Buying an old motorhome

[Dilby]

Hi all –

Just a quick open-ended question that I thought I’d ask in the hope of getting some food for thought.

I’m looking for my first camper and have saved up a budget of £4k. With such a small budget therefore I’m realistically looking for a camper from the early 90’s; (my wife refuses to come with my in anything from the 80’s as she believes it will instantly self-destruct, and I want to buy a pre-converted van as I don’t have the time to do a conversion as much as I want to.)

The contenders generally are conversions of the old ducats (talbot expresses etc) or the renault trafics (holsworth etc)

Does anyone have any food for thought on which base model is good to aim for? For example, are the parts for the Ducatos more expensive and harder to track than the traffic or visa versa, or does the traffic have a reputation for lasting longer etc.

Also should I be aiming for petrol or diesel models or be on the lookout for anything else?

Thanks so much

[Darren]

Hi Dilby
Hi Dilby

I can’t offer anything based on the model and parts. I suspect they’re much the same.
Regarding petrol vs diesel. If you are driving more than 1,500 miles per year, diesel will become cheaper as a fuel.
You’ll probably find more diesel vehicles from the 90s though. I would always prefer a diesel to be honest.

[Darren]

Hi Dilby
Hi Dilby

I can’t offer anything based on the model and parts. I suspect they’re much the same.
Regarding petrol vs diesel. If you are driving more than 1,500 miles per year, diesel will become cheaper as a fuel.
You’ll probably find more diesel vehicles from the 90s though. I would always prefer a diesel to be honest.

[spacehopper]

I took me ages (years) to buy a van….
…and then I read the Hyanes “Building / Converting a Campervan” and was re-assured that it can be the hardest task.

The budget went from 4-6k to 8.5k in a week as we realised there was nothing suitable – at the lower price range.

Suffice to say that in the end we managed to blow the whole purchase and conversion budget on the purchase alone.

Luckily we were in a position to do that.

So we’ve had a “day van” for over a year and a half now. Which is fine as we had all the camping gear to utilise instead of converting the van itself…maybe this is an option for you?

The latest addition is to stick a Fiamma awning on the van, so we have more space and we’ve got the whole “privacy room” so we are enclosed / protected from the elements when needed.

Essentially we are still in “camping mode” when we want to cook / have a little space – but we can sleep inside the van on a rock and roll bed. When we are going for a day/night excursion we just “make do” with the van and team making stove.

It’s not quite how we imagined it all…but that has been good in many ways as we have found we have to adapt and plan carefully and living with what you’ve got and working out what you need next is working out well as a “strategy”..

For instance you could go for the stand up awning option which is cheaper than Fiamma – depending on what suits your lifestyle best.

The great thing / worst thing about all this campervan stuff is that you really can tailor what you end up to suit your needs….but you have to make every choice to do that…and there are a lot of choices to make 🙂

You’re at the first one. 🙂

Good luck and just stick with it.

[spacehopper]

I took me ages (years) to buy a van….
…and then I read the Hyanes “Building / Converting a Campervan” and was re-assured that it can be the hardest task.

The budget went from 4-6k to 8.5k in a week as we realised there was nothing suitable – at the lower price range.

Suffice to say that in the end we managed to blow the whole purchase and conversion budget on the purchase alone.

Luckily we were in a position to do that.

So we’ve had a “day van” for over a year and a half now. Which is fine as we had all the camping gear to utilise instead of converting the van itself…maybe this is an option for you?

The latest addition is to stick a Fiamma awning on the van, so we have more space and we’ve got the whole “privacy room” so we are enclosed / protected from the elements when needed.

Essentially we are still in “camping mode” when we want to cook / have a little space – but we can sleep inside the van on a rock and roll bed. When we are going for a day/night excursion we just “make do” with the van and team making stove.

It’s not quite how we imagined it all…but that has been good in many ways as we have found we have to adapt and plan carefully and living with what you’ve got and working out what you need next is working out well as a “strategy”..

For instance you could go for the stand up awning option which is cheaper than Fiamma – depending on what suits your lifestyle best.

The great thing / worst thing about all this campervan stuff is that you really can tailor what you end up to suit your needs….but you have to make every choice to do that…and there are a lot of choices to make 🙂

You’re at the first one. 🙂

Good luck and just stick with it.

[Author]

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