Please be kind

Hello every one this is the first forum i have ever joined,we got a 1988 dandy destiny last Saturday and have already learnt a lot from your fab forum,you all seem so friendly and knowledgeable i had to join and will be asking loads of questions.

Deb x

Hi Deb and welcome to the forum, I hope you have lots of great times with your Dandy and enjoy it as much as we enjoy ours, as for questions ask away I am sure someone will be able to help out.

Deb wrote:Hello every one this is the first forum i have ever joined,we got a 1988 dandy destiny last Saturday and have already learnt a lot from your fab forum,you all seem so friendly and knowledgeable i had to join and will be asking loads of questions.

Deb x

Thanks for those kind words Deb welcome to the forum please ask any questions you like.

mike

hi deb welcome to the forum everyones really nice on here and i'm sure everyone will help if they can

Hiya Deb, we are new to a Dandy too so cant help much with questions but you have come to the right place for asking them. Welcome to the forum

Its sooo scary I have never done any thing like this before,are you going to do meets next year we would love to go camping with other dandy owners.

Ded

We have one planned for next week and another for September and quite a few of us are going on that one, If you would like to suggest somewhere just post it on the site and see if anyone wants to join you. We do intend to do a few meets a year and you will be made very welcome

P.S We don't bite Deb

I know your first posts on a forum can be a bit daunting but you will soon be chattering away for fun and it wont be long before you are offering other new owners advice.

Dear Deb & Laura

Deb right so you have had your Destiny for a week. Opened it up? Played with It? Emailing with a dongle whilst your away this weekend? So come on what have you found that the previous owners didn't get round to mentioning?
Well it's no point being too nice or you would worry about us!

Laura: well what do you have? How long have you had it? What did the vendors not tell you?

Can't you tell I've been looking at buying another one and not over impressed with some of the sellers? Bitter me never!

Kevin.

Can't you tell I've been looking at buying another one and not over impressed with some of the sellers? Bitter me never!

Kevin.

Come on then Kevin spill the beans.

Hi Kevin, Laura is my daughter and she bought her Dandy of Richard who is also a member of this forum SOG2.

She has a brown and white Dandy 5 or discovery with full awning. She travelled a fair distance for it but is very happy with it. Laura and Adam have only used it the once whilst away with us in Wales with Evie thier daughter and my first grandchild and have had it for 3 months now.

In this picture you can see my Dandy and Laura's Dandy, we had a few days together with a few of the family over the bank holiday.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Hi Deb and to the forum

Dear all

Damn and blast just written War and Piece about my Dandy buying adventures and it's got lost on posting.
Still saved you the effort of reading.
Helen
Amused that you have a monkey as an avatar and say to new members "We Don't Bite"

Kevin.

I like the monkey Kevin, it suits me and I really don't bite ........... well not often anyway

I may go and look for a new avatar

In response to Mike.

I have spilled the beans on several occasions.
The Dandy listed on "Preloved" (If it was it must have been several owners ago) in Bolton. Generally tatty and a lovely soggy floor.
A 6 in Dewsbury where you would be far less damp if you slept outside.
A very tidy 4 1/2 berth really very clean.
The hitch wouldn't push back, the handbrake had no effect on the wheels and the suspension was getting on for horizontal.
The electrics were a bit novel. A cable wired into a socket, with an RCD inserted into the socket, then flex from the plug in the RCD to 2 more sockets. The other end of the cable terminated in a 16amp plug. Not seen anyone drill a 2 1/2" inch hole in the floor before to pass the plug out of. Silly me never thought of it as a U.S.P. Please read the article on chemical toilets. No need to buy the fabric conditioner if you have a 2 1/2" hole in the floor.
Then finally the one I "won" on ebay. A 5 on ebay got the details on the phone.(NEVER do this no record if the product is not as described) The vendors were helpful and articulate.(so different from the intentionally dumb or those "Selling For A Friend") I asked a quite involved question about the suspension ride height. This was because quite a few people were reporting suspension issues and replacement is quite expensive. (Please see. N.B. Credit required this is from another Dandy website [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ) Well it can't just me that read that piece because the answer given was very close to the quote of 13 1/2" (OK they quote the height in mm)
So I explain how good this is but if it were not to be so then it would be a deal breaker. Do the bidding. "Win" the auction go to Weston Super Mare. Clean enough Dandy helpful enough sellers. Right up to the point where I measure the ride height. The ride height is nothing like that quoted. There's also nothing like people muttering timewaster when you have given up a day and spent the best part of £70 on fuel.
As times pass I do further investigations about the ride height. 13 1/2" is quoted by Dandy in one brochure. Speaking to Ian at Riva and and a technical bod at Indespension and I find things are not quite so cut and dried. Both of these have a more relaxed attitude and the suspension was most probably OK.
So I could have bought the unit except for barefaced lies.

I suppose I should just take the hint and be prepared to spend more!

Kevin.

The above misses out all the obviously bogus sales on ebay, the bought and re-sold, the sold and then re-listed by the original seller. The adverts that obviously lie, remember the one recently with 4' wide beds not the 42" and 44" as made by Dandy. Brakes that don't work but it's OK as the trailers under 750kg (If fitted they MUST work)
I think ebay brings out the best in people, but then again I did post a question about who else hasn't said anything to sellers with no idea about how to erect as it might help with the price.

i didn't know anything about ride height when i bought a Delta last year,it was low but the trailer was still under a Rivadandysales warranty and it towed really well also there was plenty of clearance under the arches,if it had been an issue i could have returned it for a repair.
I had also been working on 13.5inches so when i did measure the hitch it was about 12" so i thought that's some serious settlement but apparently not.Our current Riva Designer is 2005 model and while the Riva Brochure makes false claims of a 400mm or roughly 16" in English the hitch height its nothing like it,instead its still the old hitch height or be it slightly less with settlement,our Designer has a current hitch height of around 13".I would imagine the later Destinys and Dimension would have a hitch height of around the claimed brochure height of 420mm as they were built on caravan type chassis.

Hi Deb and welcome to the forum

Tow Itch wrote: In response to Mike.

I have spilled the beans on several occasions.
The Dandy listed on "Preloved" (If it was it must have been several owners ago) in Bolton. Generally tatty and a lovely soggy floor.
A 6 in Dewsbury where you would be far less damp if you slept outside.
A very tidy 4 1/2 berth really very clean.
The hitch wouldn't push back, the handbrake had no effect on the wheels and the suspension was getting on for horizontal.
The electrics were a bit novel. A cable wired into a socket, with an RCD inserted into the socket, then flex from the plug in the RCD to 2 more sockets. The other end of the cable terminated in a 16amp plug. Not seen anyone drill a 2 1/2" inch hole in the floor before to pass the plug out of. Silly me never thought of it as a U.S.P. Please read the article on chemical toilets. No need to buy the fabric conditioner if you have a 2 1/2" hole in the floor.
Then finally the one I "won" on ebay. A 5 on ebay got the details on the phone.(NEVER do this no record if the product is not as described) The vendors were helpful and articulate.(so different from the intentionally dumb or those "Selling For A Friend") I asked a quite involved question about the suspension ride height. This was because quite a few people were reporting suspension issues and replacement is quite expensive. (Please see. N.B. Credit required this is from another Dandy website [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ) Well it can't just me that read that piece because the answer given was very close to the quote of 13 1/2" (OK they quote the height in mm)
So I explain how good this is but if it were not to be so then it would be a deal breaker. Do the bidding. "Win" the auction go to Weston Super Mare. Clean enough Dandy helpful enough sellers. Right up to the point where I measure the ride height. The ride height is nothing like that quoted. There's also nothing like people muttering timewaster when you have given up a day and spent the best part of £70 on fuel.
As times pass I do further investigations about the ride height. 13 1/2" is quoted by Dandy in one brochure. Speaking to Ian at Riva and and a technical bod at Indespension and I find things are not quite so cut and dried. Both of these have a more relaxed attitude and the suspension was most probably OK.
So I could have bought the unit except for barefaced lies.

I suppose I should just take the hint and be prepared to spend more!

Kevin.

The above misses out all the obviously bogus sales on ebay, the bought and re-sold, the sold and then re-listed by the original seller. The adverts that obviously lie, remember the one recently with 4' wide beds not the 42" and 44" as made by Dandy. Brakes that don't work but it's OK as the trailers under 750kg (If fitted they MUST work)
I think ebay brings out the best in people, but then again I did post a question about who else hasn't said anything to sellers with no idea about how to erect as it might help with the price.

Kevin we have talked briefly about this somewhere else (cant remember where) just looking at some of the ebay adds your comments are obviously correct,but in line with the old theory if it looks too good to be true it probably is,
Helen and i have been talking for a while about building a info thread not about what to look for in a dandy but what to look for in a advert.The problem would be what ever is used in a description could be false or it could be true,so would not want members to miss a bargain because of it.
One from ebay a while ago that springs to mind is "bought last year but kids have now flown the nest" so we wont be using it,i would have thought you would have an idea if your kids where leaving home in 12 months or the one cant erect as we have no space,sorry no pictures as haven't used it.
Things like the above would ring alarm bells in my mind and ime sure in yours also but prospective owners of there first dandy can get carried away with an apparent bargain.

mike

We now have an info thread for this type of thing just under the Dandy information it is currently empty but we should get some stuff in there pretty soon and maybe this type of thing could go there.

Sorry Deb we seem to have hijacked your hello thread, just shows what chatterboxes we are

As my mum has already said we have a brown and white Dandy Discovery, we have used it twice actually mum lol

once just for two nights and then for 9 days, it isnt insulated but it is great, I have a very special awning as I can roll back half of the front because I have an extra zip that was fitted before I got it. We will use it more when evie is a bit older but at the minute we have to take that much stuff for the baby that its not worth it for just a weekend and we both work so have to book time off.