The van should last 20 or 30 years maybe even more, even with full-time use. Thor puts out some very poor units. They just recently started putting out that particular line of coach and with full-time use, you would probably get at most 6 to 8 good years of full-time use out of it and would be working hard to keep the seams sealed, would face possible delamination, be dealing with inferior and cheapest hardware and other materials. The van will hold its value and be very easy to resell.
In the mid-80's we bought an old pop-up that we saw advertised in our neighborhood. Rock solid and the only the canvas was failing. We have a 5 year old Coachmen pop-up and it really is crappy and had bought top-of-the-line Coleman in 1995 and it was junk, the roof failed 3 times under warranty and then we got lucky and someone stole it from our yard.
Even high-end stuff is often junk now also. I have followed the RV industry since the 80s. People have just come to expect junk. I am currently looking for something solid and it is a real challenge when I start researching a possible choice. It doesn't seem to matter how much you spend when it comes to RVs. I see a lot of complaints about higher end units. A $25,000 teardrop that has to be kept undercover in order to avoid leaks? Makes a Runaway seem like a real bargain! Also, Airstream, they say the 70s units are the ones to buy and these are the pre-Thor units.
If you get a chance, go and look at used units to see how they have held up over time. The Winnebago of the 70s is not the Winnebago of today.
I can see why so many choose to do their own simple conversions. We have a Ford dealership a couple of hours away and they often get fleet vehicles and you can get a decent price on something with mileage between 20,000 and 30,000. We have a 1993 Ford Club Wagon Van that we paid $14,000 for in 1997.
On camper vans and conversions, working in tight spaces requires more man hours and buying smaller quantities of items that are installed also runs up the cost.
Good Luck!
