Starcraft Aero 700 1986

[rangerdogg]

Hi Guys I have a chance to maybe get a starcraft aero 700 .The owners are older people.It looks great from pic of got should i be looking for anything bad on those campers.Any info would be great .Keep fingers crossed for me it 4hrs away and i cant wait.Hopefully i will be going in morning .

 

[tanglefoot]

Good luck!

Just give it a good, general, snooping around and try everything out. Look inside all the cabinets and drawers for water damage or any other horrors. Check out the wood underneath the cab-over mattress...water likes to get into the front corners on some of 'em.

Do make sure to raise the top and have a good look at the soft wall--it's probably the most difficult thing to repair/replace.

From my experiences, try not to get over-excited and do stay level-headed while looking things over and negotiating a sale. Back out if anything makes you cringe. It's better to come back empty-handed and try again later than shell out and be stuck with a crummy camper.

 

[rangerdogg]

Does the the fabric or soft part of camper hard to fix if anything wrong?Do they ever pop out or anything like that.The only stuff i know is They took out old stove unit .The heat works great clean ,no leaks and inside is in good shape.Where would it say year she can't find it.Im also going to put it on flay bed 4x8 trailer to get it home temp for now and strap it down real good.Also does anyone know how far the down the jacks go? Thanks

 

[tanglefoot]

The soft side wall is tough to deal with if something's wrong. It might be possible to re-tuck it if it has come loose but it probably wouldn't be easy. Replacing it costs much more than the cost of the entire camper.

The manufactured year is usually stamped on a small metal plate riveted to the outside skin of the camper. Mine's just to the right of the entrance door but it could be somewhere else. The year isn't terribly important--it's just nice to know the general decade and that's pretty easy to determine just by looking at it.

 

[rangerdogg]

Went today after a 4 1/2 ride one way Big waste of time.IT was bigger than what should be on a ranger i think.On to the next one.Plus krank was on outside so it must be old.Thanks for help tanglefoot.

 

[tanglefoot]

Aww, too bad it wasn't what you had in mind. That's disappointing after the drive.

Campers for compact trucks do look pretty wide over the bed-sides. Mine probably comes out an extra foot or so from the truck on each side. You just have to make sure the lower part fits between the fenderwells and inside the tailgate opening.

The Four-wheel and AT (all-terrain) campers are narrower, but most of the others have transverse cab-over sleeping so the camper bodies are usually a little over 6-feet wide, which looks a little funny on a compact truck. The extra space sure is really nice when you're inside the camper though.

It doesn't really get in the way of visibility while driving. My side-view mirrors look just below where the camper gets wide, so they still work well.

Hope you find what you're looking for,

Eric

 

[rangerdogg]

Ya it was a old style the krank was on outside to lift t up.The bed where u sleep was wet and mildew.The gas line where out and popcanvas looked bad.I dont mine doing work because im a carpenter but it looked tired.Ya long day 9 hrs of driving.There a lot out in colorado where you live that would fit my truck,a guy selling a hawk from 90 s with truck for 1,800 around u .I guess not many around here there hard to find.Maybe some day i can get a 4 wheel one.

 

[tanglefoot]

Oh ya, I can picture those external roof lift arms. You don't see too many of those around. That one might have been more work than it was worth though.

I was originally looking for only 4-wheel campers since I wanted to go off-road with it, but the wooden camper has held on just fine. The only thing I've noticed is that mine doesn't have a upper door frame so the two sides of the camper started spreading apart in the back until the door wouldn't stay latched (I'm glad that didn't happen when the dogs were in there). I cranked the back end together with straps and put in a metal strap above the door. Now the integrity is good again.

Hopefully some more used ones show up around you. The 4-wheel Hawk is for full-sized trucks--it would probably need to be raised up in the bed to clear the Ranger wheel wells. The 4-wheel models that fit compact trucks are the Finch, Eagle, Fleet and Ranger (interestingly enough).