Best find in a new to you camper

[mike4947]

Another thread got me thinking about my old campers and it brought back a memory of one we brought home 2 years old that looked like it had never been used. As this was the back in the days before the internet I was on the phone with companies trying to locate manuals the previous owner said they never got.
My DW at the time came in the house with two large plastic bags. One full of the manuals and the other with all those little goodies you get like water adapters, etc. She said those two drawers still had the manufacturer's shipping tape on them.
That's when I believed the folks when they said they had "hardly used the camper".

[CajunCamper]

There's a lot of campers out there just sitting in garages that have only been taken out once or twice. Many people have good intentions about starting a life of family camping  but for one reason or another it just never took off for them.

It's very much like exercise equipment that people buy to get in shape and it just sits in a closet or under a bed collecting dust.

I purchased a car last year for my wife that was in mint condition, it was 5 years old with 18,000 miles on it. It was literally owned by a little old lady (not from Pasedena) that drove it to and from church and the grocery store. It is a Lincoln LS which if you know anything about that car it's a good solid car, but it doesn't hold it's value for anything. A $40,000 car off the showroom floor with a 5 year old bluebook value of $14,000.

Sometimes, you just happen to be in the right place at the right time.

CajunCamper

[hollie1974]

We bought a 86 Redwood a few years back for a song. It was a fixer upper. The woman that we bought it from said her son and his friends had used it in the backyard that summer to party and hang out in.

About a week or two after we bought it my DH and my 15 yr old step son were out checking it out when my DH calls me to come out. There sitting on my porch steps is a small ziplock baggie. Inside the baggie was a white powdery substance.  :yikes:  I called the cops right away.

The sheriff came out and took it away. Told us if we touched the bag to make sure that we washed our hands thoroughly. He never asked for info on the previous owner. Still don't know for sure what was in the bag.

I don't think this qualifies as a best find (well suppose that is a matter of opinion! lol) but I think it is probably one of the most unique.

Oh and there were some cut up Pokemon cards in there as well. My 8 yr old wanted to keep those and tape them back together but in light of what was found in the camper, I pitched 'em.

[Duckv]

Rechargeable Coleman lantern, complete with charger.  Probably should have called the guy, but he lived 2 hours away, and it didn't take me long to figure out that the roof sag in the Coleman was not "no big deal," as the guy had told me.  Had I taken the lantern back, I probably also would have given him a punch in the mouth.  'Course, he was a big fella.  Probably when have been more of a kick in the tenders and run for it situation.

I know, I know, I should have figured out prior to buying it that roof sag was a big deal, but he knew I didn't know and he played on it.

Oh well.  Camper's gone, lesson learned.  Lantern still works like a champ.