bWell you may ask - what is a Chesterfield Savanah. They do say a picture is worth a thousand words, so have attached a couple for those interested, hope they are attached. This particular van was made by a small company in Melbourne who are trying to break into the market. Whilst I don't know the reasons why - it ended up at a major auction company from the caravan retailer in Melbourne. Yes folks, I bought a new caravan at auction. Sight unseen (except for pics on the auction company website and verbal confirmation of the tare weight & that's all). I had been looking at all available websites for the last 4-5 years, trying to learn as much as possible about caravans. Nearly signed up for a van at a caravan show, but realised I just could not afford it. So kept looking at all the sites including evilbay. I found a good 2 year old van at this auction site and was bidding on it, but it finally went too high. So that was that, or so I thought, found a brand new 21'-6" van on the same auction site and liked it. Done as much research as I could, even got hold of a company that did the sub-contract electrical & plumbing on the van & was talking to the foreman as I was trying to find out if it had a 12 or 7 pin plug and/or Andersen plug so I could get my vehicle wired up. He told me that they were very well made - so that convinced me even further. So I bid on the van online - but it didn't meet the reserve price the retailer was insisting. So next day the auction company contacted me & negotiations took place. Once I knew the reserve price the retailer was insisting on (he wouldn't budge) I declined the price as I cold not afford the approx $4,500 extra I would of paid the auction company for auctioning the van (pretty steep I thought). So 30 minutes later the auction bloke rings me up again & said all I needed to pay was a $1,000 on top of the reserve price. SOLD!

So it was a big rush to get my Pajero ready to tow a van, get an experienced caravan mate to travel with me down to Melbourne from Canberra. Pick up the van and travel back home to Canberra. Whilst my mate towed it for a hundred or so kilometres out of Melbourne as I was to scared.  The first 50-100 kays was a bit hairy as we had a lot of traffic and it was very windy which pushed the van about a bit. He reckoned it had never been towed before & may have been trucked to the retailers & then to the auction place. Anyway after that first 100kays I drove the rest of the way under close instruction from him. Could not have done it without him. All this was in November of 2017 & the van was made in July. Since that time its sat out in my front yard. It has given me time to get bits & pieces along the way so I've got all the gear to go caravanning soon when I retire. I've had the van checked out by some other experience caravanning mates who are all extremely impressed with the caravan and its inclusions. The only downside is NO warranty and no instructions on how any of the inclusions work. Not one little bit of paperwork. I've got no comeback on anything if it falls apart, breaks, doesn't work or leaks etc. But at the price I paid for the van I can live with that. So far only the Atwood water heater doesn't work, everything else is good. The van has a tare weight of 2280kgs & when we picked it up a tow ball weight of only 100kgs. We should of filled the 2 x 85 litre water tanks up on the way but didn't, so we had a bit of wobble on the way, but took it easy. Can't wait for our first shakedown trip. Just have to talk the missus into letting me retire so we can enjoy this great county. Anyway that's my new rig story.           

Hi Skins.

Time to sit down at the computer and goggle all the white goods in the caravan and print out the manuals we have collected all for our caravan along with the wiring diagram. Very valuable.

Enjoy your purchase, look nice.

looks like a nice van Skins. 

Hey Juggenaut - thought I was onto a good thing until I saw those crabs

Thanks David, very sound advice & much appreciated.