Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2005 18:50:15 -0500
Reply-To: Dennis Haynes <dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dennis Haynes <dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET>
Subject: Re: Vehicle inspections
In-Reply-To: <BE2E6753.8068%camper@tactical-bus.info>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
In the RV world, the Westy is considered a Class "B". Basically a Van
conversion. A class "C" is a van type chassis to which a motor home body
is attached and the class "A" is the typical box or bus. Unfortunately,
since the Westy is not factory equipped with sanitary systems, furnace,
or shower, is does not get classified as an RV so it does not get the
insurance or tax benefits of one.
RVs generally are not built like our vans and they all will leak at some
point. They are built with lots of wood and the layer constructions of
walls, roof, and floor make for lots of space for water damage. Many
still use wood for the frame work, especially trailers. Imagine your
house being exposed to an earth quake every time it is used and you can
imagine what happens to a typical RV. Water damage and structural
fatigue is the main reason you do not see many old RV's. That is why it
is so important for those areas to be inspected carefully.
Dennis
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of jimt
Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2005 2:56 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Vehicle inspections
Was just looking over some RV sites and found something interesting.
On prepurchase inspection of any RV class A to class C (westy) the first
three points of the inspection were
Roof (from inside)
Floor (from underside)
Roof (leaks/corrosion at any entry points, roof seams, roof seals)
Floors (leaks/corrosion at any exit points for facilities, floor seams,
floor seals)
Condition of exterior paint and surfaces was next. Again it was for
leaks
and corrosion with seams and seals again. (dents and dings was later on
the
list)
Inspection of anything else was down the list. This same inspection
pattern
was reflected on a couple sites I went to that had inspection
checklists.
I went out to my westy and just looked at it with just a floor and roof
inspection. With a roof inspection I could probably know with a 80
percent
chance the corrosion status of the vehicle. With a floor inspection
from
under the van again I could give about an 80 percent shot at the
corrosion
status.
A fail of roof or a fail of floor or a close call on more than one of
the
three areas and I may not even care if the engine or anything else on
the
vehicle worked at all.
........................................
jimt
Planned insanity is best.
Remember that sanity is optional.
http://www.tactical-bus.info (tech info)
http://www.westydriver.com
