Newbie caravanner advice please

[banksy66]

Originally Posted by volvorocks

Could tell you 2 stories about Flamingo land, one funny and one not funny!

There is a nice site near Robin Hoods Bay IIRC at the top of the hill,cant remember the name, it overlooks the sea. I can let you know some decent sites.

Did you have your own garage? Yes its not the same working for someone if you have been your own boss.

Years ago used to buy the odd car for the missus, like Granada, Carltons, Jags,Rovers, around the 4/5/6 year old mark and run around in it till it sold. Equivalent to swapping your car 3 or 4 times a year. The games changed now and small cars are the thing. Why not do this?

Regards

I had a used car pitch, used to do a bit of my own repair stuff but I could never find premises with workshop and forecourt which meant I had to sub contract repair work which obviously drove costs up yadda yadda blah blah!! That was one of the reasons I failed, there were others lol

I would go back to trading the odd one from home, but it takes money to make money and that's something we don't have much of atm

[volvorocks]

Originally Posted by banksy66

I had a used car pitch, used to do a bit of my own repair stuff but I could never find premises with workshop and forecourt which meant I had to sub contract repair work which obviously drove costs up yadda yadda blah blah!! That was one of the reasons I failed, there were others lol

I would go back to trading the odd one from home, but it takes money to make money and that's something we don't have much of atm

Sorry to hear that.

....although you did not fail - just learned from an experience...?

If you had the cash,would trading the odd nearly new car be profitable do you think? (ie nearly new would need no work and still carry a warranty).

Regards

[c_lee]

Hi John,

We returned to caravaning again last year after not having a tourer for over 20 years.

Just returned today actually from 4 nights away in Silverdale North Lancs.

As has been said kitchen position is a matter of personal preference, we have had end and centre and would be happy with either.

In the circa £1000 price bracket you need to be very careful what you buy as there are loads of sellers of caravans in that price range that rely on the fact that it is probably someones first caravan buy and take advantage that the buyer will probably not know what problems to look for in an older caravan.
The main one being damp, which is often covered up ( often quite well ) by unscrupulous vendors. On the surface the van can look quite good with a nightmare concealed behind interior decor. A damp meter is essential.
If I were thinking of changing our van for one advertised as ' no damp whatsoever ' - to me that would say be really careful.

Regarding manufacturers I would say be wary of older vans from any manufacturer, especcialy if British.

In the 80's the second van we purchased had no hot water or shower, but that wasn't unusual then.
I fitted a shower and Carver Cascade 1 water heater myself as we used to tour a lot on the continent and we wanted to be self sufficient.
It was not difficult to do but it was expensive even doing it myself.

Regarding the van's weight, you need to be guided by by the rule of thumb that the maximum weight of the caravan should be no more than about 85% of the cars weight and definately no more than the cars weight.
So your choice of van is limited by which towcar you intend to use.
It is not unknown for some dealers to pretend that an inexperienced buyer's lightweight car will have no problems towing that heavywight caravan to gain the sale - you only find out later when tryig to tow it, but by then the sale is made.

On saying all of the above, last year we bought a 1989/90 known damp one owner caravan from my neighbours father.
I had been researching a caravan buy and problems for a few weeks at the time and was ( almost ) confident I could fix it.

I had read how owners of much newer caravans had had horendous serious damp problems with caravans they had paid many thousands for.
I suggest you look here to see just how bad some caravans can be
http://www.1carpc.co.uk/wcdr/favorites.htm
so that you get an idea of what to look for.

Regarding the repair of my caravan that we paid £400 for see my caravan repair blog here
http://www.colin-lee33.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/lunar/ - lots of info there.

Our caravan is now dry and has cost us less than £1000 including the repairs that I did myself.

If you are handy with tools it is a route to end up with a good caravan at a good price, and one that you know is dry and sound - providing you buy carefully and at the right price.

Colin

[banksy66]

Originally Posted by c_lee

Hi John,

We returned to caravaning again last year after not having a tourer for over 20 years.

Just returned today actually from 4 nights away in Silverdale North Lancs.

As has been said kitchen position is a matter of personal preference, we have had end and centre and would be happy with either.

In the circa £1000 price bracket you need to be very careful what you buy as there are loads of sellers of caravans in that price range that rely on the fact that it is probably someones first caravan buy and take advantage that the buyer will probably not know what problems to look for in an older caravan.
The main one being damp, which is often covered up ( often quite well ) by unscrupulous vendors. On the surface the van can look quite good with a nightmare concealed behind interior decor. A damp meter is essential.
If I were thinking of changing our van for one advertised as ' no damp whatsoever ' - to me that would say be really careful.

Regarding manufacturers I would say be wary of older vans from any manufacturer, especcialy if British.

In the 80's the second van we purchased had no hot water or shower, but that wasn't unusual then.
I fitted a shower and Carver Cascade 1 water heater myself as we used to tour a lot on the continent and we wanted to be self sufficient.
It was not difficult to do but it was expensive even doing it myself.

Regarding the van's weight, you need to be guided by by the rule of thumb that the maximum weight of the caravan should be no more than about 85% of the cars weight and definately no more than the cars weight.
So your choice of van is limited by which towcar you intend to use.
It is not unknown for some dealers to pretend that an inexperienced buyer's lightweight car will have no problems towing that heavywight caravan to gain the sale - you only find out later when tryig to tow it, but by then the sale is made.

On saying all of the above, last year we bought a 1989/90 known damp one owner caravan from my neighbours father.
I had been researching a caravan buy and problems for a few weeks at the time and was ( almost ) confident I could fix it.

I had read how owners of much newer caravans had had horendous serious damp problems with caravans they had paid many thousands for.
I suggest you look here to see just how bad some caravans can be
http://www.1carpc.co.uk/wcdr/favorites.htm
so that you get an idea of what to look for.

Regarding the repair of my caravan that we paid £400 for see my caravan repair blog here
http://www.colin-lee33.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/lunar/ - lots of info there.

Our caravan is now dry and has cost us less than £1000 including the repairs that I did myself.

If you are handy with tools it is a route to end up with a good caravan at a good price, and one that you know is dry and sound - providing you buy carefully and at the right price.

Colin

Colin, many thanks for the advice. I realise that care will need to be taken when buying and I'm not much above scrap value with the amount we're paying. Any idea roughly how much a damp meter costs? Having said that, my neighbour is a builder and probably has one I can borrow on occassion. Your advice is most welcome though, thank you

My question regards weight of the van has more to do with actual towability rather than car to van weight ratios if that makes sense. Is a heavier van more stable to tow than a light van or is there little difference? Obviously a lighter van will cost less to tow from a fuel consumption point of view although I realise that towing a small building at any weight will have an adverse affect on economy anyway; but is it worth getting a slightly heavier van if it tows better?

Thanks again for the advice

volvorocks, I'll switch to pm if that's ok as I'm hijacking my own thread now lol

[c_lee]

Originally Posted by banksy66

..... Any idea roughly how much a damp meter costs?

......My question regards weight of the van has more to do with actual towability rather than car to van weight ratios if that makes sense. Is a heavier van more stable to tow than a light van or is there little difference?

I didn't actually buy a damp meter myself, I used my digital multimeter on the 20 M Ohm resistance range to test for damp.
I said essential on the assumption you didn't have a digital multimeter.
A damp meter tests the conductivity ( resistance ) of the substrate and presents it as a % value on the scale.
I did resistance comparisons of known dry and known damp areas resistance readings using the multimeter.

I expect your builder friend's damp meter will give a good indication.

Regarding weight and towability/stability.
It's a difficult one to answer, personally, as most of the time Iv'e towed with big Volvos and they presented no problem with stability.
For a short time in the 80's I towed our 12 foot Piper Clubman with a Renault 12 TL and it was stable though bit lacking in power.
The 12 ft Piper was actually quite a heavy van.
On the continent where the towing speed limit ( then ) was higher than here, I also towed the same Piper with a Volvo 240 Auto at 70 mph regularly with no stability problems.
Though we did have a stabaliser and roof wind deflector.

If you are going to tow with your 850 I think you will have good scope in the choice of caravan providing you are not expecting it to be a very big caravan which it probably won't be given your budget.

Where you might come slightly unstuck regarding best towability is in the car's gearing and it's maximum torque speed.

A powerful car that has a maximum torque speed of, say, 90mph will not be as good at towing as the same car with a maximum torque speed of 60mph - even if fitted with the same engine.

Look at the cars engine spec and note the engine revs where it develops maximum torque.
On the motorway drive in top gear at those engine revs and note the speed on the speedometer.
The nearer this speed is to 60mph the better it will be towing in top gear at the UK towing limit.

When towing, torque is the key for best performance, not BHP.

It is for that reason I have changed my main towcar to the V70 as opposed to the 240 GL.
The 240 GL manual had the BHP but developed its maximum torque at too high revs for best towing performance.
Looking at the engine & gearbox spec for a 240 DL, that car would have been a better towcar for me compared to my 240 GL because it develops maximum torque at lower engine revs and more in line with the UK towing speed limit.

Hope this helps.

Colin

[outnumbered]

there's bargains to be had
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1508022555...84.m1436.l2649
just a little bit dirty at least he is honest it is dirty

[banksy66]

Originally Posted by outnumbered

there's bargains to be had
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1508022555...84.m1436.l2649
just a little bit dirty at least he is honest it is dirty

lol, with a full and accurate description like that I'd be a fool not to bid on it!

[volvorocks]

Originally Posted by outnumbered

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1508022555...84.m1436.l2649
just a little bit dirty at least he is honest it is dirty

LOL..he hasn't much choice but to be honest about it being dirty really!!

Would probably scrub up nice with a bit of elbow grease mind

Regards

[Mr-V70]

Damp meters are available in Maplins for not a lot of money.

Hope that helps

Sam

[xc70jason]

Get some of this stuff(from Aldi) in a bucket of warm water,a bit of elbow grease and hey presto,it'll be like new,
Jason