Following your posts with interest as we are also in Notts and looking for a 4 berth van that doesn't cost an arm and a leg!
Which damp meter did you get?
Good luck with this. We are having similar problems. I'm actually quite shocked about how many folk are happy to tell porkies :( Maybe we will both be lucky and get an Elddis each just before the Summer :) Good Luck!
NOT CORRECT, German vans do come with hot water system, but electric only, there is usually no gas water heater, also the 12 volt battery operation is not a standard fitting ,but is very easy to upgrade to, as is the installation of say a Truma gas and electric water heater, maybe to post is confused with "dry vans" this means the van does not have a toilet or shower room , Recommend you don’t buy one of this type, they are cheap but very hard to sell on, as for the post saying "they are to wide" that is also not correct, as from the 20th April this law will change and a van up to 2.55 meters will be legal to tow in UK by a standard motor car, but will become subject to V.A.T. Go and look at a Hobby van, any thing up to a 560 model are super for UK use, above this model they become very long and some are to long for UK roads so do your home work, Hobby vans are very - very well made and you would become one of the thousands of very happy owners...
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'I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they
wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're
going to feel all day. '
~Frank Sinatra
Yes you do see that No Hobby thing about, I'm assuming it's a size issue, but I don't know why they just single them out rather than state a size limit.
large twin axles 'vans without toilets/sinks etc used on permanent traveller sites that have brick outhouses are referred to as 'dry vans' for that reason. Any mention of large twin axle German built vans 2.55wide etc, etc, is obviously irrelavant to this thread.
There are plenty of smaller German built touring caravans around in the UK, If you do a search on UK ebay with the German makes mentioned, you will usually find several. The OP wants summat less than £2.5k & for that money or plenty less she could well find a late 90s German 'van in good nick & more likely to be leak free than a UK built one. Generally they don't have ovens, most will have heaters, some will have batteries.
Our German van does have hot water - both gas and electric - and it's built like a tank. The quality of the build is in my view much better than the UK vans. We also have an oven in ours but I think the older ones don't seem to have them.
The main issue is weight. They are heavy but if you are looking for something relatively small (i.e. a small 4 berth), you might get lucky.
Our Hymer went in for service recently and they couldn't find damp anywhere - not a bit. I know ours is only 5 years old but the chap who serviced it said he had seen much older German vans which didn't show any signs of damp at all. This was our main motivation in buying a German built van in the first place after reading all the horror stories on here about rotted/damp caravans.
Thanks mrshorsy, ordered the meter from Amazon will be here tomorrow.
So hopefully start serious looking this weekend, might meet you somewhere - both wandering round with damp meters in our hand mumbling 'I want a van, I want a van'
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: Boo! Another damp van!
