Purchasing Nuwa Hitchhiker II with water damage

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Countryboy96

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Nov 28, 2017
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Hello, I am New here, and looking for advice on an RV that i am interested in.
I am looking for something for my wife and i to live in for a year or so while we build our house. I came across a 2000 32' Nuwa Hitchhiker II on craigslist. They are asking $5500 The catch is that it has some water damage in the back were the kitchen is. He says it leaked from the roof, they re sealed all around the roof and windows, and started fixing it, but then left it sitting for a while on a hill, and he thought water ran along the bottom edge and under the door and damaged it again. I have quite a bit of building knowledge, but have no idea when it comes to campers. Is it possible to just cut out the soft part of the floor and patch it? Also just buying guides. What are the big things i need to look for when looking to purchase. Are Nuwa quality campers, and is this price good, reasonable, or bad? Other than the water damage every thing looks good, and seams to be working. Also this would be a year round living space, are the hitchhikers a 4 season camper?
 
It sounds like a write off to me, I wouldn't touch it. Unless it is stripped bare and the wet areas properly replaced you will have nothing but grief with mould and further deterioration. Where do you live? RV's are not designed for year round use in cold climates although some advertise so called 'arctic' packages. Don't believe it, the goals are low cost, light weight, low cost, portability and low cost.
 
I gather you intend to just park this trailer and maybe use it for only a year or so as living quarters, so maybe some potential problem areas could be ignored.

Water damage can be severe or not and only a careful inspection can tell.  Apparently the leakage is worse or different than what the owner thought, an long term leaks cause both wood rot and mold. There are many different molds, and people react to them (or not) in different ways, so difficult to advise on that aspect.

Chances are the damage is in both wall (is it back or side or a corner?) and floor.  RV construction is almost absurdly simple, but not often not easy to work on. Walls and end caps are typically put on top of the subfloor, which is laid over a metal cross frame that sits on the trailer chassis. You can cut out whatever you can get at, but don't expect nicely spaced floor joists like residential construction. Finding places to attach new subfloor is sometimes as much a matter of luck as skill. Folks do it, though,  Walls are similar, an inner and outer skin over a wood or metal wall studs. The outer skin is a vacuum-bonded fiberglass and luan sandwich and the inner skin is usually some sort of pre-finished wallboard. However, some are wall-papered after the inner skin is formed.  I don't have any specific knowledge of how Nuwa built the Hitchhiker series, so can't help with details.
 
I would be concerned about "mold". You have no idea how long this situation has been going on. You will be in a closed area where you will be exposed to it day in and day out.
 
Thanks for the responses guys! Much Appreciated!!
So the trailer is set up with the kitchen facing out the back, and the entrance is right up from the kitchen. the damage is right in front of the door when you walk in, and continues to the left under the kitchen cabinets. the original leak came from the roof and damaged the kitchen walls. the owner thought he fixed the leak and had redone the side walls and floor and was just working on putting the kitchen back together when he left it sitting. and he felt the second damage came from under the door. Does that sound reasonable? it did seem like a kinda large area to just have damage from under the door, like damage 5' or so to the left off the door. the trailer has had a cover on it since then, so is not continued to leak, so it was not wet or anything now.  Im not to concerned about the remodel, it seams relatively straight forward, but a little nervous about the leak, is there a sealer i can coat the whole roof with? how do i make sure I've fixed the problem?
 
...he felt the second damage came from under the door. Does that sound reasonable?
Click to expand...

Only if he left the door open.

So this rig had major water damage twice, whether from the same leak or a different one. You probably have the skills to repair, but the labor could be considerable. Do you have the time, and the inclination to spend  it rebuilding this rig?  I can easily see this as a nights & weekend project for someone to play with, but if you need a place to live soon, do you want to gamble it can be fixed up quickly?

I'm not sure the $5500 price adequately reflects either the amount of repair work or the risk that it could be more than readily visible. It's certainly no bargain at that price.
 
Welcome to the Forum!

If you live in it, you do not want the kitchen torn out for repairs!  Mold problems!  NIGHTMARE!!!

I do not know your budget, but certainly there are campers in your price range without water damage!!  Get one that does NOT need major repairs!
 
I've had HH sense 1987 and what you are describing can be fixed but your taking about a major rebuild that will have to be done under cover. The walls sit on the floor so the wall section where the floor is damaged will have to be supported and the door completely removed for the for replacement. You will also have to go on the roof and check for any soft spots and if there are any plan on pealing the roof back to replace the decking. With that being said  $5500 for a almost 18 year old trailer and the repairs needed I'm thinking maybe 1K if you can repair it yourself, your probably looking at 10K at a dealer.

Denny
 
Thanks again guys, great help and advice! I am gonna pass on this camper. i think id have the skills to do the remodel, but don't want to take the risk of getting into a much bigger project.
 
Not sure if i should continue posting here or on a new thread, but being new in the RV area I want to get as much knowledge as I can so not to get a lemon or something that doesn't meet my needs. As I said earlier I am looking for something to live in 1-2 years while building our house.
Main question would be do i need to be looking for a specific camper that will be good for 4 season or do i just need to maybe do some modifications to any trailer to keep from having freezing problems? I'm in mid TN so sometimes have quite cold nights, but not days on end below freezing.
Im not sure what else i need to know, but open to any and all advice on buying and long term living.

 
Some are better insulated than others, but very few are insulated well. Arctic Fox gets mentioned a lot for being well built and insulated. Whatever you get, skirting the bottom is one of the best things you can do to help with cold weather. The factory furnace is said to be about 70% efficient, but I would think it's closer to 50% efficient. Being your going to be building a house, I assume you will have plenty of power on the property. You could add extra wiring and install electric heat instead of using the factory furnace. That will help with keeping the humidity down also.
This may help too:

https://www.frostking.com/products/window-kits

I've used it, as have others to help a small amount. It adds another layer, but more importantly, it keeps some of the draftiness down.
 
You should start another thread. There's been 258 members look at this post and most of them may not look at it again when they see this title. Start a new one with a completely different title to get their attention.
 
Any of the better brands (mid-upper MSRP price) will have decent insulation and be suitable for "4 seasons" but you will still have to take some precautions if temps are expected to go below freezing for several hours. No RV is anywhere near as well-insulated as a stick house, plus there are exposed plumbing fixtures for campsite hook-ups.  Also, every wall in an RV is an exterior wall and thus relatively cold. That means high heating costs.  A 50A shore power RV is a must so you can use auxiliary electric heat.
 
As said above, you will get better response if you limit yourself to one topic / question per thread.

Education takes some time, but read all of the older threads you can handle.  Look through the Library.  Ask questions as they come up.  I guarantee you will get a good education.

Look for a more expensive MSRP, used camper.  This implies better initial quality.  Other threads describe how to best winterize the camper.

Make SURE you LOVE the floor plan or it will be a very long 1 or 2 years building the house.

Good Luck!
 
I agree with the studying the plan thoroughly as the building process may take long time and much money that you'd need for another options that are required for building too. I have many bad experiences (personal or not) that by yet more proof that many builders just lack the technology. Last year while building accomodations in Peru, I discovered myself a way to build structures using the http://www.hardman-de.com/technology.html rebar method. I'm really glad I've found it before I decided to buil dmy own house. I'm still making the project by now, but soon I'm gonna make the first move and start with the basement.
 
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