Hello from North Somerset (1 Viewer)

[Simon Blackwell]

Hello all,

My name is Simon, I am 34, a father of two boys 14 and 9, and husband to a wonderful lady called Callie.
We are owned by a Staffy called Ozzy, who is incredibly old and stubborn.

In December of last year my eldest son Deryn was given just one week to live.

Deryn had different plans, as he is still with us today. Despite his diagnosis Deryn continues to improve, and now has a real lust for life.

My wife, Callie, has been investigating the possibility of buying a large motorhome (as I have a full Cat 2 licence) and taking the family travelling around Europe for a few months at a time as part of their home schooling.

Despite the romantic nature of travel, we are realists. So I thought it would be a sound idea to tap into the inevitable forums that come with any interest nowadays.

We would love to hear all of the hints and tips picked up along the way by people reading this post.

We are complete beginners, and if possible we would like to avoid some obvious pitfalls before we plump for the first MH that we come across.

So, I suppose if I pose a few questions that might be a good start.

1. Petrol or Diesel
2. Manual or Auto
3. American/German/British etc.
4. Essentials (non standard equipment, little tweaks.)
5. LPG tanks?
6. Solar panels.
7. Long term use issues.
8. Servicing and maintenance on the road, tips and tricks.
9. MH/RV friendly route finding.
10. Life on the road, is it as addictive as we are being led to believe?

I think that's probably enough for now.

I really appreciate any help that you can offer.

all the best.

Simon.

 

[Carol]

Hello Simon welcome to Fun sorry about the sad circumstances that bought you to the Motorhome thoughts, so pleased that you have a little fighter there and can imagine travell would be good, so many different conversions.

First you need to work out what your family needs are while travelling the size of the bathroom the lay out and accessibility of the beds, things you need to carry with you

When you have an idea of these things then it is important you check the pay load. On Motorhome Fun you have come across a forum that will willingly answer your questions, the sub is £10 a year, you will recoup that in no time with discounts etc

When you have a good idea of what you want start looking at the dealers at the layouts, if you are in the area of John Cross Motorhomes they have a very good reputation and would I am sure be able to give you some guidance as to what is available.

Good luck with your search.

 

[Jim]

Hi Simon and Callie,

Kids get so much out of travel. We home educated our three at home and on the road, we still have a 13 year old doing the same now, We did this in a number of motorhomes. Mostly in British vans with two living areas a dinette and a U shaped lounge so we could split them up, or them from us when stuck in a van in bad weather studying and latterly a large RV that gave us room to spare.

You will have a lot of questions and you'll get your best answers by finding the relevant forum section, say Home Education, or Continental touring and asking your questions one at a time in those, there is plenty of experience here and happily everyone is very friendly and willing to help.

Meanwhile welcome to the fun, it seems adventure is headed your way

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[scousebird]

Hello.

I can't offer an opinion for all your questions but maybe help with some. As you have a Cat 2 licence you won't be tied to 3.5 tonne weight limit which might be helpful if 4 of you are going to be full-timing.
Can't answer 1-3
4. Essentials etc. - everyone has different ideas about these and I'm sure you will find your own ideas once you start, and then you'll probably change them. I'm sure your boys will have different ideas to you as well. The answer here is to try it for a while before you run out and buy loads of stuff as you may find you don't need as much as you think you do!
5. Don't know
6. We don't have solar panels but we don't full-time, my father-in-law does and swears by them. it would help you with power for 4 people using lights & showers etc. I'm sure and hopefully keep costs down if you don't have to pay for hook up.
7. I can only suggest that you make sure the beds are comfortable if you're going to live in it and I would even suggest hiring one a couple of times to try out different layouts.
8. There are mobile technicians out there, we saw one on a site in France once (he was English) and I'm sure there's more out there.
9. Just ask on here you'll get loads of help with routes to wherever you want to go!
10. Definitely for us - if we don't get out for a couple of weeks I start to get stir crazy. We're lucky enough to live near dover and we go abroad with our MH 4-5 times a year and do loads of rallies in this country in-between.

hope all the above is helpful and I'm sure more answers will start to flow in soon.

good luck

 

[Simon Blackwell]

Thank you to both of the lovely people that answered so so quickly. x
My wife's main concern I suppose would be financing a trip of this size (3 months to start with.)

Other than that, thank you so much for your help. I will return to the more relevant threads for more detailed info. x

 

[Jim]

You really can spend as much or as little as you like. In France you can use the Aires ( some for free and many just a token payment) and live very cheaply indeed, as you can here if you choose the small 5 van sites with little or no facilities other than a water and a waste point. In France you might park legally free in a beautiful park or riverbank in the center of a town or pay €90 a night on a flash site with it's own water park. It depends what you want.

Or out of season Oct to March in the UK/Spain/France etc you can very cheap deals if you commit to stay for a month or better three months, many people head south about now and live cheaper than they would at home.

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[The Dudess]

Hi Simon and Callie and the boys and Ozzy and welcome to THE FUN.
There are many people much more qualified than I to answer most of your questions but I can definitely answer Q.10 with a resounding YES!!!
After officially joining MH Fun I would also suggest joining ACSI once you have your motorhome as this will save you a fortune on sites outside of peak season. Here is a link:
http://www.acsi.eu/en/home/l2-n144/
Good luck and happy motorhoming.

 

[eddie]

Welcome to the wonderful world of motorhomes and in particular Motorhome Fun. The Shepton Mallet show is on the weekend after next and it will be a good place to see a lot in one place

Regards

Eddie

 

[Al-Di]

welcome,

Alan + Diane,

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[MikeandCarolyn]

Hi,and welcome from Worle .I know there's only the two of us,but it costs us less for 3 mths in Spain than it does to stay home