The adventure temporary stalled

[Eddtheduck]

Hello,

Due to technical issues I have had to change my user name sorry if this is confusing.

Let me introduce myself and my new old caravan.

I'm 44 yrs old married with a 7 yr old daughter.

We have just upgraded our trailer tent to a 1991 Abi Monza 450s Caravan, she was cheap £550 off the dreaded Ebay.

We travelled miles yesterday to collect her bearing in mind we have never towed a caravan before and to my surprise it was relevantly easy and stress free with the Mondeo but I must get some towing mirriors.

So 1st impressions are she's vintage (old) and needs some TLC but what do you want for the money. Cosmetically on the outside she has had a few bumps and knocks but nothing is hanging off and apart from the 2 side lights on the front everything works including the brakes.

The inside of water tight and bone dry and surprisingly in semi decent order she would benefit from a few homely and cosmetic touches, New carpet and vinyl in the toilet area.

The floor is reasonably solid apart from 1 small are near the toilet door, I think this is more down the the fact i'm 26 stone not that the floor is rotten but I am going to put a few strengthening beams under neath this are just to be safe.

The previous owner did not use the hot water tank or the gas on the fridge so I'm not going to bother either a kettle for washing up and the fridge works fine off 12 & 240V. The cooker works fine off the gas.

The battery on her is flat and loos like a car battery 72ah I have manged to find a leisure battery for £57 brand new delivered from Battery Megastore. I am planning on changing the plus for USB versions and the lights for LED and did see the article on the home page on how to do this.

The only main concern I have is the 240V electrics. When we collected the caravan the owner had her connected to the 240V supply and put a electrical testing plug in to the socket and all seemed fine? I have today had a look under the seat where the fuse board is and found that some rewiring has been done using electrical connection blocks and I'm not keen on these so we could be looking at rewiring the van??

I have pictures of this but I'm unsure how to add them to the post.

So that is the story so far, I have a couple of questions that you have probably been asked 3546 times sorry.

Should I get the van service/inspected and if so to what certification bearing in mind 1 local caravan service centre near me said they don't deal with vans over 12 years old??

Thanks for the advise

Regards

Ed

 

[Eddtheduck]

Picture now attached

Thanks

 

[Tourer-Ted]

Blimey! I don't like the look of that wiring. Especially as it looks like it's taped to a gas line!

I'd rip it all out. Fit a proper ELCB consumer unit and proper junction boxes as required.
Get an electrician in to do the work, or to provide advice.

I wouldn't use that as it is.

 

[Eddtheduck]

You have confirmed what I was thinking thank you

There is a small eclb fitted but I'm more concerned for the bodge terminals especially as that's under the main bed.

Thanks again

 

[Craigyoung]

Ha ! Welcome again !!
I agree ! The electrics looks like a shamble :blink:
I would get some professional help with that if you are not sure what you are doing yourself !
Good luck and I like your renaming as I read the post last night ! :lol:

 

[Thingy]

We travelled miles yesterday to collect her bearing in mind we have never towed a caravan before and to my surprise it was relevantly easy and stress free with the Mondeo but I must get some towing mirriors.

Yes, you must. Its a legal requirement.

There is a legal requirement for you to have mirrors that allow you to see clearly an area that is 4 metres wide from the side of your caravan at a distance 20 metres behind the driver. A caravan is significantly wider than a car even a large 4x4 and you simply can't comply with the law unless you fit towing mirrors.

 

[Parksy]

Welcome to the forum Edd and congratulations on buying the caravan.
A mobile caravan engineer would give the Monza a check over, including the dodgy electrical wiring.
Another thing to check is the age of the tyres, because although caravan tyre often show little sign of tread wear tyres deteriorate over time and seven years is the absolute maximum age before replacement is essential to avoid the possibility of a blowout.
If the floor is spongy in places this might be due to delamination and is repairable as a (potentially messy) DIY job.

 

[Raywood]

Welcome to the forum Edd, the Mondeo should be a more than adequate tow car for the Monza.
I agree with what has been written so far. I would add that the front lights must be working to comply with the RTA, so you need to get them working before you hit the road again. The usual problem is the connections rusting and a bit of emery paper might sort the out but it could be the bulbs or the wiring
If you want it checked over, probably your best bet is a mobile engineer who will call on you and deal with the caravan there. You can find a list of approved engineers on the National Caravan Council website.

 

[Eddtheduck]

I have a electrician coming over this week to have a look and advise

Thanks again

 

[Eddtheduck]

Thanks for the info, I have purchased some of the friendly Ebay

 

[Eddtheduck]

I have had a look at the floor from underneath and all is well as far as I can see, I think the movement is mainly down to my portly size.

I am planning on installing a couple of cross members underneath I think it would only need 3 over a 1 meter period and that should do the trick.

I had a look on the NCC website and found a local engineer, once I have s[spoken to a electrician I will get the caravan fully checked out and go from there.

 

[Eddtheduck]

It looks like the bulbs have blown so I ordered some today, I had a look on the caravan council website and found a local caravan engineer who i will get in contact with once the electrics have been looked at.

This website look like a very useful place to get information thanks for the heads up.