Proving that the OLDIES are better.

[Lakota Wolf]

A good friend, rolled down from Texarkana down here to Waco Texas.

He has a 2011 Skyline Nomad bumper pull 26 footer.

Basically the lower end of Skylines models but it started off serving its purpose.THEN,,, everything that could possibly go wrong DID.

This is a case of the so called Domino effect, referring to Murphy's Law.

His break away safety switch shorted out,,, locking the brakes up for a good quarter miles,,, and then finally releasing,letting the wheels free roll again.At a fuel stop,, he did a walk around check and cut the melted wiring that supplies power to the electric brakes from the trailer wire harness.He then goes inside to make a snack. Here he realizes the fridge is no longer working (on electric mode). This option keeps air moving inside, supposedly keeping things cold longer or something. So he goes out and turns his propane on and goes in and switches to gas. Here he realizes, there is no light comming on, on the fridge power panel.He planned on relaxing for a couple hours sinse it was getting dark, and switches his water heater to gas. (he has electric or gas, water heater). That little idiot light doesnt come on either.As he gets out his manuals to check everything over to make sure hes doing everything right, he notices the temp is a bit on the chilly side and flips his thermostat over to on, and the furnace doesnt even click,, nadda nothing, ziltch. He takes his volt meter out to the cabin battery tray and checks battery voltage,, all is good there.

He opens the power panel/ fuse breaker box, located directly under the oven, and he pushes all the *test buttons and it shows everything is *working. He pulls every fuse and checks them,, all good. The ONLY things that are working at 12 V. is the overhead lights. He calls it a night bundled up like an eskimo under numerous blankets till morning.In the morning,, he finishes his trip to Waco and gets settled in to a nice spot at the local RV park. His next problem,,, is his waste tank is extremely FULL,, (Right up to the toilet slide valve). He opens the waste gate, and a little water dribbles out. He then spends 3 hours with a rubber mallet beating the bottom of the waste (black tank) and it sounds like its full of clay pottery, Just when hes ready to call it quits,, he hears a rumble and a rush of waste pouring down through the waste hose. He goes inside and looks down into the toilet and notices its only about Half way down and doesnt look very watery,, more like a lava mix. Well at least its NOT overfull as it was.

I help him replace some corroded wires underneath the front of the RV where the 12 V battery leads tie into a junction box. Some new wire and connectors,, his inside lights are a little bit brighter, but none of the appliances are working. It now has power going to the switches but not to the appliances.. His power center is a cluster of circuit boards and resembles looking at at the workings of a short wave radio.

On the back side of the inverter is 4 seperate circuit boards with a zillion wires, connecting to another cluster of circuit boards.

He has a major leak problem at the very front of the coach where the side seams go up from the bottom to the roof line. Every window leaks around the window seals and the door has more gaps then a wood barn door. His vent covers *weep moisture in when it rains. The plastic is so thin and rotted that water leaks through the plastic. Every exterior light fills with water when it rains, so its a 30 minute job to empty them after each rain.Now we did fix his dining table after he thought he could sit on it,, therefore tearing it off the wall with a nice chunk of paneling. During his trip from north to south, the curtain that blocks off the bed form the common area,, fell, tearing 4 nice holes in the ceiling as the curtain rail broke free.The window blinds decided they wanted to just fall apart and look like a hurricane blew through there. Now, taking into concideration, this is ONLY a 5 year old trailer,, it just proves that they are splapped together just strong enough to take it off the dealers lot..

If your in the market for an RV trailer or motor coach, Look for an OLDER well built rig. Back when they built them to last and took pride in their product.

A side note,,, This 2011 Nomad sold for $11,000, and is maybe worth $1500 TOPS as it sits,, and requiring several hundred if not a thousand dollars in needed repairs. So this should make you feel good if you find an older rig in decent condition for under $5K and have to invest a few hundred into it with upgrades and bling bling.