I've been undecided wether to buy a folding camper or a 2/4 caravan.
Well I did the obvious thing, bought a 1991 Swift Silhouette 2 berth, towed it back from Manchester to St Asaph this afternoon, my C4 Picasso towed it with ease as it's such a lightweight van.
The van came with 3 awnings, 1 traditional, 1 lightweight and 1 porch, portal potti, mains hook-up, aqua roll, waste aster, all pots, pans and cutlery, 2 awning carpets, those awning tiles if you know what I mean plus lots of other stuff I've yet to sort through.
All for the princely sum of...£350.00. Yes it does need a little bit of a polish, some new carpet and a couple of cabinet handles, there's no nasty smells, stains or soft spots though I'm sure given its age there will be some on proper investigation, but come on £350.00 there's a lot to
be said about buying an older van if you're willing to take the risk.
did you check the age of the tyres? before going on the motorway back home? also did you go armed with a damp meter and check everywhere to make sure? all the accessories in the world with it, and I would still be checking the very basics as they can cost a fortune to fix
Tyres were replaced earlier this year, bearings and brakes were serviced at same time.
I did take my damp meter and checked the usual places, front windows, side walls on front edge, inner bottom edge of bed lockers, wheel arches and so on it gave readings but nothing to ring alarm bells as it is 26 years old, and as we have all read on this forum even new £15,000 vans suffer damp issues, to be fair we had a budget of upto £3250.00, fully didn't expect to buy it, but if it gives us a years use its worth it and leaves money in the pot.
A lot to be said for buying cheap older vans. Ours is a 1988 model, and we have had 3 good years with it so far. I paid a little more for mine (£500) but still only a small amount to risk. I'm sure that mine must have some damp somewhere given its age, but none is obvious and there are no musty smells anywhere, so I'm simply not bothered. If any does become obvious, I will get rid and buy another cheapie. This one owes me nothing.
I have known others spend thousands of pounds more than I did, and have many more problems. You don't always get what you pay for, unfortunately, so I believe in paying only what I can afford to lose. If it comes to it.
Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 22/10/2016
I have known others spend thousands of pounds more than I did, and have many more problems. You don't always get what you pay for, unfortunately, so I believe in paying only what I can afford to lose. If it comes to it.
Nail and head, exactly...I'm off to browse the Crappy Old Caravan thread now.
I bought some years ago an Abi Ace Rallyman from the "Bay Of Glee" for GBP£325.00. Previously I'd been using a Vango Mk5 and extension, bought the caravan for staying at the War And Peace Show for ten or more days.
Total novice to caravans then but this forum was a tremendous help.
Two days cleaning the bodywork, resealing one side window,
replacing one front sidelight, then I discovered a brand new unused NR awning under the seats, sorted.
Spent GBP£45.00 on odds and ends, discovered that the oven had never been used, the same as the grille.
Used the Abi for nearly five years, the only major cost during that time was a new leisure battery.
Sold the Abi on the "Bay Of Glee" for a fixed price of GBP425.00, which in my opinion was a fair price for the work I had done on it, it sold in twenty minutes!.
It was cheap, it was good, it did its job,.......and it is still being used,......and I miss it!.
------------- If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If it is in English, thank a soldier.
Supporting "Combat Stress", the veterans mental health charity.
sounds good to me for £350 what can go wrong and if it does then selling the awnings etc would nett you back £350.
i bought my bailey for £6500 and it caused me a lot of grief. the dealer did repair it twice replacing large areas of wall board but i got shut of it in the end and bought my coachman.
------------- First van bailey ranger 550/6
Now the proud owner of a coachman amara
You could have a lot of good times in that. I had my `91 Daystar for 5 years now. New tyres, replacemrnt bits here and there. WE`re keeping it `till she`s had enough, and then we probably will have, too. As they say, ole caravanners never die. They just go static . . .
------------- Peripheral people don`t have as much excitement but they sure live longer
Focus,
No way you can lose with that.
Was it an Ebay item?.
As people have often said on here if you can catch someone who is finishing caravanning for good you can get some real bargains.Was it the case here?.
Hope you have many happy times in it.
Well done, nice to hear a non horror story for a change.
Regards,
Greg
Buy in Autumn, sell in Spring, that's the way to do it.
We love our "oldie", it does everything we want, and apart from air-conditioning and a microwave I haven't seen anything that we could possibly want and that ours doesn't have, on any brand-new caravan. Being state pensioners we have a very tight budget, but I'm not sure I would have done things any different if we had loads of money. I don't care if it looks old. Its warm and cosy and its ours! No payments to make, and minimal insurance costs.
Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 26/10/2016
Buy in Autumn, sell in Spring, that's the way to do it.
We love our "oldie", it does everything we want, and apart from air-conditioning and a microwave I haven't seen anything that we could possibly want and that ours doesn't have, on any brand-new caravan. Being state pensioners we have a very tight budget, but I'm not sure I would have done things any different if we had loads of money. I don't care if it looks old. Its warm and cosy and its ours! No payments to make, and minimal insurance costs.
Colin,
The main thing you are able to enjoy your hobby.
As you say ,you are warm and cosy ,what more can you want.
Always nice to hear these stories of bargains ,don't you think?.
Happy camping.
Regards,
Greg
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Topic: It was how much?
