Going to look at one of these later. Its a low cost starter van with EVERYTHING included for £1700.
Anything I need to look for?
its not a dealer but a local person known to me.
We have never had a caravan before and we have a jeep well capable of towing it. We have 3 kids, 10, 5 and 2.
I understand the ET is the 5 birth model.
Expensive for £1700. On an ebay auction that would be lucky to make £1100. For that price it needs to be damp free. Lift up all those seat cushions, particulary at the front & check for damp & soft spots in walls & down nr floor, also check for discolouring at top of interior walls. Ideally, take a damp meter. Also find out date of last service & tyre change. Tyres 5yrs old or more need changing, whatever tread wear so those costs need to be factored in.
Having looked at the gumtree advert for this van, i have to say it does look nice, but as already mentioned, a bit pricey at £1700. But then its the start of the silly season when it comes to buying caravans (Easter holidays coming up and all that).
A couple of MUST CHECKS though - and a good starting point for bringing the price down too:)
As already mentioned check the tyres - no matter how good they look, anything approaching 5 years old is a complete no-no - they have date stamps on them - you cannot risk your families lives on old tyres.
ALSO, check the gas hose from the regulator on the bottle to the fixed piping. The recommendation is that you have it changed at least every 5 years from the date of manufacture, or more often if inspection shows it to have deteriorated in any way. it too should be date stamped.
Damp meters are notoriously unreliable - fine for an initial look see perhaps, but a damp survey is better.
You may have to prong the walls or the floor, but do it somewhere totally inconspicuous and only with the owners permission - if the owner says no, spend £50 getting a mobile caravan engineer to give it a once over. If the owner refuses to let you do that then walk away.
Any area showing 30% damp, walk away from and dont look back.
anything less than that, you might be able to identify areas where the damp is coming from and get away with a cheap fix:).
If your meter reads zero, switch it on!!!
£1700.00 is a lot of money to most people, and although its very tempting to spend it now and have a van for easter, you might, if you dont do the checks, be letting yourself in for more substantial spends.
If it passes all the checks and youre happy, then bingo! - have yourself some great holidays and weekends away:)
All checks ok. Got it home for £1525. Have all three tires off to take to my local dealer to check and if needed change tomorrow. (1 was changed a year ago and I cant see any difference so check em all out)
Will check gas hose as well.
Van is damp free so we should get this summer trouble free I hope then sell if we are not caravan people OR upgrade??
Time will tell.
------------- if your not living life on the edge your taking up tooo much room
i would imagine that the cooker would be gas if the hob is gas, however check the cooker knobs and check.
are there any manuals with the van? - if so, maybe theres a cooker one.
The contacts on the plug in pump on outside of caravan will only be powered when tap is turned on. Turning on tap completes 12v circuit & powers pump so it could be failed microswitch in tap. Turn on tap then touch wires going into tap together to see if pump works.
i had a similar problem on my 1993 musketeer - we traced it back to a slightly iffy connection on the pump electrical socket where it plugs into the van on the outside - a good wiggle to seat the connection and the pump started working.
Well first trip was a massive success, apart from two kids down with different illness...Chickenpox for our two year old and tummy bug for 10 year old.
We have learnt a lot-the layout does not work easily for all 5 of us, the kids need blackout blinds and the upper bunk needs easier access and more room... SO basically we need a bigger more modern van!
Gumtree to the rescue and a Bailer Ranger 500-5 has been purchased and the Marauder will have to find a new family to start caravaning with.
With the help of this forum I have learnt so much and have bought this time from a small 2nd hand dealer with a really good reputation. Talked to him on the phone and called to see him on way home from our weekend away and he only recognised the Marauder as one he did some minor repairs on 3 years ago when he sold it....Happy to give us more than I paid for as trade in AFTER we had done a deal I was happy with on the Ranger.
SO we have become Caravanner's in the space of a week and have our first outing in our new van booked for next weekend.
YOOOOOOOOOOOO
We will still keep the tent and trailer tent as if we are away on the trike the caravan is not an option....lol
------------- if your not living life on the edge your taking up tooo much room
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: ABI Marauder 450ET
