1996? Georgie Boy 23 foot. Help w/ pricing and suggestions

Hello everyone! I am very new to the RV world. My wife wanted us to buy a used RV from someone in the neighborhood. We have noticed the RV has been parking there forever. Today we put a small deposit with condition that it meets our satisfaction after we looked at it for a few minutes yesterday.  The owner already moved away and gave me the key to the RV to check it out on my own. He thought it was a 1997 Georgie Boy 23 foot. The registration shows first bought in 2006 and contract shows it was sold for $35000.

The manual is a 1995 Chevy van. It would not start. I jumped it and engine only cranked. It has only 12k miles on it. The body and interior look good but everything seems faded (not used). The tires look like original with a lot of tread but show many cracks on the rubber.  I am little disappointed because it did not start and the it's not a 1997 but rather a 1995 or 1996. I will inspect it further with a buddy who owns an RV and is on vacation until next weekend. Is $7500 a good deal if the major stuff (like generator and AC, etc) checks out good. I do believe that the RV only has 12k miles on it. BTW, does this Georgie Boy with the Chevyvan 30 engine have fuel injection or carburator?   

Hi ziport and welcome to RV Forum.

Check the retail pricing in the NADA RV Guide at www.nadaguides.com. Condition is everything at this age of RV, but $7500 is in the right ball park if everything works. Doesn't sound as though it does, though.

An older RV that was little used is often loaded with problems, if for no other reason than becasue maintenance was not kept up while it sat around. On the mechanical side, tires, belts, hoses and all fluids (oil & coolant ) and filters all need replacing unless there are records that show it was done in the past year or so. Probably needs all new batteries too.  Check the tire data code stamper in the sidewall at the end of the DOT data (see the RV Glossary under Tire Date Code if you need help). Any tire 7 years or older needs to be replaced immediately as they are unsafe dues to age and lack of use. Also run the fridge, water heater, furnace, dash and house a/c, and the generator for an extended time to make sure they all work and keep on working. Generators are very likely to fail from deterioration stemming from lack of use and generator repairs are VERY expensive. So is a fridge replacement (RV ridges are generally not repairable if the cooling unit has  a problem).

It is not unusual for a 1997 model year RV to be built on a chassis that has a VIN of 1996 or even 1995. There can be a considerable lag between the time the chassis is built and the RV body placed on it. The correct model year is the one assigned to the RV on the title, not the one indicated by the chassis VIN.

This rig comes from the time frame when throttle body injection was giving way to direct fuel injection. Could be either. I doubt if a 1995 has a plain old carb with no injection at all.

Gary,
Thanks for the invaluable advice. I might have to pass on this one as it has sat for so long. I could not start it again today. There were no repair or service records at all. Everything seems to be original. I don't know much about the other cooling, power and heating components that you mentioned but mechanically speaking, the RC needs a major tune up on top of bleeding the brake fluid. I am going to return the key tomorrow and get my deposit back. I told my wife that I'd rather pay a few thousans more to get one with more miles and serviced records.

I think that is wise, unless you want a DIY project and get a really low price on it. Sounds to me as though this one has been neglected. If you just want to buy something and go camping, I would choose something else.