I’m new to the forum but have been watching for a few months. I’ve read most of the posts and have seen some discussions on new vs. used. Even though these are probably the highest quality built TD’s, how old a trailer would people feel comfortable with. I know it depends on how it was treated and maintained. Are there things one should pay special attention to look for possible failures? roof? undercarriage? other? Thanks.
I've got #318. It was several years older than other TD's I was looking at, but looked much newer. The quality is legit. There was some slight wood damage from a window left open, but most of it looked new. The baby moon covers were rusted because they spent time at the beach...I didn't want them anyway. Reality is most people aren't putting thousands of miles a year on a trailer, so I focused more on features. 2 doors (old ones had 1), I'm not a fan of technology in a trailer...quickly dated, sink or not, A/C (yes in Texas), heat (not necessary IMO). The aluminum and wood are so well done, it's really abuse to look for. What's awesome about CI is that the design hasn't changed, so many legacy trailers can be updated with things like stainless steel back splashes. Personally, I didn't even consider new after seeing my first used one which I thought was new.
I think Brian & Lucy's comments are sound. I think it is more about features. The CI website shows the innovations that have occurred over the years, and that might be a place to start. As I said, I agree with Brian and Lucy, but want to add that another thing you could consider is taking an older model to Campinn for maintenance. Their service is excellent.
It's good to know that the quality is legit. I haven't actually seen one in person - yet. Since these trailers seem to hold there value pretty well I assumed that must be so. That said, laying out a pretty good chunk of change on a 8-10 year old CI makes you think a little. Thanks you for your response and I hope to be able to put one of these in my garage one of these days.
Don’t you can go wrong either way. We bought new but since the quality is there as long you careful, I think buying used would be okay. When we were looking we could virtually no complaints from Camp Inn owners, but could with other brands. In the campground we are in there is another teardrop. They came over and looked at ours, they were amazed at the difference. We looked at their camper and were amazed, at how poor the quality and there was not much to it.
I just brought home a 2016 that still smells new Ken. It has a lot more features than I would have ordered had I done so new (everything except the roof rack). I can tell you this-if you find one on sale that catches your eye - act quickly- there are few to begin with and so when one comes up for sale they don’t last long. Crazy as it sounds -I had not seen or been in one until I made the long trip to purchase it. I knew a teardrop was the option for us atm and after much research and talking to owners - CI was the way to go. You will not be disappointed-I did see other trailers and none hold a candle to the workmanship. Good luck in your venture!
Thank you. These look like the best option for quality. It's true that there aren't many out there for sale on the used market. I tried to engage someone who has a 2008 550 on Baltimore's Craigslist. They weren't very responsive as it took them 3-4 days to respond and said they were selling through some service. Not sure there is an actual CI there, may just be a scam. I saw the CI you recently acquired - looks very nice. Congrats.
There are a few for sale here Ken that I wouldn’t hesitate to reach out to the owners and take a look at. The 560 I acquired was actually a pending sale with another party- I simply asked them to let me know if it fell through (luckily for me it did). In the meantime I reached out to a few others for sale and would have purchased one of those instead. Amazing how after a decade they still look new. I look forward to watching and seeing what you end up with
I can say that the 2008 on Baltimore's Craigslist is for sure a scam. The pictures of it are ones my son and I took in my airplane hangar (where we stored it) of our old 550 factory service loaner we sold over a year ago on Ebay to a repeat owner in CO who still has it. Cary
Cary - I looked at that with a skeptical eye from the beginning when I saw the Camp Inn tags where the license plate goes. The second email they replied to had a link that I did not click. Got to watch it out there. I had a similar experience trying to buy a John Deere tractor a year or so ago. Nice hangar, BTW.
