# Should I Buy A Used Outback?



## John3640 (Sep 27, 2010)

I'm looking to move up from our popup to a trailer and have found a 2006 Outback RSDS in great shape. We really like this trailer and the floor plan and I think I can buy it for about $10,000. I found this site, which is totally awesome, and I now have many questions and concerns. I hope you all can help.

1. Delamination: How worried should I be? Do all eventually delaminate or is there a percentage that fail? Is it specific model years? I didn't see any signs on the trailer but I didn't know to look for it at the time. From all the delamination posts I wonder if I should just look for another manufacturer.

2: Water: There was minimal water damage inside on the side of the sofa near the dinette slide. The ceiling had no water damage. Could water have dripped off the rear slide when it is retracted or in from the dinette slide? The floor had no soft spots or signs of damage. The water damage was dry now and not soft and I could replace it fairly easily. You could just see the expanded pimply press board. Should you dry off the slide tops before they are retracted so water doesn't get inside?

3: Tow Vehicle: I have a 2009 Suburban with the heavy duty tow package. It is rated for 7900lbs. The trailer is 5500-6000lbs unloaded. I'm I too close to being overweight? I don't need to drive fast but I don't want to be dangerous driving down the road either. How bad do you think my gas mileage will be? Currently I get about 14 towing my 2500-3000lb popup.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

John


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## CrazyAboutOrchids (Aug 10, 2009)

We bought a used 2003 26rs this June; moved up from a 2003 Coleman Niagara. Should you buy used - sure why not!!! We looked for a long, long time before we bought ours. I think the price is decent; we paid 7400 for our 03. I'll let someone else answer on the water damage by the slide since we do not have a dinette slide. If you can get pics, the folks here are a great source of help. If you do buy, the first thing you want to do is buy a good caulk and seal up the marker lights, around the windows, everything. Did you get up on the roof? You really want to check out the roof well and see if there are any areas where water could get in.

Delamination? Yes, it can happen, but it can happen with any camper with this type no matter the brand. Your other option is aluminum and that is heavier, can dent, is not perfect either.

I do think the camper may be too much for your vehicle. I have an 03 Yukon XL and can trailer the same load. My 26rs is 4500 unloaded, less than 6K loaded. When we go away for the weekend it is very light, for a week it is heavier than our weekend get aways. We are a family of 5, we never travel with water, sometimes travel with our 2 doxies. We looked at the 27RSDS and loved the floorplan, but quickly came to the conclusion it would be too heavy and we didn't want to be in that situation of buying a trailer and then needing a new tow vehicle. I don't carry everything under the sun, these do have tons of storage in them coming in from the small, cramped storage of a pop up and I can see where you could get yourself seriously overloaded fairly quickly. It isn't really about whether or not you can pull it down the road, I am sure you could although it may be at a snails pace. But get yourself into some hills and then you have to worry about going down them and, more importantly, stopping.


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## hautevue (Mar 8, 2009)

Towing; check the sticker on your TV to get the various weights. To your TT "empty" weight, add your "stuff" like all your personal gear, the pots and pans, the propane, etc. that is not included in the shipping weight of the TT. I think you'll find that your addition will run in the 1000# range. It's worth it to pay the $10 - $20 for certified weights at a trucker's scale.

Check the TT hitch weight compared to the allowed weight of the TV hitch. Remember that a weight distribution hitch (WDH) does not increase towing allowances--in fact, the WDH adds maybe 50 pounds to the trailer hitch weight and thus reduces the load your TV can handle. And that generator weighs maybe 50 pounds--be sure to account for all the extras--tank contents, propane, and so forth.

I do not have your Suburban, so you need to check the loads carefully. I urge you to not exceed the stated loads. While being a little bit over might work most of the time, you are risking yourself and your family by being over the limits the manufacturer states. After all, the mfr wants the limits to be as high as possible--"Our Mini Cooper can tow your 8000 pound trailer!







" So the mfr limits are really up to the limit of safety.

Going over the limits puts you at risk when that big 18 wheeler blows by you on that windy day in the mountains. You'll find that the tail wagging the dog is definitely not fun.

Gas mileage: my Expedition gets about 16 around town not pounding down on the gas pedal. It gets a steady 10mpg towing my 7000-7200# Outback.

Good luck!


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## W5CI (Apr 21, 2009)

If trl isnt delamenated now it probably wont be a problem, I get 10 mpg pulling my 268rl and i think thats about avg no mater what your tv is, so dont worry about that, you wont be towing a lot so the burb you have will be fine until you would upgrade anyway, everyone would like to have a big diesel dually but just to tow a tt for a couple times a year it dont make sense to spend $50 grand for a tv, good luck with your purchase, sounds like you found a great deal. You will the Outback


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## Tangooutback (Apr 16, 2010)

John3640 said:


> I'm looking to move up from our popup to a trailer and have found a 2006 Outback RSDS in great shape. We really like this trailer and the floor plan and I think I can buy it for about $10,000. I found this site, which is totally awesome, and I now have many questions and concerns. I hope you all can help.
> 
> 1. Delamination: How worried should I be? Do all eventually delaminate or is there a percentage that fail? Is it specific model years? I didn't see any signs on the trailer but I didn't know to look for it at the time. From all the delamination posts I wonder if I should just look for another manufacturer.
> 
> ...


I was in similar situation as you are. I stepped up to an OB from a Coleman popup. I towed the popup with a Dodge Ram 1500 (5.3L, 3.73 gear). Without the popup, the Dodge made 15 miles/gal average. With the popup (under 2,000 lbs) I got 14 miles/gal and I did not really feel it behind the Dodge either.

Then came the OB 25RSS at 6,000 lbs loaded. Best speed I ever got was 60 miles/hr on flat terrain and gas mileage dropped to 8 miles/gal. After towing the OB on two trips, less than 800 miles, the transmission blew. The odometer reading was 49K miles. I have no reason to not tribute transmission failure to towing the OB.

The replacement TV is a Ford Powerstroke 7.3L diesel. I immediately installed an aftermarket transmission cooler when I took the truck home. It rocks. 
If you are going to keep the Suburban to tow your OB, make sure you install the biggest aftermarket transmission cooler you can find before you hitch that trailer to it. It would cost you about $300 but it is going to save you couple of grands plus the misery being stranded on a vacation trip.

The Powerstroke fuel mileage is 16 on freeway without trailer. With trailer in tow I got 12 mpg on flat terrain. I always keep speed at 60 miles/hr for safety and best fuel efficiency.


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## deanintemp (Apr 3, 2007)

I tow a 2005 26RS with my 2005 suburban 1500 without any problems. On level highways (90% of my towing) I can easily go with the flow of traffic (70-75 mph) and I don't get blown around by semi-trucks. In hilly country, like southern Ohio, I can typically do 55-60 up good grades with no problems. I typically get about 9-10 mpg at highway speeds (70mph). Going up hills she will drop to 6ish! You will most likely be fine, although it will be different from the pop-up. Just take it easy and be careful. Your best driving will be while it is still new to you as you wont take anything for granted, once we get used to things we start taking things for granted and thats when accidents happen!

Good luck and let us know how it all works out...


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## CrazyAboutOrchids (Aug 10, 2009)

Dean, don't you have upgraded gear ratio (4.10) from the standard (3.73) though?

7900 lbs less the 80% rule of thumb for towing, leaves John with a 6320 lb tow rating. Shipping weight per the keystone site is 5860 lbs, not sure what the actual unit weight is. John would definately want to keep an eye on what went into the camper and weigh often. Too close to the limits for me.

We tow our 03 26RS just fine with our Yukon XL, but that unit is 1500 lbs heavier than our unit, before personal stuff is loaded in! We did replace our OEM receiver with an after market one that works much better with the WDH.

We tow in hills, have no troubles going up or down them, stick to a few miles below the posted speed limit (about 50/50 range of 55 - 65 mph limits where we've been) and have averaged 12 mpg on our trips, much less on a side road trip that was constant up/down hills through NY state, I'd say we did more like 8 or 9 that short trip.

A trip to the scale and a test tow would definately be in order prior to signing any papers.


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## Justman (Jul 22, 2006)

Howdy! You came to the right place to ask questions.

We were in a similar situation about 4 years ago. We had a larger Rockwood popup, but the wife wanted a bathroom/shower and a place to cook inside the camper. After looking over the field of available campers, I chose the OB.

We have a 2003 Yukon XL that we used to tow our OB with. I won approval from the wife to switch to a 3/4 ton Silverado after a long trip to Illinois from Louisiana one year. We didn't have any sway, but we did get blown all over the road by the big rigs...and there were a lot of them. Did we make it safely---yes. Did I enjoy the trip---no. I could tell we were working the Yukon really hard, especially after we hit a head wind about an hour from home. We didn't overheat, but we did come close to it. When we stopped for a break, I feel the heat pouring from the engine. I knew I wouldn't be taking the Yukon on any more long camping trips.

So, can you do it? Sure! Will you enjoy the trip? Probably not. But that's just my 2 cents.


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## John3640 (Sep 27, 2010)

Thanks for all your replies so far! The problem I'm having is that I really like this trailer.
The guy who owns the 28RSDS that I like towed it with a Ford Expedition. He said he had no problems at all towing with the half ton but that's probably because he wants to sell it. An older model 28RSS that I looked at was towed long distances with a half ton pickup. I think I may just try it for a while and then upgrade to something larger later when I can. Currently we travel fairly local and have never been more that 3 hrs away. I pickup wont work for me because I often have 5 people or more and the golden retriever so I guess I'll need the 3/4 Suburban. Wish they still made them with diesels. I think the 3/4 suburban has the same transmission as mine but I guess the engine is a little larger and the suspension beefier.

Who came up with the 80% of max tow rating rule? A boating site I was reading said 90%. Is sounds like a good idea but I'm just curious.

I think I will ask the seller if I can test tow it too. I didn't think people would allow that. Is that common practice? Do dealers allow test towing also?

What do you think about me offering $10,000 for the trailer? Is that fair and reasonable? Its a 2006 28RSDS in very good condition.

John


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## CrazyAboutOrchids (Aug 10, 2009)

NADA shows low retail value (private party sales) as 11,810.00 and average retail (what the dealer should sell for) as 14,230.00. I think 10,000 would be a good place to start and see what happens.

Prior to talking price, get yourself up on a ladder and check out the roof. Make sure there are no areas, particularly where the front cap meets the rubber roof, where water could have gotten in. If you are successful, which I hope you are, first thing to do when you get it home is to caulk around all the windows, marker lights, everything. Check that caulking out twice a season. I used Dicor Self Leveling on my roof seams and Pro-Flex around all windows and stuff.

Good luck with your negotiating!!!


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

John3640 said:


> Who came up with the 80% of max tow rating rule? A boating site I was reading said 90%. Is sounds like a good idea but I'm just curious.
> 
> John


Rule of thumb based on the reality that even at 80% when fully loaded you are going to be close to your limit.

Your towing spec includes the trailer and your payload, both in the trailer and in the TV. For boat there is not as much gear to haul so a 90% rule of thumb seems good.

Do you have to use the rule? No but then you really need to be a regular visitor to the scales to know what you are doing.


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## twincam (Jan 11, 2010)

You might want to contact Marci at Lakeshore rv before purchasing, she has super low prices on new and you may be able to get yourself a new one for not much more. She may also be able to help you with a purchase of a pre owned one. Her number is 231 788 2040. Good Luck!!


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## John3640 (Sep 27, 2010)

The owner wont sell for less than $14k for the 2006 28RSDS but I found a 2008 for $14k that has been stored inside a heated garage since new. Only problem is that it is 4hrs away but it may be worth the trip. What do you think? I test towed a 6600lb trailer and the suburban did very well as far as I could tell. I think the 6 speed transmission helps. Trans temp got to 190 degrees. What trans temp is too high?


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## my3chis (Sep 2, 2010)

twincam said:


> You might want to contact Marci at Lakeshore rv before purchasing, she has super low prices on new and you may be able to get yourself a new one for not much more. She may also be able to help you with a purchase of a pre owned one. Her number is 231 788 2040. Good Luck!!


I agree! Unless you are planning on paying CASH for your purchase I would see what you can get new. We were looking at used also. We decided to check out from Marci and we got new and our payments are much less. Yes, the loan is for a longer term but we plan on paying more each month anyway. Good Luck!


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## John3640 (Sep 27, 2010)

I am paying cash. Lakeshore RV is in Michigan which is way too far for me. I don't like the instant depreciation as soon as you pull off the RV lot when you buy new.


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## Tangooutback (Apr 16, 2010)

John3640 said:


> The owner wont sell for less than $14k for the 2006 28RSDS but I found a 2008 for $14k that has been stored inside a heated garage since new. Only problem is that it is 4hrs away but it may be worth the trip. What do you think? I test towed a 6600lb trailer and the suburban did very well as far as I could tell. I think the 6 speed transmission helps. Trans temp got to 190 degrees. What trans temp is too high?


As long as trans temperature is under 200 degrees you are in good shape.


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