Picked up new to me Chinook
Posted: July 22nd, 2018, 6:34 pm
Saturday morning picked up 2001 Concourse XL, club seating, Lux package, 74k miles in NW Ark and drove 1200 miles back in 26 hrs to Richmond. Over past several months looked at and tried to purchase several but either I walked or someone else got there first.
First, I will start by saying the V10 on the 1200 mile trip was great. Whether along the flats in Indiana or the hills of KY and WV, the V10 has all the power you need and more. I bought a Scan Guage II for the trip and it was cool to have. When all said and done, even flying, my Ave Mile per Gallon was 10.4, in flat part of country got as high as 11.5, hilly area under 10. Even while cruising uphill at 70, still had plenty power to pass trucks....UPHIlL....I average 68 mph for trip, people I bought from said they get 12 mpg driving slower though.....I was in a rush!
Flew out after putting deposit down. It was said to be in "excellent" condition and stored inside. Clearly it was stored inside as there was almost no peeling, a couple small parts thats it. However, "excellent" must be relative term.
After going over it, it was clear this rig was very well maintained, the inside was immaculate, especially given it's age. The dark greenishblue interior looks fresh and modern to this day. The owner was super nice picking me up and making sure fridge was cold & with water, they had pillows and some necessities for the long travel already there, plus they had filled the gas tank.....very thoughtful of them.
Both a/c were ice cold as was fridge, van had all fluids changed and checked out. I'll get rear diff done shortly.
A couple nice surprises were:
- very nice slide curtain installed between van seats and coach to give privacy and help control climate
- Water softener installed
- HWH Touch Panel Leveling System for RV, very cool when on uneven ground, I didn't think these were options, so maybe aftermarket
- Van console was swapped out for the bigger new 2008 version, which has much more room - saves me efoort of doing this.
A few negative surprise
- Fan in bath opens & closes and motor works but fans blades started disintegrating when fan turned on...LOL....clearly not used much but I figured easy fix, no biggie.....
- black/gray water hose container cap will not stay on, had to duck tape closed for trip, should be easy repair.
- Antenna crank broke, antenna looks good, just the crank in cabinet needs new part to work.
- Couple cabinet struts need replacing
- Passanger side curtain string on one side broke during travels, it was stiff and I forced to much so will look to restring or get new shades, opposite work great. It still works just doesn't open all the way to the top, stops few inches below.
Two issue I have fingers crossed on:
- water tank would not hold water when we tried to fill, it was leaking out of tube (vent tube?) which hangs down and stops just above axle springs behind wheel. Also when you turn pump on water comes "out" of city water fill tube. Before trip home, I had two local RV places look at and they said it was most likely a valve or two and both thought nothing serious....I hope its not serious since I already bought it knowing it would need to be fixed.
- Paint and clearcoat really nice shape except for a several hairline cracks which don't appear deep, a couple are 6" long but I am hoping this is clearcoat. Since I am pretty anal about this stuff I will want to get fixed, I hope this doesn't come back and bite me.....There was one area size of fist where it looks like someone did repair, it sheens more than areas around it, hard to see and need to be looking at right angle so pretty good repair.
All in all the positives out weighted the surprises so I was happy to seal the deal. On a 17 year old vehicle I didn't really expect perfection and no "nits", but this was in FAR better condition than several others I looked at for same amount.
One question though, when I left for my trip fridge/freezer was ice cold, but 10 hours later fridge/freezer was room temp almost. I had "coach batteries" turned on and I was driving the whole time so not sure why fridge shut itself down or stopped cooling? Did I do something wrong, I figured I missed something easy?
First order of business drop off for water tank repair tomorrow (hopefully not serious) with other small stuff.....then need to decide on lift kit ad tires, probably do Hellig front sway bar and steering stabilizer while waiting on lift decision.
First, I will start by saying the V10 on the 1200 mile trip was great. Whether along the flats in Indiana or the hills of KY and WV, the V10 has all the power you need and more. I bought a Scan Guage II for the trip and it was cool to have. When all said and done, even flying, my Ave Mile per Gallon was 10.4, in flat part of country got as high as 11.5, hilly area under 10. Even while cruising uphill at 70, still had plenty power to pass trucks....UPHIlL....I average 68 mph for trip, people I bought from said they get 12 mpg driving slower though.....I was in a rush!
Flew out after putting deposit down. It was said to be in "excellent" condition and stored inside. Clearly it was stored inside as there was almost no peeling, a couple small parts thats it. However, "excellent" must be relative term.
After going over it, it was clear this rig was very well maintained, the inside was immaculate, especially given it's age. The dark greenishblue interior looks fresh and modern to this day. The owner was super nice picking me up and making sure fridge was cold & with water, they had pillows and some necessities for the long travel already there, plus they had filled the gas tank.....very thoughtful of them.
Both a/c were ice cold as was fridge, van had all fluids changed and checked out. I'll get rear diff done shortly.
A couple nice surprises were:
- very nice slide curtain installed between van seats and coach to give privacy and help control climate
- Water softener installed
- HWH Touch Panel Leveling System for RV, very cool when on uneven ground, I didn't think these were options, so maybe aftermarket
- Van console was swapped out for the bigger new 2008 version, which has much more room - saves me efoort of doing this.
A few negative surprise
- Fan in bath opens & closes and motor works but fans blades started disintegrating when fan turned on...LOL....clearly not used much but I figured easy fix, no biggie.....
- black/gray water hose container cap will not stay on, had to duck tape closed for trip, should be easy repair.
- Antenna crank broke, antenna looks good, just the crank in cabinet needs new part to work.
- Couple cabinet struts need replacing
- Passanger side curtain string on one side broke during travels, it was stiff and I forced to much so will look to restring or get new shades, opposite work great. It still works just doesn't open all the way to the top, stops few inches below.
Two issue I have fingers crossed on:
- water tank would not hold water when we tried to fill, it was leaking out of tube (vent tube?) which hangs down and stops just above axle springs behind wheel. Also when you turn pump on water comes "out" of city water fill tube. Before trip home, I had two local RV places look at and they said it was most likely a valve or two and both thought nothing serious....I hope its not serious since I already bought it knowing it would need to be fixed.
- Paint and clearcoat really nice shape except for a several hairline cracks which don't appear deep, a couple are 6" long but I am hoping this is clearcoat. Since I am pretty anal about this stuff I will want to get fixed, I hope this doesn't come back and bite me.....There was one area size of fist where it looks like someone did repair, it sheens more than areas around it, hard to see and need to be looking at right angle so pretty good repair.
All in all the positives out weighted the surprises so I was happy to seal the deal. On a 17 year old vehicle I didn't really expect perfection and no "nits", but this was in FAR better condition than several others I looked at for same amount.
One question though, when I left for my trip fridge/freezer was ice cold, but 10 hours later fridge/freezer was room temp almost. I had "coach batteries" turned on and I was driving the whole time so not sure why fridge shut itself down or stopped cooling? Did I do something wrong, I figured I missed something easy?
First order of business drop off for water tank repair tomorrow (hopefully not serious) with other small stuff.....then need to decide on lift kit ad tires, probably do Hellig front sway bar and steering stabilizer while waiting on lift decision.
