1998 Duetto thoughts

hello

love my 1998 Duetto, works so well, proper quality build. But old! Its currently having major bodywork, will have the underside checked and sealed - with the investment in this I will be maybe keeping, just looking for thoughts from owners of similiar aged vans or this model - post bodywork do I keep or sell and upgrade? Over the last few years I've taken the gas and electric components apart and serviced so everything works internally, have booked a habitation check to ensure all is well, planning to clean and update the inside - blackout curtains etc. Any tips on looking after or upgrading components?

We were in the same place with our 95 Duetto. It was the perfect start into motorhome life for us. We spent a lot of money on repairs to the body work, professional rust proofing , new curtains etc. Unfortunately the rust issue never stopped and the milage stacking up made us realise if we wanted to carry on motorhome life into retirement we would have to spend more on the Duetto or cut our losses and look for something else. 
Had we decided to keep it I may have looked into upgrading the leisure battery and adding a solar panel. We did find the heater struggled to keep up during the colder time of year possibly not helped by the insulation not being very good. 
When we were looking for a newer Duetto we were side tracked into looking at other Ford based Autosleepers. The Rienza we bought was too good to walk away from. It was bigger than we wanted but seemed so much better equipped than the Duetto. It was ten years younger and had a quarter of the milage. 
We still miss the Duetto and the travels we had in it but there is a time you have to decide when to call it a day.

We've had exactly the same discussions about our '96 Duetto. Love the layout, the ability to park it anywhere, the build quality, but it's not getting any younger. 

A recent inheritance provided the answer; we showed the Duetto to James at Homesmith Campers, [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and said "can you copy this"; we took him an L2H2 Peugeot Boxer a couple of months ago and the new van will be ready in June.

We'll have a Duetto-sized brand-new van for about two thirds the cost of a Symbol, with all the modern stuff like underslung LPG tank, compressor fridge, satnav, aircon, etc.

We'll be very sorry to sell the Duetto but we're looking forward to being able to go up hills more easily!

Nice work - agree about the layout, have thought of a build but not sure.

Can I ask how much???

You can...... 

Homesmith are charging for parts at cost, (less his trade discount) and its worked out at about £10k, but this will be determined by the specification. We signed a contract a year ago, and the labour charge was a similar amount, a flat fee, not time based.

Obviously I couldn't say if new contracts would be on the same basis.

And the cost of the van is up to you, of course - we've decided to go for brand new. 

We would highly recommend Homesmith; his enthusiasm, can-do attitude, skill and ability to tailor the design as he goes, are awesome.

thank you - good information. That does sound like great value for a bespoke van - tidy!!

The layout and being Ford based was the main attraction for us. The Clubman or Gatcombe would have been our second choice but for the price and needing something I could use as daily transport.
I did think about a self build based on a Transit but I really  didn’t have time whilst I was working. Meany years ago I had the use of a bus body shop to work in. I restored one of my Landrovers in there on weekend and late shifts .

I've just put our lovely Duetto on the forum For Sale section, as our new van is now ready for collection.

Possibly the best Duetto on the market........!

After purchasing our Duetto last July we've spent a lot of time and effort making improvements and putting right a lot of poor workmanship of previous owners, latest episode was spending best part of a month on my back underneath cutting out rot and welding in new steel culminating in a new MOT without any advisories and compliments from the tester as to the condition of the underside with all the usual rust spots in good sound condition.
We have thought about maybe trading up to a newer van, ours is 1999, but we have yet to find anything which has what the Duetto has in a similar sized package.
Graham and Bea

Spoonvet, I've sent you a PM.

Hello, you may wish to consider what kind of undersealing you have and just how effective it is. Stopping corrosion in the first place is key to giving the van a long life and maintaining structural integrity. Sadly some folk just apply a bitumen coating underneath and assume thats it done. There's so many internal box sections and potential water traps in older van construction that the only real way is to get it wax injected. Either from new or as soon a possible thereafter. There's various professionals who can do the job for you or DIY if you have the skills. Dinitrol, Wax-oil, Parva, Lanocare are just a few products that spring to mind. Its a messy time consuming job but pays dividends in the end. Of course life isn't that simple and our vans have insulation, heating ducts and hard to access areas behind furniture which might impede access but if the opportunity presents itself then get it done. Thankfully more modern vans have better protected steel.

I had a long talk with our son yesterday about motorhomes and cars. The Polo we have as a runabout has been playing up recently so I had the thought of just running a motorhome and selling the Polo.
The Rienza is too big to use for every day local trips to the shops or for appointments etc so we would have to down size to a van conversion. Looking at what is available and would suite our needs it really came down to the layout and size of the Duetto. I used ours as every day transport to work before we bought the Rienza.
The choices now would probably not be Ford based and have modern complex electrics. Before we bought our Duetto I did go through the pricing for a self build but it was beyond our means at the time. 
In the end we both agreed that it would make more sense to leave things as they are because going back to a Duetto would mean an older van and possible rust issues as we had before. 
Well done keeping the older classic vans mobile and winning the fight with rust. Maybe we should have shows for classic Autosleepers. 

Once I completed the welding and had it signed off by the MOT tester all cavities were injected with Dinitrol cavity wax and external areas coated with black undershield containing waxoil which I have found very effective over a number of years. It seems that only the chassis members were undersealed from factory while the floor areas were finished in Ivory, this underseal had failed in places so had to be stripped back to steel, neutrarust applied followed by new underseal. Hopefully we'll get a few more years out of the van now!
Graham