Hi fellow posh-campers! (1 Viewer)

J

jannie

Deleted User
John and I are picking up our first ever RV from the docks on Monday and really excited yet somewhat nervous about driving her home back to Norfolk - will the self levellers drop?? I know they won't but then I would have to worry about something! I'll let you know how it goes.
 

Jim

Ringleader
Jul 19, 2007
36,191
128,629
Sutton on Sea, UK
Funster No
1
MH
Adria Panel Van.
Exp
Since 1988
Hello Jannie and John, I bet you are both excited at the prospect. I can't recall who told me, but they went to pick an RV up from the docks, and just couldn't work out why it kept stalling, they eventually found the parking brake and released it:ROFLMAO:

Welcome to the Fun!:thumb:

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S

Stueysheep

Deleted User
John and I are picking up our first ever RV from the docks on Monday and really excited yet somewhat nervous about driving her home back to Norfolk - will the self levellers drop?? I know they won't but then I would have to worry about something! I'll let you know how it goes.


I live in Norfolk and can see why you are nervous... anywhere else and you wouldn't be nervous I guess... :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
OP
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J

jannie

Deleted User
Thank you

Thanx everyone for the Insurance help. We are on to it now cos we are collecting the RV on Monday. We were going down by car and me driving back following it but I'm too excited to just sit behind!! So we're training it down! Bet you all think we're mad! It's been drained of gas but not petrol so we should be ok - right????

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kijana

Free Member
Sep 30, 2007
107
9
Mostly in a car park.
Funster No
487
MH
C class Luton
Exp
4 years
Hi Jannie & John

Congratulations on your purchase: I'm sure you'll have lots of fun in your new toy! Which RV is it?

I have to hold my hand up & confess I was that person Jim mentioned who had trouble with the emergency brake.:Blush: In my defence, we bought the RV 'blind' over the web, and the first time we saw it was when we went to collect it at Southampton docks. Because we'd never owned an RV before (indeed had only been inside a couple, at shows), we had to figure out enough to drive it home right there on the dockside. Which was interesting. . .:RollEyes:

It came with no number plate, as these are removed in America, where they act as our tax disc, I think. So we drove it back to Devon incognito. I'd just passed my LGV test, so was greatly enjoying the drive, but Marion was screaming in the suicide seat, facing enormous trucks rushing towards her, mere inches away, at combined speeds of over 100 m.p.h. Mind, it got more demanding the deeper we got into Devon lanes, and by the time we got home, to deepest darkest mid Devon, the hedges were brushing both sidewalls simultaneously :Eeek:

But I'm sure you will really enjoy your first trip in your beastie, and whatever happens, you'll never forget your first journey in her.

I don't know if you had a handover in the States, or how familiar you are with the ways of RV's. But in any case, it will probably pay you to dig out the handbooks while you're still in the dock carpark. Make sure you know where all the lighting and other controls are (including how to release the emergency brake!). Take some time to set up the rear view mirrors - they're not very good for driving on the right, but work fine in the rest of Europe. You might feel happier leaving the reversing TV on all the time - I do.

Now, a couple of problems you MAY have :Sad:. Rv's are supposed to be shipped across the Atlantic with minimal petrol on board - max 1/4 tank - for safety reasons. Ample to get you to a petrol station on the way home, you'd think. But, sadly, it is fairly common for either US dockworkers, or the crew of the ship that your P&J came over on, to have lived in your van for a few nights. Presumably because it is more comfortable than their own quarters. Apart from finding greasy footprints on the carpets, used coffee cups and maybe cigarette butts lying around, they may also have used the RV generator. The problem with this is that the genny uses the same petrol tank as the engine, so if they've run it with a heater for extended periods, you may have very little petrol left. So do check your petrol gauge, and if it shows tiny fuel, believe it!

The other problem may be that the chassis (engine) battery is run down, and won't start the engine. If this is the case, you should find somewhere a breaker which connects the coach (leisure) battery to the chassis battery, to act as an 'emergency start'. Again, your manual should tell you how to do this.

I don't know if you've driven a large lhd vehicle on UK roads before. If you have, you'll obviously be happy with your positioning on the road. If you haven't, it can be tricky, until you get used to it, to know where you are across the width of the carriageway. This doesn't matter too much on motorways, but gets more important the narrower the road gets. Remember, you are probably wider than ANY other vehicle on the road (whisper it, illegally wide: surely not!!). So you need to know where you are in relation to the kerb and the white central line - particularly when meeting lorries in country lanes (ask me how I know:Doh:).

So here's a trick you may find useful. In the carpark at the docks, manoevre the RV until you're a foot or so from the kerb (or a convenient white line on the road). This is good practice to get used to gearchanging, mirror adjustment, etc, anyway. Once you ar roughly where you need to be for when you're driving, sit in the driver's seat, in your normal driving position, and look out of the bottom left hand corner of the windscreen. Where the kerb (or white line representing the kerb) crosses the bottom of the windscreen, put a small piece of marker tape. Then when you're bowling along the open road singing Camptown Races or On the Road Again, you can surreptiously make sure you align your little bit of tape with the kerb. After a while, you'll automatically centre yourself between centrline & kerb, but I found this method really helped me. (In fact, it was a dead Florida fly who just happened to be in the right place who helped me home!)

Finally, before you drive off, make sure your electric steps have retracted fully. You may be able to see them in the mirror: if not, stick your head out & check.

Sorry if any of this is either daunting or boring, and I hope I'm not teaching granny to do that thing they do with eggs... It's just I still vividly remember the mix of intense excitement and raw naked fear I felt when we arrived at the docks 18 months ago. . .

It took us a long time to figure out how everything worked on our coach. There's probably things I still don't know about. But I have to say that after 14 months fulltiming in or Hurricane, we still love it to bits. The best part is that the vehicle has been totally reliable in every respect. I find this surprising given the complexity of the beast, but it was almost new when we got it and we do look after it. But I certainly hope you have the same happy experience as us!

Do let us know how you get on. Post away on this site to ask all your questions - we've all been there!

Happy Trails :thumb:

Bruce
 
Last edited:

Jim

Ringleader
Jul 19, 2007
36,191
128,629
Sutton on Sea, UK
Funster No
1
MH
Adria Panel Van.
Exp
Since 1988
A great post and some excellent advice Bruce. By the way, I did remember it was you and Marion with that parking brake, I was just trying to spare your blushes. ::bigsmile:
 

kijana

Free Member
Sep 30, 2007
107
9
Mostly in a car park.
Funster No
487
MH
C class Luton
Exp
4 years
So how did it go Jannie??

Did it arrive ok? And did you get it back to sunny Norfolk alright?

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J

jannie

Deleted User
Death Row more like !!

Thanks for the really helpful tips Bruce. Only just read it though!! We spent just 10 minutes at the Docks, unbelievably fast, too good to be true almost, but yes, all was great. Jumped started her as both batteries were flat. Didn't dare turn off the ignition till we got home. This thing about the suicide seat??? More like Death Row - all I kept saying was "get over" and Oh those wing mirrors on our Norfolk roads. Same as Marion - I jumped to the left more than in any line dance. I was so stressed, but with a big smile on my face! John hardly spoke during the whole 5 hour trek back - he said he was concentrating!! We took the long way round everywhere we could to stay on the A roads!!
Then realised we hadn't measured the width of our gate posts - ha - ha ! He said it would be ok, with 6 inches to spare, if he hit it straight on! Well, we didn't, almost, but not quite. Am sure he will on the 2nd attempt.

We can't work out how to get power to all electrical appliances, inc TVs. No hidden switches that we can find. Just filled the lpg tank this morning so should have heat. No handbook on the generator so any advice will be gratefully received. I will make John sit and read your email tonight - very informative.

By the way it's a Gulfstream Sun Voyager, 31ft, 2006. She's lovely. Pity we can't get heat and sound cos it's Valentines Night!!
 

Forestboy

LIFE MEMBER
Jul 31, 2007
5,023
8,338
Forest of Dean
Funster No
46
MH
A Class Hymer B694 tag
Exp
9
Hi Guys
Congratulations on your new purchase. I still find it exciting when someone else gets an RV for the first time and when you read their story all the old feelings come rushing back. Nobody ever forgets that first drive but rest assured it does get better but the worry of getting stuck in a narrow spot never quite leaves you. I love driving ours but still get butterflies every time we set off on a new adventure I think thats half the fun, the unknown.
We spent the whole weekend living in ours on the drive when we got home just kept running in and out of the house to get essentials and making lists of things we needed. We were lucky we had a sceptic tank as well so we could even practise emptying tanks without the embarrasment of doing it frst time in front of an audience.
Hope you enjoy it as much as we do sounds like you're going to, hope you can come to a meet with it and meet a great bunch of people. :thumb:
Happy travels
 
L

Lindy-C

Deleted User
Thanks for the really helpful tips Bruce. Only just read it though!! We spent just 10 minutes at the Docks, unbelievably fast, too good to be true almost, but yes, all was great. Jumped started her as both batteries were flat. Didn't dare turn off the ignition till we got home. This thing about the suicide seat??? More like Death Row - all I kept saying was "get over" and Oh those wing mirrors on our Norfolk roads. Same as Marion - I jumped to the left more than in any line dance. I was so stressed, but with a big smile on my face! John hardly spoke during the whole 5 hour trek back - he said he was concentrating!! We took the long way round everywhere we could to stay on the A roads!!
Then realised we hadn't measured the width of our gate posts - ha - ha ! He said it would be ok, with 6 inches to spare, if he hit it straight on! Well, we didn't, almost, but not quite. Am sure he will on the 2nd attempt.

We can't work out how to get power to all electrical appliances, inc TVs. No hidden switches that we can find. Just filled the lpg tank this morning so should have heat. No handbook on the generator so any advice will be gratefully received. I will make John sit and read your email tonight - very informative.

By the way it's a Gulfstream Sun Voyager, 31ft, 2006. She's lovely. Pity we can't get heat and sound cos it's Valentines Night!!

Congratulations on your new acquisition Jannie ::bigsmile:


Re your Genny, if you post the make & model, someone here will be able to give you a link to the manual on line I am sure. Likewise with anything else you are unsure of - just ask, the answers won't be far away ::bigsmile:

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