We have been looking for a caravan to purchase for some time without success until about two weeks ago. We were visiting online advertising daily and the local caravan sales yards on a weekly basis. Our requirement was for a 16’ to 20’ pop top in reasonable condition with an island bed priced between $10,000 and $20,000.
There are plenty of good buys out there if you don’t mind single beds; I lost count of how many times I clicked on a caravan online only to be disappointed to find it had single beds. There appears to be a gap in the market somewhere between newer caravans and very old ones.
Luck has it I jumped online early one morning and stumbled across a van that met our requirements and it had only been listed the night before. I immediately enquired about the caravan and was advised that I was the second caller and the first caller had already arranged a viewing (damn I thought). The owners were an elderly couple and their son in law was handling the sale on their behalf. We were to be given 2nd option if the first caller did not buy. That evening I received a phone call and much to our delight the first guy did not purchase the caravan because he was’ six foot six and his head hit the roof.
The caravan was located about one hour drive south of where we live. The next day happened to be a Saturday so we arranged to have a look at the caravan early on the Saturday morning. On arrival we were greeted by a lovely elderly couple and shown the caravan. I could tell by the cob webs, dirty roof, faded tail lights and general dusty appearance that this caravan had not moved for a couple of years. After a good look over the caravan and a few minutes deliberating over the sale price we decided to buy it. We visited a local shopping centre, got a bank cheque and completed the transaction with the elderly couple.
I have kept you in suspense long enough I suppose I better tell you what we have purchased.
It is a 1987 17’6” Jayco series 90 Poptop with a 2 year old rollout awning with zip on canvas sides.
Please visit our gallery to see photographs of the caravan the day of purchase.
We purposely went for an older, but newer style caravan that we can modernize and ad some of the items mentioned on our website www.caravanersfriend.com.
Please return to view future blogs that we will be listing as we pimp our caravan.
