New Members

Hello CraigandJo, welcome to CT. no doubt you will a lot of information given you by dealers and friends who are Caravanners but there will be dozens of other hints and tips worthy of adding to your memory banks. Don’t be afraid to ask and remember there is no such thing as a daft question. Happy caravanning.

I completely agree with the virtues of buying relatively cheap older model. Newer and shinier ain't everything But it was very valuable going to a show, with clear intention of NOT buying, and just getting into as many layouts as possible, which altered our preconception of what we wanted quite a bit.

Lots of people are bound to comment on the need for getting a reliable qualified engineer's check on it, especially the dreaded damp test with good advice. Yes, do it!

Our dealer, (it's our first caravan after years in tents, if not glamping), solemnly assured us his tame engineer was completely independent. Yeah... His damp report didn't even note checking the bottoms of walls, nor a few other places!

Luckily the (18 yr old) caravan's good, but it took an engineer we found through the C&MC's list to reassure us of that and there are plenty of much sadder stories on these pages.
Enjoy taking time to find the right one, and enjoy it when you get it!

We started with a hand me down trailer tent, then found a small £500 4 berth. We decided it wasn't big enough for us so we did a little research and found a 2004 sterling eccles emerald with an L shaped living area. I don't know if we got it for a good price or not but it was what we liked, everything worked, no damp and didn't look to "used". Visit as many dealers as you can, look at used vans there are hundreds out there, i'm sure you'll find something.

Hello all

 

we are a young family of 4 new to touring. Interested in membership but struggling to find model details and chassis numbers etc to join. Have purchased an early 90s ace viceroy and took out for our first trip just over a week ago. Going out this coming weekend again and have really caught the bug. Can’t neli it’s took us so long to take the plunge after 18 years of camping! 

A point i would add as we got it wrong to start with is if you want to tour or stay put as it will change what you want we bought twin lounge lay out but found the constant making and unmaking a pain especially when wanting to get on in a morning but we tour a lot so think of what you want

some sound advise here Craig & Jo, we all use our vans in different ways and often our needs change too, so vans change with us. You might think going into it at (semi) retirement age makes things easier, but beware, changes happen then too 

Do you have kids, grandkids, animals for instance, and if you haven't - will you in the near future ? We have been caravanners for 30 yrs now but still got caught out, when we were seduced by a new van, something we said we would never have ! I would swap back in an instant for the right older van now without warranty hassles to contend with. There really is no need to buy a new van (unless you have plenty of money to chuck about). Even if you buy with the thought that it will be a forever van (!!) take it from me - it probably won't be and slightly older vans do hold their value well and will always trade in well if you look after them. Good luck (and be very cautious about 2014 Lunar Quasars should you encounter one ;) )

Alison

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I like that AD. Some of our happiest and memorable times were in our first little cheap van!

I'm beginning goto think that, if you've got a dry caravan, keep it as long as you can.  When it starts to leak, that is the time to change!

David

Hi Craig and Jo and welcome to Club Together. 

You might find it helpful to have a look at our choosing the right caravan section of the website. Also as members of the Club you can take advantage of our outfit matching service to make sure the caravan you choose can be towed by your car. 

Good luck and let us know what you decide to go for.