canvas, seals and the lift system: what to check on a repo pop-up before you bid

good thread to start, because a pop-up is not inspected like a travel trailer, the soft parts are the whole game. here is what i tell people to ask the photos and the broker for, in order of what costs the most to fix.

the roof and the floor first, because those are the deal-breakers. ask for a photo of the roof seam and the corners from above if they can, and the ceiling inside at the front and back corners, water stains there mean a tired seal and maybe rot in the roof. for the floor, photos of the corners and under the dinette, and ask if there is any soft spot underfoot, a soft floor in a pop-up is a big repair. then the lift cables, a close photo of each cable where it comes off the pulleys, fraying there is a cheap part caught early and a scary failure caught late. then the canvas, photos of the seams and the bunk-end corners in daylight, you are looking for mildew stain and worn stitching, not a little dirt.

marcy covered the big stuff, i will add the mechanical asks. get them to crank it up in the photos or video if they can, a lot of yards will, and watch that the roof goes up level and the crank turns without a fight. a lift that binds or a roof that goes up cockeyed in the video is either a bent lift arm or seized cables, and that is the one system worth walking away over if it looks wrong.

ask whether the crank handle and the owner's manual are with it, little things but a sign of how it was kept. and the date codes on the tires, every time, a repo has usually sat and the tires are older than the mileage suggests.

the guy from the HW296 thread here. everything above is what i would do over again. what i actually did before i bid on mine through conaway's: i emailed and asked for four extra photos, the lift cables close up, the roof seam, the ceiling corners inside, and the floor under the dinette. the reply took a few days, which i will not pretend it did not, but the photos were good and complete and that is what let me bid blind.

the one i would add to your list from hard-won experience: the stabilizer feet and the tongue jack, look at them in the photos. mine had a bent stabilizer foot that never showed clearly and it was a 14 dollar fix, no big deal, but it is the kind of transit or curb damage that tells you how it was handled. small stuff, but it is free to look.

A-frame buyer so my list is a little different, no canvas, but the roof panels and the latches and the hinges are my version of your lift and canvas. for a soft-wall your list is right. the one thing i would underline is ask for a daylight photo of the exact corner or screen you are worried about, because the thing i missed on mine was a torn door screen the standard photos did not catch close enough. cheap fix, but if i had asked for that one close-up i would have known.

and line your money up before you bid. no financing on these, the lien is on the title till it is paid, so have the wire ready or a credit union loan done first. that is not a camper-condition thing but it is the mistake that actually trips first-timers, not a soft floor.