Dipping my toe in to Campervan life with a Westfalia Nugget

[Trevor555]

andburg said:

Trevor555 said:

How can you tell how it's been welded up?

Genuinely interested.

Once it's covered in paint surely you can't tell?

Surely the only way is to have the work done by yourself, or a workshop that you instruct?

Surface patch...that'll be plainly obvious
poor work could mean a lot of filler so this can be checked with a magnet and a good eye down the panel from an acute angle, poor pain match.
inner sills, if its had welding you'll see it, if its then been swamped in undercoat you'll still see the fresh undercoat even if you cant see the repair
depending where ther repair is you may be able to see both sides of the repair through through drain holes / with an endoscope

but you're right, if the job has been done well it should be almost invisible.

Thanks for that.

I've got a classic car dealer that keeps trying to get me to go and buy/collect his stock, not really what I'm confident at.

He's shown me some right bodges when they've taken the paint off some previous repairs. Chicken wire, even bits of cardboard lol

[LincolnLovin]

Small update, car has gone for its gas/habitation check today then its going back to get the tailgate hinge rust looked at. I received the invoice for the sill repair which was...spartan but I've googled the place that did it and it looks decent as far as I can see, so that goes some way to allay the concerns - I will be calling them tomorrow to discuss what they did etc.

I'll be heading down next Thursday to collect, I might even record the journey there and back.

[surveyor]

Hope it works out OP.

For that money, I'd be looking at a nearly new caravan....

[LincolnLovin]

Not ready for the caravan stage of life just yet. Bad enough getting a campervan.

[LincolnLovin]

I've kept an eye on the market over the last few weeks and even fairly shagged T4 Westfalia's with 150-200k miles are coming up for £10-13k, and as they are T4 based they have a limited lifetime in our ownership due to the size of our growing family.

[LincolnLovin]

So I finally collecting the Nugget yesterday. It’s in lovely condition and the sill job is decent. The resprayed front bumpers and wheels really lift the car. It drove the 3 hours back with no issue, even though it’s a manual with no cruise it’s a relaxing drive.

Things to work on:

It needs a detail (booked), a new stereo as it’s only got a CD player but it did have a bonus Take That greatest hit CD and possibly a new leisure battery. I’ve got a smart charger on it and we’ll see how it gets on.

[andburg]

Enjoy, my head unit is similarly 90s in spec but has 3.5mm in, no point don’t much else as 2 4” dash speakers really don’t need anything special.

If you have a 3.5mm in consider getting a cheap android tablet and a big mount.

Where you off to first?

[LincolnLovin]

Somerset next weekend for a festival style wedding!

[andburg]

Sounds good, these days you can go full retro and buy a load of cheap cds from charity shops. All you need then is a faux leather holder in the glovebox.

Make sure you get some levelling chocks and try the fridge out. Older fridges are really sensitive to pitch if the van so it’s good to know if this is an issue before all your food goes off overnight….ask me how I know

[LincolnLovin]

Any reccomendations?

[andburg]

For chocks? Just get on eBay

I picked up a set of 6 used fiamma ones for peanuts.


For music on recommend some classic rock!

[LincolnLovin]

So on further investigation the leisure battery installed is a gel one that has been deep discharged so whilst it powers the lights I am not sure how much life it has in it.

I've ordered another alongside a new stereo

[CallMeLegend]

Does it have solar cells on the roof? It's one of the best things we put on ours, we have a 215W victron rigid panel & a Victron Blue Solar MTTP controler for it, at Silverstone (remeber how hot that weekend was) we were producing way my electricity than we needed to keep the beers ice cold (nearly frozen) & the ice cream properly frozen,

Even on an overcast winters day (cue David Essex misic) we have power to spare with the fridge on.

[TheJimi]

Are we getting any photos of this thing?

[Barrie c 66]

Yes, photo's please !

[LincolnLovin]

Only got the one picture to hand, but here she is!

This week has mostly been:

Sorting the leisure battery
Fixing a small leak in the sink,
cleaning (inc washing the curtains)
Replacing some rusty screws in the furniture.
Fitting new front tyres (the existing ones were fine but old)
Installing a cheapo bluetooth head unit
Sanitizing the water tanks

[surveyor]

LincolnLovin said:

Only got the one picture to hand, but here she is!

This week has mostly been:

Sorting the leisure battery
Fixing a small leak in the sink,
cleaning (inc washing the curtains)
Replacing some rusty screws in the furniture.
Fitting new front tyres (the existing ones were fine but old)
Installing a cheapo bluetooth head unit
Sanitizing the water tanks

I hope it works out for you OP. But that is nuts.

[LincolnLovin]

Thanks for the vote of confidence?

[surveyor]

LincolnLovin said:

Thanks for the vote of confidence?

I’m not sure I could bring myself to spend £25k on a 2002 van is all, for something which mat well he sitting on the same camp site as a £25k caravan.

Eg https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Buccaneer-Galera-6-2017...

I reallly do hope it works out for you though.

[TheJimi]

What's the residuals like with caravans?

Even disregarding the covid-effect, camper van residuals are very strong indeed.