For what it is worth.....
My parents came back last night from a fortnight in our 1992 ABI Monza. It is a 4 berth - two doubles. It isn't problem free but it is useable.
The Good - The Bad - and the Ugly.....
It is mostly dry. There is some water getting into the front locker area and the top of the locker needs replacing. Not a difficult job. Earlier this year I rebuilt the front end from the locker upwards so that is all sound - I just didn't get around to sorting out the top of the locker itself.
The tyres are OK for a couple of years (replaced with reinforced tyres in 2007 and the wheels are removed over the winter.) There are two older tyres we use for storage or as spares.
The chassis, brakes, bearings etc are fine.
It has a 12 transformer built in so we don't use a leisure battery - easy to convert back if you want.
The floor is soft by the kitchen and bathroom, although I've jumped up and down on it and not gone through!
The bathroom shower tray isn't pretty - it cracked and I resealed it with epoxy which has now discoloured. We use Caravan Club sites so we never use the shower these days. The toilet flush is electric and runs OK.
There is no fridge - the 3 way broke so I took it out and replaced it with a small domestic 240v fridge. Again we're always on hook up so that works for us.
Where the gas oven was we made a space for a microwave.
The Carver hot water system is gas only and works when it feels like it. Again, on CC sites we use their showers so don't use the hot water system in the van.
The gas fire works. All the internal lights work. The rear light clusters are both newish.
No awning.
On the outside - there are the usual dings and scrapes on an older van. There are cracks in the ABS locker front which I've filled but it is discoloured.
The carpet is stained near the bathroom.
It's a 450S. Overall length 5.8m. Width 2m (slightly narrower than most). Weighs 700kg empty. 900 kg loaded.
It ain't a total wreck, but it is well used and nearing the end of its life. My Dad doesn't want to tow anymore and we're losing our storage, so it seems times to call it day. I was going to stick it on ebay as spares or repair, in fact I was just waiting for it to stop raining so I could take some photos.
I've no idea how near the cheap end of the market you want to go. If you've got a few hundred to spend you'll find nicer.
It's finally stopped raining so I added some photos to my profile.
Post last edited on 14/09/2010 20:00:19
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Topic: caravan for good home?
