Future system mascot 490 caravan?
Submitted: Tuesday, Jul 03, 2018 at 09:09
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jacent 1
Hi, just wondering if anyone here owns or have owned a future system mascot 490 caravan? I’m looking at buying one at the end of the week and was wondering what they are like? The one I’m looking at is a 1998 model, purchase price $8500. Thanks!
Reply By: Nomadic Navara - Tuesday, Jul 03, 2018 at 10:03
Tuesday, Jul 03, 2018 at 10:03
A couple of friends have/had similar vans. The thing to look for is the sealing of the windows. That is about the only place they leak. The caulking around the windows tend to harden and should be replaced after 10 years.
Check for water leakage by looking for surface stain on the lining around the windows. Another problem is with the compressor fridges, FS installed a vent at the back that was too small, replacement with a larger vent fixes that. Their draw bars tend to be a little on the light side,
check for cracks, particularly under the chassis cross member (they could easily be reinforced if problems look to be there.)
If you
check that out then you may get a very good van
AnswerID:
619923
Reply By: Member - Bigred13 - Tuesday, Jul 03, 2018 at 12:52
Tuesday, Jul 03, 2018 at 12:52
Hi jacent 1 , I have a Future Systems Jet 550 ,1999 model and it by far the best caravan I have had ,no signs of any leaks ,which I have seen in others . The sealing caulk they used is still as good as the day it was put there ,no
sign of it lifting at all. Not recommended ,but I towed it about 80 klms with the from left tyre completely disintegrated ,only discovered it when we stopped for lunch ,and thinking back ,we heard a loud bang ,but put it down to something moved in the back of Cruiser ,but as I said I did not feel any difference in the towing .Frank Bottaro designs and builds them and has a thing about detail ,still making them now in
Melbourne ,all fibreglass now ,
mine has a front of fibreglass and the rear bottom as
well . The only thing that we have noticed is the striping down the side due to age is cracking ,and that is probably because the striping is 50mm wide and the flutes on the aluminium are 40mm and so it does not follow the contours in the valleys ,which stretches and causes the cracking to occur . I have stripped all
mine off,not easy, and will paint the stripes back on this time .
People that have had a look in ours cannot get over that it is 18 years old ,so if you like the condition of that one ,I would go for it .
Regards
John
AnswerID:
619925
Follow Up By: Shaker - Wednesday, Jul 04, 2018 at 08:42
Wednesday, Jul 04, 2018 at 08:42
John, my brother is involved in the
sign industry as a graphic designer, a while ago when I had similar problems to you he told me that there are different grades/quality of
sign vinyl. So if you replace your stripes with quality vinyl you shouldn’t have any more issues.
FollowupID:
892255
Follow Up By: jacent 1 - Saturday, Jul 07, 2018 at 06:44
Saturday, Jul 07, 2018 at 06:44
Thanks for the advice, I ended up buying it and I’m very happy!
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