What should you look at before buying a second -hand camper van

According to Asaic.

But if the new camper are moving, there is also an increasingly alive market of used units.As the idea of traveling in a van with the house in tow is the most appetizing, we are going to review what we should look at when looking for a second -hand Camper van.

Choose the appropriate size

One of the keys before getting a Camper van is to think about what kind of use we are going to do about it, what travel style we like and what minimal requirements we will have of the vehicle when choosing what to buy.That will determine the appropriate size and so we can classify the Camper vans into three groups:

Having this scheme as a starting point, you will have to choose the format that suits our premises (and budget, of course).To explain it we are going to put some quick examples.

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Those who travel alone or as a couple, with sporadias but very active, frequent, short (weekend) and on a close-medium radio to perform activities such as climbing and only use the van to sleep, eat and little moreThey can choose a compact camper.Low consumption, traveling with the minimum and inhabiting little time inside, but can also be used during the week as a daily car.

To spend a marriage with two children who will already need at least two beds and four approved seats to travel, who are going to cook inside, who need to have a full bathroom and who need to be able to move inside the vehicleWith some comfort for those rain days in which you cannot go on an excursion, the choice would be a great volume camper.

In between the middle camper would be, adaptable to different styles of use and that are suitable for a very wide audience as long as the public adapts to the limitations: larger than a tourism but without too much space, not being able to stand up (except in cases with a high or lifting roof), give up elements such as a full bathroom...

Both equipment and comfort we want to have

When we have defined the type of camper van that we want, it is time to see what is inside.In the second -hand market we can find ourselves from vans camperized by the minimum (with a removable or fixed bed) or authentic rolling houses.

Qué debes mirar antes de comprar una furgoneta camper de segunda mano

We return to the same: we have to see what we are going to value positively and what we will not need.Bed, secondary battery, static heating, solar plate, fridge, investor, water deposits, toilet, closed shower, WiFi, television antenna...The Camper world has almost infinite possibilities but there are comforts that are not necessary or from which we can or want to dispense to disconnect to the maximum.

You can always travel with the minimum, but there are elements that are more or less essential for any user who wants to travel with a minimum of comfort: removable bed, secondary battery, fridge and solar plate.

La calefacción estática Webasto es la referencia, y tiene un precio entre 955 y 1.200 euros según el modelo y la instalación.

Another important element can be the static heating that works by burning fuel directly from the van deposit without the engine being started, they can have a thermostat programmer and equipped with a height kit for proper operation at the top of a mountain.Its high price (around 1.000 euros) is its greatest handicap.

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In any case, it will be necessary to check that all equipment is well installed, with wiring or connections in good condition and without leaks, and above all that electrical installations are well passed through fuse boxes to guarantee safety.And if all the ordered and labeling is ideal when detecting future breakdowns and denotes the level of the minimum with which it has been carried out.

Isolation, panels and recesses

Below the facilities or how beautiful a wooden camper can be.

Ideally, panels and interior furniture are made with hydrophoge wood such as marine or phenolic plywood to avoid their deformation with moisture and greater durability, in addition to lightening the weight with respect to the agglomerate or solid wood boards.

Los panelados se fijan a costillas de madera ancladas al chasis y, entre ellas, se coloca el aislante térmico.

But under the panelados we can find unpleasant surprises, and the one that should worry us most is that there is mold under the panels.That is why we will have to look for indicative that moisture has been accumulated under the panels, whether disassembling some piece of the van such as plastic stirrups, raising some accessible panel or looking for footprints of 'puddles' in the corners of the furniture.

Something that is sometimes neglected but that (at least for me) is very important is the isolation that remains between the panelado in view of the interior and the body of the body.The insulators of seven or nine layers or the Kayflex of 1 or 2 cm are the best materials to isolate thermal (and to a lesser extent acoustically) the interior, and it will make the difference between a thermally comfortable camper or in which we can cook or freeze.

Mechanics for traveling without worries

Being a vehicle that we are going to use to travel, it will be necessary to look at the mechanical section in correct order of magazine.Thus we must check that there are no leaks, oil losses or rare noises in the vain motor, or rare noises.

To detect that it has been a well taken care of and without getting into complicated checks, we can look at the quantity and quality of the liquids: that the oil is at the right level and does not seem too used.The same with the refrigerant.

Another point that we can check by getting a little below the van is that the brakes are in good condition, that there are no blows in the 'belly' and that everything seems in order in the suspension, transmission and direction schemes.After all, they are still vehicles that move a lot of weight and sometimes on complicated land.

All in technical file (if necessary)

A big difference between a good camper and a homemade (understand the comment, it does not necessarily have to be bad) is its legality.

There are Camper vans that do not need to add anything to their technical file.As long as there are no relevance modifications or elements that have been anchored to the chassis, it will not be necessary to homologate anything.This is achieved with removable modules for the bed that unfold on folded rear seat.

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At the opposite end are the highly modified large volumetechnical record and not having to disassemble anything when it comes to passing the ITV, or that we can claim your damage to the insurance in case of accident.

Note: Some of the links published here are affiliates.Despite this, none of the aforementioned articles have been proposed either by brands or stores, a unique decision of the publishers team being its introduction.

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