Help and Tips on Touring Caravans

hartcjhart

I would say NEVER buy a caravan that has had damp as once it's in it stays even if the leak has been repaired,

beware of any van that has a 'spongy' feel to the floor especially near the door,sink or shower area

buy a relatively cheap 'damp detector' and check around the edges of the walls inside the cupboards and under the bunks,

look for sign's of slightly different wall panels,that is a usual sign of repair,

depending on the tow car go for at least a 14footer as with 2 little one's a smaller van will feel cramped if stuck inside because of rain,

you will get a decent one for about 2/3grand and it should come with an awning etc,again go for one that has a 'cassette'toilet it's easier to empty:eek:

I would keep away from ebay UNLESS the van is near you and you can have a good look around it BEFORE bidding,

'deep breath':rotfl: finally if you are in the Kent area I can reccomend by PM a dealer for you,(no not me)

Stevev99

The other thing I was wondering is how do you find out what size of caravan your car can safely pull?

We unfortunately changed our Toyota people carrier thing for 1 of the new Corsa's. I will say though it's the 1.7 diesel one and has a lot of pull.

That being said my wife and I have been talking about a caravan but have no idea how to judge size to car?

We have 2 kids so would need a 4 berth but smoe of those look huge!!

hartcjhart

here is a usefull link

http://www.caravanclub.co.uk/Practical+advice/New+to+caravanning/New+to+caravanning.htm

and here for towing capacity you should take the 85% weight for safety


http://www.uktow.com/towing%20capacity.asp#tab1

hartcjhart

Steve,for your car the best type of van to look for is a 'Sprite' as foot for foot they are lighter than most makes,they do a 12/14/16 ft model that are very well priced and equipped

GT60

Or a Bailey same as sprite but better EG the "ranger" range
And stay away from the gloopsssoop
http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/chatter/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=8&TopicID=62089&PagePosition=1&get=last

shopping_queen_2

Many thanks to everyone for all the great info. We're starting the hunt for a caravan this week armed with your very useful advice.

GT60

The ranger GT60 range is top spec at a low price better spec than most other van's
http://www.practicalcaravan.com/awards2008/tourer.html

garthdp

and if you are driving to dorset or somewhere, pull in every half a mile or so and let the three miles of traffic crawling along behind you get past:rotfl:

hartcjhart

also forgot to say about interior layout,

my advice is go for a van that can make double beds at each end,that way the parents can have the smaller double at one end that can be left made and the kids can have one side each of what would be the larger front dbl(without being made as a dbl)

this way you do not have to keep taking the main bed apart every morning to be able to eat and then making up again later

typhoon

Hi shopping queen, I was kindly directed onto this thread by a member of the Northern Ireland forum, as I had posted there looking for info on buying our first caravan. From the sounds of your original post, you and I are looking for exactly the same thing! You got loads of very helpful info here, I too am going to go out looking this week, just wanted to say good luck and keep me posted as to how you get on :beer: