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Caravans and Caravanning - Caravan Repairs, Servicing and Maintenance

Topic: Curious repair question

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missimaxo

08/1/2014 at 9:23pm
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We are looking at buying our first caravan and looking and the lowest end of the market. We went to see one tonight but didn't end up buying it. It was at the top of our budget. It has clearly had a knock on the front as the storage locker had been repaired. There were also two cracks to the side of the front window which appeared to have been repaired by putting some sort of fibreglass over them. One crack had clearly reopened so the repair had failed.

inside felt dry with only marginal movement and my damp meter did not pick up any significant damp. We walked away as they would not negotiate on price and we would have had no money left to effect repairs.

I am genuinely curious had we bought the van whether it would have been diy repairable. I have seen posts and blogs about using lego bricks to seal cracks but I presume the fibreglass repair would have prevented this. Were we right to walk away?

Thanks

clever

08/1/2014 at 9:36pm
Location: Derbyshire
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I would say you did the right thing.

There are plenty of good cheap vans on the market without buying one that has cracks in it.

Walk away and keep looking.

missimaxo

08/1/2014 at 9:53pm
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Thank you... just a bit gutted as it was otherwise very good.

Jack+Jon

08/1/2014 at 10:31pm
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You need to avoid old caravans with cracked windows, plenty with all good windows. Secondhand windows of right size are very difficult to source & getting a new one made might cost more than you paid for the caravan.

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Regards, Jack+Jon.

jeff juke

09/1/2014 at 3:02am
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Do some research on damp in caravans its the only way to learn before you part with your cash.There are a LOT of good old vans out there which have been well looked after.
I saw 100s of caravans before i found the one i wanted that was free of damp..dont get conned.

-------------
Animals have feelings..

JEFF................

Frannyvan

09/1/2014 at 7:08am
Location: Dorset
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If I was to buy a van privately again, I would definitely pay for an expert to check it over, as you never know what can of worms it contains.
I would worry about chassis damage if there were cracks. But I would have no idea if I would be right to worry about that?

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xxxx

jeff juke

09/1/2014 at 9:37am
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What to look out for Click

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Animals have feelings..

JEFF................

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