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Does a bit of damp behind the front window matter that much?  It`s a bit soft in just one place  without rigirous inspection), but no damp at all in the van.  I expect (hope) to get 5 years out of it . . . But I liked that 4 berth Monza!  Narrow too.

look here too

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/forsale/ads.asp?c=Caravans

That's a good post .... and my thinking is that an old caravan at a price under £1,000 is false economy.

As I said earlier, Folding Campers can be had for that money and you will get a much newer one. easy to store in the garage, cheap to insure.

One massive point in a Campers favour is that, although quite luxurious compared to a tent, it is treated as a tent by all campsites ..... where a CL or CS is full if it has 5 caravans there ....... it's empty for a tent as they can accomodate as many tents as they like - and Folding Campers are welcomed into the CC. This is a great bonus that you can get in at any site at any time - unlike a caravan.

hi.. i would also stay with the tent. having bought our first caravan this year we find it very relaxing in-fact a bit to comfy if its raining you tend to just chill out in the caravan all day and sort of do nothing because its easy to do so.....but in a tent we would be out and about after breakfast and do a lot more with our day. you cant beat the smell of fresh cut grass filling the nostril's when your drifting of to sleep. there are down side's to camping but tenting holiday's to me are all ways a lot more memorable than caravanning holiday's

Quote: Originally posted by free-range-children on 16/6/2012

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Hi.

Personally I would stick with the tent.

In your original post you say that putting up tent takes too much time but imo caravans take up at least as much time if not more. Once my tent is packed away its safe till I need it next. The caravan however always needs jobs doing, keeping outside clean, keeping eye on tyre decay etc. On site I find putting up a awning more difficult than a tent. It is also expensive, service £150, new toilet (thats me being fussy) and toilet fluids, new leisure battery £80 caravan insurance, increased fuel consumption and gas bottles are expensive.

Also have you somewhere to store it? Not trying to be negative but owning a caravan especially an old one (like mine) can be time consuming and expensive.

This is only my experience good luck whatever you decide.

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There are plenty of caravans around the 1k mark and not all are damp. I looked at a couple before buying my abbey and one was very damp and the other was dry but as the owner had spent £900 on a new awning the year previous he didn't want to budge on price.

In the end I snapped up a 1990 Abbey GTS415 on ebay for £1000. It is dry inside, has everything we need (3 way fridge, 4 burner hob, oven/grill, blown heating, cascade water heather, shower, thetford flush toilet, nice interior layout and came with a full awning, water containers, stabiliser etc. We love it and serveral people have said to us if we upgrade they'd give us the £1000 for it.

We got the caravan after considering a tent but worked out that we'd need to spend £500 on the tent, sleeping bags, cooking equipment, lights etc etc so another £500 to have something warm and dry was well worth it.

One major plus point in favour of a cheap caravan over a tent or trailer tent is that the caravan does not need to be dried off before its put away.

I have had to pack away damp tents in the past and then had the bother of pitching it in the garden to dry it  out before mildew becomes an issue.

Thanks to wind damage, snapping poles and a cooking accident one time I went through £800 worth of tents before I got my £950 caravan and I would never go back.