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Re: Introduce Yourself

Posted: Sun, 03 Oct 2010, 8:10 am
by aallen
Hi All,
We are Tony and Carole (aka aallen) and would like to purchase a Portafold or Ansfold so that we can attend rallies.
We met Maureen and Bill from Leicestershire at the Kettering steam rally and they kindly showed us round their Portafold.
This gave us the bug and Carole immediately fell in love with them--hence desparately trying to find one.
We live in Northamptonshire only about 3 miles from Silverstone Grand Prix circuit.
Hope to meet some more of you at future rallies so that I can gather technical infromation
Regards
Tony

Re: Introduce Yourself

Posted: Sat, 23 Oct 2010, 10:35 am
by DanBoy
Hi all. My name is Dan and I'm an alcoholic, Oh, sorry, wrong forum :oops: I live in the Heart of England, Staffordshire to be more precise. I have been building/restoring cars for as long as I can remember whether it be Classic, Custom or Kit cars and have owned numerous caravans. The folders include an Apeldoorn Paradiso, an Elaime, a Dandy and an Esterel, I recently built a Teardrop caravan from scratch, as well as having owned numerous trailer tents. I first saw a Portafold about six years ago and knew then that that was something I wanted. One did come up for sale locally about 2 years ago ago but I was in the middle of restoring a Skoda Felicia Fun pick-up (featured in Classic Van and Pick-up), still had a trailer tent and I was struggling for storage space. The Felicia and the trailer tent have now gone and I feel that it is time to realise the dream of becoming a proud Portafold owner. The only problem I have now is finding one..... :problem: If anyone is thinking of selling theirs or knows of one for sale, please bare me in mind. I know there are others on here looking but, hopefully, there will be enough to go round.
Regards
Dan

Re: Introduce Yourself

Posted: Mon, 15 Nov 2010, 10:29 pm
by fitz
Hi everyone my name is Brian and thanks to this great site I have discovered I have a 1969 Portafold. I ride an 1800cc trike that I built myself and tow my Portafold with it .I am in a trike club and am also a member of the Royal British Legion Riders Branch. As of a few days ago I didn't evan know the make of my caravan and I have owned it for six years even the guy I brought it from didn't know as there are no badges on it. A kind member on the R.B.L.R site found this site after I asked if anyone knew the make of my caravan. I will attempt to put some pictures on here of the van and the trike.

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Re: Introduce Yourself

Posted: Tue, 19 Jul 2011, 9:33 pm
by mk3rob
Hi all,

My names Rob, single, living in NW Wolves.

I have recently bought a Porta after finally getting fed up with tenting.
I originally bought a 7x5 trailer tent (without the tent) to attempt to build my own folding van. Well i thought i would put (your taxes paid) aircraft fitter (RAF 30 years) skills to some use.
Then my mate who is about to buy one said that there were 2 for sale near to Corby, so after the Gaydon Mini show we went for a look and i took one of them home.
It's a bit rough, last used 2 years ago, the brake cables are all seized up (luckerly off not on) so a bit of work to do.
Like a previous post i am over 6' and wanted a longer bed. I have a 4 man tent because the width is 7' against the sardine picture length of 6'.

I belong to 2 car clubs. The Funkey Monkey Mini Club from Wootten Bassett and we attended a few of the Wroughton Aug shows before they shut it down so might have seen a few of you down there. We were the ones with the white roofless Mini which towed the 3 trailers around the sight. My main insanity check is being a member of the Scamp Owners Club. The Scamp kit car is a Mini based kit car made from 40mm box section and ally plate. I describe my Mini as being a mix of Mini Moke and a Landrover. We are like yourselves scattered all around the country and meet up for off roading, hols and some Mini shows as often as possible.
I hope you all enjoy yourselves at the Maidenhead show and don't suffer too much from the liquid anesthetic. I myself am already committed to visiting my daughter and brother that weekend in Suffolk when i will have to suffer watching Ipswich Town losing yet again. Maybe next year

Regards Rob

Re: Introduce Yourself

Posted: Tue, 23 Aug 2011, 8:24 pm
by phunkie hiboy
Hi Everybody,
We registered on this forum a few weeks ago and thought that and introduction was in order.
We are Chris & Sue (aka Phunkie Hiboy) and have recently bought a 1970 Portafold. This was mainly down to a very wet Beaulieu event in June when our tent sprung a couple of leaks and we decided that tents were over for us.
Although I (Chris) don't think that it's been used much, it's not in very good condition as far as the fibreglass is concerned. So as it's being totally stripped and rebuilt, I will write a thread on the restoration part of the forum as I go. This may help some of the owners on here to carry out minor or even some of the bigger tasks in repairing your Portafold, yourselves, and saving some money in the process!!
We met a few of you guys at the White Waltham event and enjoy ourselves there, so we'll be there in 2012. We aim to debut the caravan at the Victory Wheelers event in June 2012.
Here's a picture of the vehicle (rebuilt in 2005) that will pull said Portafold together with the camping trailer that I built in the Airstream style to haul all our camping stuff.
Hope to meet up with more of you in the future.

Chris & Sue

Re: Introduce Yourself

Posted: Tue, 06 Sep 2011, 11:02 pm
by Ambubird
Hello everyone,
Newby here! :D I'm Debbie & we live in the Swindon area.
We saw a Portafold at the Blenheim Palace classic car show a few weeks ago & have totally fallen in love with them. I have spent hours & hours researching & getting inspiration from you guys & can't wait to find the right van & join the fold!
We have a 1966 VW Splitscreen & spend a lot of our spare time camping, doing car shows & enjoying the great outdoors.
We've been looking for a lightweight caravan for some time but had never seen the Portafold & felt a real "eurika" moment when we saw it. My other half is a lanky bloke (6'4") & most of the teardrop style caravans we've been looking at aren't long enough (& we would need a second mortgage! :crazy:)
Can't wait to update you when we find our own portafold..... so exciting!

Re: Introduce Yourself

Posted: Thu, 18 Oct 2012, 8:31 pm
by RayH
Hi all, I'm Ray - a new owner and today I picked up my 1969 / 70 Portafold that was for sale on ebay. I'll post a few 'arrival' photos when I work out how to do this. I live in Ascot and I'm pleased to see from the forum that there are members nearby. Great to see such an active club !

I've only recently come across Portafolds and have been bowled over at how great the design is, how useable they are and the ease of towing. The overall condition of mine is good but I'm planning to put in a fair amount of TLC to improve things.

It's early days but I've been going through the website and gathering good info but I still have some questions that hopefully someone can help me with - I'm keen to get as much done as possible before Spring:

* What's the best thing to wash the outside with ? Sugar soap ? Bath cleaner ?
* I need to wash the foam (presumably in a bath) as the inside smells musty - should I use washing powder ? Soda crystals ?
* Half of the window winding locks are different from the other half - are the original ones still available ?
* The edges of the top section have inevitable scuffs and minor damage - should I use car body filler or try and overlay fibreglass ?
* I'm planning to paint the outside as it is a mixture of creams and whites due to age. I saw that some have used Toplac - do you have to spray it on to get a good finish or is it possible to get good results with a brush or roller ?
* The top section has been painted (gloss I think) in the past. There are minor splits and crazing. Is it best to clean off with GRP paint stripper or paint over ? Should I apply fibreglass to the crazing etc or just skim with body filler ?
* There is no leisure battery but I want to install one in one of the storage sections at the front (there are already loose battery terminals there). What's the best way to secure the leisure battery or should I transport it in the tow car ? - Similar question about the gas bottle - where do you store it ?
* The padding above the seats is long gone. Is Veltrim a good replacement or should I just repaint it ?
* The inside of the roof is painted - will this cause condensation ? Should I use Veltrim ?
* There are gaps between the front and rear side sections and the roof, especially the corners - should there be seals to fill these ?
* The top is secured on one side with an old cut down belt and the other side had cable ties - Were there originally leather belt fasteners ? If so, are they available ?

Any help on the above would be greatly appreciated and I look forwad to meeting up with everyone at future meetings :thumbup:
Cheers
Ray

Re: Introduce Yourself

Posted: Thu, 25 Oct 2012, 4:31 pm
by vauxhallbitz
Hello Ray and welcome to the club,

I used Toplac paint on my van with a roller and brush and got pretty good results but it was time consuming. You put it on with a roller and it looks awful but as soon as you brush it over it gives a great finish the trick is not to go over it if you make a mistake let it dry and then rub it down. If you go over it twice it usually ends up leaving horrible marks which you cannot get rid od.

I used a very thin foam back car headlining for my roof if you look at: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=230. I glassed over the fins on the inside to make it easier to lay down the material.

I just painted the walls above the shelves with agood quality bathroom emulsion and have had no problems.

If you need anything else I can send you pictures

Good Luck!

Fraser.

Re: Introduce Yourself

Posted: Fri, 26 Oct 2012, 10:35 am
by Admin
RayH wrote:I live in Ascot...
Another one for the National Gathering! :thumbup:
RayH wrote:Great to see such an active club !
I should point out for clarity, we're not actually a club, just a bunch of like-minded Portafold enthusiasts. Clubs involve committees, meetings, AGM's, and usually end up with internal squabbling. Hence, the portafold.co.uk forum is a democratically run organisation that's run solely and completely by me, and what I say goes... :lol:
RayH wrote:What's the best thing to wash the outside with ? Sugar soap ? Bath cleaner ?
If it's the original gellcoat finish then a good quality car shampoo will do as good a job as anything. Followed by T-Cut, car polish and car wax.
RayH wrote:I need to wash the foam (presumably in a bath) as the inside smells musty - should I use washing powder ? Soda crystals ?
When you say foam, do you mean the cushions? If so, if you can take the covers off and replace the foam with new then that would be the best option. A careful dry cleaning of the covers should ensure they stay in one piece. Although there's a very good chance that holes will appear in the material.
RayH wrote:Half of the window winding locks are different from the other half - are the original ones still available ?
I've found these window catches: http://portafold.co.uk/parts_and_spares ... catch.html
I haven't been able to find any others so if yours don't match I'm afraid I can't help you, yet...
RayH wrote:The edges of the top section have inevitable scuffs and minor damage - should I use car body filler or try and overlay fibreglass ?
Without seeing the exact damage it's hard to say but gellcoat filler can be used for most small repairs to the gellcoat. I'd speak to a boat repairer if you're after qualified advice. They deal with GRP day in day out.
RayH wrote:I'm planning to paint the outside as it is a mixture of creams and whites due to age. I saw that some have used Toplac - do you have to spray it on to get a good finish or is it possible to get good results with a brush or roller ?
Can't help you as I've not painted mine I'm afraid.
RayH wrote:The top section has been painted (gloss I think) in the past. There are minor splits and crazing. Is it best to clean off with GRP paint stripper or paint over ? Should I apply fibreglass to the crazing etc or just skim with body filler ?
Again, without seeing it I can't really comment but what I would say is, if it's still the gellcoat I'd try and keep it unpainted if possible. Crazing is the visible part of a more under-lying problem underneath with the glassfibre. To do it properly it involves digging it all out right back to the webbing and rebuilding it. Far more work than it's worth just to get rid of a few cracks. You can just fill them, but to be honest, every Portafold has starring and cracks, and they don't cause any problems or allow any water in. Unless you're going for a concours finish I'd leave them alone. It's all part of the patina of an old caravan.
RayH wrote:There is no leisure battery but I want to install one in one of the storage sections at the front (there are already loose battery terminals there). What's the best way to secure the leisure battery or should I transport it in the tow car ? - Similar question about the gas bottle - where do you store it ?
What I've done is keep the heavy battery over the axle, so I've got mine next to the o/s wheel arch.
My gas bottle is in my locker as well, but on the n/s, just in front of the axle as it's the deepest locker and takes the smallest size propane bottle standing upright.
RayH wrote:The padding above the seats is long gone. Is Veltrim a good replacement or should I just repaint it ?
Various quilting has been used but the most popular seem to be the padded table protector material that comes on big rolls in stores like The Range. It's available in cream, white, brown and other colours.
Veltrim was mentioned by Paul and Debbie and theirs looks very good. Well worth looking at.
RayH wrote:The inside of the roof is painted - will this cause condensation ? Should I use Veltrim ?
Painted ceilings can cause condensation build-up and dripping. My ceiling is flocked from original so I'm quite lucky. I'm in the process of getting a quote from a flocking company to see if we can come up with something to get ceilings done the way the factory wanted them.
RayH wrote:There are gaps between the front and rear side sections and the roof, especially the corners - should there be seals to fill these ?
They're the air gaps to provide fresh air and ventilation to cut down on condensation. Also good for getting rid of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide if you're cooking.
RayH wrote:The top is secured on one side with an old cut down belt and the other side had cable ties - Were there originally leather belt fasteners ? If so, are they available ?
The best option I've found so far is cut down leather dog collars. A couple of nice inch wide brown leather dog collar, trimmed to the right length is usually bang on.

The main thing I'd say is don't rush into doing loads of work. I get lots of people saying that they wish they'd looked at other peoples Portafolds and spoken to other owners before jumping in and doing too much work to theirs. If yours is usable as it is then I'd use it, find out how things suit you, come to the National Gathering and look and chat. You'll leave the Retrofestival buzzing with ideas and tips and tricks. And at least you won't be saying 'I wish I'd done it that way'.

Re: Introduce Yourself

Posted: Fri, 26 Oct 2012, 12:01 pm
by RayH
Great advice !
I'll take the repairs bit to the 'Maintenance' section rather than hijack this thread.
Cheers,
Ray