I would like some advice please on purchasing older caravans. My wife and I (and our greyhound) camp and whilst we have a large area tent it takes a few hours to set up and take down then air out after etc etc...
I have looked at folding campers/caravans and noticed some seemingly good condition caravans from the early to mid 1990's are around £2-3k...
With damp and structure especially being towed a big thing, is it a sound investment to buy an older caravan? We would use it for 3-4 years until we could afford a more newer one.
Much like anything else you can buy some will be in excellent condition and some will have a multitude of sins and all mixes inbetween!
We've had a 1990 Dandy camper, a 1986 Esterel folding caravan, a 1992 ABI Jubilee and now a 1998 Compass Kensington. If you take care to check the caravan out and/or take someone with you who knows caravans or get an engineer to check it out (about £60) then you should be ok and will find a sound older caravan.
No definitive answer. Certainly there are plenty of 80s/early 90s caravans around on ebay for just a few £100s & plenty are totally usable & have a few yrs life left in them. Biggest enemy is damp in the structure which rots it eventually so you have to check carefully before paying money.
You are more likely to find a small old caravan that is dry than a large old one due to less body flex.
We own a 1996 Swift Corniche 2 berth when it was made it was a top spec van, it's bone dry and has everything we need right down to an extractor fan over the cooker, we enjoyed many weekends away last summer aand intend to do so again, just be carefull what you choose and take a damp meter to check for any damp, good luck .
xx Gill
Ours is a 1995 Avondale Sandmartin whch we have had for 12 years. Its dry and when we have had it serviced next week is as good as any new one. We have added a memory foam overlay to the seats as they could do with refilling but we love it and won't be replacing it. As retired site managers we actually lived in it for 2 whole seasons before we retired so it really has been well used. Don't ever choose one that has the smell of air freshener in it. It has usually been used to mask a damp smell.
We have just part-ex our 1992 bailey majenta cd, 20 years old and flly loaded.
Things to look for when looking for an older van, obviously damp.... thats not always apparent, and can be a very costly fix.
Wheels, i think i'm right in stating that age plays a part, as well as tread.
Spongy flloor, evidence of delamination, again a nuisance and another cost.
Brakes, bearings and drivetrain, any problems again could incurr significant cost.
So yes you can find a bargin with an older van, and there's some good examples out there, but if you go for trade rather than private, try and nogoiate some kind of warranty, just for peice of mind.
Just an example of my 20 year old caravan..... Bailey majenta cd 1992, 2 berth 460, fully loaded with most mod-cons etc, motor mover, isabella awning... 10 years old, but still like new, with very few minor dents and still looking quite fresh. Bought for £2000 some years ago, part ex for £1000 last week.... though the sales man advised there was some damp lower down on the offside of the van, which could be easily remidied. So yes you can rely on some vans aging well. The only reason we changed this van was to downsie to a 380, having always toured france with our canvass tent.
Our old van will apparently be ebayed next week on the traders return from hols.
Thank you for the advice. I appreciate it is a bit of a "no definitive answer/how longs a piece of string" but i didnt know if it was a big no,no, which pleasingly it doesnt seem to be.
iv seen some really nice mid 90's caravans for around £2k so i will take all your advice check the areas you mentioned and il do lots of research.
hey mark be carefull if your going to a dealer, some are just sold straight on from part exchange, i had a 1990 abi marauder which had damp but had a good 12 months out of it and could easy get another year out of her, i have just bought a 1998 elddis mistral vogue which is in fantastic condition cost £1990 just shop about and have a good luck never buy blind and take you time (i visited the one i just bought three times before doing the deal) and ask plenty of questions after all its your cash and if they have nothing to hide they wont mind
Interested to read your question, I suggest you only buy one which has had a very recent service (regardless of age), then you'll have an idea as to what condition it's in, i'm about to advertise my millenium edition 2 berth avondale rialto 480-2 on uk campsites for sale section, not sure what your budget is, so it may be worth looking at, just getting photos sorted etc.
I bought a 1969 Fisher Holivan and think she is great! I only paid £450 for her almost 2 years ago.
We spent 6 months doing her up but she was solid and dry and I have had some lovely trips away in her.
Buying second hand also means there are extras often included in the sale such as leisure battery, waste and water containers, awning etc...
As others have already said, there are plenty of good quality, older vans out there. Just be aware of things like damp, delamination of the floor, damaged trim that may be difficult to source etc... If possible, take a caravan savvy friend with you when you go and look at a potential purchase.
My 1990 Abi is still lovely and has features thats a modern van with the same layout doesn't--namely the lovely drinks cabinet with matching glasses.
My advice get a Haynes caravan manual and a damp meter so you can have a read on what you need to check on an older van. Go around a few dealers with older used vans, check each van going through your check list so that when you find your perfect van your ready to make sure its perfect.
We have had our van 4 years now and I can't see us replacing her yet shes perfect for us.
We have a 1990s fleetwood colchester which we've done up. The caravan service guy who came was really impressed with her condition. She had some damp but we researched it carefully and found that it was down to some joints which needed re-sealing. We stripped the damp bits out (it had barely spread past the boards and the joists were bone dry). We then repainted inside and out, made new curtains, replaced the battery and had the gas serviced. The next job is to replace the window seals.
The bottom line is that it took us 3 weeks of solid graft but we've got a lovely little caravan which I don't mine my 4 kids getting mucky. It's really light which means that I can tow it with my people carrier (i'm on a new licence and it's not the easiest thing to tow with so it's great to have a van we can move by hand so easily) and it's cost us about £900 in total. We could have bought from a dealer, paid £1000 and ended up with a sodden van that needed the same amount of work.
The most important thing for us is that me and my husband thoroughly enjoyed doing her up and we love her to bits.
Thanks everyone. I am taking my time and being a pain by asking the dealer a million questions. Hopefully I will have some pictures of my new caravan soon!
------------- Some men see things as they are and say why, I dream things that never were and say why not.
As already said you can get bargains you can get dogs you would need to go over it well. ours is a 1989 Swift Corniche and is absolutely bone dry we have had it for six years with no problems.
All I will say is , if your not sure what to look for have a professional to check it out for you. It might cost a few quid but its worth it in the long run.
Or do your home work and buy a good damp metre.
I have a lovely 2 birth A.B.I which I had off a family member, solid and dry with all extras, then I went and bought another van ( 5birth ) and its full of damp and needs loads of work.
So you can get caught out easily if the seller knows what they are doing.
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Topic: Older Caravans? Are they sound?
