£15k budget for a motorhome/van. Damp problems

[Fulltiming Felines]

My girlfriend and I want to move into a motorhome/van full-time. We've got about £15k budget but want to spend less if possible.

We've found two motorhomes we liked and paid MACIC to do an inspection on each. Both inspections advised not purchasing due to damp and other issues. Details from the reports below:

Motorhome 1
1988 reg. £6000

Various faults were found as listed above. The interior has been mostly and recently painted
with a very hard gloss paint. The reason for this is unknown but it makes it almost impossible to
obtain accurate damp readings, so you must draw your own conclusions as to why this has
been done. Furthermore, it is unsightly and devalues the Motorhome. No appliances could be
checked due to no power in the rear etc although after 15 minutes of engine running the
extractor fan worked but that was all.
It was disappointing that no service history was seen so it must be presumed that it has not
been serviced in accordance with the manufacturer’s schedules which may increase wear to
certain components. No cam belt record was seen so it must be presumed that this has not
been changed. There is an oil leakage which should be investigated further.
I cannot recommend the purchase of this Motorhome.

Motorhome 2
1990 reg. £8000

Essential repairs
Not recommended for purchase until following issues are rectified:
1. Delamination of floor under footstep and Nearside rear corner. Repair and cause to be
identified/rectified
2. Various areas of damp internally to be further investigated and repaired. Please see
report for damp readings and recommendations
3. Cracks in front corners of roof to be repaired
4. Offside tyre to be replaced and wear reason investigated
5. Nearside front window (remove misting to aid drivers vision)
6. Remove padding from front vents to aid demisting.

35% Off side above front window
35% in Off side rear overhead locker
29% in cupboard
27% around entrance door
15% in shower area

Guidelines for damp are as follows:
• 0-15% no cause for concern
• 15-20% require further investigation
• 20%+ remedial repairs required.
• 30% and above structural damage may be occurring and deterioration is
inevitable

We're feeling frustrated about this buying process now, having spent £800 on 2 inspections (£400 each). What should we do? Go ahead and buy one of these motorhomes and spend the money to fix them up? Or do more searching, possibly raising our budget, and try to find another vehicle that can pass inspection?

If we had to choose between these two, we're leaning towards Motorhome 2, as it has a lot of nice features like good sized fridge, lots of solar, automatic transmission.

 

[jo10000_6]

I’m relatively new to having a motorhome but can tell you your search for a £6-8k gem and your wish for it to be a Hymer is unrealistic.

I researched a long time before buying the 1993 Hymer I have in January this year.

People know what they have - if it’s £12k it’s £12k for a reason - if it’s £8k it's that for a reason.

You are looking for something that isn’t out there.

I paid good money for mine and sometimes I think I over paid but it’s in amazing condition and I’m happy.

I’ve also spent money on it - needed 2
New batteries and it’s booked in for a heater matrix in a month (pig of a job) - the point being you will always be doing something with these older models and be doing even more with the £6-8k ones.

The people on the forum have tried to gently guide you - what I’m directly saying is forget the £6-8k dream it will turn into a £6-8k nightmare.

Good luck with your search !

 

[mitzimad]

Presumably you’ve checked this one out:

looking at that advert it would seem ebay have changed their policy regarding phone numbers in adds

 

[maz]

This is nice. It's newer at 1995, but at £13k so much more expensive than some of the £6-8k ones I'm currently looking at which are 1989-1993.

Our search is still focused on the cheaper ones, hoping that one of them will turn out without damp, or at least just an acceptable amount of damp. Are we going down the wrong route and should just pony up for a more expensive one?

Maybe the £10k+ ones are just overpriced? There's no guarantee they'll be free of problems either.

It’s still within your budget and they are open to offers. If I was you - and seriously looking for a B534 - I’d be on the phone to them straightaway and asking questions.

 

[Minxy]

looking at that advert it would seem ebay have changed their policy regarding phone numbers in adds

I don't think they have a problem with phone numbers in vehicle adds as you need to 'see' them in the flesh before committing ideally and Ebay/Paypal don't give any guarantee on fund protection for such purchases.

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[Minxy]

Yes, we did a 20 day trip in a rental, with our four cats as well, tried to simulate full-timing as well we could. Very happy with it.


This is nice. It's newer at 1995, but at £13k so much more expensive than some of the £6-8k ones I'm currently looking at which are 1989-1993.

Our search is still focused on the cheaper ones, hoping that one of them will turn out without damp, or at least just an acceptable amount of damp. Are we going down the wrong route and should just pony up for a more expensive one?

Maybe the £10k+ ones are just overpriced? There's no guarantee they'll be free of problems either.

You're not gonna get what you want at the price you're looking at (up to £8k), remember this is gonna be YOUR HOME so you would be better spending a bit more so that you get a better condition MH, with more modern kit, furnishings etc in (fire retardant?), to hopefully have as few problems as possible because if you have anything that needs repair by third parties for a day or two you'd be without a home! Also remember that apart from the hab with older cheaper vehicles you need to remember that the running gear, chassis etc, will all have aged more and welding etc is NOT necessarily easy, or cheap if you have to get it done in the future.

I'd love to get a bargain in your position BUT there are value for money ones and then there waste's of money and I fear you're going down the latter route.

 

[Minxy]

I've managed to find at least one UK insurer (ERS underwriter, through HIC agent) that will work for me: no limits on the value or age of the motorhome, even with my US license. £1550/year.

Have you considered taking a UK driving test to get a UK licence?

 

[Spriddler]

Our search is still focused on the cheaper ones, ..Are we going down the wrong route and should just pony up for a more expensive one?

In a word, Yes. As previously said, it will be your home.

That 'nice' Hymer that you linked does look nice. However, 5 years ago on the MOT it had many non-DIY (for you) faults (see below). Any decent garage will charge their labour at £80 to £100 an hour + VAT so at a very best case there's at least a day's work which means a bill of a grand (plus parts) to correct - Probably nearer £1800 in truth by the time fluids and consumables have been added and a Fiat main agent may have a labour charge of about £130 an hour.
You'll be exceptionally lucky to get anything worthwhile for 8 grand.

These were faults noted in 2013.......Hopefully they were all fixed but my point is that other parts will be wearing out and these sorts of issues will inevitably arise the older the vehicle becomes.

Advisory notice item(s)

• Centre Rear Brake pipe slightly corroded (3.6.B.2c)
• Nearside Rear Brake pipe slightly corroded (3.6.B.2c)
• Offside Rear Brake pipe slightly corroded (3.6.B.2c)
• Offside Front Brake pipe slightly corroded (3.6.B.2c)
• Nearside Front Front suspension has slight movement at a wishbone pin or bush (2.5.A.1c)
• Offside Front Front suspension has slight movement at a wishbone pin or bush (2.5.A.1c)
• Nearside Front Front wheel bearing has slight play (2.5.A.3c)
• N/S/F MARKER LIGHT NOT WORKING.
• Four out of six exhaust mountings cracked.
• n/s/f tyre valve covered by wheel trim .

I would add that I served an auto apprenticeship and my hobby for 20 years was restoring 1960's M.G. cars (fool that I was) so I've been there with 'bargains' and met many naïve owners with rose tinted specs.

 

[deleted-member02]

Maybe the £10k+ ones are just overpriced? There's no guarantee they'll be free of problems either.

It's damned hard to find a well looked after vehicle with no issues, anyone with such a vehicle will not be selling it 'cheap' and it will certainly sell quickly (see Northernraider's thread). At best, you can hope to pay a fair price!
Sellers know how difficult and time consuming it is to find a good one and how much effort is involved in maintaining a vehicle to a high standard.
All vans have some issues, anyone who says they haven't had problems is either lying, hasn't used the vehicle or hasn't discovered the fault yet!

We do around 60nights and travel around 5000miles each year.
I'd say that we have a pretty up-together van, it's without doubt one of the 'better' ones.
Nonetheless, in our 4-5yrs ownership, I've replaced a side window, water pump and kitchen tap (cost of parts £500+).
The electrobloc failed, that was sent to Germany for repair (£150 odd)
I've recently had many fridge components replaced (just short of £500 worth)
I've resealed all roof lights (replaced some parts £200+).
This is on top of annual servicing, new set of tyres and other consumables, not to mention the care taken when using the vehicle or many hours spent washing and polishing.

Even with all this love and attention, I can think of a few faults...
The bathroom sink has hairline cracks and could do with replacing or possibly coating (likely several hundred).
One of the rooflights has some 'crazing', a bedroom window shows signs of delamination, both could arguably be replaced (again £££).
The interior is showing slight signs of wear.
Externally, it's very tidy, some inevitable stone dinks. Chassis is outstanding with no sign of corrosion.(Fiat and Alko)
Front bumper is peeling and needs respraying, that's another £500+ (typical for Hymer of this age).
Below the garage floor is a soft patch about the size of a 50p, I'll be sorting myself in the next week or two (another common problem that I've been watching out for).
The front crossmember is beginning to look tired and a little corroded. It's another common fault that I'll be repairing myself at some point (cost around £100 including Hammerite)

Relatively speaking, the vehicle hasn't had any problems, just routine maintenance.
I think we've been lucky (with perhaps some good judgement too).
What I'm saying is, they all have problems and all require time & money spent on them quite regularly.

 

[JJ]

The question of if it's suitable for full timing is a different matter

I full time in my Hymer and it is a 1987 one...

Have done for years and years and years.

JJ (Superior and Smug)

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[Feltwell]

Don't know much about them, Snowbird is your man, but RMB are supposed to be very well built. And do I remember you wanted a U shaped lounge? MOT history looks OK from a quick glance, only minor issues raised - I'd expect that on any vehicle of this age. History doesn't go back that far so I would think it was probably imported in 2016.



You have to be realistic that any van for that kind of money will be old and at best will need "running repairs", i.e. ongoing minor fixes. Mine certainly does at just 12 years old.

 

[Fulltiming Felines]

These were faults noted in 2013.......Hopefully they were all fixed but my point is that other parts will be wearing out and these sorts of issues will inevitably arise the older the vehicle becomes.

Glad you brought this up. I've been wondering about how to understand these advisories in MOT histories. If they don't show up in the most recent MOT, does that mean they've been fixed, or just that those test locations weren't as thorough and didn't note them?

In other words, should I be worried about advisories from several years ago?

I saw this the other day. I like it more than the £13k Hymer.

I joined the Classic Hymer Facebook group and it seems really useful to be able to swap tips on repairs, parts, etc. If I get an RMB, then we won't have access to that. How big of a deal is that?

 

[Fulltiming Felines]

Have you considered taking a UK driving test to get a UK licence?

I looked into it and it looks kind of hard and a little expensive. I figured out an easy way to do this: swap my Texas license for a German license (Texas has reciprocity with Germany and France), then if necessary swap the German for a UK license (since all EU countries have to offer this—before Brexit at least).

 

[Feltwell]

I joined the Classic Hymer Facebook group and it seems really useful to be able to swap tips on repairs, parts, etc. If I get an RMB, then we won't have access to that. How big of a deal is that?

I'd say not very. The base vehicle is an old-school Merc that is very simple by modern standards, any garage with a big enough lift can work on it. The habitation side tends to use much the same bits from that period no matter who converted it. You have to be realistic that with a van that old not every bit of trim will still be available, some ingenuity in repair will probably be required occasionally.

The reassuring bit I can see is the MOT advisories are really, really minor on that van. Check it thoroughly for damp and you could have a good'un there. But only if you get rid of those horrible bear decals

MOT advisories in general - if they're old and they've disappeared off the history, I wouldn't fuss, chances are they've been fixed or they would have turned into something more serious and caused a failure by now. You have to expect to see some, if you look for a van that age with no advisories at all in it's history then you'll never find one.

 

[Fulltiming Felines]

I'm coming around to looking at some of the more expensive ones around £10k, but humor me one last time on this £8k one below:

Looking at a £8k Hymer 534, 1989, 92k miles. Dealer shows me the habitation check they had done. Roof area by the door, and the door itself shows moisture levels 28-33%. Rest of the van is ok.

Dealer won't fix the damp, and it has the following issues on the most recent MOT. How serious are these?

Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):

• Offside Front Upper Marker light not working-pre 1991 vehicle.
• Nearside Rear Wheel bearing has slight play (5.1.3 (a) (i))
• Offside Rear Wheel bearing has slight play (5.1.3 (a) (i))
• Offside Rear Wheel bearing slightly noisy (5.1.3 (b) (i))
• Offside Rear Brake pipe corroded, covered in grease or other material Pipe on axle at osr. (1.1.11 (c))
• Offside Front Brake pipe corroded, covered in grease or other material X2 (1.1.11 (c))
• Central Front Lower Engine mounting damaged but not to excess (6.1.8 (a) (i))
• Nearside Front Power steering component has slight seepage from a component Rack-pinion valve area. (2.1.5 (a))
• Nearside Front Upper Integral body structure or chassis corroded within 30cm of a mounting, but not seriously affecting overall security slam panel. (6.2.2 (d) (i))

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[roamingman]

Tell me please why are you looking at vans with damp?

 

[Allanm]

There are a lot of advisories, wheel bearings will need to be replaced and that will be a garage job and expensive. Brake pipes have been covered in grease because they are corroded and the steering leaks.
A vehicle having this long list of advisories, has, to my mind, not been maintained regularly and there may be more horrors appearing when all these are fixed. I would steer clear, even at that price.
I just sold our Swift motorhome, 1997, and it only ever had one minor advisory ( last mot) in its entire mot history. It was well maintained regularly and it showed.
I sold it to a dealer who is now selling it at over double what I sold it for.
He knows how good it is, I just wanted it sold quickly from here in France.

 

[Spriddler]

Don't feel guilty about asking questions. Most of us have been there and that's one of the benefits of being a Funster.
For you, a non DIY chap I'd say that with the exception of the marker light they will all be 'costly' to fix in due course when they become Failure issues.
Brake pipes are not in themselves particularly expensive but take quite a few hours labour to replace them and bleed the hydraulics etc. Similarly the new seal on the rack and pinion assembly will not be expensive but there can be a lot of dismantling to get at and replace it.
I'd be concerned as to how the engine mounting became damaged - Accident?
The reference to the 'slam panel' (where the bonnet closes on the front grille/crossmember), shouldn't be a major problem for a body repairer but it's an indication that other more inaccessible areas may be deteriorating as well. Potentially the most worrying is the body corrosion as this can require a lot of cutting and welding. Some welding repairs or panel replacement require removal of habitation carpet and fitted units, tanks etc. which is very labour intensive. Once you start chasing corrosion to do a body repair it can go on and on..............
Without sight of the issues and how accessible the work is it's impossible to say, but a wild guess I'd say there's three days labour there, maybe 20 hours @ say a min labour cost of £80 an hour (or up to about £130 an hour at a main dealer), plus parts. You will probably have to take it to an established garage that will have the higher labour rate as most small independent garages won't have a lift that will take a heavy/long motorhome nor a door high enough to get it into the workshop.
You are going to be full timing so you will probably be racking up more mileage than 'weekenders' therefore the wheel bearings may become worn to Failure level at the next MOT.
It's not one for you.

 

[Feltwell]

I'd walk away from that Hymer unless you were willing & able to do the repairs yourself, which it sounds like you're definitely not. The nature of those advisories make me think it's been a bit neglected. It's an old & cheap motor though, but sounds like it's cheap for a reason.

Don't be afraid to ask owners about advisories. Here's 2 that are on my van's history that could put someone off but shouldn't:-

"Service light on", at the last MOT - OOoooo, has he never had it serviced? Actually it went in for MOT 2 days after the light came on, and 5 days before it was serviced by Dave Newell. The service book is stamped for both the service before & after.

"Corrosion to underside at front of vehicle" - on the MOT 4 years ago when I bought the van but hasn't appeared since - Ooo, is it a rotbox? No, not at all, it was a little bit of surface rust on the front cross-member, which is a well known weak point on Fiat Ducatos of this vintage. It's a bolt on part and easy to replace for about £60. It didn't need replacing, just cleaning up, and actually it prompted me to get the whole van professionally rustproofed (which the receipt is available for) so it should remain rust-free - especially as I check it and touch up the rust proofing if necessary every year.

That RMB looks really good to me for it's age, I don't think you'll see much better. Definitely worth a trip to see it if you're tempted by it.

 

[Spriddler]

Just another tip if you're going to be full-timing: I've read on here that Hymer windscreens can be VERY expensive to replace (c£3000 or even more) so check for chips/cracks on any m/h that you buy even if not an MOT issue, and also the max windscreen cover given by your insurer.

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[Fulltiming Felines]

We're going to see the RMB on Friday!

 

[maz]

We're going to see the RMB on Friday!

Good luck!

 

[deleted-member02]

We're going to see the RMB on Friday!

Good luck with the viewing today. It appears to be generating lots of interest on eBay, so hopefully a good 'un

 

[mfw]

Just looked at the RMB 3 days still on auction it is over 10k now and i bet it goes up another few k certainly doesn't look like a cheapo van

 

[Feltwell]

Just looked at the RMB 3 days still on auction it is over 10k now and i bet it goes up another few k certainly doesn't look like a cheapo van

You just never know on Ebay. I've had items with over 100 watchers that haven't sold, I've had items that shoot up in bidding at the start and then stop and stay there with no more bids - it is very, very unpredictable. By the time a van gets to that sort of age the exact age of it becomes much less relevant, it's all about condition and desirability.

So, to the OP, was the van any good "in the flesh"?

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[deleted-member02]

Maybe keeping quiet until the auction ends?
No new bids since Thursday, my guess is that it's a got a few quid left in it yet!

 

[Fulltiming Felines]

We had a look at the RMB and it's got some issues, one of which was that it was very difficult to get a reading with the damp meter on the walls (ceiling was easy to read). The meter goes from zero to off the charts, presumably because it hits metal. I've never run into that before, but I guess it's due to the RMB's unique construction?

Also had a look at a Hymer 534 from a dealer. £10,995 asking price but I think we could haggle it down. 1993. 78,000 miles.

Album of photos

MOT history looked fine, no advisories about corrosion but the chassis had a lot of rust. Is this just "surface rust" so it's ok?

There was a small patch of damp about the size of my hand on the floor, in the rear left corner, under the U-lounge seats, measured 35%. Dealer says it might be water ingress from the wheel well and would try to repair it. I think they might re-seal it but I doubt they'd replace the patch of wood. But it's such a small area, should we ignore it?

Kitchen tap spewed out a lot of what looks like algae. But that's easily fixed with a flush and chlorine?

Thanks again to all of y'all for your input. I hope to repay the favor once we're finally in a motorhome.

 

[Fulltiming Felines]

Also have my eye on this Hymer in Germany:

£5200 (yes sterling, I did the conversion)
1991
140k miles

What's that corrosion around the front quarter? Something to worry about?

£5200 is pretty cheap. Even compared to the other ones on mobile.de this is on the cheap end of the range. I've seen similar ones up to £8k.

There are two big scratches on the side, which are probably bringing down the price. I'm not bothered as they're just cosmetic. Seems like I could have it painted easily.

Broken Link Removed

 

[Minxy]

We had a look at the RMB and it's got some issues, one of which was that it was very difficult to get a reading with the damp meter on the walls (ceiling was easy to read). The meter goes from zero to off the charts, presumably because it hits metal. I've never run into that before, but I guess it's due to the RMB's unique construction?

What were the ceiling readings?

Also had a look at a Hymer 534 from a dealer. £10,995 asking price but I think we could haggle it down. 1993. 78,000 miles.

Album of photos

MOT history looked fine, no advisories about corrosion but the chassis had a lot of rust. Is this just "surface rust" so it's ok?

There are a lot of areas with corrosion, rust and they could prove very expensive to fix - even if the rust is mainly surface (which I doubt) it would take a long time to clean it all up so that's a lot of labour charges ... please don't go for this one!

There was a small patch of damp about the size of my hand on the floor, in the rear left corner, under the U-lounge seats, measured 35%. Dealer says it might be water ingress from the wheel well and would try to repair it. I think they might re-seal it but I doubt they'd replace the patch of wood. But it's such a small area, should we ignore it?

NO.

Kitchen tap spewed out a lot of what looks like algae. But that's easily fixed with a flush and chlorine?

It looks like it's been standing unused/unloved for a long time ... I reiterate ... please don't go for this one!

 

[Minxy]

I just can't get my head around what you are trying to achieve ... if this is genuinely going to be your home why on earth would you want one that needs lots of work or that could cause you a lot of problems either now or in the near future ... tempting as it is to save money I don't think the ones you're looking at are worth the high risk.

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[Northernraider]

Yes, spoke to dealer and he said he wouldn't do anything about the damp. Is it worth buying? Assuming the leak is sealed up, what will happen? Would it continue to rot, and the whole structure might break, even though there's no more water ingress?

I'm really just hoping to find anything that's damp-free so I don't have to deal with any problems in the future. Is that possible for under £15k? 5 out of 5 that we've looked into has had damp.

I can see a few good vans out there for less than your budget but they don't have the u shaped lounge you want.

That's where your problem lies.

Most vans with u shape lounges are British built or very old continentals trying to apeal to British market.....hence the damp

If you've 15k to spend I would seriously stop looking at vans at 8 grand the likely good is the will all have suffered damp and in my experience a lot of the sellers will deny all knoweledge and hope you don't notice.

I've just replaced my van a few days ago i dropped from a 40k + van to a sub 20k van but my original budget was 15 -20

I saw loads of vans online around 15k that look good buys

A good haggler ( me ) will expect to drop a van priced up to 18k to 15k max

I knocked 4 grand of the one I just bought and I knocked over 6 grand off my last one.

What part of the country are you in and do you really need a u shaped lounge ?
For fulltiming it isn't the best layout