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Topic: First van - advice please

ickleviking

06/6/2013 at 8:16am
Location: Wigan Lancashire
Outfit: Pennine Fiesta & Montana 6

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We are looking to upgrade from our tent outfit to a caravan, but as we have no experience of caravans and neither do any of our friends or family, I would appreciate the thoughts of ‘people in the know’ J

We have a limited budget of £2000 – mainly because we don’t want to get finance until we have tried caravanning out and know that it is for us. We are also limited in weight, as our towing car will be a Ford C-Max (2012) 1.6 TDI. I have seen this advert for a lightweight van which sounds ideal; however, I just wanted to check from experienced caravanners whether those items listed under ‘Bad Points’ are deal breakers, or whether they are just routine maintenance issues that are likely to crop up with this age of van.

Thanks J

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July: Dolbryn, Carmarthenshire
August: Bamburgh

Battie

06/6/2013 at 8:25am
Location: SHROPSHIRE
Outfit: Avondale argente 530 5

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Take somebody with experience to view. Make sure you have a damp meter. Best of luck.

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Opensauce

06/6/2013 at 8:27am
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You can often revive leaking window seals by opening up windows & spraying rubber seals with silicone spray & plumping them up. The caravan is claimed to be damp free so if it is it looks ok. Try to knock the price down a bit, obviously. Depending on age of tyres you might have to budget for a new set before you use it, because its good to replace tyres after 5yrs regardless of wear.

Opensauce

06/6/2013 at 8:32am
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Max weight is 1300kg, btw, not 1800kg as stated in advert.

Current C-max brochure states 1200kg max tow for 1.6 diesel, is that yours? if so you can't really tow it anyway.

Post last edited on 06/06/2013 08:39:47

ickleviking

06/6/2013 at 8:39am
Location: Wigan Lancashire
Outfit: Pennine Fiesta & Montana 6

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With regards checking for damp - I'm assuming what we are looking for is damp patches/mold spores/any cracks in the plastic and feel for anything that has a slight 'give'?

Would love to take someone experienced along with us to view, but unfortunately we don't know anyone who has a caravan.

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July: Dolbryn, Carmarthenshire
August: Bamburgh

ickleviking

06/6/2013 at 8:46am
Location: Wigan Lancashire
Outfit: Pennine Fiesta & Montana 6

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Oops, only just noticed the post about weight. OH checked his car docs and googled the van specs and thought it would be within range. Will get him to recheck!

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July: Dolbryn, Carmarthenshire
August: Bamburgh

Opensauce

06/6/2013 at 9:21am
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Yes you haven't really got enough loading margin to keep 'van under 1200kg. Older caravans state unladen weight meaning completely empty weight so add gas bottles, battery to that & you will soon be up there. Save some money & go for an older ABI Maurauder. Something like this near you so you can go & check it first. These are normally about a tonne-1100kg all up. Check for damp obviously.

ickleviking

06/6/2013 at 10:23am
Location: Wigan Lancashire
Outfit: Pennine Fiesta & Montana 6

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Thanks, that's very helpful. So hard to know what you're looking for when you are new to all this :-)

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July: Dolbryn, Carmarthenshire
August: Bamburgh

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