Trade up caravan for around £7k

[Deejuk]

Hi all and a happy new year.

I've decided to trade up the old 36 year old caravan for a newer model with a fixed double bed. Although I know £7k is nothing when it comes to caravans it's as good as it can be in terms of budget.

Has anyone any recommendations of brands to avoid or seek out. I hope to buy it from dealer and keep on top of annual servicing with a view to keeping it 10 years or so.

Any advice would be great I know lots have moved on since the time when the old girl we own now was built.

 

[toad a caravan]

Good luck and take care...Gary

 

[Len W]

We bought a 2005 Burstner 530 tk caravan, it was bone dry the day we got it and still is almost all original. It cost us £3500. If i was considering buying another, I think i would be looking for a later model. You don't need to spend a fortune to enjoy the same luxuries of a modern van. It just has to be cared for by a previous owner. If not walk away. I've always found the best moisture meter is your nose. Good hunting ! All the best

 

[otherclive]

We bought a 2005 Burstner 530 tk caravan, it was bone dry the day we got it and still is almost all original. It cost us £3500. If i was considering buying another, I think i would be looking for a later model. You don't need to spend a fortune to enjoy the same luxuries of a modern van. It just has to be cared for by a previous owner. If not walk away. I've always found the best moisture meter is your nose. Good hunting ! All the best

Normally by the time you can smell damp it’s become expensive to remedy, sometimes fatally so.

 

[Len W]

Many years ago I helped a friend who liked to repair narrow boats as a hobby based in Derbyshire. We used to have many a good laugh about damp in timber. More often than not the timbers we would be installing would be reclaimed oak or mahogany from some demolished building. God help anyone that thought it a good idea to fit kiln dried timbers with a moisture content of 9% to a canal boat. Some of those barges had beautiful interiors both new and old refurbished . If they made caravans like that though they would never leave the driveway as they'd weigh several tons. In my old van if I smelled damp it would not be the end of the world, given the number of holidays we have had in it. We would just get another one. The old thing is still worth £3500 and we have owned her for the last 5 years.

 

[Beachball]

if you google Auto trader caravans they have new and used some are at dealers maybe local to you and private and then you can see what around your budget . These are the three we have owned Swift ,Bailey and Elddis caravan over the years but we have never had any damp problems . We use to have a service/ damp check every year so it was well maintained.