Castleton Caravan

1985 HL Roberta Model

First impressions weren’t good when I first see this Caravan stood up at ‘Whilton Marina’. It looked like it had been there years and in-need of a bit more than a bit of tender loving care. I had visions of it being rotten to the core and not worth bothering with. 

I was Wrong, BIG TIME. 

Let me skip back a few years. About 5 years, there about before I brought the Castleton, I had brought a ‘Sprite Musketeer’. This was purchased for £700 and did us proud for about 5 years. It was okay to the point that it was functional, but didn’t look too good. I never really liked the shape and the colour. It was a sort of mustard looking and the paint had faded in places. However, we persevered with it and I did a few modifications here and there and just kept in good order. New carpet and curtains and things like that. We even brought a brand new ‘Awning’ for it, which somehow made the whole thing look better.  

After having the sprite for a few months I decided to find a storage place for it. Having asked around I was told to try ‘Whilton Marina’. This confused me a little, as I thought a Marina was for boats and not caravans. I was told that they store caravans there as well and that it was a secure place to park your caravan, if you can get a place there. I later found out from the people that work there, that they only had 5 places left and that they would probably fill them before the end of the week. I secured myself a place there and then before they did all disappear. After paying over the phone with my cash card, Plot B51 was mine. I promptly hooked up the Sprite and towed it over to ‘Whilton Marina’ and parked it up on plot B51. It was at this time that I first noticed the ‘Castleton Caravan’ parked up opposite my plot and I thought, “What a shame that someone would neglect such a nice shaped van”. At first I didn’t mention it to Paula, but after a while I told her that I loved the shape of the old caravan opposite us and wondered what make of van that it was. Paula wasn’t too interested in it, as it looked like it wanted a lot of work doing to it and just said that it looked like a pile of junk. 

This is how we left it for about 5 years, but every time I went in and out of Whilton Marina I looked at it because it was right in front of me every time I collected or parked up the Sprite. However, , , , , , One rainy day I decided to take a closer look. I gave the moss that was growing on the side of it a rub with my finger and found that it came off without leaving a mark. I wondered if all it needed was a good washing and at the same time I was wondering what it was like inside. Without trying to get my hopes up too much, I went to see the people in reception and inquired for them to find and ask the owner if it was for sale. The bloke I spoke to told me that all sales have to go through them and that they would track down the owners and ask. After having a look inside and finding that all it needed was a clean and everything looked well in order and working (hopefully) I made an offer of £100 and thought that this would secure a deal, but they came back to me a day or so later saying that it could be mine for £500. Astounded, I told them a flat ‘No’ and offered £150 for an ‘as seen condition’ sale and left a message saying that for £500 I would expect them to get it cleaned up for me. They came back saying that it’s mine for £400. Again I refused and told them £200 and that is my last offer. If they didn’t like the £200 offer, then they could keep it and I won’t bother going ahead with a deal. A month went by before I heard from them again, excepting my offer. I got to thinking that they had probably tried to sell it else-where and found that my offer was probably the best they were going to get. The deal was done and I took the Castleton home and parked it up on my drive for a week or two, just so the neighbours could have a look at the filthy caravan that I had brought home. Some  were convinced that I had gone completely mad for buying such a terrible looking caravan.

So there it was, looking like it should have been taken down the breakers yard and not my drive-way. After having given everyone I knew a chance to comment on it, I set about cleaning it. With a bucket of hot soapy water, scrubbing brush and a sponge, a free day to make a start on it and there I was scrubbing away for a couple of days. It turned out to be a week of scrubbing actually. The roof was the hardest to do, as it was so awkward to get to. It wasn’t too bad with grime on top, just a pain trying to reach into the middle. Friendlier comments were made by the neighbours as they see it progressively getting cleaner. There were a couple of places that didn’t come up to scratch and the same places looked as though it had a repair or two done to it at sometime. This didn’t faze me much, as I thought over all, it was looking good.

Once the outside was done, I started on the inside. At first I didn’t know where to start, so I decided started at the door-way and work my way round anti-clockwise. This took me straight to the toilet and it didn’t look like it had been cleaned for a number of years even before it had been stood up.

We worked it out that the caravan had been standing for about nine and a half years before I got my hands on it. I had found some old receipts for parking up on camp sites and these dated back nine and a half years. So we can presume this is more or less how long it had been sitting at Whilton Marina. The man that had owned it had died and the daughter had taken over things and had left the caravan sitting, as well as leaving a standing order going for the rent on the plot. The money that would have been paid to Whilton Marina for all those years would have brought them a newer caravan. I never did find out why nothing was done sooner, but I’m sure they had there reasons for leaving it there.

After tackling the toilet, I then started on the kitchen. This was fully kitted out with pots, pans, plates, cups and utensils. If the whole thing was clean, all you would have needed was some food and you could go camping with your caravan. However, it wasn’t clean and the inside took me a couple of weeks of afternoons to get it clean. Once done it looked like a new van inside and a bit worn with wear and tear outside. I was chuffed to bits once it was all done and started to plan some away days.

The Caravan came with two ‘Awnings’. One was the original awning and it was in a bit of a mess. It was functional and it had a few repairs here and there. It was so old that the canvas was starting to fray in places and the colour had faded really badly. As it turned out this old awning just about fitted the old ‘Sprite Musketeer’, so I let it go with the Musketeer when I sold it.

THE OLD AWNING

The other awning that came with the caravan was massive and was way too big for the Castleton. It was of a size that it would fit a caravan between 16 to 18 feet in length. As it was in very good condition, I put it on eBay and got a cash buyer within a couple of days of advertising it and it put £50 in my pocket. So in affect the caravan only cost me £150, if you take off the £50 I got for the awning.

The Castleton is only 12 foot 9 inches and is a little bit shorter than the Musketeer. I thought that if the old Castleton awing was a tad to small for the Musketeer, then the new awning I brought for the musketeer should fit the Castleton. It does fit, just, but it sometimes looks like it is too big, depending on the surface you’re on. However, I’m not going to get rid of a new awing if I can make do with it. We have had it out many times now and I have got to know how to make it look good on site and it goes well with the old Castleton.

 Paula and I spent a day playing around with awnings. The final out-come was good, as the new awning we had brought for the Sprite Musketeer fitted the Castleton with a bit of jiggling here and there.

This is a link to ARC Systems, who repair and stock replacment parts for Carver heaters.

Carver is a commen fitment in most old caravans.

http://www.arcsystems.biz/

You may need this link sometime?

The inside of the caravan came up really nice after a good clean.

Here are a few Photos of the inside.

This is the eating and sleeping end of the caravan.

As you can see, the dogs get a bed each.

This is the cooking and washing end of the caravan.

I'm actually cooking a meal in this photo, with a chicken in the oven and spuds on the boil.

Radio casette player and the charging unit, (ZIG), with a magazine/newspaper storage rack.

This also house's all the power switchs for the mains and 12 volt on and off.

Another view of the washing and cooking end.

The Carver Heater.

The Carver Heater Thermostat.

The cooker and oven.

The smart looking kettle came with the caravan and took a while to get it looking clean.

The fridge. Runs on 240 volt mains, 12 volt battery and propane/calor gas.

The sink with Hot & Cold running water.

There's a small water tank fitted and is lagged just like the one in your home.

It's heated with gas and has a controlled thermostat to regulate the water temperature.

Two big cupboards above the sink and cooker, housing the cups and plates and a lot of other things.

The Thetford Electric Flush Cassete Toilet.

The table is stored in here on the left, when its not in use.

The sink in the toilet is rarely use, as I normally use the one in the kitchen area.

This one also has Hot & Cold running water.

The dogs just love the caravan.

Of a night-time I sleep in the right side with Lady cuddled up to me and Ruby sleeps on the left side.

Click next to see the Castleton in use.