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Topic: We Just Bought Our First Lazy Daze (Read 7 times) previous topic - next topic
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We Just Bought Our First Lazy Daze
Yahoo Message Number: 97138
I wanted to share our excitement about picking up our First Lazy Daze.  Last week I posted a message titled "Newbie Question" and received lots of helpful advice and suggestions.  I will begin by explaining our situation and end this report about the RV's details.
 My wife and I are both high school teachers and have one child.  Our baby is a beautiful six month old daughter.  We've lived very frugal during our five years of marriage and have managed to save a little bit of money to buy an older RV with cash.  Our budget was about $6000.

We could not find anything worth owning in this price range.  Last weekend my dad and I spent all day driving around Portland Oregon and the surrounding area looking at older, Class-C RV's in this price range.  At the end of the day after I had become discouraged my dad asked me to describe the ideal RV for me that fit into our budget.  I described to him that I'd like to have a 22' Lazy Daze with low miles.  That evening I was scanning my old emails and saw some corresponding emails from a guy in Seattle that had a 1987 22' FL.
The dates of these emails were in August.  I called the guy, learned that he still had it for sale, the engine and transmission had been rebuilt only 4000 miles ago and he had all the receipts and maintenance history.  In addition, the rebuilt motor and tranny had one year left on the warranty.  He needed to sell because as he put it "during these tough times I'd rather have the money in my pocket."
 My wife did not want to make the three hour drive with our six month old daughter from Portland to the Seattle area.  So my dad and I left yesterday (11-08-09) morning at 6:30 am to go look at this Lazy Daze and I took cash.  I was very excited.  The 1987 LD's exterior was in decent condition considering it had been sitting outside in Seattle's wet climate.  The surprise came when we stepped inside.  It was in great condition for its age.  The biggest shocker for me was how she drove.  The 21 year old RV is tight.  Minimal rattles and it handles great.  Upon driving it we learned that when the transmission was rebuilt a torque converter was added which adds an over drive on the freeway so that the RPM's are decreased at cruising speed.
 After the test drive dad and I told the guy we wanted to think about it over lunch and asked if we could take the briefcase with the maintenance records and receipts.  We calculated $5000 was spent in the spring of 2007 for a new engine, transmission, water pump, power steering pump, drive train, rear end, alternator, RV batteries and cables and many other misc. expenses.  I asked my dad what he thought and he explained that without the receipts and maintenance history that he could not recommend that I purchase a 1987 RV with 92,000 miles on the coach.  But because we know the extensive work that had been done only 4000 miles ago, he said that he could confidently recommend that we move forward with purchasing this RV.  I neglected to mention that my dad owns a 1994 30' Lazy Daze with a Chevy 454.

The guy's starting price was reasonable $6995 and we negotiated a $6100 purchase price.  We were blessed!  We were able to find the ideal RV for us including low engine miles and within our price range.  On the trip back we noticed that the LD cruises just fine on I-5 with the cruise control set at 70mph.  We filled her up before leaving Seattle and again when we arrived to Portland and she gets a solid 8mpg.
 Thanks for all your advice and suggestions.  We are happy to be part of the Lazy Daze community.  We'll try to post pictures soon.

Thanks again:

Rob, Maria and Selah (daughter)
Re: We Just Bought Our First Lazy Daze
Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 97139
What a fine story!  I'm sure you'll be happy with the new rig.  This is an incredibly supportive group, so if there are any problems at all, you'll have support, in addition to your Dad, who sounds great.

Hope we get the chance to meet down the road.

Kate
 http://cholulared.blogspot.com &

http://www.cholulared.com

Want to find us? Click below, we're #3096 http://map.datastormusers.com/user1.cfm?user=3096
Re: We Just Bought Our First Lazy Daze
Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 97140
Congratulations Rob and Maria.  Sounds like you got a great deal on a great motorhome.  Two years ago we did the same kind of search (although we were looking for a 2003 or newer) since we are both retired (me a math teacher!!!!).  I flew to Idaho to look at one and then flew to Portland to look at another - that was the one!!!  2003 RB with 20,000 miles and the owners had kept every piece of paper related to the maintenance and purchase.  Sadly for the owner, her husband had just passed away, but happily for us we were in the right place at the right time.  She included everything - hoses, connections, yellow lift jacks.
 When our kids were young we also had a motorhome and had a wonderful time camping with them.  I wish the three of you great travels and fun days ahead in your RV.

Linda and John Prescott, AZ and Larkspur, CO

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Re: We Just Bought Our First Lazy Daze
Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 97145
Quote
"On the trip back we noticed that the LD cruises just fine on I-5 with the cruise control set at 70mph."
Thanks again:

Rob, Maria and Selah (daughter)

Rob

If you back off on the accelerator and set that cruise control to about 58 I'm betting that you will see a substantial increase in gas mileage.
 On my '04 30IB E450 with the V10 engine I recently drove 4,886 miles and averaged 9.4mpg according to my GPS and ScanGaugeII. I had the cruise set to 58 as read on the ScanGauge. I'm quite content with that!

Steve S.
Lazy Bones & Jiggs
Steve S.
Lazy Bones & Cedar
2004 30'IB (Island Bed)
Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery
Live for the day!
Re: We Just Bought Our First Lazy Daze
Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 97147
Congratulations to Rob and John and their families! Many of us own or have owned 80s-vintage LDs built on Chevy chassis, so I'm sure you'll find plenty of helpful answers here when questions arise.
 In addition, you might want to take a look at my "Travels with Gertie" website, which details my five years of adventures with my 1985 22' Twin/King:

http://www.andybaird.com/travels/>

... and in particular, the "Improving Gertie" section of the site, which is full of hints and tips for enhancing your rig:

http://www.andybaird.com/travels/gertie/improv.htm>

Happy trails!

Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"
Re: We Just Bought Our First Lazy Daze
Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 97259
Congratulations Rob and Maria. I'm curious to know if you purchased Michael Stapleford's 1987FL Lazy Daze? He has several post last year about the overdrive transmission swap he did with a rebuilt engine and that he was going to move to Bellevue WA (Seattle area) and had to sell it. I did the same transmission swap