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Quote: Originally posted by clf86ha on 10/11/2011

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we got our caravan from ebay about 10 weeks ago (before I joined this forum). I've now learn't the hard way, as being totally naive to caravanning, we paid out £1800 for a seemingly dry, well looked after caravan!  

that was until we had a service engineer out to service our pride and joy!!!... turns out the van itself is as dry as can be and in really good condition for a 1998 van..he said so to us!.....that is except, that a previous owner had resin bonded the WHOLE floor and it is now causing issues with the chassis, and from what the service man said, it will come apart at some point   (and he said the previous owners sold us it in that knowledge, as he found wooden chocks underneath to hide the issue!  )

So a lesson learnt in buying a second hand caravan....book an engineer to give it the once over BEFORE parting with any cash!!!

I'd hate someone else to go through what we have

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Touche I am on page one. So us to were caught before we joined and Oh! what a lot we have learnt. What to look for, and not be caught again. Have you looked at what some of the members have done themselves. If your able to , you may save yourself alot . ask on site here see if there is something you can do.

Look under "all forums" for caravan 'repairs' in the middle of towing repairs  etc. Cursor on repairs ,click will bring you onto a page that has "fix it club members" by papa pip. have a look and see if any can help you.

Quote: Originally posted by clf86ha on 11/11/2011

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Hi Beanpark, I'll have a nosey, but to be honest, I don't really know what I'm discussing, to be able to ask for a solution , its been a steep 10 week learning curve so far. But the engineer rang the chassis manufacturers when he was here and had a 45 minute discussion with them...the upshot being, it's not fixable

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That is when it hurts.The engineer we had thank goodness told us upfront & truthfully that "he could fix the rear suspension but it would probably cose about £1000+ but then he added as the year of the c.van was 1992 would it be worth it as more things could go wrong." Then he finds all the damp in the back of the cupbord in the end bathroom. The whole lot was coming away from the outer wall. So that could be done by us,and willing to have a go also.Checking on the "Fix it memebers & their photo's etc. But not the suspension, we could not possibly of done that ourselves. Good money after bad we were not willing to do knowingly.

We have pushed onward after that. Amazing out son ,as he was there at the time. But when he did not see an explosion of anger, but parents that went forward as they knew they could do nothing  about it, It stuck in his mind, as he would of blown his top and carried on for months going more backward than forward. So 3 days later we went on our 9 week hols in the Pennine fc Fiesta we bought the same day as that had all happened. This time, he was there to get underneath, inside, outside. he most certainly made sure this was sound in all ways before his parents bought it.We are tweaking bits & pieces to suit ourselves. Getting info from this site by members more experienced that we are in particular things.Different opinions from different experiences. Can't be bad can it?

Quote: Originally posted by clf86ha on 11/11/2011

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Well we originally bought a caravan to test if we liked it.....mission accomplished!, with the plan of upgrading later, so really, thats still going to plan. We may not be able to fix the van we've got, but it's still usable for the time being...although, we'll have the issue of what to do with it when its lifes over....do caravans go to scrapyards????
.....got my eye on the sterling eccles ruby for when we do change vans

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Quote: Originally posted by belfast77 on 07/11/2011

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I have had two Abi Maruaders, brilliant vans, I love them.The plain cream vans are a little more expensive than the two tone ones but the two tone van have a better interior in my opinion. You should be able to pick up a 1992/95 400D or a 500et with full awning and extras for £1000/£2500 depending on condition and time of year.

In reasonable condition and at this time of year I'd be looking to spend £1000.

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