Hello everyone,
Wanted to say hi... I've been a long time lurker on the forum but didn't feel like I had anything to offer or add because I was not an owner yet. However now I am! My wife and I recently sold our old panther slide in camper due to some leaking issues, we also knew we wanted a shower, head and running water. We wanted to find a 18' sunrader in a bad way but had a hard time justifying 10k or more for a nice one, so the searching continued. I work away from home and without Internet for half the year so I showed my wife what to search for on craigs list and gave my best friend full authority to spend my money if the right one came along. Last time at work I got a call on the sat phone from my wife saying that they were going to look at one about 4 hrs when I called my buddy back to ask about it, the interior was shot, it had the wrong rear axle and had enough rust on the frame and hardware that he didn't even ask the guy to start it.. I got home and figured the search would continue and hopefully we would find somthing we could work with by winter.
My buddies and I were hanging out in the back yard enjoying some post bike ride beers when out of the corner of my eye I spot an 18'er driving down the street near our house... since I know the other 2 in town it really made my hairs stand up. Then when it didn't pass down the street I really got a tingly feeling, then when I saw my wife pull into the driveway with it I lost my mind!
My friend had been driving past this 18'er for the last 3 years on his way to school and said what the hell... I'll knock on the guys door and see if he wants to talk about it. They chatted with the 2nd owner for about 2 hrs before he told them he had been thinking about selling it because of health reasons but just hasn't gotten around to it.
My buddies and wife and somehow found me a beautiful 1986 18'er all original with 122k miles on it! It's been sitting for the last 3 years so there are a few small issues to be addressed but it is untouched on the interior and body is rust free and the paint has buffed out really nicely!
Thanks for reading this long post and hi to everyone on the forum!