New to me used camper questions and thoughts

[GaryS1953]

Hi All - So I've been keeping our 27 year old camper together with chewing gum and bailing wire, but we finally decided it wasn't going to last as long as we want to keep on camping, so we bought a new to us 2012 Shasta Revere BK. It's been stored inside every winter, and looks like new both inside and out, only one owner. We gave deposit today and are picking it up on Tuesday.

Now I'm trying to decide whether to remove things like the solar panels and charge controller from the old and put it on the new, or just buy new and install. These panels are only about 6 years old, but I think it would be a job getting them off as I bolted them down and then have used both dicor lap sealant and eternabond tape on the mounts. That roof is aluminum, and the new roof is Diflex (not exactly sure what that is, but I don't want to put holes in it). If I do use those panels how should I mount them on the new roof. I'm thinking of the mounts that just glue down to the roof, but I'm not sure how well they would hold in wind on the highway. Thoughts? My wife thinks I should leave the panels on the old camper so we could sell it for more, but I think it's probably only worth about $1500 to $2000 and the solar would make very little difference if any.

The other thing is I've replaced all the circuit boards for the furnace, fridge, and hot water heater with with Dinosaur boards, and the new one has the original factory ones. Should I swap them out? I installed a Progressive Dynamics Converter 2or 3 years ago. Again should I swap that out?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[LouLawrence]

So few RVs have any significant solar I don't see it as any kind of a added sales incentive. See

[StirCrazy]

I may or may not have a different opinion, I would need to know what the solar panels are first, as well as what kind of controller. I may tell you to leave them on the camper to get more value for the camper overall if they are 12V panels and a PWM controller. If they are 24V panels and a MPPT controler then it's a tougher choice. stuff is worth a lot less than it was 5 years ago. I can get two 350 watt 24V panels for 500 bucks and a MPPT controler for 230 bucks CDN so its not a crazy value. where I find the value comes in a lot more is the new owner not having to put them on the unit himself. the number of people that are willing to install there own solar is actualy quite small. so if it was me selling it and you think the value of the solar system would be about 500 bucks add 600 to 700 to what you think the camper is work and then use it as a bargaining chip. let's say you're asking 2500 for the camper and add 800 for the solar system, that's 3300. If someone offers 3000 then you can say well, I can do that without the solar system, 9 out of 10 times they will figure the system is worth the 300, but it gives you a bargining chip and you make what it would cost to get a new system.

[qtla9111]

I agree with everyone else but I would sell the trailer afterwards. It might be good for someone else just starting out or a fixer-upper project. Less stuff to the landfill, at least for now.

[Grit_dog]

It shouldn’t be complicated at all. Most Camper technology is aboot the same now as it was 20 or more years ago.
Converter, aside from logistics of you have an all in one fuse breaker panel/converter, is just power in and power out. AC power in from the AC wire from the outside shore power plug and power out the same way it’s hooked up now.
And I don’t think that’s really oversimplifying it. Not a big deal

[GaryS1953]

Grit dog wrote:
Sounds like you have the know how and ability to hi grade the good parts you added. And that’s the right choice imo. Sounds like the parts are worth what the camper is (roughly) and that you could use some/all on the new one. You can still sell a fully functional camper by swapping converters or whatever.
It’s just money and if you have the ability to save yourself some of that, it’s rarely the wrong choice.
Like selling vehicles with mods. Rarely if ever does it pay to leave expensive mods on if your can otherwise capitalize off of them.
Recent case in point, traded our old truck/camper for a much newer truck. Value wise the newer truck itself was the right deal in itself. But the guy had easy $10-15k in mods on it.
No one cared. And I have sold a couple of the parts on it I didn’t want for good money and would totally be money ahead if I sold it tomorrow, by stripping it back down to bone stock, throwing a cheap set of takeoff wheels on it and selling the (desirable) parts separately.

I think I'm with you on this and will go ahead and try to replace all the boards with the Dinosaur boards. My only concern is the converter. I spent a long afternoon replacing the factory converter with the PD converter, not really knowing what I was doing. Somehow it all worked:), but our old 96 camper has relatively simple wiring, and I'm concerned this one may as a much newer unit with more electronic systems may be a little more complex. Any thoughts? Thanks!

[GaryS1953]

Boomerweps wrote:

Boon Docker wrote:
Swap out all the upgrades. They are worth more than what you could sell the trailer for.

STRONGLY CONCUR!
However, I would carefully inspect and test the old solar panels for wear and tear. If flexible panels they could be near end of service and not worth reinstalling.

That's kind of what I'm thinking. In fact I just finished removing the panels. These are hard aluminum frame panels and seem to be in great shape. I'll replace all the cabling and MC4 connectors. Thanks for the advice!

[GaryS1953]

Boon Docker wrote:
Swap out all the upgrades. They are worth more than what you could sell the trailer for.

That's kind of what I'm thinking. In fact I just finished removing the panels. Thanks for the advice

[GaryS1953]

Grit dog wrote:
Sounds like you have the know how and ability to hi grade the good parts you added. And that’s the right choice imo. Sounds like the parts are worth what the camper is (roughly) and that you could use some/all on the new one. You can still sell a fully functional camper by swapping converters or whatever.
It’s just money and if you have the ability to save yourself some of that, it’s rarely the wrong choice.
Like selling vehicles with mods. Rarely if ever does it pay to leave expensive mods on if your can otherwise capitalize off of them.
Recent case in point, traded our old truck/camper for a much newer truck. Value wise the newer truck itself was the right deal in itself. But the guy had easy $10-15k in mods on it.
No one cared. And I have sold a couple of the parts on it I didn’t want for good money and would totally be money ahead if I sold it tomorrow, by stripping it back down to bone stock, throwing a cheap set of takeoff wheels on it and selling the (desirable) parts separately.

That's kind of what I'm thinking. In fact I just finished removing the panels. Thanks for the advice

[GaryS1953]

LouLawrence wrote:
Take the panels and other equipment. You can remove the panel from the brackets and leave the brackets behind if you want to keep the roof weather tight. If you plan to junk it or sell it real cheap, take it all and Dicor the roof, screw the screws back in and Dicor over that. Whether tight again!

That's kind of what I'm thinking. In fact I just finished removing the panels. Thanks for the advice

[GaryS1953]

schlep1967 wrote:
At this point, with the market the way it is.... your 500 watts of Solar is worth more than your 27 year old trailer. Take what you want off of it and take it to the scrap yard.
That may sound rude. It is not intended to. If anybody is looking to buy a 27 year old trailer, the custom mods you have done, swapping circuit boards etc., would leave them totally confused and lost if they ever tried to repair anything.

That's kind of what I'm thinking. In fact I just finished removing the panels. Thanks for the advice

[Boomerweps]

Boon Docker wrote:
Swap out all the upgrades. They are worth more than what you could sell the trailer for.

STRONGLY CONCUR!
However, I would carefully inspect and test the old solar panels for wear and tear. If flexible panels they could be near end of service and not worth reinstalling.

[Boon_Docker]

Swap out all the upgrades. They are worth more than what you could sell the trailer for.

[Grit_dog]

Sounds like you have the know how and ability to hi grade the good parts you added. And that’s the right choice imo. Sounds like the parts are worth what the camper is (roughly) and that you could use some/all on the new one. You can still sell a fully functional camper by swapping converters or whatever.
It’s just money and if you have the ability to save yourself some of that, it’s rarely the wrong choice.
Like selling vehicles with mods. Rarely if ever does it pay to leave expensive mods on if your can otherwise capitalize off of them.
Recent case in point, traded our old truck/camper for a much newer truck. Value wise the newer truck itself was the right deal in itself. But the guy had easy $10-15k in mods on it.
No one cared. And I have sold a couple of the parts on it I didn’t want for good money and would totally be money ahead if I sold it tomorrow, by stripping it back down to bone stock, throwing a cheap set of takeoff wheels on it and selling the (desirable) parts separately.

[LouLawrence]

Take the panels and other equipment. You can remove the panel from the brackets and leave the brackets behind if you want to keep the roof weather tight. If you plan to junk it or sell it real cheap, take it all and Dicor the roof, screw the screws back in and Dicor over that. Whether tight again!