New Chinook Owner

[Skillet]

Hello:
The 1st week of March I flew down and drove home a Chinook I found online at PPL Motorhomes in Texas, which ended a months-long search. As background, a couple years ago after a divorce I wanted to change my lifestyle. I always wanted an rv so I started exploring options. I originally wanted a truck camper and while doing all my research I decided I really wanted a class b or small c. Lurking on a bunch of forums some people mentioned a Chinook and I found that it was the rv for me. Then hardest part was finding one under 25k that was in decent shape.

I flew down to Florida for a possible purchase but it was in terrible shape. It had leaked so bad in the interior that the mold/mildew smell was overpowering. A lot of the wood walls were badly damaged. So I passed on that. When I was looking there was only a couple available in the US so when I found the one in Texas I took another chance. This one needed some work but it was probably the best I was going to do. They let me sleep in it overnight on the lot (they had to replace the circuit board on the water heater) and I drove it back to Virginia the next day. Hit all the snow on the East Coast but it did great.

On my days off I'm slowly taking care of things. The previous 2 owners didn't seem to care much about the caulking on the roof or on the sides. My 1st item was to caulk the driver-side picture window. It leaked pretty good. I've replaced all the cracked marker lights on the rear and caulked around the rear door. I want to replace the carpeting with laminate flooring, replace the tv/vcr, and probably replace the stereo unit. The blinds are broken on the driver side large window, so that will go too.

I love driving it and despite the stuff I have to do, I can't wait to get out there and camp. I got a year's trial of Thousand Trails campsites so I'll make sure I get some use out of them. I don't know what I'll be able to contribute except for questions, but I'm looking forward to being here.

[Manitou]

Congrats and welcome. Sorry for the delay in approving posts. The need for "approval" stops after the first 2-3 posts (becomes immediate after that).
I haven't looked into thousand trails.. How much was the Trial membership and how did you get that particular deal?
Thanks!

[Skillet]

No worries, this should be my 3rd post so it'll be done with anyway...

PPL Motorhomes throws in a free year membership when you purchase through them. There are participating sites throughout the country and the country is divided into zones. I picked the Southeast because I'm in Virginia. 30 free days to use within a year. After that, the participating campgrounds charge you something like $3 a night. Full price is $545 per zone but they are running 15% off for the next 2 days.

I've heard of fulltimers buying all zones and just going between all campgrounds and saving a lot of money. I'm more than happy to try this out for a year but it'll probably be too rich for my blood when it's time to renew. I'll have to see how much camping I do over this next year to see if it's worth it. Here's a link to explore their site: https://campingpass.thousandtrails.com/

As I check sites out I'll report back here to let everyone know how the campgrounds are, etc.

[chinook440]

I remember seeing the chinook you bought on ppl about a month ago.

I,ve been trying to help find one for a family member of mine in that year/price range but it already had a pending sale on it .

[Skillet]

Yeah, as friendly as they were and helping me out by letting me stay the night in it on their property, I have questions about the "A+" appearance rating... But all in all, I'm happy and making it mine, little by little.

[chinook440]

From what i remember of it , i,d say you got a good deal.

it was priced much better than most of the units out there for sale by the actual owners .
I think all of them look a little better in the pictures and are hyped up somewhat. it,s kinda risky to travel too far to check one out because you never know how big of a B.S. er the seller is ! lol ............

Did you happen to check out a 2001 concourse in PA with extremely low miles on it ? just curious as i see that,s almost in your neck of the woods.

[Skillet]

The dealer wouldn't come down in price to what I was able to afford, so I passed on it. Otherwise it would've been the 1st I'd look at. It's too bad he didn't if it's still for sale, 'cause he would have had it off his lot by now. Also, at the time I was committed to the Florida trip. Trust me, after all the travelling I was doing, I would have jumped on it. My only other options were on the West Coast and that was too much money (airlines/car rental) to risk coming across the US for a dud.

[Skillet]

I think all of them look a little better in the pictures and are hyped up somewhat. it,s kinda risky to travel too far to check one out because you never know how big of a B.S. er the seller is ! lol

I don't mind a dated interior because it's part of the game and you can change that for relatively cheap. The exterior I was disappointed in because where every stripe is, the clear-coat is peeling badly. I'm told it's paint so I can't just remove it. From 20ft or more you can't tell, but up close it's ugly.

There's a company out in Indiana that gave me a quote based on description for around $6000 to paint it. That's a fantastic deal and they have done a Chinook before. That's a long-term money save for me. I'm also considering a plasti-dip of it (check Youtube) that would buy me some time and make it look good for cheap. Trouble is finding an authorized shop that has a bay high enough to drive this thing in.