New to Dandy Campers

Hi to all you dandy experts out there.
We would really appreciate some advice before we buy a dandy.
Q1 Would our little 1.3 engine car manage to pull this trailer.
Q2 What would be the lightest model available.
Hope you can help us.
Many Thanks.
Michelle + Baz

Mike tows a Dandy 6 with a Punto

Your 1.3 would be fine with most Dandy's apart from a Destiny, the Dart would be light but personally I would go for as much space as the car would comfortably tow so perhaps a Discovery or Designer

This may help you out with weights and models [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

And a Warm welcome to the Dandy Campers

welcome to the forum,as Helen said i tow a dandy 6 max weight 750kg with a 1200 punto,so just check the max your vehicle is allowed to tow and stay under it,the punto can tow 900kg so the dandy @750 kg is well in and i try to keep it down to 650kg.

shell+baz wrote:Hi to all you dandy experts out there.
We would really appreciate some advice before we buy a dandy.
Q1 Would our little 1.3 engine car manage to pull this trailer.
Q2 What would be the lightest model available.
Hope you can help us.
Many Thanks.
Michelle + Baz

The lightest is 250Kg Tare and 500Kg Gross Dandy 4

Going to 395Kg 500Kg Late Riva Dandy Designer
Then 500Kg 750Kg Dandy 6/Lowside Destiny
Then 750Kg 1,000Kg Early Highside Destiny or Riva Dandy Dimension
Finally 780Kg 1,000Kg Riva Dandy Destiny

Dependent on what 1,300cc car it was it could possibly tow all of them.

What is the maximum train weight. See car b panel. Passenger or driver door. What is the unladen weight. Were your licences gained before or after 1st Jan 1997?

Should just add most dandys will be no problem towing with your car,its more important you ensure the trailer brakes are in top condition.This is of course always important but more so with a smaller car,i have towed my 6 with good brakes and bad brakes and honestly the good brakes make a dream to stop.

We've towed our designer up some pretty serious hills over the years and although theoretically you can tow any Dandy I would say don't max it out with a Destiny.

Can I say a big Thank You to Helen and Mike for such great advice and a lovely warm welcome to the group. I will go away and do some research and browsing to find out how much a second hand dandy in these models are likely to cost. Hopefully it wont be to long before we purchase our own and join you at the meets.
Bye for now
Michelle + Baz

If you see any that interest you and your not sure about anything we're sat here waiting to help out.

happy hunting she will find you then the world is your oyster

Hi I'm not a dandy expert but recently bought an old Dandy 4. Peugeot 106 with 1.1 petrol tows it fine

Aw thank you all so much, I now feel much more confident about investing in a Dandy. I now know my car will be fine and we now dont have to rough it in a tent . We are now going to wait (as advised on the site) for one at the right price to come our way.

Hi Shell and Baz

We tow with a 1964 6 volt, drum brakes all round classic car, and a 1986 VW camper which has a 1.6TD VW Golf engine in it, both cope fine - even in their old age and with the 50 year old technology in the cars case.

Finding our dandy designer is proving more difficult than i thought. . Thought we had a bargin today but just missed out . Can anyone give me a rough guide to what price i should be paying for a blue model. Cheers

It all depends on what your getting for your money and what someone is willing to pay, I know it's not much help but Dandy's can vary so much. If it has full insulation or not, underfloor heater or not, gas struts, awning or suncanopy or none, skirts are also an added extra. In my opinion condition and added extras is more important than the age of a dandy, Iv'e seen old dandy's in far better condition than newer ones so it depends on how well it's been cared for. Designers seem quite popular so that pushes the price up, I think it's because of the feeling of space and having a small dining area but belong to the smaller dandy group. You normally find that the price rises at the beginning of the season but drops off a bit mid season, it's a supply & demand thing but bargains can be had.

If I was budgeting for an early designer I would expect to pay over a thousand and up to £1,500 at this time of year but would expect insulation and an awning for that price, some have sold for around and even over £2,000 recently so I guess it's worth what someone is willing to pay.

I do know a few have had real bargains too but you could wait a while.

I am now towing mine with a 1.2 Peugeot 208 and it does it with no problem.

It all depends on the type of camping you want to do and what you need for that.
If you're only going to camp in summer or you will always be going to an EHU site then the heater and the insulation are less important.
How important is the colour? Over the 20 months or so I've looked at Dandys 3 absolutely spot on brown ones have appeared.
Part of me says hold out for what you want but part of me also says the opposite. Rather than pay silly money (What is silly money? with a little time less than £1,200 should buy a Witerised Designer with Awning but over £1,500 is getting a bit much) for something that is almost what you want (say a winterised Designer without the floor heater) would you consider a clean 5 or 4¹/₂ in brown at say £400 knowing it would get you started and you could always sell it for the same? Now there will always be expenses on buying the Dandy so new tyres and checking the brakes over must be budgeted for, but the new tyres can always go onto what you subsequently buy.
No right or wrong answers. Some people this would suit as they through owning the Dandy would learn what to look for and also learn about what they want or need. Others would not want to do this.

Let's be open, what are you looking for and what did/do you think you will end up paying for that? No intent to mock, I got what many would consider an excellent deal but I'd spent time, over £200 on fuel looking at Dandys and also got lucky.

We recently paid £2750 for our 95 Designer on eBay which people probably would say is way to much, but it had all the bells and whistles possible and was in excellent condition. It was exactly what we wanted and will last us for years so in the end I think it was worth it!

Hello

I got my Dandy Designer 1996 in August thanks to Mike who keeps a good look out for any Dandys for sale.
I got it for £1400 which I was really pleased with as it is in really good condition and it came with loads of extras. We absolutely love it and hope to have many, many, many holidays it in.
I did do about a 150 mile round trip to get it mind and had never towed anything in my life before bringing it home!

This is the continuing problem when buying your first dandy,as hard as it may be to believe some purchasers decide they dont like dandying,so its always difficult to advice on the first purchase my advice is often the buy a cheap good one first to test the water,then you can decide which one you need.
The alternative of buying an expensive one is only a good bet if you take to the PVC life and keep it for a few years,i paid over the top for my first one due to certain factors condition,location,private sale so no chasing ebay bargains ect,lost some money on selling but bought my six at a good price so the balance is back.Think we lost £350 on the first one but had two years use out of it so £175 a year isnt bad.

mike

The Admiral wrote:We recently paid £2750 for our 95 Designer on eBay which people probably would say is way to much, but it had all the bells and whistles possible and was in excellent condition. It was exactly what we wanted and will last us for years so in the end I think it was worth it!

Damn I meant to use you as an example of the opposite , where because you knew what you wanted you just went out and bought. Though actually I think it might support what I was saying. You bought Minnie. Might have bought better did work on her (reading between the lines I get the idea you would rather be doing your re-enactment stuff rather than the work on a Dandy) you then knew what you wanted. I think on reflection you are perfectly happy with your new purchase you probably just wish that you bought better or worse with Minnie. I hasten to add that is not to reflect on the Minnie now for sale because you did quite a bit of work on her.
Your new purchase reflects what you want and need. The underfloor gas heater is good for you as you will tend to camp on sites with no EHU. If I remember your looking at off EHU food chilling as well.
Your new Designer has every bell and whistle and though if lucky one may have appeared cheaper, though I think you were always going to pay a price premium for such a well appointed Dandy. If you keep it for 15 years though(Entirely possible) the extra cost per year will amount to next to nothing per annum. Also allowing for the costs of maintenance you will still have a premium Dandy that can be sold on. Also this is complete, to have the extra items on a less well appointed Dandy would have cost the same if not more and you would need to get the work done. For example £245.00 per skirt.

As always as we're discussing Dandys so we forget the rest of the argument. You could have spent a damn site more on a 5 year old folding camper or tin tent and have some thing struggling to last 15 years and only be worth scrap value after 10.

Shell & Baz
Also tend to agree with Mike. (Noooooooo) If you can see past the colours an older basic Brown may well impress and if you want newer or flasher great but you should always get your money back off an economically bought older Dandy.

I'm in the old girl's corner they all hold there own the only difference I see if all loved is the colour Green, orange, white, brown. brown and white etc the pleasure is all the same

Cheers everyone for your great advice . I understand entirely about getting an earlier brown dandy to try out first but my husband is having none of it.The most important things for us are to have one a bit bigger than the dart. We also would like insulation and a heater but apart from that would do some work ourselves if need be. Not so bothered about all the extras at the moment because we are on a budget. I was hoping to pay £700 tops so looks like I will have to wait for a bargain to come my way. I'm sure the right one will come my way

shell+baz wrote:Finding our dandy designer is proving more difficult than i thought. . Thought we had a bargin today but just missed out . Can anyone give me a rough guide to what price i should be paying for a blue model. Cheers

Hi and take a look at this website we got our dandy discovery off preeloved

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there are a few on the link,

The white one listed (Minnie) is ours, if you need any further information about her just ask

We have seen Minnie a few times but was unsure if she was still for sale. Was also a little worried about her condition. Saying that I now feel you would be more honest because your a member which makes me feel much better. What sort of price did you have in mind for her .