Greetings all
I've just obtained a fairly old caravan, a 1996 Abi Marauder. A dealer had taken in as a part-ex and it's obviously been someones pride and joy as it's been serviced regularly and seems to be basically sound and dry. (I've had the gas checked over and will get the brakes checked before using it).
I've previously been using tents, then a trailer tent, then a folding camper which I had to sell when we moved area for a new job as I had nowhere to put it. SWMBO declared that any future camping would be a caravan or nothing, so when I saw this caravan become available it was a fairly easy decision.
As you can imagine, I've had a fun few days playing with it and finding out what does and doesn't work, and I reckon I've been lucky as most of it working fine, including the carver gas water heater, the 3 way fridge, oven, grill, hob, thetford toilet etc.
The faults I've found so far are the 12v charger doing nothing (now replaced with smart charger), one internal lamp not working ( now changed unit ), and a broken microswitch in the kitchen hot tap (currently disconnected).
I've also fitted a fuse and isolator switch to the water pump in case of future troubles as the 12v system is old school with no fuses or switches. I'm entertaining fitting a pressure switch and getting rid of the other microswitches as the taps seem quite flimsy and cheap - any comment about the wisdom of this? The most annoying issue was the key being snapped off in external toilet door (which the dealer did point out). I managed to remove the lock, and remove the broken key and lock pins so a trusty screwdriver now does the job!
I spent yesterday pulling all of the road lights apart and cleaning up the contacts. I think we are almost ready to go, the only real remaining problem being one curtain being mouldy after being next to an earlier damp problem on one corner which seems to be satisfactorily repaired. So we need to find/make a replacement curtain.
Obviously it is a gamble getting such an old van but it seems to be sensibly constructed so you can actually get at and fix things, and there was a folder with instructions for everything in it including a manufacturer wiring diagram, which has already been seriously useful.
So, we shall see! I'm hoping the old girl has a few holidays in her yet. Probably a a couple of nights at a relatively local CL or LS is the next step!
Tim
I've just obtained a fairly old caravan, a 1996 Abi Marauder. A dealer had taken in as a part-ex and it's obviously been someones pride and joy as it's been serviced regularly and seems to be basically sound and dry. (I've had the gas checked over and will get the brakes checked before using it).
I've previously been using tents, then a trailer tent, then a folding camper which I had to sell when we moved area for a new job as I had nowhere to put it. SWMBO declared that any future camping would be a caravan or nothing, so when I saw this caravan become available it was a fairly easy decision.
As you can imagine, I've had a fun few days playing with it and finding out what does and doesn't work, and I reckon I've been lucky as most of it working fine, including the carver gas water heater, the 3 way fridge, oven, grill, hob, thetford toilet etc.
The faults I've found so far are the 12v charger doing nothing (now replaced with smart charger), one internal lamp not working ( now changed unit ), and a broken microswitch in the kitchen hot tap (currently disconnected).
I've also fitted a fuse and isolator switch to the water pump in case of future troubles as the 12v system is old school with no fuses or switches. I'm entertaining fitting a pressure switch and getting rid of the other microswitches as the taps seem quite flimsy and cheap - any comment about the wisdom of this? The most annoying issue was the key being snapped off in external toilet door (which the dealer did point out). I managed to remove the lock, and remove the broken key and lock pins so a trusty screwdriver now does the job!
I spent yesterday pulling all of the road lights apart and cleaning up the contacts. I think we are almost ready to go, the only real remaining problem being one curtain being mouldy after being next to an earlier damp problem on one corner which seems to be satisfactorily repaired. So we need to find/make a replacement curtain.
Obviously it is a gamble getting such an old van but it seems to be sensibly constructed so you can actually get at and fix things, and there was a folder with instructions for everything in it including a manufacturer wiring diagram, which has already been seriously useful.
So, we shall see! I'm hoping the old girl has a few holidays in her yet. Probably a a couple of nights at a relatively local CL or LS is the next step!
Tim