1998 Coleman Niagara

[nanadean]

My husband and I are looking at popups to take our grandsons camping, we camped when our children were small and want our grandsons to experience it now. We have found a 1998 Coleman Niagara with awning, ac, 3way fridge, water heater, shower/commode, king on one end, queen on other and table that makes a bed, hydraulic lifts and storage. We have offered them $4500. and they excepted, is this a good price. Also, how dependable are the  hydraulic lifts?
We are proud parents of 2 wonderful children (our son is a Marine living in Ca.), proud grandparents to 2 grandsons and soon to be granddaughter, and not to forget our wonderful daughter and son in laws.
We have a Shih Tzu (house dog), black lab, yellow cat (who wonders away but always comes back) and 3 horses. We are excited about camping again and went last night and hopefully bought everything that we needed to get on the road.
We look forward to meeting some of you along the highway.

Dean and Darrell

[Old Goat]

Sounds like an OK deal to me.....You will surely like the Niagara with all it's space....As for the hydraulic top lift, I don't know anything about them....I have a Barker electric top lift on my 01 Niagara which has had plenty of use and is trouble free sofar..........Good Luck and Happy Camping......

Also, you might  log on to South East Popup Campers [SEPUC]......Carolina Campers is a member and we are a bunch of happy popup campers of all ages from north and south Carolina..We have some great fun and foods on our trips....Check us out....

[Buzz]

Sounds like a good deal to me.
I am not thrilled with the floor plan in our 97 Niagara. I'm not sure yours is the same but with all the extras in ours it leaves the only place to set down the dinnette. But DW didn't want to have to climb over anything getting in and out of bed so its what we wound up with.
I wired my battery wrong once that caused the hydraulic lift not to operate....it cost me $150 and a days pay to have somebody figure that out...My problem with the lift is if it ever fails there is no override...if it dont work, you dont pop up.
The ABS roof on Colemans of those years my be a problem. Mine has been replaced but the new one seems to be holding up fine.

[nanadean]

Thanks for the reply, we went today and looked at a 1998 Coleman Niagara that a person had for sale, not a dealer, he wanted $4200. for it but told us he would take $4000., has everything the other one had except for the storage box  on the front and the hydraulic lift. It had a couple of small holes on one end in the screen but that is all we could see. He had it set up with the ac running and it was cool in there, the ac was leaking a few drops on the inside, nothing excessive, dh said that may be where it wasn't level. We called him back when we got home and dh offered him $3800. and he accepted the offer. It has new tires on it, we didn't get to check out the hot or hot water heater because he didn't have any gas to it. Do ya'll think its pretty safe to buy this one, the man seemed to be honest about it.
Also any ideas as where to go this coming weekend, we may not pick up the camper until Sat. down near Fayetteville. We don't really want to go to the beach as it will be so busy. Just a nice, clean place to take the grandkids, since its their first camping experience we want it to be nice.
Thanks for all your help.

[hoppy]

Sounds like a good deal to me, especially with the AC option.

 I have a question though. Did you see the PU with the roof down on the box?
 The Coleman ABS roofs were prone to sag, bow, cracking, delamination, gasket seal failures, and blistering. I suggest that you go over that roof with a fine tooth comb and check it out. Check for cracking under the awning bag.

  To measure the roof for sag, lift the roof up and off the box surface about 3", and hold a tight string from the front to the back of the roof. From the string to the lowest point on the roof should not be greater than 1/2 inch. Coleman replaced them under warranty if this measurement exceded 7/8 of an inch.

  If the seller is the original owner and the roof is defective it will be covered under warranty. Have him replace it before you buy it.

   If not, a replacement roof that is not warranted may cost between 1,500.00 to 2,500.00 to replace.

 BTW, I wonder where the front storage area went? Every model Niagra since 1996 had one.

  Good luck with your purchase.

[nanadean]

That could be a problem it took us nearly 4 hours to get there because of the back roads. I hate to load the Trailblazer with everything we will need, the dog and kids and go that far to look at it and there be a problem. We have a chance to buy a 1998 almost just like it from a dealer within 35 minutes of us that we could easily go look at. The only thing with that one is that it is hydraulic lift and is $4500. plus tax so we were saving quite a bit with the other one.
Do you know if there is a back up for putting the camper up and down if the hydraulic lift goes out?
Thanks for all your help, sometimes a deal is not a deal.
Dean and Darrell

[hoppy]

Not sure there is a manual back up if the hydraulic systems fails. I always had the old fashioned manual's on all my PU's.

 Need someone with this option to chime in.

  Also, does the dealer's one have AC?
 This is a nice option to have.

[nanadean]

They both have ac, the main difference is the front storage on the tongue, the one from the private person doesn't have this. We would be saving around $1000. after you add the sales tax at the dealer if we get the one from the person. DH called the man this morning and he said he would look at it good and run the line, I think we can trust him, at the worst when we get there and there is a problem we won't get it just come home and get the other one.
This one has more than any we have looked at for the price.

[tlhdoc]

Good luck with the choice.  I think I would go for the one from the private seller.  Have him show you how to set it up and down, and then do it yourself.  Don't get too excited, check everything out, look at the bottom of the floor, in the cupboards, etc. check for signs of leaks or rodent damage.  Have fun camping.