For any Dandy Owners considering a restoration I thought I would post these incredible pictures sent to me by a German Dandy enthusiast. It really shows just what is possible with a little imagination and ingenuity!

From the owner:

I bought my Dandy in Autumn 2006  for 100 Euro in the Netherlands just for fun and to do some handywork. Seeing a picture of the erected Dandy was not love at first sight but it looked so peculiar that it caught my interest – and it was British . When I eventually started work early in 2007, the project soon became a challence for inventiveness on a low budget.
The original side panels were old, scratched and bumpy PVC boards, not aluminium.. New PVC was available but expensive, so I took bonded resin-coated plywood of 5mm thickness, framed with aluminium angle section from our local do-it-yourself store. The brown colour came factory-provided with the plywood, no painting was required at all.  All planking is sealed with polyurethane adhesive and fixed with rivets on the steel frame that had been coated with a seawater resistant primer.
The underbody section around all steel tubes is additionally protected by a special wax-grease mixture, used also for the restoration of vintage cars and bikes, thus this Dandy is now made for the caravan-eternity, I think.
An electric power input socket is fixed to the front and connected to the awning power supply. I placed a 5Kg gas bottle in the front box with new gas pipes and a quick coupling inside the caravan to connect the original gas stove. The external gas outlet is installed to avoid the unloved gas tank dragging and saves some room inside the awning.
Next job is to replace the original hinge pin at the lower door section by a removable one to get access to the main loading space without erecting the tent.

Enjoy the pics. Hope they provide someone, somewhere with the motivation to rescue one of these old classic Dandy’s !

Have been kindly supplied these original instructions an thought they should be made available on here for anyone who needs them.

Enjoy!

Have been asked a few questions about dimensions and weights of Dandy’s. Thought it might be useful if I posted this pdf of the original dandy brochure which is not only quite a good read, but has all the specifications on the final page.

Am getting a few emails requesting the instructions for putting up your dandy’s – Thought it would be useful for some to post a download link here:

Hope this is useful for some!

Would you believe that just a year ago I was towing home my first folding camper with a view to a few nights at Glastonbury, and the sell it on… Well a year later and approaching Glastonbury 2 and lots of weekends out later:

I am considering insuring the beast, or the Tardis as my little one calls it!

I had been looking around and was a bit disheartend that in many cases the trailer tent is lumped in with caravan insurance, which seems a bit unfair and cant produce fair premiums. Well last week I cam across a company that insures trailer tents under its “camping equipment” policy! Had to take a closer look.

The company is E&L Insurance and the minimum policy price is £35 per year – this gets you up to £1000 cover tho – perfect for the older dandy! Its not proportional as £72 pounds get you £4000 worth of cover. I havnt seen anything to match this, and even if I had, their website has a lowest price guarantee… find a lower premium and they will refund. Seems like a no-loose situation.

Trailer Tent Insurance policy details here (Camping Equipment)

When I first got my Dandy home I have to confess to being a little scared of the awning having read so many “horror” stories about errection of the said beast! Since overcoming my fears I have no doubt that the standard pvc awning more than compensates for its slightly quirky set up and weight, by adding a whole new dimension to the Dandy experience. Indeed, now I am never tempted NOT to put it up. This is even with a bag of unmarked poles to contend with – there are just a couple of  things to remember to avoid teaching your little ones undesirable vocabulary! Have a look at the diagram below:

Dandy Awning Frame Assembly

• The red pole is SHORTER then the green pole!
• The blue poles should not be extended fully until the awning cover is in postion!
• The light blue pole is not required until the awning cover is in position!

Now if you remember the three things above – all should be well. And its is just a case of following the diagram above. The full instructions are:

1. Assemble the frame as above, leaving the front (blue) poles short enough to throw the cover over
2. Make sure the three short poles sticking out of the front of the frame are in the pockets on the pvc awning cover
3. You know the awning cover is in position when you can attach to the press-studs on the three front-to-back poles near the hooks
4. Fit the centre pvc panel with press-studs and zips, THEN adjust the height of the corner (blue) legs, THEN add the centre (light-blue) leg
5. Attach the bungee cords to the buttons on the trailer endwalls (under the roof)
6. There should be two short poles left – slide these into the pockets on the flaps that come across the rear of the trailer (blocking the space under the bed) and bungee these in position – one end of the cord down the side towards the wheel-arch, the other across the back of the trailer.
7. All thats left now is to push the awning flap under the main roof and tie-off to the poles inside your trailer, then tension your main roof rope to seal.
8. A few guy rope and peg adjustments should have it all looking dandy!

I was lucky enough to also have a strip of pvc that attaches with velcro under the door of the trailer making it all very cosy once the groundsheet is down. It is SO much nicer stepping out of the trailer into the awning than into the open – especially first thing in the morning or on those occasional UK days when the weather is not tropical!

Thought I would post a quick pic for those who are not clear what a towball drop plate looks like. Im not sure that this is the best solution as the towbar coupling is still a little lower than it should be according to the specs posted here , but works ok for now. While Im at it – the picture below shows the current ride height of my trailer, cant help thinking that a bit more height would save me a lot of wincing as I approach speed bumps and when driving over uneven camping fields expecting to see the heater left behind in the road!:

Current ride height of my dandy folding camper

Confession time – the planned work on the trailer was cancelled in favour of taking it out for a couple of nights!

A call to Indespension this morning has confirmed that the mounting bolts for the 500kg and 750kg suspension units are different:

Dandy 500kg suspension fixings

Dandy 750kg Suspension fixings

Clearly not a like for like replacement.

Additionally after some clever trigonometry I have calculated that due to the longer suspension arm on the 750kg unit, were the unit to be mounted centred on the same beam as the 500kg unit the wheel centre would move back approximately 50mm – probably not desirable, although not a complete no-no?

Must admit to being undecided now as to the best course of action. Driving along this weekend with a close eye on the trailer confirmed to me that it does have an element of springyness, so am thinking that the only hassle is the ride height of the trailer… spacers or new units? (or just avoid the sleeping policemen) Watch this space.

Since purchasing my dandy I have been aware that it is riding a little low. The quick fix for me was to put a drop plate on the towbar in order that it towed level. Now I am looking at a more robust solution and given that my dandy has bolt-on indespension units, a change for new seems appropriate. The rubber in these units does perish and harden, resulting in not only a lower ride than is recommended, but also a lack of spring.

How to check your suspension height:

The most accurate and easiest way to check whether your suspension has “dropped”  is to level the trailer and then measure the height at which the towball would have to be to connect. ie. measure the height from the ground to the coupling. This is far more reliable than checking the clearance between the wheel and the wheel arch, as this is often smaller than it should be due to the flattening of the wheel arches from the inside when they are used as a step or seat. In this case a rubber mallet from the underside of the wheelarch is the solution – much cheaper than new suspension units!

The list below tells you what the height of the coupling should have been at new:

• Dandy 4 Berth – 345mm
• Dandy 4/5 Berth – 345mm
• Dandy 5 Berth – 345mm
• Dandy 6 Berth – 395mm

• Dandy Dart – 400mm
• Dandy Delta – 400mm
• Dandy Designer – 420mm
• Dandy Destiny – 420mm
• Dandy Dimension – 420mm

When measuring my 5 berth, the height of the coupling was aroung 300mm indicating that I had lost around 40-45mm, accounting for the occasional scrape of the heater!

Speaking to indespension assured me that the current 6 hole suspension units are perfect replacements for the original 8 hole units ( for all but the earliest models which had the suspension welded to the chassis).

My next decision was whether to replace like-for-like with 500kg units as originally supplied, or upgrade the units to 750kg. Given that the cost difference is minimal I decided to look around for a reasonably priced pair of 750 kg units.

The best deal for the 750kg units I found was here

I am am going to check the condition of the brakes this weekend and if they are good will investigate whether or not I can swop them over onto new units, I have a feeling that the back plate is welded to the stub axle and tehefore this could be a non starter…

Must be one of the most often asked questions – which type of dandy do I have?

Well over the next few days and weeks – maybe months -  I am gong to attempt to clarify what is what, adding pictures if I can – bear with me and feel free to comment

As a starting point the colour of the PVC walls is going to give you a pretty good clue as to the age of the dandy:

• Late 1960′s to early seventies – Green PVC walls were the earliest
• Early 1970′s – Orange PVC walls superseded the green
• Late 1970′s – Brown PVC walls introduced
• 1990′s – Blue and white PVC walls

Prior to the blue and white models – which were named – the dandy was known purely by its sleeping capacity. With many similarities between the units the easiest way to identify which model was which was by the width of the trailer:

• Dandy 4 Berth – 4 feet wide (122cm)
• Dandy 4/5 Berth – 4 feet 10 inches wide (147cm)
• Dandy 5 Berth – 5 feet 10 inches wide (178cm)
• Dandy 6 Berth – 6 feet 3 inches wide (190cm)

Following the introduction of the blue and white models, identification became a whole lot easier as the units were given names, but just for completeness:

• Dandy Dart -160cm (including wheelarches)
• Dandy Delta – 183cm (including wheelarches)
• Dandy Designer – 188cm
• Dandy Discovery – 188cm (Same as Designer but with bench instead of table/chairs)
• Dandy Destiny – 205cm
• Dandy Dimension – 205cm

More about these later…