We've been avid campers for years, until recently anyway when we took the kids on their first camping trip. It was clear to us that if we wanted to remain campers, we'd need to invest a lot of lolly. Buying a larger tent, a roof box and a trailer. The only downside we could say about camping with young kids is cooking, they can't help but be attracted to hot things, so we'd need to cook at height to be safe, bit of a pain. Anyway, the icing on the cake was the trailer, if we were going to tow a trailer why don't we tow a caravan :).
Money being tight as a badgers bum, we didn't hold out much hope of being able to afford a caravan, and we imagined we'd need to be paying about what it would cost us to upgrade all our camping gear, catch22. That was till we spotted a sprite major for sale on ebay, 2miles from where we live.
We went and looked at it, and we were both surprised at the condition of it. It had been sat for about 15 years, so it's still a bit grim on the outside, all nice and dry on the inside. Seats all nice and original, but starting to fray slightly, so we're gonna fit some nice fleece material on them. Original shag pile carpet, nice :)... The electrics on the caravan need a bit of TLC, as does the electrics on our 1.6 95bhp vitara. Which out of interest tows much better than I expected. It was £165 including 2 new tyres and awning which we call the pimp awning with it's darkened windows, looks good as new.
We are now caravanners :)
I suppose the question i have is one of spares, so for example, we would like to replace all the rubber seals on the windows, starting with the popup roof vent. Anybody know where I can get this stuff? Is it just a case of popping into the nearest caravan shop?
I thought there would be an enthusiast club for this caravan, given it's age and more people about to question on the subject, but it looks like they're all hiding somewhere.
Maybe a starting point, there are some contact details on the link below. It was the Sprite Owners Club at one time, until the Sprite name went!!! and the Sterling brand appeared. The club is of course for Sprite owners as well; Garry Batten may be the best person to contact, a dedicated Sprite owner.
Love the Major. One of the best from the CI works at Newmarket. Hope you are able to source the rubber window seals. Many years ago we had the baby brother, the Alpine, many happy memories. Remember breaking the rear window and replacing it with Perspex from B&Q, the aluminium window frame comes apart and it was quite an easy job. Good luck............Mick
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: 1978 Sprite Major spares?
