Dipping my toe in to Campervan life with a Westfalia Nugget

[andburg]

flush is preferable for me, shows that time and effort has been put in.
Not a fan of patches welded over the top, have no idea how much metal has been cut away behind.

When i had the rust repair done on my van it was done by somebody i know and I was on site, could take pictures myself and see how much was being cut/welded in to make the repair.

key question, how much warranty are they giving you on that repair?

[LincolnLovin]

Unclear, that question will be asked once I see the paperwork from the repair.

[gman88667733]

Rust is a horrible thing. My van that I bought to convert to a camper had a few crusty areas, but once I properly got under it and looked, I ended up having to spend near enough £700 on welding alone.

I've found that once one area needs welding, chances are, more will need doing in the near future. On an older, cheaper vehicle, it isn't the end of the world as you can get away with unsightly, but strong repairs.

But on a vehicle that is quite expensive, i'm just not sure I'd be paying that much for a welded up van. (Especially if you can't see the true extent of it)

If you do, budget for potential welding every year as it'll probably end up at that.

Edit - remember what you said a couple of pages back... If you can't get photos of what has been done, you'd walk away. Maybe i'm just cynical, but i'd be wondering why they haven't got photos...

Edited by gman88667733 on Monday 12th July 12:13

[LincolnLovin]

gman88667733 said:

Rust is a horrible thing. My van that I bought to convert to a camper had a few crusty areas, but once I properly got under it and looked, I ended up having to spend near enough £700 on welding alone.

I've found that once one area needs welding, chances are, more will need doing in the near future. On an older, cheaper vehicle, it isn't the end of the world as you can get away with unsightly, but strong repairs.

But on a vehicle that is quite expensive, i'm just not sure I'd be paying that much for a welded up van. (Especially if you can't see the true extent of it)

If you do, budget for potential welding every year as it'll probably end up at that.

Edit - remember what you said a couple of pages back... If you can't get photos of what has been done, you'd walk away. Maybe i'm just cynical, but i'd be wondering why they haven't got photos...

Edited by gman88667733 on Monday 12th July 12:13

100%, plan is to review invoice, speak with body shop and see if it passes the sniff test. If it doesn't, walk away - if it does I will spend a goodly long time on collection looking at the area to see what has been done.

[gman88667733]

LincolnLovin said:

100%, plan is to review invoice, speak with body shop and see if it passes the sniff test. If it doesn't, walk away - if it does I will spend a goodly long time on collection looking at the area to see what has been done.

Good idea. You may be lucky and it's a top job that has been done and it doesn't need anything else done. But I tend to expect the worst with rust nowadays. I'd much rather a big mechanical failure than a whole load of rust to deal with.

[LincolnLovin]

You never know, I might be lucky and get both

[gman88667733]

LincolnLovin said:

You never know, I might be lucky and get both

It'd be about right, wouldn't it?!


Hopefully they give you the space to properly look it over. You can normally tell with welding repairs if it has been done to a decent standard or if it's just been rushed along to keep it going for a couple of years.

[LincolnLovin]

I think thats whats keeping me in so far, I was given plenty of time to look at the car when viewing and anything I wanted fixed was done without quibble.

[andburg]

if its not satisfactory, walk away and give the market 3 months........

[Tommie38]

Without being unfair to the OP, if prices are so high, why not wait until they come down?

The market is the market, so I’m not going to say anything on the value of your specific vehicle, but isn’t this a perfect example of something worth buying in winter? Maybe rent for the summer?

[LincolnLovin]

Renting is certainly an option to consider, we've got a summers worth of camping already booked in so we'll need *something* to do it in and I'm still not a fan of tent life.

[gman88667733]

LincolnLovin said:

Renting is certainly an option to consider, we've got a summers worth of camping already booked in so we'll need *something* to do it in and I'm still not a fan of tent life.

We camped in a tent for a few years and it was fine. But we went on our first trip in our self converted van a couple of weeks ago and it was 100% better. Arriving at site and just setting up on some levelling chocks and being done is so much easier than pitching a tent. No worries about wet weather when packing up to leave either.

It is an expensive hobby, but IMO, is entirely worth it if you get fair use out of it.

[Trevor555]

gman88667733 said:

LincolnLovin said:

You never know, I might be lucky and get both

It'd be about right, wouldn't it?!


Hopefully they give you the space to properly look it over. You can normally tell with welding repairs if it has been done to a decent standard or if it's just been rushed along to keep it going for a couple of years.

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?

[andburg]

Tommie38 said:

Without being unfair to the OP, if prices are so high, why not wait until they come down?

The market is the market, so I’m not going to say anything on the value of your specific vehicle, but isn’t this a perfect example of something worth buying in winter? Maybe rent for the summer?

seen the prices of renting them? Even if the rental calanders weren't absolutely full right now the cost of renting a similar size home for 2 weeks is truly eyewatering! That's not taking into account collection locations and then fuel costs of collection/return every time you want to use one. Then there's the awkward schedules of when you can and cant hire or how long for.

Probably still better off to buy the Nugget. If it turns out to be a bit more of a butt nugget than gold OP can hold on to it until summer next year and sell on claiming they just want to use the cash for a big holiday or upgrade. Even if the market tanks, a larger coachbuilt home with low miles isn't going to suddenly become worthless.

[andburg]

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.

[gman88667733]

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?

I suppose for the most part.
For me, if someone has taken the time to finish off the job nicely afterwards (not splat underseal or whatever coating they are protecting the weld with all over the place) then they have probably taken time to do the repair to a decent standard - at least IMO.

It's hard to say, but i've seen some welding repairs and they look hideous (then again, they may be perfectly strong)

I guess the only definitive way of knowing if it is a decent repair is by watching them do it, or request photos like the OP did.

[gman88667733]

andburg said:

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.

Depends on the price you pay for the repair too. On my van (06 Fiat Ducato) worth about £5k fully converted I'd assume - the welding I had done at my trusted garage isn't the nicest to look at and is in some areas a patch over what was already there, then treated etc... But that is the budget I ideally wanted to work to. Since the repair is strong and hasn't changed in the 8 months or so since it was done, I haven't been overly worried.

For someone to do a proper repair, so that there is 0 rust left and the end result is barely visible, you'll be looking at well over twice what an MOT standard repair would cost, I expect.

To be fair though, I'm happy enough paying a few hundred every year if needed to do welding repairs. But that is because the van isn't worth a fortune. Had the van been worth £15k+, i'd be much more concerned about the prospect of welding.

[gman88667733]

andburg said:

seen the prices of renting them? Even if the rental calanders weren't absolutely full right now the cost of renting a similar size home for 2 weeks is truly eyewatering! That's not taking into account collection locations and then fuel costs of collection/return every time you want to use one. Then there's the awkward schedules of when you can and cant hire or how long for.

Probably still better off to buy the Nugget. If it turns out to be a bit more of a butt nugget than gold OP can hold on to it until summer next year and sell on claiming they just want to use the cash for a big holiday or upgrade. Even if the market tanks, a larger coachbuilt home with low miles isn't going to suddenly become worthless.

This is very true. I doubt the value of it will drop much in the near future. And to be fair, the average buyer probably doesn't consider rust repairs as a definite no-no.

[LincolnLovin]

Yup, we'll just have to wait and see - always nice to have some extra drama eh?

[gman88667733]

LincolnLovin said:

Yup, we'll just have to wait and see - always nice to have some extra drama eh?

Exactly, adds to the fun!