New member

[wibble1234567]

Hi all,

Just joined as we are looking for our first van.

We are coming to caravanning hoping to find a good quality coachman van for upto £8k.

Having viewed a few vans yesterday we definitely like the rear bed and bathroom setup which saves having to strip the lounge which is required in some vans. We will be mostly using it as a couple but the additional options of the lounge is a bonus for guests.

After looking at the 530/4 setups, we think that's what we like and are now shopping around for our first van which we plan to use to visiting several sites staying upto a week at a time while we take a touring break and work out where we would like to take up a more permanent pitch.

I'm sure we will have lots of silly questions to come.

Thank you.

We are near Wigan

 

[otherclive]

Hi welcome to the Forum. Coachman are a good make of caravan although you will need to make sure that any van you like is damp free. Don’t think that you can smell or see damp as if you can walk away. A damp check by an Approved Workshop Scheme technician or MCEA technician is essential if the seller has not had one carried out very recently. Ask to see everything working too.

 

[wibble1234567]

Hi and thanks for that. A couple of vans we looked at yesterday had smells and stains which we walked away from. Another one we were initially interested in had the internal linking falling away in the front right pillar to the right of the front window when viewed from inside. We couldn't sleep or see the cause and assumed that it had dried up or been resolved but the inside was in need of the finishing off that was the case.

Out of curiosity,
What sort of price is such a damp survey?

The local dealer selling this is advising that their warranty covers everything, so if there were issues it could go back, but am I being overly causatious thinking this is just hot air trying to unloada van?

Would this kind of damage be something easily repairable assuming leaks have been resolved?

Thank you

 

[wibble1234567]

Hi and thanks for that. A couple of vans we looked at yesterday had smells and stains which we walked away from. Another one we were initially interested in had the internal linking falling away in the front right pillar to the right of the front window when viewed from inside. We couldn't sleep or see the cause and assumed that it had dried up or been resolved but the inside was in need of the finishing off that was the case.

Out of curiosity,
What sort of price is such a damp survey?

The local dealer selling this is advising that their warranty covers everything, so if there were issues it could go back, but am I being overly causatious thinking this is just hot air trying to unloada van?

Would this kind of damage be something easily repairable assuming leaks have been resolved?

Thank you

 

[wibble1234567]

Sorry, the attach image thing keeps crashing, then found it did attach the image.
When I edit it won't allow me to delete duplicates.
If anyone is able please remove duplicate images.

 

[Hutch]

Welcome to the forum, go around different dealers until tou find the style of van tou like and if one catches your eye, then ask the dealer to show you a " quick" check around with a damp meter, if that shows less than say 20% . Then go for an independant survey,
Good luck.
Oh and sometimes dealers offer a full awning with starter packs, you could get several hundred of pounds off, the van if you turn this down, as you could buy one later on E Bay, (other sites are available).

 

[Beachball]

Welcome to the forum make sure the service book is stamped up it should tell you if it damp free . i would keep searching until the right one comes up

 

[otherclive]

An AWS damp survey would be around £50-60 with a full in depth report. I don’t know what your dealers warranty covers but in my experience they can be limited on cheaper caravans. Even some 12 month “ gold” insurance backed warranties have exclusions on things like cracked plastic components On my last caravan that excluded a cracked end panel which is very expensive to replace. Fortunately it was caught in time and still under warranty, so Swift replaced it FOC. Some even excluded water ingress from seals on older vans. So windows lockers etc would be excluded. So it’s very much a buyer beware and look/ check everything with a fine tooth comb. Condition and previous owner service and repair records are another thing to look out for.

The loose wall material doesn’t look at all good and a survey would be essential to ensure no incipient damp which would require more removal in case the underlying materials are damaged. It may be better widening your search as Coachman are not a common make which will limit what is available. Adria have a good reputation but it’s a fact of caravan life that all models can be affected by damp. Every caravan I’ve had has had damp, but the trick is catching it early before expensive damage occurs.

 

[Buckman]

I would walk away from that caravan with that wall issue. As said the £50-60 spent on a damp check is a lot better than losing a couple for thousand even if you have to pay it 3 or 4 times. You will still be quids in and one less worry.

 

[wibble1234567]

Thanks for the comments.
I'll be taking the advice and swerving the above van.

 

[Raywood]

Welcome to the forum. I would assume the damage is as a result of damp although it is possibly something else, The safe answer is walk away but a caravan engineer might be able to see what the problem is/was but anyone selling with that kind of obvious problem would make me suspicious.
As Other Clive says Coachman are fairly rare and might be difficult to source, having said that Adria are even rarer and are heavy, which may mean you have to look at what your car can tow. Given the budget you are looking at some quite old models, personally I would be less worried about the make and concentrate on finding a model in good condition with the right spec for you.

 

[Dustydog]

Welcome to the For7m.
Water ingress (Damp) is a caravans cancer. But providing it is caught early it vacant be fixed. Long term ingress will be horrific . When it surfaces as per your photos, I‘ d walk away👍