Most caravan buyers on a fixed budget are on a fixed budget, including me, are restricted to what you can get. Also remember it depends on what you need, 2 berth ect. More photos would help.
I take it you are referring to the crack between the gas locker door and the A-frame cover?
It's not the best photo in the world to see too much detail in! How the damage came about could also be quite revealing!
The gap at side of the A-frame looks disproportionate to the crack above, making me wonder WHY and how much other 'hidden' damage/distortion there may be! Many outwardly minor faults often open a whole can of worms when you look behind! I would also expect damage to the gas locker floor as well - there is a lot of displacement there in an area which is slightly complex in it's construction with multiple features meeting and normally bonded/affixed to each other!
Technically, mending a cracked moulding alone is not too difficult, even just a competent DIY job, a commercial repair likely in the £hundreds, BUT any additional so far unseen damage has no bounds! I'm a professional engineer with excellent wide ranging DIY skills, but that has alarm bells ringing without thorough detailed examination! The locker floor may be made of a number of materials, some easier to fix than others - into the unknown without further detail!
That appears to be quite an old van of lowish value, it's always a dilemma on how much money is worth spending on a van of limited value! If you already own it, then it may well have value to you beyond it's market price, and worth doing, but to acquire a van and then throw (unknown sums of) money at it, probably not such a good idea.
If it's a van known to you through family/friends and known to be otherwise sound AND the price is very good, it may be worth a punt with a few quotes for repair to guide you. On the other hand as a straight commercial purchase, personally I'd walk away, better vans to be had elsewhere.
Thanks for your reply. We haven't bought this yet We are now on a tight budget from buying a. Caravan covered in damp *(lesson learnt) . My husband thinks this is an easy fixed I am not convinced and think there will be more to it than just lifting it up and bonding it back together. Really need others advise that has more experience in this. I don't want to end up with another caravan We can't use.
If you are good at DIY most things can be fixed at reasonable cost, but commercial repairs can be very costly. I found some quite serious damp damage around the front windows of my 1992 Elddis Wisp that we'd had for a few years. I got a quote from the dealer where I had bought it and they said £2,000 minimum, no maximum as that would depend on what else they found. I fixed it for less than £200. I already owned the caravan though, I wouldn't have bought it in that condition.
If you can get it for peanuts, and can do all the work yourself, it may well be worth it, but if that isn't the case I would look elsewhere.
Quote: Originally posted by Paul and Nikki on 03/5/2024
If the price is right and there is nothing else wrong with it, it doesn't look too much of an issue
There will be a reason why it has cracked like that and there are probably other unseen structural issues.
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Topic: Should I buy this?
via mobile 28/4/2024 at 9:23am
