Message Forums

i have to admire your patience and hard work

we cut our hol short as we were leaking through the crack lol and dropped it back off wed and picked up today so fingers crossed it does not come back this time . We are going to treat our van now to new cushions inside and a little revamp to make it our own now she is fixed i think she and we deserve the extra treat after all this heart ach. We have spent a small fortune but looking back she didnt deserve to be treat bad by the past owner she was in good order before they got her they only had her a yr and she didnt deserve it so were gonna give her a break and keep her and tonight ian has scrubbed every nuck and cranny of her outside with a tooth brush and shes sparkling in the streetlight ( watch her get nicked nar lol )  .

So best of luck hope dees back gets better x

The update is that sadly we've come to the conclusion that we can't fix Dora.  Both sides at the back are completely rotten and to access the rear corner in the bathroom involves taking both the gas cooker and the toilet out to gain access and it's a long way past what we are able to do.

The caravan has been in the barn for 8 weeks (so far so it's cost us £320 to use the barn).  The farmer needs his barn back for the calves and we need our lives back from spending every spare moment trying to fix Dora.

It's sad that we can't fix her but we're going to sell her with an honest advert and hope that either somebody with their own dry storage will fix her or she'll be a donor vehicle for a camper or caravan.  Her insides are still nice (although some of the wall board is now missing) and apart from the window we've dripped wood hardener onto, she's not in bad condition on the outside; it's just the wooden structure in between!

Thanks to everybody who has offered us support and advice as we've battled to get Dora exploring again.  I don't know what we are going to do once she's gone.  Currently we're battling to get her back together so we can tow her back to the storage site until she's sold.  We're very nervous about buying another caravan and going through the same problems but there may be a Dora II in the future.  We've both still got itchy feet and a yearning to travel the world with our own bit of home.

So sorry that this is the end for Dora, but fully understand why you have reached that conclusion. With all the knowledge and experience you have gained you will know what you are buying when you are ready to go for Dora II.

good luck and best wishes.

Thanks to everyone for their lovely messages :)

Last week the new owners of Dora came and collected her.  Theyr'e going to use her to make a campervan.  Hard to think of her being chopped up into pieces but after a sniff as she drove away I've tried to put her out of my mind.  We've laughed at all the hours we spent resealing her only for them to use none of it (we even cleaned the awning rails that were stored inside) but on the plus side when she was in storage and it rained, the water didn't come in!  The new people have promised to send us a picture of 'Spirit of Dora' once her innards are transferred.  They paid us over £1,500 for her so this may be a route for others with damp vans if they have nice insides.  We've ended up losing less money than we thought but have still learnt a valuable lesson.

On Saturday we bought a Sterling Europa 390 from a dealer with a full service and damp report.  We crawled all over 'Peaches' before we paid and found no damp.  We stayed in her overnight on Sunday with the bare minimum (sleeping bags, bottle of water, kettle, tea bags, milk) and had a lovely time reading all the manuals and peering at things.  Yesterday we changed our towcar from our naughty Mondeo to a Skoda Octavia Estate.  We're now planning our breaks for the rest of the year.  We might not get to France this year but Scotland, England and Wales are on our list.

It's been a hard 9 months since we bought Dora and Fitch (the Mondeo) and it's not only been the financial cost but all the time, effort and worry but we're hopeful it's now over and a brighter future beckons!