A bit of a problem.

[Skruddgemire]

I have the option to buy a very poor condition Popup RV. It's not worth fixing but the trailer itself is sound.

The seller is not willing to replace the missing title for it. His reasons have to do with the fact that while he's thrilled that his ex-wife is willing to take this albatross off of his hands, he's well...a jerk.

So I was wondering if the Maine Titling and Registration route would still work if I were to provide a Bill of Sale?

If it's a way to go I'll hand him the $200 and call it done otherwise I'm just going to say the heck with it and get a Kit Trailer.

[KCStudly]

That doesn't sound like it is such a deal that it would be worth the hassle. At half that price, maybe.

I'd keep looking. (In my region there are plenty of trailers rotting.)

[TPMcGinty]

I agree. I would offer him $100. Any Ex Wife or Ex Husband involvement would make me nervous.

[Dale M.]

Call local Main DMV office and ask about Bill of Sale... The should be able to find it by VIN number and validate name on bill of sale is same as registered owner... These type of deals are always questionable...

Dale

[bobhenry]

My question is how does this differ from taking a pile of 2x2 tubing and welding a frame for a custom build.
When you are done you have to get it titled as a home build. I do not see a dmv employee sliding under to check how the frame is made. Just take some pictures along to show the steps in the build and register it as a home built ????

Some states are more of a pain than others I realize but it can and has been done.

[Kody]

I would put the money into buying some new steel and welding your own frame. This way you will have a brand new trailer with no defects or rust. Best of all, you will have exactly what you want. I myself, I would never consider a used trailer and especially one that I would have to pull to bits and build again. I'm a firm believer that you can't build a silk purse from a pigs ear. Just my dollars worth.

Kody

[bobhenry]

I ,on the other hand, have built 3 builds on them "old rusty used frames". One cost me $60.00 one cost me $75 and one was free!

P.S. they are ALL still rollin'

[KCStudly]

I think the thing to remember here is that what may provide adequate service for one persons planned usage and operating conditions may not be suitable for another.

Kody may subject his trailer to 1000's of miles/kilometers of harsh dirt road conditions, including washboard, hundreds of miles away from the next closest human being or form of support, whereas Bob Henry (from what I have observed in his posts) tends to favor campgrounds accessible from paved roads and in relative proximity to developed civilization where support is readily accessible.

Two different comfort levels for two different end uses.

Consider your planned usage and operating conditions, and make your choice.

[eamarquardt]

............................. I would never consider........................ Just my dollars worth.

Kody

Never say never as you never know.

I get great pleasure in scavenging, re-purposing, and repairing. Glomed onto a 5/50 hp single to three phase converter (about $800 worth) a couple of weeks back. Got two sheets of 3/8" plywood that were a bit weathered but just fine for laminating a curved beam to hold my bedroom wall plumb (after I pulled it that way with a a come-a-long and ratcheting strap) so a new shower module would fit properly. Some folks have built nice trailers on recycled frames and you'd never know the frame wasn't built just for their build. It's correct to say that you can't adapt every trailer to what you're planning on building (make a silk purse out of a sow's ear) but if the trailer fits your needs why not go for it. I also agree that sometimes it's not worth the effort to save a few bucks but if you have more time than money and can end up with a good end result, go for it. Buy new and recycle, the best of both worlds.

Just my two cents (I'm a few dollars short right now).

Cheers,

Gus

[Kody]

" ------Kody may subject his trailer to 1000's of miles/kilometers of harsh dirt road conditions, including washboard, hundreds of miles away from the next closest human being or form of support, whereas Bob Henry (from what I have observed in his posts) tends to favor campgrounds accessible from paved roads and in relative proximity to developed civilization where support is readily accessible. ------"

It sounds like you have been to Australia and traveled our outback roads. We do hope to eventually do a full run all around Australia and most of the roads will certainly be dirt. You can do the run and not leave the bitumen but we want to see more of what most have never seen. The dirt roads are much safer than the main highway that runs from Brisbane to Cairns (The Bruce Highway). Our roads here have suffered badly since all the hullabaloo with our politics but thats another story.
You can certainly travel hundreds of miles in the outback and never see another person until you come to a town. A town in the bush often consists of a pub, a general store that is also the Post Office and a gas station. Often times the general store also sells the gas and may have a few spare whatever's. If it rains, you don't go anywhere, you stay in the "town" as you can get some supplies there until they all run out. If the outback floods, you're on your own for survival which is why travelers only move in the dry season. Regardless of all else, the absolute last thing you want to have happen is for your TD to come apart or suffer a major breakdown. This means you make the TD the very best you can possibly produce. However, it's still safer on the dirt than traveling on the Bruce Highway. Looking forward so much to the tripping.


Kody

[Skruddgemire]

First of all, one of the reasons that this trailer has an appeal to me is for many reasons.

1. Price - $200 is less than half the cost of a 5x8 trailer kit online, and it's 6x12 to boot meaning that I can extend my current plans to a 10 foot version and still have room for a jockey box and a bike rack.

2. History - The backstory is too long to post here but it was purchased new in 1994 and has been used only 6 times Each time it drove less than 400 miles round trip. The short story is that he left the trailer at my mother-in-law's house and never used it for the past 8 years. It's been sitting there unopened for all that time which allowed the canvas to dryrot, which let in moisture which rotted the floors and allowed mold and mildew to contaminate the bedding.

But! The trailer frame itself in in prime condition. From what I can see by crawling under it, there is no rust nor is there any areas that the powder coat has failed. There may be some spots between the moist, rotted wood and the frame, but that can be sanded, primed and repainted with a few cans of Rustoleum.

3. Salvage and Savings- The unit has a stainless steel sink that I can salvage and use for the under the hatch kitchenette I've designed (and is a popular option for these teardrops). The worst case is that I need to clean it.

It also has a stove that was designed to be moved from inside the popup to outside the popup and attach to a rail on the side of the camper. Again this is something I can clean and salvage and would be more powerful than the $30 Coleman camp stoves and cheaper than the nicer folding camp stoves.

It also came with a propane heater. Now this is going to be overkill for the teardrop (I plan on using a electric ceramic heater with the cool sides and the anti-tip safety features) but since it has never been used (all trips were made in the summer) I can pull that sucker out and sell it on eBay as "Not new but never used" condition. That's money that can be used to subsidise the wood for the construction.

The two Propane tanks it comes with are the newer ones (they were replaced in 2003 when they could no longer be filled without the new valve design). Since I only have a charcoal grill at home, I have no tanks. To go to Blue Rhino and get two full tanks is $45 each ($90 for the pair) or I can buy two new, unfilled tanks for $60 and spend an additional $36 ($96 total) to get them filled.

Or I can take the two that came with the trailer and fill them for $36 and have done.

So...factoring that all together, you can see WHY this trailer has appeal. For $200 I'm a fair sight further ahead in the game than I would be if I spent $450 for the trailer kit, buy a sink basin and faucet, buy a stove, buy propane tanks.

So going back to my original question...Would the Maine registration plan work or should I offer to pay the extra $15 ($215 total) so he can get the title with no money out of his own pocket?

If he can't/won't get the title for me or can't title it out of state, I had already planned on calling this a lost cause and moving along to other options like seeing if I can find another dying popup or travel trailer. I wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquisition regarding a relatively simple question.

[KCStudly]

No inquisition; just trying to be helpful. The forum is a give and take proposition.

All of the additional information you just provided goes a long way towards flipping the advice in the other direction as it sounds as if the unit has a lot more value than just a rotted out PU that you described only as, "very poor condition".

I understand your frustration. The answers given are not always what we want to hear (... and other times we are given more information than we can process!!!, but that is another story).

I suggest that you call your local DMV and ask them what is involved in doing a title search. They probably do not care who pays for this, and if that is the case I would put your $200 down and take the rest into your own control. Try to go thru your local DMV directly and if that fails use the Maine method as a back up plan. No sense relying on BIL; sounds like he has no further interest in the deal than to be done with it.

The only thing I can think that you might want to check is, if your BIL kept it registered but did not pay any applicable property taxes, they might hold things up for that.

Hope things work out for you.

[Skruddgemire]

All of the additional information you just provided goes a long way towards flipping the advice in the other direction as it sounds as if the unit has a lot more value than just a rotted out PU that you described only as, "very poor condition".

Well it is is very poor condition. As a popup it'll never see the open road again (which is a crime in of itself considering the unit was purchased new and has 6 trips under it totalling less than 2,400 miles under it). I just assumed that with the average TNTTT'er here knowing what a Red Trailer or a Harbor Freight offering went for...I didn't need to bore the folks with the unneeded details.

I understand your frustration. The answers given are not always what we want to hear (... and other times we are given more information than we can process!!!, but that is another story).

I wouldn't have minded hearing the other answers. I do appreciate the concern. Especially looking back and seeing how the folks here were trying to protect me from taking on a disaster or risking getting screwed. But no one even offered me a solution other than the ones that were at best remotely related to it.

I asked "Would this work to get X?" and the answers I got were "You shouldn't get X, Weld your own."

Which if I could weld that would be an option.

<chuckle>Which is made funnier by a close friend now on Facebook bragging that his new welder just came in and he's looking for a project. I'd still like the PU for the salvageable parts, but this is a potential backup.

I suggest that you call your local DMV and ask them what is involved in doing a title search. They probably do not care who pays for this, and if that is the case I would put your $200 down and take the rest into your own control. Try to go thru your local DMV directly and if that fails use the Maine method as a back up plan. No sense relying on BIL; sounds like he has no further interest in the deal than to be done with it.

Now that's something I hadn't thought about. I could sic the Wife on the DMV and see if they'll send *him* the new title if *we* pay for it. We do have access to the trailer (As it's in her mother's dooryard) so we can get the VIN and the Licence Plate (expired though it may be). They should be able to look it up.

The only thing I can think that you might want to check is, if your BIL kept it registered but did not pay any applicable property taxes, they might hold things up for that.

Well if he has and that's a stumbling block...as nice as it would have been, it's not the only option. As others have said, there are plenty dying PopUps that I can strip to trailer, salvage anything that's working and build me The Serenity.

It was the dawn of a new age in camping, ten years after my first camping event in the SCA. The Serenity Project was a dream about to be given form. Its goal: to prevent stressful experiences by creating a place where we could sleep in a rainstorm and not get soaked.

It’s a port of call – a home away from home for a pair of folks tired of the cold and muddy ground. Humans (and many claim I might be alien) wrapped in just under 1,000 pounds of towable wood, all alone in the night.

It can be a comfortable place, but it’s our last, best hope for sleep. This is the story of the first of the Serenity RV’s. The year is 2013. The name of the rig is “Serenity One”

And yes I shamelessly stole that from the Season One opening monologue from Babylon 5