[Closed] Buying an older touring caravan

Research about widths, some of the widest (often favoured by travellers) can only be towed behind a vehicle over 3.5t, so a large panel van at the least. I did hear a rumour recently that this law has changed and no longer applies but not bothered to check.

Tyres...check how old they are. The markings are explained here: http://www.oponeo.co.uk/tyre-article/tyre-age-and-other-tyre-markings

5 years is the recommended age to change tyres that are left standing for long periods. I thought I could get away with 6 years on our horsebox, as its been stored under cover for 5 of those years.

I was wrong. The tyres are tucked right under the body of our trailer so hard to see. I started noticing a bit of vibration. Checked the tyres, and three of the four had started blowing out of shape. They are wide flat tyres (195/50R13s), but the two worst couldn't even be rolled across the road without them falling over. It was scary to see how bad they were, and how hard to spot it when they were still on the trailer.

P.S What is your 'monster truck'?

Cheers spooky. I hadn't considered widths or tyres.
Monster truck is a ford ranger plated to pull 3 tonnes. 🙂

When did you pass your test? If after 1997, you cant just tow anything.

Change tyres if they're over 5 year old. The tread will be fine, the sidewalls probably won't be.

Way before 1997 🙁 no issues there 😀

There's some great old vans to be had then.

Twin axles are the gypos favourite for stealing.
Twin axles are cheaper secondhand because of the weight to tow,insurance and security costs.
Look for delamination in the floor.Its a spongy trampoline sort of effect when you walk on it.Not disastrous in a small area,usually the heaviest walked area,but can be expensive to correct if its widespread.
Check fridge on all powers,especially 240v if you're going to be on a site.They are horrendously expensive new to replace.

If you are thinking of touring at all with it be aware that many sites won't accept twin axles.

I have a bailey Oklahoma and its probably the largest you can go on single axle, used to tow it with a diesel pathfinder (nissan Navara variant )and it was fine, fixed bed at rear very nicely specced can sleep 4 not too expensive to buy, mines a 2004 and it's aged quite well compared to some

I've had several large twin axle vans, just go over it like you would a car, double check everything, push every switch, check inside the cupboards & the ceiling for damp. A spongy floor is a good bargaining point, I found with the last 2 I had, the floor was spongy, but this was down to there not being enough supports on the alko chassis for the span of floor, a bit of 3x4 fixed it 😀 weight wasn't an issue as they were always permanently sited.

Some sites won't take Hobby vans as they are the other war round (ie the bedroom is at the front) and this makes them harder to site.

regardless of which caravan you buy, the first thing you should do is go and buy 3 brand new branded tyres. and make sure you have a jack and a wheel brace. and always check the tyre pressures before you leave.

this is what happens if you don't
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my brother and i were driving to pembrey for a race meeting, and this happened on the m4 near cardiff somewhere. frightening! we had to change it on the hard shoulder. luckily we had all our tools with us, but we didnt have a trolley jack, and the van jack didnt go high enough. we had to let the air out of the new wheel/tyre to get it on, and pump it up again, all the time lorries whizzing past only a few feet away.

the failed tyre was only about 4 years old, and was properly load rated etc. it might have failed because of low pressures, who knows. we got 3 brand tyres before the next meeting!

geoff - the Ranger as it stands isn't an ideal towing machine, due to not much power (140bhp) and tall gears only having a 5sp box. I wouldn't fancy towing 3t - 1.5t is about right.

I stuck a DTE tuning box on mine and it's made a world of difference - £300 odd if you are a member of pick-ups europe forum. It's not a cheapo 'just add more fuel pressure' gizmo, it is a very technical piece of kit - too long winded to go into now. It shoves power up to 170bhp and torque to around 400nm.

I have no trouble hauling this around - however a twin axle bailey will be even heavier.

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You'll get there in the end...I drag a heavy horsebox behind my camper, when fully (and legally) laden it has a tyre shredding 19bhp/ton 🙂 3rd gear needed on any significant hill and on the flat it tops out at about 60mph.

Cheers guys - more to think about 🙂

Currently having a quick break at South Mimms services, dragging mine down from Derbyshire to London - all 13mtrs - looking forward to navigating round London.

Would be nice if more than 3 of the two dozen lorries I've overtaken flashed me back in!!

wrenmatix - please stop spamming the forum and go away.