RVs, gold mines in waiting

 As my regular readers may or may not have figured out, this blog has generally been about ways to build wealth. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do some leg work, or be afraid to get your hands dirty sometimes. I find that a little sweat, if put into the right efforts, will return a much larger return than investing cash. Also when we consider the state of the markets today we find very few sound investments right now. While I could go into a long post about why I'm very light in the market right now, I think most of the folks reading this blog already know why. Most of you know me from HT already after all. If it would be of interest I might consider doing a few market posts, but for now I've avoided going that direction. Anyway, on with the show.


For those of us that also like to be prepared for what I will call social disruptions, a little hard work today can return even greater dividends in the future than any paper investment. In this 2 part post I'm going to discuss buying and stripping RVs for resources, future prep items, fun, and of course profit. In this post I'll be discussing what to look for in a purchase, things to avoid, potential sources of cheap donor rigs, and potential prep items. In the second post I'm going to include some pictures of the rig I currently have sitting outside with descriptions of the parts I may salvage. I haven't decided if I'm going to strip this one or use it as an emergency rig or something else.

 The first step to making bucks on old RVs is buying them right. You'll notice a common theme with me is you make a profit when you buy not when you sell. This is true of so many things it's almost universal. So we'll start by zeroing in on the type of rig we're looking for.

 I like the late 70's and early 80's models. These are in a sweet spot for scraping and scavenging as they have a lot of metal parts and were built pretty tough. The price of those old gas sucking beasts comes down fast when fuel prices go up, which means we're looking at a prime buyers market coming up. Later into the winter is also another prime hunting season as a lot of the people that own them live in them full time. As cold weather sets in they realize it would be best to find better shelter. Those old rigs aren't real warm.

 In any event, don't pay more than you have to no matter the market. I currently have a cap of about 1k on RVs. For 1k I expect it to run, or at least have a decent motor and trans. Bad breaks, tires, exterior lights, and the like are fine. I also expect the interior to be complete. That means the heaters, AC, lights, inverter, 3 way fridge, bathroom fixtures, etc. are all there. There's a good chance some of them won't work and that lowers the price.( We'll talk about cheap and free ways to repair this stuff for resale later) In any event, unless it's free for the taking we never want to buy a shell. What's the point right?

It's my preference to get an RV and not a trailer. The RVs are heavier which means more metal content. Stripping the engine and transmission from these rigs often pays for the whole deal. The drive train along with many of the chassis parts are just heavy duty versions of the trucks built in those years. Parts are often hard to come by, meaning guys restoring old trucks will be a ready market. (My current project came with a 440 topped with a Carter AFB carb , I've been offered double what I payed for the rig for them) Being a fully self contained unit also means more goodies to nab for resale or personal use.

 That shouldn't discourage you from looking at trailers though. You just need to make sure the trailer has other profitable items besides metal is all. You should also lower the price you're willing to pay for them. In a trailer you're really only getting the aluminum shell, frame, axle, wires, and whatever 12 volt and propane goodies are inside it. Less profitable, but still profitable indeed. They also rip down faster and easier so you should account for the your labor.

 A nice side bonus to these old rigs is a generator. It's not that often you'll find a really cheap RV with the genset still in it, but if you do consider it a bonus. Even if the genset doesn't run or work properly it's a nice find. They can often be salvaged for parts and 2-3 saved up can yield a good running genny with plenty of spare parts. Or you can break them down for scrap content of course. My current project has an old Kohler 5.5kw 3 phase genny in it. A really sweet find indeed. The 3 phase means it runs at lower RPMs making it a fine candidate for a diesel or propane conversion.

 In the kitchen of our project we find a few good items for resale. The stove is where I usually start. I want to know if it works before I buy it most of the time. Too often the people selling have no idea as it's been sitting for a very long time. Checking a propane stove for gas leaks is one of my least favorite things to do as if it's done wrong could lead to disaster. I'll leave you to search out on Google for best practices as I am too reckless to give good advice here. If we find it's in good working order, clean it up and resell it! I have one I use outside during summer months for cooking, and for use in emergencies when power is out.

 Next is the fridge. 3 way fridges are valuable without a doubt. I have two I've saved for emergencies along with propane and several batteries. These things are almost always in demand by off grid folks and RVers alike. Make sure they work of course, and clean them up. By and large if they are broken I haven't put a lot of effort into fixing them being as I have limited knowledge of their inner workings. I did however manage to save one recently by turning it on it's head for 8 hours and flipping it back over. (Thanks to Ryan from HT for the tip) I don't know why it worked, but I'm not complaining.

 Anything 12 volt inside should be saved for the future or sold. I have this odd compulsion to save 12v lights and fans for some reason. I've also saved a few of the older inverters. While they won't run or will even damage some of the more modern electronics and batteries they are tough as nails. I like having a few around for running lights and such if the power goes out.

 We haven't even touched on scrapping metals and some of the other fixtures yet but I'm sick of typing. I'll try and cover as much as I can in the next post and hope to include some pictures as well. If needed I suppose we can expand this out to a 3 part serious though I really hope to have it wrapped up before them. Until then, play safe kiddies and take a cruise through your local Craigslist or other classified adds. Take a look at the local ghetto camp ground and see what's in there. I've found quite a few good deals talking to the manager of local and semi local RV parks. Sometimes some free for the taking stuff! Till next post. :D