Buy damp caravan

[alexcaravan]

My brother is looking to buy bailey unicorn cadiz series 3 2015. He has reduced it to £8,000 after we found it had damp. It comes with everything you need for caravaning.
Would anyone know how much it would roughly be to fix damp. It is back right hand corner and front left corner . I will attach a photo. Would you stay clear or buy to repair and hopefully not cost much

 

[alexcaravan]

He has now reduced it to £7000

 

[borderbilly]

Barge pole and the plaque springs to mind.

 

[Jcloughie]

I had a 2015 Lunar Clubman. It developed damp in the floor but no musty smell and no rot. I paid about £1500 in a lot of re sealing. But the readings remained high. I sold it privately in 2020 for £12,500 but it should have been worth £16,000. I was totally honest with the buyer.

What I noted was the buyers thinking. They said if they got 5 years out of it, it would be worth while. It was their first van.

I kept in touch, they enjoyed the van for 4 to 5 years then P/X it for a later model van.

John

 

[Mr Plodd]

Damp is a bit like an iceberg, only 10% is visible. Having said that £7k will certainly buy a lot of repair.

 

[GaryB]

Damp/rotten Bailey floors is a well known problem and there will be many caravan repair engineers fully clued up on how to do it and hence will know the cost to repair. If the caravan is bone dry everywhere else it MIGHT be a good buy but only a thorough inspection would reveal this. Personally I'd find a reputable caravan service engineer who also does repairs and have the caravan fully inspected before handing over any cash. Sometimes buying something with known faults can be better than buying something that's actually hiding faults that will appear later!

 

[ProfJohnL]

How much will a damp repair cost will be is as near to the impossible question as you can get.

Untill you know the full extent of the problem, you don't have enough information to understand and quantify the problem.

A Proper repair can sometimes be better than the original and outlast the rest of the caravan but a poor repair can just be stocking a nasty surprise later down the line.

There have been several successful DIY repairs discussed in this forum, but its ot a job for the feint hearted.

From your opening post I assume you are not a not knowelgable about caravans, thus I suggest if you are genuinly interested in this or any other caravan, it will pay you to engage an AWS technician to carry out a pre purchase inspection to ascertain a full picture of the caravans condition, it could save you thousands!

If a seller is not keen to allow such an inspection, ask your self what else might they be trying to hide?

 

[otherclive]

There was a recent thread about a similar issue and Dusty Dog posted this video.. As others have said it is essential to have a caravan engineer (AWS/MCEA) who is experienced in damp repairs to inspect the caravan and establish the scale of the problem, plus any other issues that there may be. Repairs to the Bailey floors are doable, but cost may be the determinant.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6-G4I-me_Q