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Old 03-23-2009, 07:07 AM   #1
pan100
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Question 1987 22' Trail Manor

I have found a 1987 22' Trail Manor. It is 1500 miles away from my location, (so it is a 2 day trip just to look at it). The thing that makes me apprehensive about this is they are asking $2500.00 OBO, I have been reading postings from other owners and water damage is a main concern. It has been on the market for quite a while and that sends up a flag. Initially at this asking price I would think someone would have snatched this up. Should I persue this deal or stay away from this? and what other questions should I ask?
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Old 03-23-2009, 10:34 PM   #2
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You could ask them to email you pictures of all the corners and edges (both inside and out, along the entire length of the trailer) where water damage might occur. I wouldn't drive that far to look at something that old without lots and lots of pictures. TM's of that age had a lot more wood in the frame. If you're handy, perhaps you could get it for even less if it's damaged and make a project out of it. But I would expect a project. Ask them to tell you what's wrong with it. Unless it's been garaged it's whole life, or covered, or painstakingly maintained, there is probably at least some wood rot.

Has it lived it's TM life where there is usually a lot of humidity and rainfall?

An old board member used to have a webpage with pictures of his reconstruction of an older TM. Apparently it didn't cost too much, but it took some skill and time. I thought I saw a link to his webpage not too long ago, but I can't find it. He was pleased with the results and thankful for being able to get a camper that suited his needs at a great price with some labor.
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Old 03-24-2009, 05:27 AM   #3
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Default Rebuilding a 1986 Trailmanor blog

This blog may be helpful:

http://trailmanorrepair.blogspot.com/

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Old 03-24-2009, 10:32 PM   #4
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Thank you - that's not the original web page but it works.

Bill...could you possibly add this to the "TrailManor Information You Won't Find Anywhere Else" section? Perhaps under "Rebuilding an Older TM"?

This is important historical reference information.
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Old 03-28-2009, 06:48 AM   #5
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B&D -

I looked for the original Happy Trails' writeup the other day, and it is gone. I'll poke around in places like The Wayback Machine and see if I can find it, but it is doubtful.

As for bringing in the newer one, let me see what I can do. I'm not sure how to do it, other than a brute force copy and paste, but it might be possible. I'll probably need permission from both the author and Blogspot.com, so it might take a while. But I agree, it would be a good thing to have on this site.

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Old 03-28-2009, 10:20 PM   #6
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Bill,

That's my Blogger account! I'm in school and work full time, plus have the family to take care of, so I'm pretty slow at getting the blog finished. I've been (oh so slowly) working on it and planned to link it here when I was done. I actually was working on it today, but I still have a bit left to add, and planned to add more as we continue to work on the TM. You're welcome to add the link - I'm afraid I did all my copy editing in blogspot so I don't have it saved anywhere else to send it to you. If blogspot agrees, I would be ok with adding it here, if you can find a way to copy/paste it. I just don't have time to put it all together in a different format right not. I hope it helps anyone out there who wants to take on such a project - Happytrails/Bill's site gave us the courage to do ours and I hope to pay it forward.
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Old 03-28-2009, 10:36 PM   #7
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Maria G, that is so nice of you to offer to share your info with us! There are likely quite a few older TM's out there that may need some work but that could be restored back to being as good (or better ) than new.

It would be fun to have a "vintage TM" section too...if we eventually got enough members who have them.

I look forward to your next posts & photos.

Good luck with your project!
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Old 03-29-2009, 12:54 PM   #8
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Thanks - but I didn't go to all the trouble of taking the pics and setting up the blog just for myself! I did with the full intention of sharing. I hope it works out for Bill to set it up on here, but if not the link will always be there. As we continue to do work on the TM, I'll add to it.
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Old 04-01-2009, 12:07 AM   #9
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I found the other one....it takes a while to load and it doesn't seem to be all there (but maybe it's just our slow DSL connection), I wish I could remember their names:

http://web.archive.org/web/200304161...aol.com/br768/

I sent them an email and asked them if they'd moved it.
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