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I Need Help With An Old RV For A Homeless Woman

by anonymous

A friend of mine gave me a 1984 suncrest. I am 61 and live on a limited income and will be homeless soon. My daughter offered to fix the RV up for me. It has a newer refer and microwave and my daughter put in new carpet and vinyl. The roof is cracked and leaks quite a bit. She put a tarp over the top and the water has stopped coming in. The walls do have some wet rot but I am hoping to be able to live in this thing for a year or two until my situation changes.

I do not know how to hook the rv up to electricity. I have looked all over the exterior and can't understand how to hook it up to a electrical outlet.Hmmm.

any help?

ANSWER Thanks for submitting your question on our Ask An RV Question Page.

I am so sorry to hear that you are going through all of this right now. First let me address the issue of the leaky roof on your RV. A tarp is only a temporary solution for a leaking RV roof, the roof needs to be repaired as soon as possible. In your case repairing the roof is not going to be a do-it-yourself job. The roof should be repaired properly before you even attempt to permanently live in this RV.

When water leaks into the walls or living area of an RV it can create some serious health and safety issues. Health issues can result from mold that could be located in the walls of the RV.

Safety issues can be caused by water leaking on electrical components of the RV. I would not even attempt to hook this RV up to electricity, until I had a qualified RV Mechanic inspect the RV electrical system for damage. If you attempt to

hook up the RV to electric without checking for damage, you put yourself at risk of the RV having an electrical fire.

Leaking water in an RV can also affect the overall structural integrity of the RV due to rotted framing, etc. Depending on what has to be done to get the leaks repaired as well as to repair any damage caused by the leaks, the repairs could be costly. Before you decide to have the roof repaired, you should have a qualified RV Technician perform a full safety inspection of the RV. You may find that the leaky roof is only the tip of the iceberg of the safety problems you might have with this RV, hopefully your daughter can help you with the expenses of a thorough safety inspection.

You do not state whether you are going to living in an RV park or parked next to a home. How you hook up the RV is going to vary by the type of location it is in. It will be almost impossible for me to walk you through this process without knowing your exact situation. Again, I would not recommend even attempting to hook up this RV until you get the damage repaired. At the time of the safety inspection, you should ask the RV Technician to walk you through the hookup procedure.

I am afraid that there is no inexpensive way of ensuring that this motorhome is going to be a safe living environment for you without conducting an inspection and getting all safety items repaired.

If any of our visitors have any suggestions for you they can add them by clicking on the add a comment link located near the bottom of this page. I wish you the best of luck and I am sorry that I was unable to help you further.

RVing Al

Comments for I Need Help With An Old RV For A Homeless Woman

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starstarstarstarstar 		need 2 find place 2 live n my old rv & 4 outside chained dogs. get check every month so i can pay my way cheaply
by: sue

i need a place 2 live n my old rv w/ 4 outside chained dogs. can pay lil rent electric & water w/ small monthly check. plez help me find a place 2 live
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starstarstarstarstar 		Homeless
by: Debra

It looks like there are more of us than I thought ! My husband is ill and there is no cure for what he has and we lost everything we had . we live in a 1988 winnebago in a campground and i to have had to cover leaks with whatever i could find . I am only able to do quick fixes. I have pulled the paper off the inside walls and fixed those problems . I removed the propane stove and all lines because he cannot be around anything with odors so far we are ok. Now I have to find out why the generator won't produce power when it's running . wish you the best and I know there is someone out there that can help you .

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