I have a question for new owners who bought used?

[Robin G]

Sorry MikeT, I was saying MikeCM was the Lucky Duck for not having to go thru the search process! I should have clarified that better. But you were pretty lucky too, by having someone just walking by buy it. I know several times during my search I was tempted to knock on a door or two, to see if they would sell me their Egg.



MikeCM, you are a Lucky Duck! The search process is disheartening when you can't find what you want. To Stumble upon it having not knowing the craving/ache for one is pretty lucky in my book. LOL...................


Another thought to think about Lizbeth, but as I said I didn't get any response not even from Sticky Sellers. Ok so what are you looking for? Do tell.........................................

[CliveAlive]

I found my boler on TheSamba.com. Which was a bit of a fluke in itself and that it was here in FL where there doesn't tend to be too much for sale any time, let alone a Boler! Even though it is a project (still).

[MikeCM]

I know several times during my search I was tempted to knock on a door or two, to see if they would sell me their Egg.
...
To Stumble upon it having not knowing the craving/ache for one is pretty lucky in my book.

Robin, I know now how lucky I was. Last summer we had the Burro in the driveway up on blocks while I was redoing the lights and fixing the floor. We were away for the weekend, and got a voicemail from an older gentleman. This message was somewhat shocking and surprising, but illustrates your points quite well. Apparently he has been searching for a small (13' fiberglass trailer for quite some time). A friend of his drove by our house and noticed it in the driveway (note that we live in a very rural community, are set back from the main road quite a bit, and really do not know many of our neighbors).

The voicemail told of his friends discovery, and this gentleman's visit to our home. He just had to see one first hand, and hoped we didn't mind but he came in the driveway, opened the camper door and looked around. He got our phone number from one of our neighbors (I was shocked to hear that they even know our names.) If I wanted to sell he would love to buy it from me. He asked that I please call him back either way. He had travelled about 30 miles each way just to see the trailer.

Obviously I did not sell it to him, but we had a very pleasant conversation. He had unsuccessfully bid on many on ebay, as far away as California. I offered him a few pointers, particularly to this site and the For Sale and Referral section. I don't recall his name, but his search description did put the "normal" process into light.

If you do decide to knock on a few doors, I would suggest that you talk to the owners and not just climb into someone elses trailer. At the time of his visit I had many of my tools sitting in the unlocked trailer, and recieving a voicemail that he had been in the trailer made for an uncomfortable trip home.

In the end it was fine, but un-nerving.

Mike

[Time K]

Sorry MikeT, I was saying MikeCM was the Lucky Duck for not haveing to go thru the search process! I should have clarified that better. But you were pretty lucky too, by having someone just walking by buy it. I know several times during my search I was tempted to knock on a door or two, to see if they would sell me their Egg.



MikeCM, you are a Lucky Duck! The search process is dishearting when you can't find what you want. To Stumble upon it having not knowing the craveiing/ache for one is pretty lucky in my book. LOL...................


Another thought to think about Lizbeth, but as I said I didn't get any response not even from Sticky Sellers. Ok so what are you looking for? Do tell.........................................

No worries, you pulled the information out of me that I should have shared the first time around!

[Robin G]

MikeCM. Cute story! Does drive home the point that some of us are desperate in our search. I am not in the market for one now, have our 17ft and totally happy with it. But if there was a brand I hadn't seen before I might be tempted to knock on a door to ask for a showing................ Don't think I would just walk in, but who knows how tempting a rare Egg would be. Hopefully that guy found his perfect egg.


MikeT, no problem as I said I should have clarified it the first time around. T or CM

[Booker B.]

I found one trailer on Craigslist (Vancouver) and one trailer on a mostly canada free ad site usedeverywhere.com (usednanaimo.com in this case). The problem with Kijiji is that Google crawls the pages slower the craigslist - so if you do a local search for trailers via google you will quite often get a craigslist post from that day whereas I frequently go to a kijiji google linked page and the posting is already pulled.

I sold my 1973 trailer on craigslist so I would overall recommend it for both selling and buying.

[Donna D.]

If you do decide to knock on a few doors, I would suggest that you talk to the owners and not just climb into someone elses trailer. At the time of his visit I had many of my tools sitting in the unlocked trailer, and recieving a voicemail that he had been in the trailer made for an uncomfortable trip home.

In the end it was fine, but un-nerving.

Mike

Well, hope he finds his trailer and joins our community. This brings up the topic of How do you not become a stalker? Pay particular attention about making up business cards to hand out.

[Robin G]

LOL, Donna...................... Stalker, yep I guess you could have called me one before I finally got one. Never heard it put that way.

[Tim M]

Well I think there are so many people on this site that watch other sites pretty regularly, that no matter where one is posted, it'll be posted on here.

I had a friend that after he is seeing mine shape up, he was telling me that he searches Craigslists on occasion and hasn't found anything... in the back of my mind I was thinking... rookie...

I think if you're serious about finding one, being part of this site is extremely important. There are so many referrals here that over time, you'll find one within driving distance to you....

I joined this site while I was looking for one, I hadn't found anything online - or in any newspaper at all - - I like many still look for myself - and for my friends now - - as mine was found out of pure luck...

I drove past what looked to be some sort of egg camper almost daily - - so eventually I wrote up a note and put it on their mailbox... told them I was interested in their camper and wanted to give them a fair price for it.... a week later I had a 72 Boler American sitting in my driveway - -

Good luck on your search

[james kent]

I also watch the Bolerama Forum and regularly search the for sale items there as well as here. It's a good way to see where the market is at for FG trailers.
My wife found our Boler. It was sitting at the back of the lot, at an RV dealer, amoung a bunch of old stickies and she went back for a second look.... Out came her credit card and I had a trailer and a debt to tow around.
Kept the trailer. Took away the card.

[Vi Turner]

When you were searching for your egg, did you check out craigslist and other sales sites daily? The reason I ask, even though I have our egg, I enjoyed the search. So I tend to look when I have nothing going on for eggs for sale on craigslist as well as other sites. One thing that I find a lot is Wanted ads. I know when we were in the search mode I posted a Wanted ad as well, never had a reponse.

But its of my opinion that now when I am searching for ads to post here on the referrals forum and I run across more Wanted Ads versus For Sale Ads that all these Wanted ads just add to the scammers thought process? When you see more wanted then the scammers become of the mind set that there is a sucker in every crowd. And yes, us egg wanta be's are close to desperate when looking to buy our first and at some point will buy just about any egg that comes up for sale. I am just wondering if any one had success posting a Wanted Ad and if anyone else thinks these Wanted Ads just add to the scams. Plus I get tired to scrolling thru the wanted ads. LOL. Thanks for you opinions. Robin

Went to the Tin Can site, and found our Trillium. The seller did not know of a fiberglass site!

[Karalyn]

I got mine from a want ad on the Casita site or forum. I got the deal of a life time, and looking back I am lucky to have it as I drug my feet on it for a month (it was winter). I had to travel about 5 hours each way that day, but I got a used Casita that needed absolutely NOTHING done to it. It was ready for camping. :-) The lady owning it was great, explaining everything to me as to how to use furnace, water, heater and all that stuff I knew nothing about. She even had a note book of directions that I look at faithfully every time I have a question. I love my little camper.
Yep, the wanted ad worked for me. She contacted me.

[Frederick L. Simson]

Went to the Tin Can site, and found our Trillium. The seller did not know of a fiberglass site!

Do you mean Tin Can Tourists?
I'm a member there, too.

[Roy in TO]

I hunted and searched every where I could for months on end. Like James, I also looked at bolerama. I had people volunteer to send me leads on trailers. Aubrey in Ontario must have sent me pictures, descriptions and phone numbers of a about a hundred. I looked at every trailer I could find. Checked out some RV shows just to get ideas. Looked at just about every manufactures web site. Copied and collated photos from every listing I could find (helpful when sellers don't know the age). Greg A's site was not up and running yet, I'm not sure if he was even here then. I listened to the advice of many members here posting.

I finally found a wreck on ebay 10 hours away in a different country. Listened to Donna D.'s advice of considering it a hard tent on wheels until we got it fixed up. I found a mechanic/body shop that would go out and look at the frame and suspension before I bid. The RV repair shops just laughed at the idea. My wife thought I had lost my mind when she first seen it, now she likes it.

And James, you are welcome to take away my credit card if you also take the debt that goes with it and give me a trailer in return.

[JenPB]

Wow...I didn't realize how fortunate we were to have found our Compact Jr. last spring until I read THIS thread! I know I haven't seen any around here for sale since, and I know the stars seemed to align last summer and fall on all fronts. Certainly, we were meant to take this trip!

Here's how it happened for us.

In March I started planning a late-summer road trip with my girls. It all stemmed from Grandma wanting us to take a trek to Washington (Hi, Larry n' Carrie!) where she has a house at the Western end of the Lewis & Clark Trail. I have a little girl who is very interested in history, particularly American history of the 18th and 19th centuries. Since we were ALREADY at the end of the trail, it seemed logical to extend our little road trip. We'd do it as we have all our trips with the girls - with tent and pads and sleeping bags.

Then...on March 30, one of my husband's coworkers offered us the use of his pop-up trailer. I'd traveled with the girls, a tent and no additional adult help before. It was kind of a drag setting up and tearing down camp every day, AND trying to get it packed small enough to fit back in the van. SO this offer was intriguing. We checked out the pop-up, and as SOON as we drove up I knew it was TOO BIG for our TV! The trailer was a MONSTER! It slept 10, for Heaven's sake!!!

But now I was curious. Could we find a trailer that would work? WOULD it make the trip more enjoyable?! Somehow I came across this FANTASTIC FCRV website with WONDERFULLY helpful people. I asked questions, read a LOT, and began my own search for a real rig.

In April, a wonderfully cute, road-ready Compact II came on the market in a nearby town. I would have gone for it but at something like $2,500 (or was it $3,500???) it was a bit high for our budget. Either way, that kind of cash buys a lot of hotel nights! Mike, who it turns out lives not far from me and had already seen this trailer, helped me steer clear, and another family who had the means got a cute trailer. I continued my search, expanding from RV Trader and the local 'for sale' ads to Craigslist and the internet in general.

In May, a Compact Jr. came up for sale on Craigslist about 60 miles from our house. I e-mailed the seller, but didn't hear back....for WEEKS!

I was resigned to our original plan. We'd take the tent when we headed out July 28.

Then, on June 22, out of the blue, I received an e-mail from the Craigslist seller! He'd been out of internet contact, but the trailer was still available. EYE didn't even have a hitch on my van yet, so I called Good Ol' Dad who drove 55 miles south from his house with HIS truck so we could carry on another 60 miles to check out the trailer.

OK...so this story's long...but wait! It get's even MORE miraculous!

The trailer looked doable. It clearly needed some work, but all systems worked to some extent (with crutches and a leg up, but they worked a bit). It was rolling stock. And it met all the FGRV Checklist requirements. Dad and I agreed it was probably worth the price he was asking. But he didn't have paper. None. Not registration. Not pink slip. And it was Saturday.

Turns out the DMV in HIS neighboring town was, at the time, open one Saturday per month. Guess what? It was THAT Saturday! 'til Noon. We discovered this fact at 11 a.m. After talking the seller into joining us for a trip to the DMV (seriously, Dude, if you want to sell it, I need paper - paper equals cash in hand today...THAT he understand) Lo and behold, we discovered a plethora of paperwork there, and within minutes it was a done deal AND I had new paper in MY name, complete with new plates. Such a deal!

The following weeks were filled with an education that could not have been so easily completed were it not for this forum, and, more to the point, the helpful folks here who answered so many questions or who posted about their projects for ready research material for all comers.

Tonight, I finished replacing the leaf springs on my CJ. This rig is nearly perfect for our family. (OK....it could be a TINY bit bigger so it would sleep four rather than the two girls and ONE adult...) It's simple. The mechanics are incredibly basic. I'm completely stoked on it.

Now, will someone tell me how to get it out of the garage now that the new springs are on? Lifted it about three inches!

[Time K]

Wow...I didn't realize how fortunate we were to have found our Compact Jr. last spring until I read THIS thread! I know I haven't seen any around here for sale since, and I know the stars seemed to align last summer and fall on all fronts. Certainly, we were meant to take this trip!

Now, will someone tell me how to get it out of the garage now that the new springs are on? Lifted it about three inches!

Perhaps let the air out of the tires or maybe mounting two tiny spare tires to roll it out on. You know, the emergency type

[Robin G]

I Love hearing everyone's stories! Seems like we all have had great journeys getting to the point of having our first dream eggs. Though we may move on to different journeys, we all have had the thrill of our very own eggs. Thanks everyone for telling about your journey. It's interesting that some joined the egg family by happenstance rather than like some who are on the quest for what seems like forever, yet they seem as hooked as those to yearned for a egg.




JenPB, I remember reading about your journey in bits and pieces last spring. I was still on the search journey and remember your elation of finding out that the DMV was open that lone Saturday and all the help your Dad was to you. Glad to hear that your journey was so successful.

[JenPB]

JenPB, <SNIP!> Glad to hear that your journey was so successful.

Thanks, Robin! And, yep, I'm hooked to this crazy, funky little "hobo trailer" as one neighboring camper called it.

[JenPB]

Perhaps let the air out of the tires or maybe mounting two tiny spare tires to roll it out on. You know, the emergency type

We THOUGHT it wouldn't fit, but I tried it this morning, UNLOADED and it JUST squeaked by! Now...when we re-arch the top, matters will change. We'll have to partially deflate the tires for movement under the door. No biggie!