Hi there, I have just joined this forum as we have purchased our first caravan, a Coachman mirage circa 1989, we have made the move from camping to caravaning as it seemed to be the natural progression.
The caravan we bought had a little damp, as we thought, but on further investigation the damp has got worse and worse, on the up side my wife and myself are prepaired to refurbish the van, and have made a start by stripping out the damp/rotten wood. We have got the boards and the new batons sorted,glue,sealer,meths,whitespirit are also in the garage ready to be used.
------------- Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.
Have fun , my first `van required the outer panels to be removed and 60% of the floor renewed (30% from each end , the centre across the axle was good ),followed by the same amount of frame to window height and the whole door frame to roof height . I hope yours doesn`t develop to such a monster job but even big jobs well done are better than chucking the `van . You will also know a lot more about the construction and where the cabling runs too . If you use top quality flexible sealant from someone like Sikaflex , you will also know your `van is going to stick together and stay dry for a long , long time . Mine took two months part time so it isn`t all bad .
Take a look at Wizard's site. He is experienced at this sort of thing - perhaps he may be along later to offer help. Congrats. on the van and best of luck in sorting it all out. Welcome to UKCS - you'll love it on here.
Welcome & congrats on the van. I'd love it if we had the time & somewhere under cover to do a project like that. It'll make it really, really yours rather than something you bought off someone else. Good luck with it - keep a diary of before & after pics & let us know how it's going.
Cheers for that folks, had a good day at the van today, took out the door frame, and replaced the woodwork, took out the bottom rail (well it fell out), and repleced that, took out the side window framework and replaced that too. I am pleased as a pleased man can be with the work that has been done today.
------------- Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.
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