Have started researching early .... (1 Viewer)

[Diggerdi]

My husband and I are hoping to purchase a motorhome in about 12 months (when I can get my sticky mitts on my personal pension). We will only be able to afford £10,000 - £14,000 so are looking for something about 15 years old. We hired a brand new Swift (634 I think) last year and toured the Scottish Highlands. The holiday wasn't very successful for a number of reasons, mainly atrocious weather, and we both said we'd never go in a MH again. However we decided that a smaller one would suit and just for weekends away, plus we would get to know it if we owned one. We love travelling the coast and countryside and as my husband has just retired and I will be cutting my working days from 5 to 4, we would hope to get away most weekends. I will be reading this forum and site for research and, possibly, asking some stupid questions. Looking forward to "meeting" everyone.

 

[Popeye]

Welcome Diggerdi, you won't go far wrong taking advice from knowledgable folk on this forum but you will be limited to the number of questions you ask if you remain a read only funster, so get yer £15.00 out and prepare to reap the benefit... Griff

 

[GWG]

Doubt that you will regret it. We just love travelling.
Feel free to ask stupid questions, you will find plenty of stupid answers available on here.

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[f6c]

Welcome aboard

 

[The Wino]

Why did you not like it the first time might be usefull to think about that in case it affects your choice

 

[Stealaway]

Would this do? Quality manufacturer

Broken Link Removed

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[Puddleduck]

No such thing as a stupid question .... lots of silly answers though!

 

[Diggerdi]

It may seem like a stupid reason, but one of the main problems with the hire vehicle was a stainless steel barbecue!!!! It was in the storage space under the fixed bed and RATTLED. We couldn't stop it, tried everything - moved it, separated it, wrapped up - it was sooooo noisy. We don't even like barbecues. If we'd have known, we would have asked the hirers to take it out. We also thought we would like to wild camp and did so the first night in a car park beside a loch near Aviemore, but I was continually worried that the leisure batteries would run down and we would run out of water. We were in bed at 8.30 lol. My husband, who did all the driving, had a problem with the position of the handbrake, which was positioned really low down within the 'step' at the right hand side of the driver's seat. Twice he thought the handbrake was engaged and had left the driver's seat and the van was rolling backwards! Very scary, particularly as one time there was a street lamp behind us. We found parking was a problem and didn't stop at many places because we couldn 't find anywhere to park or were unable to turn round. I will add that my husband has driven for his job for 40 years.

 

[Diggerdi]

Stealaway, I have been looking on ebay to see what's available, even though we can't do anything for 12 months. In conjunction with ebay I also look at the MOT history site, where i can see the reg number. Been some eye openers there, both good & bad. Amazing that you can purchase a MH of the age and price we are looking at that has only ever failed on lights, tyres and wipers. Not many of those about though.

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[Puddleduck]

It may seem like a stupid reason, but one of the main problems with the hire vehicle was a stainless steel barbecue!!!! It was in the storage space under the fixed bed and RATTLED. We couldn't stop it, tried everything - moved it, separated it, wrapped up - it was sooooo noisy. We don't even like barbecues. If we'd have known, we would have asked the hirers to take it out. We also thought we would like to wild camp and did so the first night in a car park beside a loch near Aviemore, but I was continually worried that the leisure batteries would run down and we would run out of water. We were in bed at 8.30 lol. My husband, who did all the driving, had a problem with the position of the handbrake, which was positioned really low down within the 'step' at the right hand side of the driver's seat. Twice he thought the handbrake was engaged and had left the driver's seat and the van was rolling backwards! Very scary, particularly as one time there was a street lamp behind us. We found parking was a problem and didn't stop at many places because we couldn 't find anywhere to park or were unable to turn round. I will add that my husband has driven for his job for 40 years.

Yep, rattles are really annoying and even more so if it is with stuff you don't use.

The electric and water issues become a non-problem as you learn how much you use.

On your own van you can fit a hand handbrake extension

Parking can be an issue with a larger van and you will see a few threads on here regarding parking. This is the link you need to help out with that http://www.motorhomeparking.co.uk/ with thanks to @GJH for all his work on this

 

[Figaro]

Rattles are very annoying as we found out on a hire van, no attempt had been made to pack anything to reduce this (grill pan/ pots & cutlery etc. sounded like spanners in a tin dustbin all the way to Folkstone). Your own van you can do so easily.

Power - you will soon get confidence everything will be ok.

Parking - unless you buy big you will soon get used to parking and manouvering once you have your own van. It just feels very large at first. We had our first moho 10 months now and overcome those fears, well mostly anyway ! Thinking of getting a reversing camera to help but managed without so far.

 

[scousebird]

Hello

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[The Dudess]

We hired a motorhome several years ago for our first taste of the trucking life - I hated it! Several years later, against my better judgement, we bought our first motorhome. We are now on our third and I absolutely love it. Go for it - I'm sure you won't regret it and, as the previous post says, you will get used to the water/elec usage and know what you need to do and when you need to do it. This site will become invaluable to you.

 

[GJH]

There are no stupid questions and the one thing we all share is that we were beginners once so asked the same
I put together some notes Here that you may find useful.

 

[Shrimp]

With your own van you can carry the things you want and pack them how you want.
As said earlier water and power are a learning 'thing', you soon find how much of everything you need/use plus you have gauges to give you a guideline.
With a smaller van parking will, perhaps, become less of an issue!
You will come to love your van and the freedom it gives you, just think, come Friday you jump into your van and go wherever you fancy!

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[Khizzie]

A <6m van will be everything you want to start to enjoy yourselves with .you don't need to think big is best...also with your own van you can adjust everything to just the way you want don't get yourselves into a tizzie about anything..if you are still not sure hire a smaller van before you lash out your hard earned cash...i love my van and its been my best buy and companion ever...

 

[Diggerdi]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I have just paid my £15 and am able to reply. Many thanks for all your welcomes and invaluable advice. I really wish we didn't have to wait 12 months to be able to buy a motorhome, but there is no way we can manage it until I can get my pension. Might as well use it for something we will enjoy as the government will have me working until I drop dead, so it will be no use to me then! I am reading everything I can for my research, have been buying the magazines which have some good info in. We are going to the Caravan & Motorhome Show at Event City in Manchester next Saturday. Even though they are all brand new motorhomes there, we will be able to get an idea about the various layouts and which will suit us best. I said to my husband earlier today, when we DO get a mh, we will have to buy a barbecue just so we can chuck it out the door! lol (Ref my earlier post about the reason we didn't enjoy our hire vehicle). Right, off to access the bits I couldn't see before becoming a full member.

 

[Bailey58]

Don't worry about bringing up what may seem an old thread especially as it shows you are still around, you'd be surprised what gets resurrected on Fun, even some of the members occasionally! But a belated welcome, it will be the best £15 you'll ever spend with plenty of answers to what may seem the daftest of questions but we were all beginners once.

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[Badknee]

Yes, research, research, research, it's all part of the fun! When you think you have decided on the layout you want go and spend some time in vans for sale, we did and quickly decided we had been wrong and changed to something completely different. Sit with hubby in the one you choose and imagine your going to be it it for a couple of days because of bad weather say, can you manage it without killing each other? Use the bathroom ok, is it big enough, enough cupboard space, fridge big enough, has it an oven, do you need an oven? We were adamant we wanted a fixed bed but then the vans were getting longer and longer with the things on our wish list so as I suggested spend time sitting and imagining all your holidays your going to enjoy in the van you choose.

 

[Southdowners]

Hi and welcome!

Don't worry about rattles - you'll quickly find ways of stopping them. Bubble wrap and those air-filled bags used for packaging are great for putting in overhead lockers to stop movement and rattles when travelling. Weave your oven gloves under trivet in grill pan then around both, put food items in containers.... There's loads of ways to reduce rattles and you'll find which suit you best after a day or so on the move.

Good luck with your research!

 

[mitzimad]

Welcome to fun all the fiats will have the long reach for the hanbrake its fitted that side to clear the seats when they swivel but when its your own van you get used to it
there are many vans in the for sale ads on here

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[Lenny HB]

With your budget and age of van you are looking at I would avoid anything with timber construction that will rule out nearly every British van. Older Hymers are very popular, solidly built with no timber framing the use there own PUAL method of construction.

To make your hard earned cash go further have a look here Link Removed, it means buying from Germany, but that is really easy and of course LHD, that just makes life easy when abroad I wouldn't have anything else.

 

[Don Quixote]

My husband and I are hoping to purchase a motorhome in about 12 months (when I can get my sticky mitts on my personal pension). We will only be able to afford £10,000 - £14,000 so are looking for something about 15 years old. We hired a brand new Swift (634 I think) last year and toured the Scottish Highlands. The holiday wasn't very successful for a number of reasons, mainly atrocious weather, and we both said we'd never go in a MH again. However we decided that a smaller one would suit and just for weekends away, plus we would get to know it if we owned one. We love travelling the coast and countryside and as my husband has just retired and I will be cutting my working days from 5 to 4, we would hope to get away most weekends. I will be reading this forum and site for research and, possibly, asking some stupid questions. Looking forward to "meeting" everyone.

Welcome to FUN. Now I read the other day that a member was selling their MH due to the other half not driving anymore ( someone will know who I mean ) and when I look at it think it might just be what your looking for. I will go back through my history on the computer and get back here. We bought ours 5 years ago now and love every minute we are away. Enjoy when you get yours.
@Broken Link Removed can you remember who it was about 2 days ago?

 

[Larby]

Go to one of the Motorhome shows. Loads of new and used to look at and get inside.

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