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Hi Forum!

Weve been offered an Elddis Tornado of 1986 vintage. It appears to be in very good order with no damp that I can see anywhere. Its a 4 berth, white with a green stripe, double glazed windows, 3 way fridge. 14ft long body. We were looking for a 2 berth van that was a bit newer than this and smaller but its cheap enough to consider it (£500). Theres no awning however and no water tanks or any extras. It is local though!

Any opinions on this type of van? Anything I should look out for?

Tim I would buy a damp meter - £14 in B and Q and go over it with this as sometimes damp isn't apparent to the eye but revealed by the meter!  Make sure you check all the corners, behind and under the seats and especially the wardrobe and bathroom.

good luck.

Ali

Goodness, an Elddis Tornado brings back some memories!  We had one many years ago and had many happy times in it!

We found 2 things that were starting to go wrong with it.  The doorway floor was getting too bouncy and creaky for our liking and there was an obvious damp problem (very slight though) starting under the bunk bed.  You might like to check on these things although I'm not suggesting these are problems with Tornados.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

Jazzycats.

Well we got it!

Everything works and no sign of damp, although we didnt use a damp meter so theres a good chance there could be some lurking!

Its a very smart looking original caravan, theres no sign of wear and tear anywhere on it. Cant wait to use it!

we've got an elddis cyclone, we think its 1977, slight signs of damp but nothing unfixable, floor is sound and everythings in great working order, it came with an awning and gas cylinders but didn't have EHU (has now) and doesn't have a water supply but it will.  we've re-painted it and given it an overhawl cant wait to take it out for the first time.

congratulations to the two of you - there is a lot of fun in your futures :-)

Looking back I can't actually remember or imagine what life was like before we had a caravan - what on earth did we do with ourselves...

Elddis Tornado's are go!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had a 1993 one a while back, sold it and regretted it ever since!! I have since bought a really old one (Late 1980's) to use as a tack room but fell so in love with it that we took it out touring a bit!!!

It's fab, hubby doesn't think so but he's got no character (snob!!) HENCE....

...it's now up for sale cos it's too good to waste as a tack room and we now have a newer caravan to tour in!!

Any one want to give it a good home, it's yours for £500!!!

We have just got a sprite rapide for 500 with awning to try out at the whitsun break!

My daughter is having a sleepover tonight and guess what they are in "jan the van" on our driveway as we speak!!!!

My thoughts are that there's no point in shedding out loads of cash before you know it's for you  - Give it a go, I am!!

Good luck

Mel

We have just got a fab little Swift Danette in beautiful condition both inside and out complete with locks, stabiliser, used twice awning, gas bottles, tv aerial....the list goes on and all for £850

We are over the moon with it. We've never towed before nor owned a caravan but for £850 we thought it was well worth a go. We intend to keep it for a while until we have gained more experience then perhaps buy something newer, until then we are smitten with it!

It's great to hear of so many people stickin' with the older vans, you get the same holiday for the same cost in site fees, so why not??

Recycle, te possibilities are endless!!!

We have a Trophy Agistar 1988.  Nearly owned for a year now and it was bought to convince the wife that carravanning is good fun and to see if we all enjoyed it (We have a 2 year old daughter who loves the van!)

We love it and while I would like a newer van I think our old girl has a lot of character and so far she has given us some great little breaks away.

Sure she needs a little bit of TLC I think she may be a bit wet around the rail and along the front wall but I do intend to fix her. Just want to make sure I can do a good job.

Well, I've had a 1997 Abbey caravan before and was really proud of it....until we took it to a site and most of the other caravans were far superior to ours!!! at the end of the day theres always gonna be posher vans than yours (unless you are rich anyway!) so you might as well stick with the oldies, they do have character and they show that the owners have character too!!

Be proud and have many happy hols whatever van you have!!!

I had a clown from the circus ask me to sell my old elddis tornado yesterday and so now i am vanless so if anyone out there has a nice clean, dry, OLDER van for sale, please let me know!!!!!!

xxx

There are a lot of older vans out there which have been well cared for and maintained. If you can't find any visible or physical signs of damp then it probably hasn't got any...they don't make 'em like they used to!

My advice, if you have only paid a few hundred pounds for it, is forget the damp meter...you will only cause yourself more worry than it's worth if it detects something. Use the caravan as often as you can. Keep an eye on vulnerable places where damp could emerge but providing it doesn't turn to paper maché and you have it serviced once in awhile you will get several years of holidays out of it.

If you can keep it in a good state of repair then there's no reason why it shouldn't keep going forever, but if it does eventually get beyond economical repair then either flog it on as a chicken coup or scrap it, and you will have lost nothing. You then go out and buy another cheapo in good condition.

Why spend 10 grand or more on something that may not last any longer than a £200 jobbie?

Mind you...if it's an Elddis...check around the front windows, the front locker, and the roof to the rear of the vent