We bought a "new" camper!

New-to-us 2012 Bullet Ultralite

Since we don't live at the estate, we don't have a permanent house, cabin or hut. When we go out there, we are "camping". In the beginning, we had a pop-up. It was enough to give us a place to sleep and stay dry. It was small inside and with the dog(s), it would get pretty cramped. Plus, there was no bathroom. The girls didn't like going in the woods or using the portable toilet, so the pop-up was on borrowed time. We sold the pop-up and bought a bunkhouse camper. It was nice to have a place where it was always set up and ready to use. We could just arrive and walk in. Plus, there was a bathroom for the girls to use. The extra space was very nice and the extra storage was great. The downside was that we bought this camper when the prices were very high and the availability of used campers was low. We tried to look at 3 different campers but by the time I would ask to come look, they were gone.

The one we finally had a chance to look at wasn't in as good of condition as I had wanted. It has suffered a water leak in the past and had some soft spots in the floor. The owners also said there was a small roof leak that had been fixed which had caused some more soft spots. Other than that, it was in pretty good shape for being 20 years old. The price was high, really high, but that is what things were at that time. We settled on it and shook hands. As we did that, a car came racing down the driveway with the passenger yelling "we'll take it!" We overpaid, and I knew it. But, the girls liked it and it was certainly better than a pop-up.

We moved it to the estate that weekend and put it in it's place. I connected the solar panels and we were set. Over the last 2 years, it has had some use. Not as much as we originally thought, but we used it quite a bit. Last year however, we didn't spend one night as a family in the camper. Between the weather not cooperating and everyone's schedule, we just didn't make it out as a family. The dog and I spent a few nights and I stayed in it in the spring while turkey hunting, but that was it. With the lack of use and the fact that the water leaks were not actually fixed, the camper just got worse and worse. The floor got more soft and the walls in the bathroom got waterlogged. I sealed up where I thought the water was coming in but it wasn't enough. Before long, no one wanted to spend any time in the camper at all. Then, there were the mice. We hadn't had any issue with mice in the camper in 2 years. Not one sign of them. Then, suddenly it seemed they all moved in at once. After being away for about a month, I opened the door and found mouse poop EVERYWHERE! It may have been from one mouse but it felt like there was a whole family living there.

We cleaned the poop up, sanitized everything and set some snap traps. A week later, I went back up and each trap had a mouse in it. Yikes! There was a whole family of mice living in the camper. Ok, I thought. Maybe this was it and it will be OK now. Nope! I reset the traps and came back a week later to find two more dead mice. Each time I would set the traps, I would come back to find at least one dead mouse. I tried to figure out where they were getting in, but had no luck finding their entry point. I sealed up what areas I thought might be where they were coming inside, but still more mice.

While all this was going on, I was getting ready for deer hunting season. I usually spend a few days in the camper while hunting, so I was getting everything ready. Maybe, with me being there, it would drive the mice out for a while. On one trip, I had planned to spend the night and I turned on the furnace to discover that the mice had made a big nest INSIDE the furnace heat exchanger box. I opened the top of the heat exchanger to find a big nest right against the heat exchanger itself. After cleaning the nest out, I noticed the bottom of the heat exchanger box was covered in urine and poop. I cleaned it the best I could and wiped it out with disinfecting wipes. When I turned the furnace on, the smell was so bad, I couldn't stand to be in the camper at all. The urine smell made me cough and wheeze. I packed up my stuff and went back home, knowing I would have to make the drive back up early in the morning so I could hunt.

I even got to the point that I removed the furnace from the camper so I could take the heat exchanger apart and really clean it. I scrubbed and scrubbed until it was clean, at least I thought it was. When I put it back in, the smell was not as bad, but it was still too much. I had even replaced the ductwork because I found urine in the ducts. It was feeling like a lost cause. A new furnace is out of the question for this camper. It's too much money for what this camper is worth. That was the final straw! This camper has to go. I will sell it for what I can get or I will scrap it. The hunt was on for a replacement.

Since we hadn't used it much in the last year, I wasn't looking very hard. It seemed we would have to spend around $15k - $18k to get something in nice shape that wasn't very old. I wanted something we could tow to other places as well. Since I only have a 1/2 ton truck, I need something pretty light also. We looked at a couple but nothing jumped out at us. The prices are much better now for what you get and they don't sell in 3 minutes either. This meant we had time to think about it.

I had about given up when my wife sent me a Maketplace link for a camper. It was older, a 2013, but was appeared to be in really good shape. The price was fantastic, too! Almost too good. I told here there must be something wrong, but I'll message the owner and ask to see it.

The owner responded and we made a plan to drive out to it. It was about 45 minutes away, so I made it a family affair, much to my 11 year old daughters dismay. She doesn't understand that sometimes this kind of adventure can turn out to be more interesting than you expect. My wife has gone on lots of out-of-the way trips with me to look at, and sometimes buy random things.

We arrive and the camper is sitting next to a pole barn. It looks almost new on the outside. According to the owner, he bought it when it was 2 years old. Since then, and until just this spring, it has been housed in his pole barn when not in use. They moved it out this year to make space for some things from a relative they were holding. They had not used the camper in 2 years due to the children being in travel sports and having every weekend being busy. The owner told me he moved it out this spring and told the family that if they don't use it this year, he was going to sell it. Well, they didn't get a chance to use it, so for sale it went.

Having some experience from the current camper, we had some things we wanted to look for. Any signs of water damage were a deal breaker. Significant signs of mouse infestation were a deal breaker. Any non-working features were a deal breaker. The girls and I poked around and dug into everything only to find that this owner had taken very good care of everything. He told us about any issues they had run into and how they were fixed, which I verified by checking out the quality of the resolution. Everything was in order and we shook hands.

Now, we have a new camper as well as our old camper. The new camper is parked at the "city house" for now, but will go into storage until spring when we will move it out to the estate. Then, the old camper will go for sale and find a new home, or get scrapped. We are excited to have a camper we can use and also travel with if we want.