Evaluation thus far

So I'm now over a year into owning an RV. Would I have purchased an RV again?

Yes. However, I most definitely would not have purchased this RV. 

The lesson learned here is to inspect the RV you may be about to purchase thoroughly. Pay attention to any and every problem. Pay special attention to any symptoms of water leakage. If you see any signs of water leakage at all walk away.

The question then becomes what do I do at this point?

I basically have two options. Option one is to cut my losses and sell it for whatever I can get for it. Option two is to invest the time and money into it to fix it up.

I have already invested a significant pile of dough into repairing the mechanical problems that the RV had. Those problems are now for the most part taken care of. It still has a power steering leak and could use a new water pump and belts and hoses. It will need two more tires in the rear and the cigarette lighter does not work.

I can do most if not all of that work myself a relatively low cost. One nice thing I see about this RV is that I don't have to hack it up to get underneath it to work on it. It sits so high off the ground I can easily go underneath it.

That is the mechanical portion. Then there is the water leak problem. The question here is how much water damage has been done and is the structural part of the RV damaged?

The worst case scenario is that it is completely rotted and will have to be completely replaced. If that is the case then it still will not cost a tremendous amount of money if my family and I do the work ourselves. I see no reason that we cannot do this work as it is basically the same as doing work on the house. It does not involve the specialized tools and training that mechanical things involved.

Add the above to the fact that I can't really get anywhere close to what I have into this thing out of it nor can I buy another RV in any better shape for that money and the conclusion becomes to keep the RV. I estimate that I will probably have no more than $15,000 into the RV by the time all is said and done. $15,000 seems to be about what it takes to buy a good RV of this size. In my case I believe the massive expenses of maintaining this thing are done with. I anticipate keeping in about another 10 years so hopefully there are many miles that won't cost so much left in this thing.

I look forward to working on it in the spring.