Thinking of buying a caravan....

dingbat69

Hi,

Real newbie to boards, so apologies if this is the wrong forum.

As the title suggests I'm thinking of buying a caravan, went camping for the first time with my family (wife & 3 kid's)a couple of week's ago, we enjoyed the experience (Few day's in Waterford), tenting just not suitable. Took 2 hour's to repack the jeep.

Even on holiday's abroad, we tend to use wherever we are staying as a base and see the surrounding countryside, so I don't think a Camper is suitable either.

I like the idea of being able to drop the van at a site and do our usual roaming

I have a Nissan Pathfinder, so should be ok for towing (as long as I don't have to reverse!) and have about €2K to spend.

my problems are:

1.) I know nothing about caravan's.

2.) I know even less about Campsites.

3.) Are twin axels a bad choice?

4.) Should I be looking at the 17ft range as a learner caravaner, or bite the bullet and buy a 20ft beast.

5.) I'm guessing the prices drop dramatically in September, would this be true?

6.) What sort of shelf life do caravan's have.

7.) Is it worth buying from a dealer, for peace of mind?

8.) Do you always run if you smell damp?

Thanks in advance.

Regards

Dingbat69

db

Dingbat

It sounds like a caravan would suit the type of holiday you like and it does give you lots of flexibility. These are just some comments from my experience and I'm sure others will have different opinions.

Don't expect to be able to just throw your stuff into the caravan, hitch up and go. It would take about an hour to pack up and be ready to leave a site or 2 hours if you have an awning.

None of us knew anything about caravans or campsites starting off. It's all fairly simple and readying forums like this and some of the UK caravan forums will help.

Your car should be perfect for towing. You will need a 5-6 berth caravan and most of these would be on the larger size. The extra few feet will make little difference to the towing so I would say the only limitations on size would be for storage.

The only negative for a twin axel caravan I would see is manouverability by hand and getting it level on site. Some people maintain that because they are favoured by one particular group of caravanners that you might get problems with campsites. I have never heard of it in this country most of them are using campers these days anyway.

Your real problem as I see it is your budget. You are not likely to get much for €2000 especially from a dealer. Buying privately at this price you would need to be very wary that it might have been stolen or be riddled with damp. If you can smell damp in a caravan it is probably too far gone and will at least need major work. At this price you will need to have a damp meter to check the caravan out properly.

If you could possible up your budget to €5000 you would have a much better choice of good quality caravans even at a dealers. The new caravan ranges are being launched at the moment so anyone thinking of trading in and buying new will start looking in Sept / Oct. The new vans won't be delivered until the new year but the dealers will have an idea of what trade-ins will be coming in and if they know what you are looking for they can keep a look out for it. Visit all the dealers and have a chat with them. Those that I have met have been decent people and will give their advice freely.

dingbat69

Thanks DB for your speedy reply.

Am a bit reticent to spend more cash as I don't want a very expensive garden ornament. I figured if I spend 2K and get a decent-ish van, I could probably resell it for not much less and get a better one if we are found to be using it.

Is there a website that lists all campsites in Ireland, or do you have so google individual places for campsites?

Regards

Dingbat.

rockysdad

dingbat69 wrote: »

Is there a website that lists all campsites in Ireland, or do you have so google individual places for campsites?

Regards

Dingbat.

This one on here.http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1484

Here's a few more should keep you busy for a while.:)

http://www.caravanandcampingireland.com/index.html

http://www.camping-ireland.ie/

http://www.discovernorthernireland.com/camping/

http://www.pitchup.com/campsites/

http://www.safenightsireland.com/

brightkane

Hey Dingbat,

In the exact same situation as yourself. Be interested in knowing how you get on

dingbat69

Thanks rockysdad.

Brightkane, will keep you posted.

Waiting for a towbar for the jeep from the UK and keeping an eye on donedeal for a suitable van.

Betsy Og

Do a search here for caravans - there's only been about 8 threads in the last year but they cover a lot of the points - there have been others toying with caravan V camper and advice given re what to buy etc.

Check donedeal, were very cheap vans last Spring. I bought one from there about 3 years ago for €3,200 - had all the gear going with it (awning, aquaroll, waster water etc.), a 1995 model. No problems of any note. Less can go wrong with a caravan as no engine, a spongy floor (damp, rotten) would be the main thing to watch for.

So even another €1,000 would significantly upgrade you. You can also brighten it up yourself with Grosfillex which I did in the bathroom and overhead the kitchen - cheap and effective. No great skill or handiness required.

Would be a pity to buy something manky that would put you off, as your style of holiday is exactly ours and we love caravanning.

Xmorpheus

Hi Dingbat, we went looking for a dealer van with a budget of 2K and in the end, we went with one for 3K - and that's '94 2 berth! Our plan was much the same as your own - pick up something not too expensive to see if we actually liked/used it and then maybe look at spending more and upgrading down the line. This was earlier this year by the way. We both used to caravan with our families when we were kids but have no "adult" experience of caravanning.

I understand that you don't want to pay out too much for something that may not get used - but at the same time, if you pay out and wind up with a pig in a poke, you're worse off than you were before.

If you're not sure about caravanning, maybe you'd be better off hiring a tourer for a trip to see how you get on?

At the very least, swing by a couple of the dealers and just browse the stock - they won't mind (well the ones we went to didn't). We got our van from O'Connor's in Enniscorthy (mostly because they had a very good online selection for us to check out first!) - and we were (and are) very happy with our purchase. We were also out at Charles Camping the other weekend and they've a good selection of new and used as well. It'll give you a much better idea of layouts, facilities and pricing.

Personally we never considered buying privately, mostly because we're new to caravanning and only had a vague idea of what to look for. At least with a dealer, you have some comeback if something is drastically wrong.

The Haynes caravanning manual is very helpful for giving you an idea of what to look for in a used caravan - you can pick it up in any Halfords with the other Haynes manuals.

HTH