We checked the caravan for damp and in one corner the damp meter said 78, I'm worried. The seller says it was condensation, but he's going to get a report done. Should I still be worried
Perhaps the first thing to consider, if a private sale, there is no real comeback on the seller for any faults that are present or discovered later! It's pretty much a "bought as seen" deal, and your only recourse if unhappy with the completed sale and they won't voluntarily refund you is a private prosecution against them - you don't really want to be doing that!
The reason I mention the doom laden purchase clause, is that visible/detectable damp on the surface is often like an iceberg, the vast majority of damp damage lies out of sight and only truly becomes apparent when stripping off decorative panelling to reveal the underlying structural elements! - read that as big bills, even economic write off on lower value vans!
The sellers own damp report is not always genuine either, plenty of falsified ones proffered by dodgy sellers trying to unload a known problem van! Your own commissioned habitation check is often money well spent though, and will identify any issues that include damp, but also cover other potentially expensive faults. The appliances on caravans are relatively expensive to repair, as are many spare parts, anything that needs replacing if unrepairable is eye wateringly expensive compared to a domestic equivalent! Tyres and flexible hoses should not be more than 5 years old, gas regulators not more than 10 years, and things like smoke and carbon monoxide detectors within their stated life. It's easy to take on a van that needs quite a lot of money spent before you can safely use it, far better to know in advance and factor those things into an appropriate purchase price, or walk away!
All that is not saying that condensation is out of the question, but the alarm bells are ringing that it's something much worse, and 78% is a very high reading. Owners can be genuinely unaware or misinformed on faults, but some definitely know and try to hide or dismiss them!
Thank you Juan and Monty for giving me your time to respond, my husband paid £1,000 deposit but as we drove away I just got a weird feeling. I told my husband to try and cancel the payment, luckily it hadn't cleared, so he cancelled it. I'm so glad I joined this site which I did on the drive home. Your help is more than gratefully appreciated.
Quote: Originally posted by Jacqueline Colmer on 10/2/2025
Thank you Juan and Monty for giving me your time to respond, my husband paid £1,000 deposit but as we drove away I just got a weird feeling. I told my husband to try and cancel the payment, luckily it hadn't cleared, so he cancelled it. I'm so glad I joined this site which I did on the drive home. Your help is more than gratefully appreciated.
Cancelling was a wise move I feel. Please be aware if you aren't already, repairs to caravans by caravan workshops can be VERY expensive. Unless you are good at DIY don't even contemplate a caravan that needs any doing up. Labour charges will make up a huge proportion of any bills and work to cure damp can be very time consuming. I had a damp problem with my very old caravan a couple of years ago so I took it for some estimates. I was told that it would cost a minimum of £2,000 but could be much more if they found more damage than was obvious. Which they would of course. Our caravan is probably worth no more than £1,000 anyway, so I did the work myself even though I had never done anything like it before. Total cost was under £200.
Wow you did it yourself for £200, that's brilliant. We are absolutely gutted as we loved the layout of the lunar with the dinette. We have seen other ones advertised but they are well out of our budget of 10k. Thank you for your reply much appreciated.
Quote: Originally posted by Paul_B on 11/2/2025
Some sellers find that its possible to get a damp report which will say that is a very low to zero and they do it without seeing the caravan.
I'm so pleased that you got your money back as it could have been a very costly caravan once you got it home.
In fact, you can download a blank NCC (National Caravan Council) report form as used by most recognised caravan engineers, and fill it in yourself! - absolutely of NO worth at all to a buyer! The damp report sheet should be part of a wider habitation check, supported by invoices which provide some reassurance that it was a genuine inspection by a qualified engineer.
I'm certainly not going to publish where to get blank forms, the less in circulation the better!
Private sales are a risk, the legal comebacks are close to zero if goods not up to standard, purchasing from a dealer may not automatically remove the risk of a duff van (plenty of dodgy dealers around!), but you have the weight of the law on your side for repair or refund, AND if you pay at least part (min £100) of the transaction by Credit Card, you get Section 75 of consumer credit law behind you as well, whereby the CC provider is also equally responsible for goods being as described and fit for purpose. In my experience of caravan purchasing, the marginal differences between private and dealer prices, was barely worth the risk. Most dealers will budge a little on ticket price, and most vans come with some written warranty over and above what the law requires, which is worth quite a lot in terms of peace of mind and potential cash saving! A trick to get a better deal from a dealer who may not budge enough on price is to get them to bundle in all the things you need, like steps and water tanks, even awnings etc. You'll end up needing to get/buy them anyway.
There are genuine and perfectly good caravans available from private sellers, and equally some dodgy ones on dealers forecourts! Knowledge and technical experience of caravans, and/or a professional examination will sort the worthwhile from the 'walk aways', but damp is generally a 'walk away' scenario, as it all too often turns into Pandoras Box!
If you like the Clubman spec, also look at Quasar dealer specials (rebranded Cosmos, etc.) which bring their specs up close to the Clubman, but opens the market for you a little more.
Your so kind Thank you, we loved the layout of the lunar clubman ES 2018 because it had a dinette, there's only the 2 of us so it would of been ideal. The bloke from culmhead caravans said he had got a report done on this caravan and the report said it was 20% But said it needed to checked again in 3 months time. I don't know whether to trust the report as the handwriting looked very similar to the guy who's selling it. I'm so gutted. We found another one but it was 3 k over our budget. We are so new to this and now I don't trust anyone. We have worked all our lives and now that we are pensioners we just wanted to enjoy what time we have together everyone on this Forum has been brilliant and we can't Thank you all enough ❤️
Quote: Originally posted by Jacqueline Colmer on 11/2/2025
Wow you did it yourself for £200, that's brilliant. We are absolutely gutted as we loved the layout of the lunar with the dinette. We have seen other ones advertised but they are well out of our budget of 10k. Thank you for your reply much appreciated.
Part of that £200 went on tools too, which I still have. About £60 if I remember right. Most of the cost was wood, panelling and sealant. The rest was screws and fittings. It took me ages though as I am not as fit and flexible as I once was. I was 73 when I did it. I am quite a practical person but it was the first time I had taken on a caravan and we like our old caravan as it suits us perfectly.
It cost us £1,100 nearly 7 years ago, and strangely enough it also has a dinette across the back. That would make a bunk if we ever needed it. At the front it has two long seats that make either two single beds or a huge double. We normally use two singles as it means that either of us can get up in the night, a necessity at our age, without having to climb over the other one. It's also much quicker to make up.
That's sounds perfect, what is the make of your caravan, my hubby is 70 and not at all fit as he likes his food a little too much 😄, but we are hoping to do a lot of walking whilst we are away. We can't go over 1500 on a caravan as we only have a Mitsubishi Freelander to pull it. I think doing the work you did is amazing, but my dear hubby has no skills like that and if we do any DIY around the house it's usually Bodger and badger 😂. Lovely chatting with you
Quote: Originally posted by Jacqueline Colmer on 12/2/2025
That's sounds perfect, what is the make of your caravan, my hubby is 70 and not at all fit as he likes his food a little too much 😄, but we are hoping to do a lot of walking whilst we are away. We can't go over 1500 on a caravan as we only have a Mitsubishi Freelander to pull it. I think doing the work you did is amazing, but my dear hubby has no skills like that and if we do any DIY around the house it's usually Bodger and badger 😂. Lovely chatting with you
Our caravan is a 1992 Elddis Wisp 450CT. It's doing well for a 33 year old caravan. We've had very few problems with it apart from that damp which I sorted out and the water heater I had to replace at one point. Some of these older caravans were probably better built than some of the later ones judging from some of the comments I have read on here. I tow it with a 2008 X Trail and I hardly even know it's on the back. It is often worth looking at some of these older caravans, but you do have to be careful. I bought ours as a trade sale from a local dealer. It came without a warranty of course but as it was from a dealer I did have some legal protection, unlike a private sale. I didn't need it though as the caravan was great. I think it had been well looked after and hardly used.
Hi Colin, we have bought a bailey unicorn Madrid 2014, it's in pretty good nick, their was a bit of damp by the toilet on one side, so we are going to check all the joints on the roof, there was a reading of 15 by the cooker which is a bit strange and a reading of 19 in the top cupboard directly over the oven, so I'm thinking the joints need resealing, so this week my husband is getting me up the ladder to have a look. 😊
Damp by the toilet can be water ingress around the cassette or flush tank refill doors, OR 'internal' from the toilet plumbing.
Damp by the cooker can be water ingress from the wheel arch, either rain getting past the arch 'eyebrow' finisher trim, or thrown up from the wheel and getting past the inner wheel arch.
Water can track a long way from point of entry to point of emergence, so damp source tracing is always fun (not!)
Your damp readings are not very high, so usually not anything to worry about immediately, but worth checking frequently to ensure not getting worse.
Thank you Colin, we have looked underneath the caravan and the floor looks good, bit worried about the wheel arch though. We are going to get it checked out, but I don't think it's too bad as you say.
Beware of damp readings around the toilet area. What can happen is that the nail heads holding the frame together rust and the rust reacts with the aluminium causing corrosion. Get a proper damp test done as soon as possible. We are assuming you have bought privately?
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Topic: Buying a lunar clubman -damp
via mobile 10/2/2025 at 2:56pm
