The 15th International Portafold & Ansfold Gathering) (i.e. 2024)

Our annual gathering will be returning to the Newbury Retrofestival.

So put the dates 9th, 10th & 11th of August 2024 in your diary now and get those dates booked off work early.

Show Address: Newbury Showground, Priors Court, Hermitage, Thatcham, West Berkshire, RG18 9QZ

Don't book direct with the show organisers it will cost you more money, just contact me (07771544419) to get your pitch saved.

Me saying Hi.

Any talk that's not covered by the other forums.
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podge
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu, 15 Jul 2021, 8:55 pm
Location: Aylesbury, Bucks

Me saying Hi.

Post by podge » Fri, 20 Aug 2021, 4:39 pm

I am a retired policeman and am now reaching my 70's. I have sort of retired but continue to manage a campsite in rural Buckinghamshire at least until the end of this season. Someone came on site recently with a Portafold and of course I fell in love with it. I wanted something to escape for the weekends with my beloved wife and also to be able to use my little Hyundai i10 to tow with.....so I have been looking and suddenly find one has appeared on ebay. Using your expertise.....do you think that the price is too high and too much work to turn it around. I have little or no experience on mechanics or renovations. Your thoughts please.

Thanks
Steve

skadgeer
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue, 17 Nov 2020, 9:24 pm
Location: Lincs.

Re: Me saying Hi.

Post by skadgeer » Fri, 20 Aug 2021, 10:31 pm

Hi :)

I think if you're serious about buying it then I'd definitely use the 'Make Offer' button and offer lower than the starting bid based on other recent Portafolds that have sold requiring less work and have been in better condition inside and out. That said prices for everything are higher than they used to be thanks to the current situation, so I'd guess that you likely would be pushing it to get more than £150 accepted off that price and with only three offers available for you to make, it would require careful thought.

It also depends on your budget for the rennovation, how much you reckon you can do yourself and how much you'd be willing to have a caravan mechanic/boatyard do and how much you'd just live with if you have it as either a long term project or a caravan to start holidaying in as soon as possible.

Accepting the description as accurate then it doesn't look too bad from the photos. If you want a work list of what I would do with an infinite budget and in no real particular order...

1) Purchase two roof straps so the roof can't fly off while towing/when pitched (none are shown in the eBay photos).
https://www.portafold.co.uk/parts_and_s ... strap.html

2) Repair the missing gelcoat from the lower lip of the front body (cheap repair would be a surfboard repair kit).

3) Address the damage (hard to tell if it's just scraped paint, or missing gelcoat) to the front corner and side wall lower corner.

4) Restore the missing rear number plate light (the retro-fitted left brake light covers the original location).

5) Attach a number plate.

6) Repair the crack in the roof (running from the right hand corner of the Left hand triangle awning rail down to the lip). I'm hoping for these tutorials helping our own restoration out (https://www.youtube.com/c/boatworkstoday/videos)

7) Find out why there appears to be a bolt driven into the lower right corner of the rear of the lower body (in direct line with the right rear light cluster).

8 ) Check the right wardrobe (when outside facing the door) top panel to see if that is again missing gelcoat or just missing paint.

9) Have the brakes/running gear serviced by a caravan mechanic (or classic car mechanic) who is knowledgable with older caravans (I say this because one of our old caravans had a mechanic jam up our wheel bearings because they were used to modern bearings) or do them yourself (https://www.portafold.co.uk/servicing.html).

10) Remove the foam cushions (which I see are in zipped covers) and check the foam is still okay.

11) Wash the zipped covers, decide whether to replace.

12) Wash the walls as they appear in the photos to be either dirty or mildew stained. Consider ripping off the lining and painting instead.

13) Repair the crack in the left hand seat locker, and avoid sitting on it till you do :)

14) Replace the missing hinge tape (you can see the glue strip where it should be).

15) Check the hinges are well oiled, if they stick they can rip chunks out of the caravans panels.

16) Clean the insides of the lockers.

17) De-rust the window hinges, this is based on them looking brown in the photos, but it's too far a shot to tell for sure.

18) Remove all the exterior paint back to the original gelcoat as it can hide a multitude of sins.

19) Remove the interior paint from areas it shouldn't be.

20) Check what the grey patches are in various places on top of the roof.

21) Inspect the floor since it's covered in cushions.

22) Consider removing the additional brake lights.

23) Check the age of the tyres.

24) Repair the dipped roof (apparently, not needed to do this myself) some people fix them by pouring boiling kettle water into the roof when its upside down.

25) Check the steadies aren't bending away from the chassis when wound up/down.

Probably more than just that once you get started proper, but as I said before it all depends on what you'd want to do with it. The one I'm helping to restore cost around half the price and requires at least double the restoration if that helps to put things into perspective for you.

:)

knockdolian
Posts: 43
Joined: Wed, 01 Feb 2017, 8:43 pm
Location: Yeovil, Somerset

Re: Me saying Hi.

Post by knockdolian » Sat, 21 Aug 2021, 7:36 am

Hi, personally I would say that is far too high a price for the condition. Stay with this group. Will get a much better one off here for that price. I paid about £1400 for mine. Ready to use but have seen better for less. Think I paid a premium because it was local and available when we wanted one. Good luck. The ebay one looks to be a lot of work. Just my opinion 👍

podge
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu, 15 Jul 2021, 8:55 pm
Location: Aylesbury, Bucks

Re: Me saying Hi.

Post by podge » Sat, 21 Aug 2021, 9:19 am

Thank you both for your opinions, especially the work to do list. So many thanks to Knockdolian and Skadger. I am tempted to offer a really low amount and see where it takes me! I think that the suggestion to wait is a wise one, however I can sometimes be too impatient for my own good. I will let you know what happens.

skadgeer
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue, 17 Nov 2020, 9:24 pm
Location: Lincs.

Re: Me saying Hi.

Post by skadgeer » Sun, 22 Aug 2021, 9:25 pm

Just to add, I see the requests for Portafolds for sale on the Facebook group are getting responses with people selling ones that they have, something you may wish to consider:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/portafold.co.uk

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