A newcomer to caravanning

Jul 20, 2019
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Evening all,

We've taken the rather bold step into owning a caravan.

I know nothing about caravans, but my wife bought a second hand one this week off Facebook on a whim. We need to start caravanning she said.

It's a Sprite Europa 500 L. It's been sitting for a year on a campsite, and looks like crap. Good price though.

Initial inspection was it didn't smell damp, but we noticed some ingress from a damaged nearside kerb outside panel on further inspection after buying. The undersides, chassis and most of the shell look ok, and the damp interior panels seem to be salvageable and not too widespread . One spot, nearside front. That's it.

Hopefully shouldn't be too much to fix, and will post some pics asking for advice once we get over to it again tomorrow.

Will post a few more pics tomorrow and requests for advice once we start getting our hands dirty.

Cheers,
 
Nov 11, 2009
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If you should plan to take it on the road make sure your cars speciation is suitable to tow it. Also make sure your licence entitlement is compatible with the outfit weights. The post 1997 B licence is more restrictive than the pre 97 BE licence.
It’s probably in need of a good service a mobile caravan engineer could do that to ensure chassis brakes hitch lights etc are safe to tow. If it’s been standing I suspect tyres aren’t great. Don’t be fooled by tread depth as most caravans even used a lot on roads don’t wear out their tread. The tyre develops micro cracks which can lead to corrosion the plys. If older than five years I would seriously recommend buying new tyres.
I bought a Cosalt caravan on a whim from a neighbour whose husband had died. It turned out to be far too heavy for my Mk 2 1300cc Cortina. In the end the caravan went as we couldn’t afford another car.
 

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