Just wondering what you guys think of the mid 90s Damon products. I have a chance at 94 Damon Intuder 32' Ford 460 with 27k on the clock.I can get this for what Dealer will give him for trade in. I have not gone over it yet but wanted to know what people thought of Damon in general. I'm not that upto date on Class A manufactors. I know it's not a Monaco or the likes. Go ahead and tell me what you think, I can take it, I'm a big boy. LOL
We bought a 2003 Damon DP earlier this year and we really like it. I will warn you that there are some people on this forum who have very strong opinions against the brand, most of them know someone who had problems with their Damon. On the other hand, I've found quite a few people on here who actually own them and are happy with their motor home. Like anything there may be a variety of responses. Every brand out there will have units that have their share, or more than their share, of problems.
We had a third party, mobile RV mechanic, look ours over so we knew what we were getting into. We've put around 5,000 trouble free miles on it since we bought it in May.
Good luck with your search!
Cat (Jim just reads the forum once in a while)
Our toys:
2003 Damon Ultrasport 3873
(picture on profile)
Boat = ProCraft Fish & Ski
Working our way toward retirement...wishing it was soon.
I have owned a 99 Daybreak for 7 years and found it to be a good coach, well made and reliableVortec engine is good, but I think I would like an auxs transmission. Wife is now talking abouit slides, so who knows. I would buy another.
AS you can see from my signature I have a 2000 Damon Ultrasport. I have known some who have had major problems with Damon and have read about others. Their problems were major and real. My Ultrasport has been ideal. Its cost was much lower than other brands and the quality and reliability has been superior. I have owned it since it was new. I consider my experience to be mainly good luck. For a used Damon any problems should have appeared and been fixed so that is a different situation. So for a used one look it over very carefully and if it is ok negotiate a price and enjoy. BTW the current Damons are no longer called Damons. They are called Thor Motor Homes. Thor bought Damon in 2001 and by now they have cleaned house and to the best of my knowledge have raised the level of quality and reliability. In the past you found some good Damons and some bad Damons.
The mid 90's MH's had a lot of issues-----regardless of manufacturer. Small tires (probably too old to safely use also), narrow wheel treads, overheating, cracked manifolds etc. The house stuff is also nearly 20 years old. My guess is that you will need to have $5,000 available to fix things or be very mechanically inclined.
Now that I've been negative, tell us how you intend to use it and the price you can get it for. What the dealer may be offering is so much off list price of the MH they're looking at----------not what it really is worth, which could be a lot, lot less.
Mark
2000 Itasca Suncruiser 35U on a Ford chassis, 74,000 miles
2003 Ford Explorer toad with Ready Brake supplemental brakes,
Ready Brute tow bar, and Demco base plate.
I purchased a 2004 Damon Intruder on a Ford Chassis with the V 10 in May of 2010 it had 11000 miles on it. since then we have added about
10.000 miles with no trouble at all. The unit was a bank repo and the local dealer bought it at an auction. We replaced the tires and thanks to a voltage surge at a camp ground I replaced the inverter
( normal things ) I have compared this coach with others at different RV dealers and shows and I feel that in this price range I could not have done any better. As catandjim stated there will be strong opinions for and against Damon. In my opinion regardless of what you pay for a MH gas or Diesel $ 1000.00 or 2,000.000 or what brand someone will have negative comments about it, In most cases they havent even owned the brand in question just repeating what they have heard. If you like the unit and feel it's a good buy go for it.
Fishseeker, The dealer will probably be offering 10,000 or better on trade-in like grizzly said. You can probably buy it from the dealer for 7 to 8 or cheaper. dealers do not like to keep these older mhs on lot, so they sell them cheap and quick. I bought a 89 model 4 year ago, they were asking 15,000 and I offered 6 and stuck to 6 and they excepted. I have talked to other people who have done the same thing.
I have owned my 96 Damon Challenger for 4 years. I also got a good deal.
For a 15 year old RV, its held up nice. No issues with the specific RV items. I replaced the flooring and have done some minor upgrades. We did have a broken weld on the firewall, which created a squeak.
I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Damon RV. If the price is right, you have a lot of room for customizations and upgrades. The dealer probably offered the guy KBB, which is most likely under $10K
The Intruder was Damon's high end gas unit during that time.
We have the 460 with a Banks Exhaust. This cured the warped exhaust manifold issue and provides more power. This engine is plenty strong for this big box and moves the RV along fine. Expect gas mileage around 7-8 mpg
Good luck!
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