Why an old Chinook?

 

The choice of an elderly Chinook Concourse on a Ford Chassis with a petrol engine only came after extensive market and product research, plus a lot of manipulation of my modest budget. After my boating experiences I knew a lot about how to live comfortably and efficiently in a small space and, over the years, I have also worked on a lot of automotive petrol and marine diesel engines, but I had no knowledge or experience of RV's or RV'ing. Class A, Class B, Class B+, Class C, Conversion Van, cutaway chassis, full chassis, diesel, petrol,  etc., etc......so many designs, features and details to understand. To put myself on a fast track to learning as much as possible I spent many hours reading, on and off line and surfing specialist web sites on the 'net. I was surprised at how expansive the RV 'World' is and how broad the range of products and support resources are. It turns out there a lot of similarities in systems design and application between boats and RV's, but there was still a lot to learn. Like almost every large purchase, the final decision was driven by marketplace reputation, layout, features, support resources, availability and, of course, funds.  

Being one of the more familiar names in the industry, and having developed a strong reputation over time, the original 'classic' Chinook brand evidently experienced a bit of a roller coaster ride over the decades, reaching a peak of popularity during the late 1990's before foundering in 2005. With it's various incarnations and products well detailed by various industry sources, the foundations and original roots of Chinook can be traced all the way back to the WW2 era. The name was resurrected under new ownership in more recent years, but the market stature, reputation and quality of 'new' Chinook seems not to be matching that of the past.....plus, the recent offerings are priced far outside my budget.   

All the research I did pointed to a shorter, (sub 25 ft) Class C or B+ coach as being best suited to my needs. In addition to being easier to operate and less expensive to maintain, the smaller coaches tend to be more versatile and offer easier access to many locations where a larger coach can't go. The name that kept cropping up with positive owner reviews at my price point was Chinook. In particular, the smallest models from the late 1990's and early 2000's, the Concourse and Premier, seemed to be very well regarded by their owners in terms of quality and longevity. So, I started looking for a nice used one. The two models are very similar, with a few more bells and whistles on the Concourse, but either would work for me. In actuality there were far more Concourse Models built and so they are more easily found in the used coach marketplace.

There were two floor plans offered; the 'club lounge' and the 'convertible dinette' with both layouts being very similar. The only significant difference being; the former has two small, inward facing swivel barrel chairs with a small storage locker and occasional table between them while the latter has two fixed benches, with large storage bins under each one, flanking a good sized folding table that converts into a second bed.  

Concourse in 'Club Lounge' configuration.

                                   Concourse in 'Convertible Dinette' configuration.

I was initially drawn to the 'club lounge' floor plan shown above. It seemed to offer a bit more room and seating comfort than the convertible dinette but, after looking at a couple of coaches with that layout, I decided that the loss of extra sleeping space and absence of a 'real' table didn't make sense for me. Also, the dinette arrangement offered a lot more storage under the bench seats, and storage is a big issue in small RV's, so......the dinette won! I also had thoughts of a diesel power plant, but none of the diesel coaches I saw had the right combination of price, condition and floor plan. The V10 Triton petrol engine is a bit of a fuel hog but it has good power, a good reliability record and petrol is usually a lot easier to find than diesel.  

Squeezing a generous compliment of essential and desirable features into a small footprint, in an easily accessed and functional way, is quite a challenge, but the dinette floor plan does a pretty good job. Inevitably with such a small space, some compromises have been made but, for the most part, they are manageable. 

Having decided on a floor plan it was time to get serious with the search for candidates. By scouring the lower 48 I found plenty of offerings around the country, but price and condition seemed to vary a lot and the motivation of the sellers was also varied. Once, within a couple of days, I travelled to see an immaculate, low mileage 1998 Concourse, but with the Club Lounge floor plan, and two dinette floor plan models, a clean but very high mileage 2004 petrol, and a 2002 diesel that had some major undercarriage corrosion issues. The weird thing is that all were priced within a couple of thousand dollars of each other. I soon discovered there are an awful lot of heavily worn and over priced RV's on offer and it pays to be patient and careful!  It took almost 6 months before I finally found Elsie in N. Carolina. Not the most immaculate, not the lowest mileage but in generally good shape with all systems functioning and reasonably priced....the deal was done and I flew to NC for final inspection and pick up.   

Despite a little trepidation at the outset, I was delighted when the 1400 mile maiden voyage back to Texas was accomplished with no problems whatsoever. Elsie ran strong strong all the way. Now, on to the next chapter in my transition from ocean to asphalt.