2005 Casita 17' Liberty Deluxe reliability - Fiberglass RV
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Old 01-24-2020, 11:42 AM   #1
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Name: Karin
Trailer: Casita
Florida
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2005 Casita 17' Liberty Deluxe reliability

I appreciate any opinions.

My husband and I intend to travel the USA extensively over the next few years.

We have a cute 2017 NuCamp T@B CS, inside kitchen, TINY wet bath, bed nearly kingsize, and many technical perks (Alde heating system, 12 volt TV, lights, etc.)
We LOVE it with the exception that we need to put the bedding away (with only tiny space to work with) each day in order to have more than standing room for 1-2. Also the bath is VERY tiny. The cute teardrop shape removes much of the head room.

We intended to spend most time outside but spent the last 6 weeks in cold dark areas and prior to that hot, humid, buggy or rainy areas so we've lived inside more than we expected.
We have researched and decided that a Casita 17' Liberty Deluxe is for us, giving us a decent size bed, bathroom, head room and more room to move about.
We found an affordable 2005 nearby.
My concerns are all related to the reliability of a 15-16 year old furnace, refrigerator, 8000 btu A/C (installed under the front closet), plumbing, electrical, etc.
We would be at least the 4th owner. It seems the original owner had it garaged and everything appears to be in good condition.
Hard decision as we don't want to have our travel plans messed up by significant and or complex upgrades and replacements.
Thank you for your observations and esp. from anyone owning an older model.
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Old 01-24-2020, 05:19 PM   #2
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We have an 05 Scamp we purchased used 10 years ago and have pulled it over 120,000 miles from all 4 corners of the USA and up to Alaska and back.
Our A/C is still original and works well, our propane furnace still works well, our plumbing works with no issues (although I replaced the water pump once), our water heater is original (I had to replace the gas valve once).
These little fiberglass campers seem to hold together pretty well.
We did replace the converter once, but that was a fairly easy do it yourself swap if you're at all handy with appliances.
I expect most of the items will need replacement at some point, but not yet.
You mentioned you have a front closet A/C, those should be even cheaper and easier to replace than the rooftop A/C. Was that a factory install? Usually I only see the front A/C on the 16' Casitas, although I suspect they had them on the 17' at one time also.
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Old 01-25-2020, 10:08 AM   #3
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Name: Dean
Trailer: Casita
Kentucky
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Hi,

We have a 2005 Casita 17 FD. We bought it from the original owner in November, 2015. We have camped nearly 200 nights and towed it roughly 16,000 miles. Other than new tires, new battery, and general maintenance, it has been about perfect!

Wishing you the best,

Dean
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Old 01-25-2020, 03:11 PM   #4
Raz
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I may be wrong but I believe Casita produces the most trailers of all the molded fiberglass manufacturers. That said, I don't see many complaints from owners. Most folks seem pretty happy with their trailer. There's very little difference in models from year to year. So a 2005 Liberty won't look much different than a 2015 Liberty. Some criticize Casita for that but they've made so many, they've got the kinks out for sure. I would probably own one myself but I don't care for slider windows.

Look around the site as there is a buyers check list you might find useful. Good luck with your egg hunt.
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Old 02-01-2020, 12:08 PM   #5
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Name: Perry
Trailer: Casita 17' SD
California
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Very Reliable

We are the second owners of a '07 Casita 17' Liberty Deluxe and have owned it for 4+ years and camped about 80+ days and towed it roughly 12k miles. None of the systems have failed us. We have experienced some minor issues, such as the city water brass fitting started to leak so we changed out with a new updated one. The valve for the shower drain become difficult to pull out and push back in so disassembled, cleaned and added some silicone grease. We also cracked the knuckle on the Fiamma awning but it may have already been compromised when we bought it. Had to remove the awning to do the repair, bought the part directly from Fiamma and took a total of about 3-4 hours to complete the repair and reinstall. Other than those things the Casita has been great. We added 100 watt solar panel with MPPT charge controller and have gone 10 days boondocking and kept our 100ah lead acid battery charged up. We are conservative on power usage and did change all the bulbs to LED. We carry a Honda generator but rarely use it, only for the A/C two or three times. We got rid of the microwave and use the pantry for food storage which works well for us. Also, we have had the wheel bearings repacked twice and the brakes checked since our ownership and both are doing really well.
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Old 02-01-2020, 01:40 PM   #6
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Name: Frank
Trailer: Casita 17' LD
Florida
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2003 Casita LD. We've towed it all over the country several times, including once to Alaska. We've made a number of modifications to suit our own tastes and desires. But the question was about reliability. The trailer originally had 14" wheels and tires and we had several blowouts because you imply cannot buy an adequate 14" tire for that load. Couldn't use 15" wheels because of axle sag. So, we replaced the axle to get rid of the sag, and much better quality 15" tires. New axle came with new brakes. So those would be my #1 suggestion--which axle tires does it have.

Other than that, we replaced the absorbtion refrigerator with a Nova Kool compressor fridge. Partly because of wear and tear on the original but also because I hate those absorbtion fridges no matter no matter what trailer they're in.

Original front AC died and was replaced with a LG 11,000 BTU from Home Depot. Fits the original space, but some mod is required. People complain about the front AC not cooling, but lemme tell you that the LG almost works too well. We always run it on LoCool.

Those are the only biggie items that have failed. We love our Casita.
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