C.I Penny pinching. (1 Viewer)

[yokeljohn]

Ive just read on a c.i.members club page that the c.i.group has had a turnover of £560 million, 60% of that was down to motorhome sales It,s a pity they never spent about £20 of that on a extra tin of underseal on the wooden floor of my m.h., .when it was manufactured in 2004,it would have saved me having 12" of the floor,main cross members and joists being replaced due to water leakage, and perhaps a few extra quid on some stainless screws on the roof ,instead of the steel ones that were used and rusted away causing another leak in the roof needing more timber replacements . Two of my pals own mh,s with wooden rear floors, both have soft rear corners under the rear light panel. but nothing as serious as my m.h. To my cost I have put to much faith in the manufacturers to get some simple routine jobs right. I am sure newer motorhomes will not have my problems as they are now made with a plastic type floor,should have been done years ago. yokeljohn.

 

[rainbow chasers]

Never owned a CI - Looked at a few used when deciding which would be suitable for hiring when I started doing that. Of all the brands, two main factors put me off - vans only 3 or 4 years old were considerably 'well worn' shall we say and secondly they never covered the front seats. I thought that any converter that left standard commercial van seats in the front wasn't worth looking at. It demonstrated to me a lack of attention to detail.

Of the other 'budget' class ones, I found the best for withstanding the strains of hire and constant use of all the UK manufacturers, was actually Elddis - surprising to those who see it as a budget brand, not so when you consider they win the awards year after year in their class.

As for floors, the best are the germans - though hobby still use sheet. Many of the Germans such as Dethleffs use an interlocking block floor of many layers, which does not suffer damp problems.

The rare, but best one of course is the Icelandic converters who use wholly plastic frame, floors and walls. No joins, no damp to worry about!

 

[haganap]

I completely have to disagree with the above.

Much will of course depend on ones experience with the brand they buy in to.

IMO no manufactures get it completely right,
But,
My CI 2003 I owned for 3 years was superb. The kids thrashed about in it and it stayed sturdy and steady to the last. It had one minor issue with damp where the rear locker hinge had not been shutting properly leading to a little bit of water ingress.

I have owned two further vans both much more high class than the CI and both have had far more annoying things go wrong with them than my CI ever did. Nothing major, just a typical bad design or bad build which I have had to repair myself and actually make things better.

How anyone can mention Eldis and Quality in the same sentence baffles me. I have known many many dissatisfied Eldis owners and as a motorhome enthusiast, when looking at the Eldis range see nothing but shoddy workmanship and bad design features.

I think what is really sad about all of this, is that it does not seem to matter what make you buy, how much you spend, you will always need a decent tool box and tool kit to own a motorhome.

I hope you get some good times out of your CI now it's fixed up.

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[ukbill]

i also have a ci and its been great i have had just 2 probs with it
1 the side lights went and no one could find out where the bloody things was fused or working from
2 the leisure battery packed in but that can happen to any battery on any van
other than that we love it we would like a diff outlay in a van but for now the ci is great for us
maybe will change in a couple of years time and if another ci has the layout we want then thats what we would go for

 

[Ralph-n-Bev]

We too love ours. Bought it with 1 previous owner.
We have the GTL living "top class" our cab seats were covered in the same fabric as the hab lounge ? But weve since had it all re upholstered to our taste.
Maybe the entry level ones weren't ?
We bought ours because of the swivel front seats , L shape lounge and bench at the other side. It felt really spacious to other models of the same length . Plenty room to lay about and lounge in. With the king size luton bed and 2 fixed bunks for everyone to have there own space on a rainy day. Ours is a 2006 and so far we've had no problems , damp or otherwise with it. Touch wood. Apart from changing the cam belt and the exhaust. Its fixtures and fittings , bathroom space and shower cubicle are far superior to lots of other new vans we have seen too. We got it right 1st time and if we had to do it all again we would pick the same age model. Shame they dont still do the same layout and build IMO.

 

[icantremember]

Two new leisure batteries ....

.... I don't know why 'cos the old ones are working perfectlyoh:

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[icantremember]

Sorry ....

Sorry ... posted the above on the wrong threadoh: