Got my motorhome - now to spend some money! (1 Viewer)

[Sift]

As per title, I am now the proud owner of a Laika Ecovip 5 LG. I bought the Laika as it has a garage area, which my race bike will fit in nicely. I'm not sure exactly where I'm going to put jerry cans, the generator, tyre warmers, wet wheels, tools and spares yet but planning the logistics will be fun... I think. I'm also looking forward to taking my kids away for adventures. They're going to love it.

I bought the MH as a 'trade' van so I'm sure that it will need some work. It's off for a full service, timing and auxiliary belt, and MOT on Monday. From there on it's off to the local garage to fill up with LPG, fill up the water tanks and start testing stuff.

The electrical system needs inspection. I will need to test both the solar panel output and the leisure battery, which I'm pretty sure needs replacing.

The MH has been fitted with an underslung LPG tank. It also has 2 water tanks and plenty of underfloor storage as it has a double floor.

I am building up a number of questions but I'm off to do some research for myself before I start plaguing people.

All the best,
Lee.

 

[hilldweller]

Another Yorik -- have you spotted him in here ?

 

[Carol]

Hi welcome to Fun, ask as many questions as you need, that is what it is all about. :welcomefunster:

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[Sift]

Thanks both.

I have just searched for Yorick and found some nice pics of his conversion. He rides proper bikes though.

 

[cruiser]

welcome to the mad house.you sound as crazy as the rest of us .

 

[MHVirgins]

Hi and :welcomefunster:
We're not all mad on here, just the majority .......... and it helps!

Margaret & Bill

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[Sift]

I am currently going through that 'What have I bought?' stage and 'For £xxx more I could have got this and that' but hey ho, it's done now and I'm on the MH ladder.

 

[Dawn B]

Hi & :welcome:

 

[Baldeagle7470]

HI Lee and a big :welcomefunster:I lived in Bournemouth for 30 yrs before moving to France and ran my Truck from Raymond Browns yard in Ringwood so know it well,any questions ask away you will always get an answer here,well of one kind or another
Good luck with the van,by the way,what do you race??
Brian.

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[Terry]

Hi and welcome -but mostly enjoy :thumb: With that lot (you describe) I will watch for you selling after you have lost your license for overloading
terry

 

[Yorick]

Thanks both.

I have just searched for Yorick and found some nice pics of his conversion. He rides proper bikes though.

What do you ride then ?

 

[Inthezone]

New motorhome

Wecome, I am sure that you will have lots of fun, although as said in a previous post be aware of overloading, the best advise I can give you is to fill it up with fuel and half full of water, then go to the local weigh bridge usually run by the council and weigh the unit and the front and rear axles, if like my council they wont charge providing you dont want a printed ticket.

once you have this info you will then know what and where you can load, also check the train weight as you may be able to tow a box trailer as well, there is lots of opinion and advise here from many menbers with lots of experience

Above all enjoy your new motorhome:thumb:

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[davidbaldam]

Hi and welcome to FUN the best motorhome site for any and all advise you might need. We too have a Laika and are very pleased with it, great build and very reliable. Ours came fully loaded with very thing you could think of but I've still bought load of stuff too much according to my beautiful wife but mainly kitchen items, knives etc. Try your van out for a trip or two then you will soon find out what you might need. Have FUN. :thumb::thumb:

 

[Momo]

Hi Lee and welcome to the Fun site! :welcomefunster:

 

[Sift]

Cheers all for the lovely responses.

I ride in the 250 MZ (2 stroke, single cylinder) class with BEMSEE. I was novice champion in 2013 and came 7th overall out of 30+ racers, which I am very proud of. It's a great class and a great little club which is growing all the time. We had 36 riders out at Brands Hatch last weekend, with reserves waiting.

The MZ will probably weigh less then a scooter (which the rear garage is made for) but all the other gubbings will add up the weight. Thanks for suggestion of weigh bridge; I'll definitely need to do that to see how close I am to the limit. I do have a tow bar so a box trailer could be an option.

Thanks again,
Lee.

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[ShiftZZ]

Can I interest you in some Magic Beans?

 

[the stig]

Cheers all for the lovely responses.

I ride in the 250 MZ (2 stroke, single cylinder) class with BEMSEE. I was novice champion in 2013 and came 7th overall out of 30+ racers, which I am very proud of. It's a great class and a great little club which is growing all the time. We had 36 riders out at Brands Hatch last weekend, with reserves waiting.

The MZ will probably weigh less then a scooter (which the rear garage is made for) but all the other gubbings will add up the weight. Thanks for suggestion of weigh bridge; I'll definitely need to do that to see how close I am to the limit. I do have a tow bar so a box trailer could be an option.

Thanks again,
Lee.

Hi and welcome to fun, if it makes you feel any better, they do say we never get it right first time, usually by the third we are happy lol But boy you'll have fun getting there...
btw if its of any use look in classifieds as we are selling a remote controlled bike rack!

cheers
Andrea & Jeff

 

[Yorick]

Cheers all for the lovely responses.

I ride in the 250 MZ (2 stroke, single cylinder) class with BEMSEE. I was novice champion in 2013 and came 7th overall out of 30+ racers, which I am very proud of. It's a great class and a great little club which is growing all the time. We had 36 riders out at Brands Hatch last weekend, with reserves waiting.

The MZ will probably weigh less then a scooter (which the rear garage is made for) but all the other gubbings will add up the weight. Thanks for suggestion of weigh bridge; I'll definitely need to do that to see how close I am to the limit. I do have a tow bar so a box trailer could be an option.

Thanks again,
Lee.

Glad you are having fun

I instruct for Focused Events and we see loads of noisy MZs annoying folk on much bigger sports bikes

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[Yorick]

btw if its of any use look in classifieds as we are selling a remote controlled bike rack!

cheers
Andrea & Jeff

Why can't I find classifieds ?

 

[Baldeagle7470]

Well the bike looks pretty cool to me :thumb:,
I had several MZ'S when buying my first house in Ferndown and having a big mortgage,lifetime biker and used to spend as much time as possible at Thruxton.
Never seen MZ'S racing but have seen Citroen 2CV racing over here though

 

[the stig]

Why can't I find classifieds ?

whoops sorry i cannot find it on there either, but it is on page 3 of classifieds on the RVOC site

:thumb:

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[rosalan]

Welcome!
May I suggest that one of the first trips you make is to a Motorhome Show Rally. There you will find out if everything works ok! If it does not, you will be amongst friends to help make it work. If it still does not work, you are in the right place to buy a new one and have someone to fit it for you. On top of that you are on a cheap campsite, somewhere interesting and enjoying your van.

Alan

 

[Sift]

Well the bike looks pretty cool to me :thumb:,
I had several MZ'S when buying my first house in Ferndown and having a big mortgage,lifetime biker and used to spend as much time as possible at Thruxton.
Never seen MZ'S racing but have seen Citroen 2CV racing over here though

Here you go Brian. This wasn't the best race for me. My chain came off at the start of the finish straight

They're great fun round the corners as we run slicks in the dry and probably reach about 110mph flat out.

 

[pappajohn]

I'm not sure exactly where I'm going to put jerry cans, the generator, tyre warmers, wet wheels, tools and spares yet

in a trailer maybe, that lot is gonna take a big bite from your payload allowance especially if the race bike is in the 'boot'

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[flatpackchicken]

Cheers all for the lovely responses.

I ride in the 250 MZ (2 stroke, single cylinder) class with BEMSEE. I was novice champion in 2013 and came 7th overall out of 30+ racers, which I am very proud of. It's a great class and a great little club which is growing all the time. We had 36 riders out at Brands Hatch last weekend, with reserves waiting.

The MZ will probably weigh less then a scooter (which the rear garage is made for) but all the other gubbings will add up the weight. Thanks for suggestion of weigh bridge; I'll definitely need to do that to see how close I am to the limit. I do have a tow bar so a box trailer could be an option.

Thanks again,
Lee.

Hi Lee, Welcome to the mad house mate,,,, is this your new m/h Broken Link Removed

if it is, nice looking m/h and good for what you want, but please be very careful with the weight, as I fear with your m/bike and all the stuff for it plus all the riding gear as well, and all what you need for the m/h as well, you may be way over your limit, so fill up with diesel and water and all what you need and go down the local weighbridge, I hope you wont be but I thin you will be way over your limit, so maybe a trailer is advisable here, as you can drive and tow a trailer ok on car licence and usually loads of space at m/bike riding places so trailer would be no problem, Regards Garry Flatpackchicken

 

[Sift]

Thanks Garry. Yes, that's the one. I'm very pleased with it even though I am rapidly finding out why it was sold as a 'trade vehicle'. Still, no damp which is a bonus.

There is a mistake in the advert: it says plated at 3850kg but the plate I found by the bonnet catch says 3500kg so I've lost 350kg already.

We have a local public weighbridge so I'll fill with diesel and some gas (did I mention that it has a rather heavy looking underslung LPG tank?). Water might have to wait. I'm still holding out hope as my race bike will weigh less than a scooter. Fingers crossed.

Oh how much you learn after you have bought something
I would probably have found an excuse to buy it anyway.

Cheers,
Lee.

 

[Coolbeanz]

:welcomefunster:

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[flatpackchicken]

Thanks Garry. Yes, that's the one. I'm very pleased with it even though I am rapidly finding out why it was sold as a 'trade vehicle'. Still, no damp which is a bonus.There is a mistake in the advert: it says plated at 3850kg but the plate I found by the bonnet catch says 3500kg so I've lost 350kg already. We have a local public weighbridge so I'll fill with diesel and some gas (did I mention that it has a rather heavy looking underslung LPG tank?). Water might have to wait. I'm still holding out hope as my race bike will weigh less than a scooter. Fingers crossed. Oh how much you learn after you have bought something I would probably have found an excuse to buy it anyway.Cheers, Lee.[/QUOTE]

Hi Lee. We are all the same mate, but we all find out after we buy so hope this makes you feel better, My last m/h was the same as yours, 3500kg on the makers plate but 3850 on the log book, never got it sorted even after about 6 months trying to get dealer to help me sort it as they sold it to me like this but were never interested in doing anything although they said they would sort it but they never did, typical bad dealer, although there are some very good dealers out there, there are always some that are just not interested after they have got your money, but you may be able to sort it yourself by contacting I thin SV Tec who upgrade vehicle weights properly and legally, so I think this is your best bet with the weight issue, may cost you about £300 area but you will be 100% legal. Only problem you have to be careful of is breakdown and recovery, as normal membership of AA, RAC, etc. limits you to 3500kgs so if you upgrade to 3850 then you cannot get normal breakdown and recovery, you will have to get it through your insurance company, as they have special deals with breakdown companys with No limit on weight/length/height ok. When you weigh your m/h just add about 100kgs on top for about 100ltrs of water that you can probably take ok. Best of luck mate, Regards Garry Flatpackchicken

 

[Puddleduck]

Hello and welcome to the fun.

We pick up our "new to us" MH in early May and I think I am still at the stage of thinking "How much did I just spend???" The "only" extras I have bought so far are a halogen oven, outside chairs and a couple of insulated travel mugs (with camper van decoration)! I will need some odds and ends but we have a lot of duplicate stuff in the house from when two houses were combined into one, and I keep telling myself that "It's a Pound" (other pound and 99p stores are available) and Asda's homeware department are my best friends.

Enjoy your new toy!

 

[Peter JohnsCross MH]

Welcome to the Fun, please remember my till is always open for contributions, less of course Funsters discount:thumb:

Have a browse in my Aladins cave

Peter