theboondork's RV blog

Having doubts about finding a replacement for the bronco

6/3/2022

Just like everything else in the country, clicking the pics is going to cost more, I'm working hard to bring the price down, but the price of pic clicking is out of my control,.. Sorry for the inconvenience.

White Peony

Another beautiful day in Denver. The mid 70s, partly cloudy, but still plenty of sunshine to charge my batteries, and 50s at night, good sleeping weather as far as I'm concerned.

I haven't been doing much to get the bronco ready to sell because I'm so bummed out about the lack of truck campers available that will suit my needs and my finances; I'm starting to worry that if I sell the bronco, I might not be able to find a truck camper to replace it, and then I would be stuck towing the Arctic Fox around next winter. And even though putting the bronco's top up and down was a major annoyance for me, I loved the lack of stress and freedom of traveling in the bronco to the point that I had rather put up with the bronco's top than the traveling stress and lack of mobility I have with the Arctic Fox.

I have the feeling that I would be better off if I ended up traveling in the bronco this winter than the Arctic Fox because if I run into a deal on a truck camper in my travels, I might have a better chance of trading in the bronco at an RV dealer for another truck camper and just switching out all my belongings from the bronco to the "new to me" camper than having to do something with the Arctic Fox and all of the stuff that's in it, which absolutely would not fit a truck camper.

I called a private sales person in the Springs that had a Lance 825 listed for sale yesterday and left a message, but I didn't get a response, so I assume that it's already been sold. A quick check of prices showed that they were asking a couple of thousand dollars more than they paid for it when it was new, yet I was still interested.... This is really a stupid time to be trying to buy an RV.

Theboondork

Snapdragons

Developing Columbine... Or a developing space alien sent here to turn the human population into a food source for their alien overlords.

Red Peony

10 Comments

OFM

6/3/2022 05:59:53 pm

In ancient history times like when I purchased the Castle I live in now (2007), almost all folks did a parking lot swap over to the next rig on delivery. Sometimes a dealer would even let you use the shop extension cord to make it through the night. I have no idea what is normal nowadays. Good luck to you. I am doing a lot of soul searching about if I want to return to the CROWDED CENTRAL TEXAS COASTAL AREA again next year. Things have really deteriorated in the RV world in my vicinity this year.

Tom

6/3/2022 07:20:51 pm

Yeah they still do that Barney, a lot of RV dealers have a couple of hookup sites available for folks trading in their RVs for a new one.

I don't know where you should go but I do know your opportunities are wide open. But just like the rest of us your choices of places to go to stay warm in the winter are kind of limited to Florida, southern Texas, southern Arizona, and Southern California. I left out southern New Mexico because I never found that place particularly warm in the winter.

Florida is way too expensive and crowded in the winter, and it was that way when I was living in Miami. So I leave that out of the places I can go. And as for California.... NO WAY!!! That pretty much leaves southern Arizona and southern Texas, which is why you usually find me in one of those places.

That area you're in is pretty nice, you've got your fishing, and places to walk, and Lord knows there's more than enough Whataburger's in Texas, and just about every place is more crowded than it once was, with the possible exception of Quartzsite, which probably has more people staying there but its so big you don't see them.

For me it comes down to humidity, I like the Padre island area in the winter when the humidity is tolerable, but I think it would be tough for me when it gets hot and the humidity is high, but I know your used to it. I had enough sleeping in a pool of sweat living in Miami, but I was a lot younger then and I could deal with it a lot better than I can now.

I imagine a big concern for you is being able to find reasonably priced RV parks that aren't full, especially in southern Texas where a lot of fulltimers spend the winter. I'm guessing that problem is going to get worse before it gets better. But then again, maybe these high fuel prices will keep people home and RV parks won't be so crowded, and if they're not crowded they have to keep their prices reasonable.

The solution of course to most of these "where to stay" RV problems is boondocking. Screw a few more solar panels to the roof, put a couple more batteries under the bed, carry some extra 5 gallon containers of water, stick a New Mexico state Park camping pass to your window, and between New Mexico and Arizona you can be camping for cheap, or for free, and you can come and go as you please.... I really should've made this tomorrow's blog post, but I didn't know I would talk this long until it was too late.

Tom

Thomas

6/3/2022 07:37:48 pm

Is there a way to easily modify the Bronco to be able to drive with the top up? Just a thought from an old retired engineer who can't seem to stop thinking about solving problems...

6/3/2022 09:39:46 pm

Well if you need problems to solve, you can follow me around for a few days and you'll have enough problem-solving to keep you busy for the rest of your life.

Well actually I can drive it around a little bit, but you have to go real slow, like less than 10 miles an hour so you don't blow the canvas out of the front of the camper. But the mechanism that holds the top up is not all that great and it looks like if the top was in the up position, and I tried to stop fairly quick, the sketchy looking square tubing that supports the top in the up position would probably bend or break. It's a pretty shaky arrangement and I don't think they used this lift mechanism for very long.

I gave some thought to converting the pop top into a hard side camper by using some strong but lightweight panels that I could use to replace all of the canvas around the camper. I think it could be done but I'm afraid by the time it was finished it would look like "I" had done it and would be too embarrassing to drive down the road leaving remnants of panels and screws everywhere I go.

So I figured it was best to avoid the lawsuits, and just buy something else that made me look less like I'm driving a clown car down the road. After all I've spent many years perfecting the homeless bum look, and I would hate to be mistaken for a clown.

Tom

Larry S or Daphne L Worsham

6/4/2022 07:00:19 am

Don't know if lead is viable but here it is.......

https://denver.craigslist.org/rvs/d/denver-lance-2011-model-825/7488924550.html

6/4/2022 07:38:45 am

Wow Larry! That's just plum weird, and its weird because I think I just bought that RV last night.

I say I think I bought it because I talked to them on the phone yesterday afternoon, I told them I wanted it, we agreed on a price, and they agreed to sell it to me. And were supposed to meet Tuesday morning to complete the deal. So yeah that's weird that we both came up with that truck camper for sale at the same time.

I wasn't even going to mention the "supposed" sale until I actually completed the deal Tuesday, but they appear to be getting ready to move, and they needed to get rid of the camper, and its just what I was looking for, so I don't see any reason why the deal shouldn't go through.

So your the first one to hear about my new purchase. So I guess that's a good thing considering all the effort you went through looking for truck campers on my behalf, so maybe I should do something special in honor of your efforts, maybe I should name the new camper..... Larry.

Tom

6/4/2022 10:40:02 am

Wow that's cool!......My old nickname from work was "Hog Body" and my wife calls me "pooh" but I think" Lance a lot " would work also. Hope you finalize the deal. No effort at all.....I enjoy being an internet treasure hunter. Hope the deal hangs together.....as I understand your frustration with the market. We have been sort of looking and have decided to hang tight. Just bought a tank of diesel here in Texas at $4.97 a gallon.

6/4/2022 11:10:46 am

I like the hog part of "hog body." The first part of my email address is hogmineinc. Because I used to have a mine called the Hog Mine. And the hog stood for "Heart O Gold." I think "Lance a lot" would be a great name, but I would think half the Lance owners in the country would've done that already.

Count your blessings, one of the Walmarts here in Denver I just drove by had diesel at $5.59 a gallon.

Tom

Linda

6/4/2022 02:42:16 pm

I hope you actually get that camper on Tuesday. Right now it feels like a too good to be true deal. But, I sure hope it works out.

6/4/2022 03:14:08 pm

Thank you Linda, I hope so too, it sounded like a fair deal for everyone and I've learned that you have to get on these deals quickly because RVs sell pretty fast now days if they're reasonably priced. But I guess I won't know for sure until Tuesday.

Tom

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Having doubts about finding a replacement for the bronco

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