired, Will be praying for me. My camper was settling again and my cousin came over to help relevel one end. so much better, I kept feeling like I would roll out of bed. And while he was here we started getting my bus leveled out too. Just did one end because its tedious. Both the camper and the bus are now in much better shape level wise. Now I don't feel like I'm falling over in the bus. No snow here, thank God, but I've driven on snow and ice in Goldendale and going down to the Dalles. Not fun, especially for a southern gal.

Judy

 

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My father used to take us to visit his sister who lived near Goldendale. Our visits were always in the winter, for Christmas or Thanksgiving, so I hear you about the snow and ice in that area and in the Columbia Gorge! One trip up there I particularly remember, because it was white-out conditions all up through the Gorge and then going into Washington. My father, who had driven logging trucks in that area when he was young, and who had spent most of his adult life in Alaska, had NEVER used chains, but on that trip, first chance he got, he stopped and bought chains for the tires!

Kathleen

 

[nomifyle]

Saw my first and only whiteout in Goldendale, then followed it down the Mary Hill grade to the bridge that crosses the Columbia, went to The Dalles to see a movie and on our way "home" we could see it melting from the bottom up. Such a sight. I'm not crazy about driving in mountains, so I'll stick to the sandhills of north Louisiana. lol

Judy

 

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I'm not crazy about *driving* in the mountains, either, but when we live where I can't *see* any mountains, I sure miss them!

Just sent my mother off with her little car packed full of boxes; now I've got to do chores (yes, I'm late, LOL!) and then load up my pickup and get on the road myself. HOPE to have finished the floor in the trailer before we come home tomorrow afternoon.

Kathleen

 

[nomifyle]

I got out in my old camper yesterday and made a little headway. After Katrina we had to rip out the camper fridge and replace it. To save money we went with an 8cf regular fridge instead of a propane one. The replacement fit perfectly in the space. After I got the camper back from loaning it out and in cleaning to whole thing up, I moved the fridge out of the fridge space. That space was still empty so I moved it back. This freed up a lot of space I need for storage. The fridge still works, I just need to get juice back to the camper. The man that was staying it cut to power cord for the wire. Ugh. Good luck on your floor work this weekend.

Judy

 

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Sounds like you are making progress, too!

Thanks to my mother having gone out and spent some time pulling the little bits of carpet that were still held by the rusty staples, I was able to actually get two pieces of plywood down on the floor in the trailer today! One was the hardest piece (complicated shape), and the most needed, as it's the one that actually covers the big soft spot in front of the door. Still have two pieces to put down, one in the kitchen and one in the bathroom, and two 'boxes' to build to cover stuff (water tank and duct-work in one, toilet flange under the other). Also have to take back the extra hose I got for the large propane tank (which doesn't fit inside the tank compartment) -- it has the wrong type of connector on the tank end. I hope they'll exchange it, because I'm not sure what I did with the receipt, sigh.

I moved most of the rest of the hay today, too -- only have enough left here to hopefully last until I move the animals up there. Little by little, bit by bit, we are getting it done!

Kathleen

 

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Just an update -- I found the receipt and was able to get the propane hose exchanged. Lesson learned -- when buying propane hose connectors, make sure they fit your tank!! The RV place didn't have what I needed in stock, so had to order it.

I've made several more trips up, but the weather wasn't conducive to operating an electrical saw outdoors, so still haven't finished up the floor. Hope to get that done tomorrow, working around the turkey dinner! We did get the posts in the ground for the animal pens, though. After the floor is installed, the next project will be to replace the inverter, which was humming when we had the trailer plugged in. My step-father told Mom and me to take the inverter out of one of the other travel trailers and put it into the 5th wheel -- we are a little at a loss as neither one of us has ever done anything like that before, and I don't even know what the inverter looks like or where to find it. I guess we'll manage somehow, though. We usually do, by the grace of God.

Had a roller-coaster today. Realtor called and said the buyers had terminated their offer because they wanted my goat shelter and the listing says plainly that the goat shelter isn't part of the property that's for sale (the property belonged to my grandmother; the goat shelter was mine, and I bought a 'temporary' type of structure on purpose so I could take it with me when we left here). She asked if we could offer them the shelter and she'd pay me for it herself if necessary, so I said go ahead. Talked to my mother and we were both at a loss as to what to do, because over half of my stuff is moved to their place, including most of the hay for the goats. Yet, if this place was going to have to be re-listed, I'd need to stay here and keep it clean and warm for showing. Finally the realtor called back and said the sale was back on. Sigh. Back to moving. But Mom and I agreed that if they do anything like that again, that's it, they aren't getting another chance. They are already getting such a good deal on this place that it seems like they are being more than a little bit greedy....

I'm giving my computer to a friend who really needs one, so after Friday I won't be on the internet more than once in a while, so if nobody hears from me, that's why.

Kathleen

 

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See my thread, Disconnecting my computer today, on the Corkboard.

Kathleen

 

[nomifyle]

Sorry to see you will be off line, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Things ultimately fall into place, just keep your faith and you will be fine. God Bless.

Judy