I would be grateful if someone could give me a spot of advise please.
I have been looking at getting a lower cost van to see if my familly will enjoy caravanning (as much as I used to when younger).
I have located a nice van, looked it over no soft panels or smells, owners seem very genuine too. I was looking at the underside of the van and the rear right corner has a 4 inch square wet spongey patch on the underside of then van (right up aganist the bottom of the outer wall). There is a shower inside the van above the spongey patch.
The awning rail also runs right to the spongey patch and the white plastic strip that runs in the middle of the awning rail finishes right where the spongey wet patch is.
I'm not sure what to do. I am contemplating buying it and getting it profesionally repaired (if I can't do it myself). However I'm wondering if i'm buying a dud.
Could it be water from the outside that has run down or is it likely to be from the shower and more likely that the floor is rotten under the shower tray also. Like I said it isn't a massive patch and I can't push my finger through or anything but being as this is my first van i'm a bit concerned.
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Depends on how much you are paying for it. if a few hundred pounds you would get at least this year out it, to see how you like caravaning. If all goes well, you could sell it on, or if the van is as good as you say it is and that this is the only thing wrong, you could fix it if you are handy. A profesional repair will cost loads.
Did you check all the walls in the shower area, best to use a moisture meter with pin sharp points and push it hard into the wall board.
The seal around the top of the shower tray may be leaking, or there might be a hairline crack in the tray.
When i bought my first van I looked at loads and travelled hundreds of mile to like at what people said were good clean dry vans. There idea of a good dry clean van wasnt the same as mine.
If you are paying a fair wack, do as Jeff says, walk away.
The van would cost a couple of grand. I've had a good feel of the walls which didn't feel soft or wet though, however I have just purchased a good damp meter to check things such as this.
I did check the shower tray which was not cracked, I did notice that the sealant around one of the corners had gone though. This probably has contributed towards the wet flooring.
I'd more than likey need to take the showver tray out to assess the full extent of the damage. I am a builder (and carpenter) so I am confident I could have a good go at repairing. I was more curious as to whether anyone thought that a lot of the floor would be sodden if the underneath appeared to be so wet in that one particular area.
I'm a bit concerned of taking the shower out and revealing black everywhere !!!! There wasn't any smell though so I wouldn't guess it was too bad. But I bet that's what everyone thinks !!
If you do buy the 'van you need to do the work yourself, paying for it to be done will cost a fair bit. Its certainly do-able. See if you can get £500 off the price.
If you are showing a 4" patch on the outside, you do have a good chance of revelling a much larger area of damp on the inside. The caravan floor is made up of 6mm plywood, 25mm (may be more) insulation board and then 6mm plywood. If just damp and not soft you may be able to take the tray out dill some holes in the top layer of ply and dry it all out. depending on how the floor is you might be able to glue and screw a section of thin ply over the floor before refitting the shower tray, to add strenght to the floor.
But please do a good check of the outside walls of the shower area especially at the bottom
As you are a joiner the same as myself I would say a floor repair is easy. Can you lift any of the floor coverings near the shower room to check the floor as it may have spread outside the shower area.
Given that you are paying a couple of grand I wouldnt jump in. Have you looked around at other caravans, to compare and see what else you could get for your money.
I think the answer is to walk away. You have yourself listed all the possibilities and they could all work out into hundreds if not thousands for repair. I wouldn't buy any caravan showing signs of damp or soft panelling anywhere, especially for £2000. There are plenty of decent dry ones far cheaper than that. Just to give you an idea, a few years ago I bought a lovely little two berth for less than £300. It was in very good if not perfect condition and was bone dry. I sold it a year later for the same price. You will have a hard job selling a damp caravan...usually have to sell them for spares.
Yeah, having read a few internet sites I think that the wet patch could be worse actually inside the van. I did manage to pull the carpet up around the edge of the shower though and that was dry, so the repair should be limited to the size of the shower tray. Having never repaired the underside ply on a caravan I am slightly unsure of the structure as to how I could fix new ply to the underside without making a frame and incorporating that into the existing framework. I would most likely cut the rot away and replace with new and also reinforce the shower area.
I Will look at a few other vans first though before deciding.
I would cut out a square section scrape away the insulation core, glue and screw a fillet the thickness of the core and insert leaving about 1" hanging out all round fix a section of ply on the underside, bond new insulation and fix a section of ply on the inside.
there are also a few other ways depending on how big a section you need to cut out, but the idea is same.
I agree with you, look at other vans because a couple of grand is too much to pay for a van of that age that you need to start repairing, because once you start you always find more, and it ends up worse than you first thought.
Good luck with your search, remember it is a buyer market the now.
My damp detector arrived today !! I have also found a checklist (off the net) detailing where to check inside and outside of the van when deciding whether to buy or not. I am looking at a few vans this weekend, hopefully one will be nice and dry with no damp preferably !
Hi Brooksy1976, I am new to the site and caravan ownership, I would appreciate a link to that checklist you mentioned. The ebay list of what to watch for was also a great addition - well worth joining this club for those great tips :-))
walk away ,you could be opening a can of worms and there azre many caravans for sale ,if they dont take a hefty sum from the few grand i wouldnt entertain it
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Phil
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Topic: First Time Buyer
