[rogerthechorister]

I think that it makes sense to make "first time" mistakes as cheaply as possible.

My first van was £250 from a Hell's Angel. And my "first time mistake" was to drive it under a tree branch that was too low. I sort of straightened out the roof and ripped out the top cupboards to make guitar shelves. The shower was a little belter by the time I'd added the biggest onboard water pump I could find and the series 1 Carver made just enough hot water that you could have a nice hot shower if you rushed. Snag 1 was the lavatory was a Portapotti not an cassette unit. Snag 2 was the fridge did not really get cold enough - even after I replaced it.

My next van I bought by mistake. I put a bid on to help a bloke get more for his van - and lo! Suddenly I owned it. £550. An Abi Ace Airstream. Snag 1 - the shower room had serious damp and mostly rotted away in the couple of years I kept it. Snag 2 - local teenagers had broken in and used it as a shooting gallery and I never did quite get rid of all the marks. Snag 3 - bl00dy fridges! Snag 4 - somebody had removed all the CRIS markings and it seems changed the chassis plate. Ooo-er Missus. But I totally loved the L-shaped layout and I modified the bed slide so it was really fast to make the bed.

The next van (my current one) was an attempt to get a bit better. £1500. Another Abi Ace Airstream. The smell of damp went away with the use of a dehum and I'm pretty sure that no wet is now getting in where it should not. Much nicer bathroom. And a motor mover and an Al-ko stabiliser. Snag 1 - my caravan fixitman has not REALLY manages to get the wobbly floor totally rigid. Snag 2. Bl00dy fridges. Snag 3. I had to get a cooker put in, there was only rings and grill. Snag 4. Although on the outside it was a foot bigger thanthe previous van, on the inside it was a foot smaller - space wasted on an extra wardrobe. Snag 5. TOTALLY stupid storage layout. L-shaped cupboard near the sink almost unusable unless you like (a) crawling and (b) emptying it to get at stuff at the back. The seats were an inch lower than the old one, so I had to get a different (smaller) subwoofer, AND there was no room to put wine bottles in a milk crate upright below the seats so I had to carve up a food storage cupboard to install a wine rack. Much more important. Snag 6. After installing the sound system I was plagued with voltage drop. The battery was actually fine but the warning light kept saying it was not - and the sound system would turn itself off because of the low voltage to it. Mr Caravanfixit said it was one of the proprietary multiplugs in the wiring system, so by much fannying about I replaced all of them with choc-block - and it was not that! Eventually, working my way around with a voltmeter, it turned out to be inside the battery-charger-distribution-panel. Somebody who obviously new a LOT about caravan electrics but was a bit slapdash had put a second relay in there, and because it was very crowded, had bent one of the connector pins so that spade terminal on it was not making good contact. Also a lot of the screws that held the unit together were missing. Hoping for a trouble-free summer now, but I really should have a good polish of the outside.