Swinging....newbies.. (1 Viewer)

Mousy

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Morning all, typical day so far, glued to iPads researching motorhomes...Dog still not walked, chickens untended, teenage son left to fester in bed.

In the last few months we have embarked on our mission....we have read 2 copies of practical motorhome, looked at every motorhome for sale on eBay, read most of this site and another site (we like this one best). Attended Shepton mallet on a very wet Sunday (3 hours drive there, soggy trudge round, veggie cafe lunch in Glastonbury, 4 hour drive back, oh how we laughed). Have booked 2 days for NEC. Been into a few dealerships, laid on beds, accidentally locked myself in a deffleths bathroom. Poked and prodded numerous MH.

Over the last 25 years we have camped then upgraded to a trailer tent then we went static van for 6 years but its always been my husbands dream to travel and own a motorhome. We have 4 kids mostly grown and flown, (youngest 17).

We think we will have weekends here (west Wales) and south England, and longer trips in Europe.

We like rear lounges, sleeping separately (he's 6.2" with restless legs and I get hot at night!)

. We are swinging between PVC and A class vans. Namely a vantage sol, warick duo xl or hymer deffleths with rear lounge. I've fallen for the vantage sol, he likes the build quality of the Germans, we have between 30k to 40k to spend.

If you are still reading this and haven't lost the will to live... Well done!

From all of your vast experience what advice would you give us?

Just read this post to husband, he felt "hello, undecided new to motor homing advice needed" would have worked! Chatty moi!?
 

old-mo

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Hi and welcome to the Funsters... :thumb:

Swinging Eh.... I like it... :winky::ROFLMAO:
 

hilldweller

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Well you are doing all the right things.

It's a strange swing from PVC to A class when the bulk are C class. But your choice.

Personally we go for Space is Good. If you hit bad weather and can't get out of the van you'll start to agree with us.

The old Hymer A class are classics. A tardis among MHs.

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Mel

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Hello and welcome to Fun

:welcomefunster:



Mel & Lieve
 

Carol

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Hello Welcome to Motorhome Fun , your post made me smile, look forward to you posting, when looking at vans don't forget to take into consideration for storage, barbie / outside table and chairs / ant hobby equipment you may want to use, spend half a hour in a van you think you may like is the kitchen in the right place do you feel comfortable etc, you have a good budget so should be able to get one to suit you.

Be aware of the scams on e bay, Good luck.:flyingwelcome::
 
Oct 5, 2012
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Hi there....welcome .....117 hits in an hour wonder why.....

swing·ing(sw
ibreve.gif
ng
prime.gif
ibreve.gif
ng) Slang
adj.1. Spirited; up-to-date.
2. Attracting a lively, trendy crowd: a swinging nightclub.
3. a. Sexually promiscuous.b. Practicing exchange of partners, especially spouses, for sex.
 
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dollydeff

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Morning all, typical day so far, glued to iPads researching motorhomes...Dog still not walked, chickens untended, teenage son left to fester in bed.

In the last few months we have embarked on our mission....we have read 2 copies of practical motorhome, looked at every motorhome for sale on eBay, read most of this site and another site (we like this one best). Attended Shepton mallet on a very wet Sunday (3 hours drive there, soggy trudge round, veggie cafe lunch in Glastonbury, 4 hour drive back, oh how we laughed). Have booked 2 days for NEC. Been into a few dealerships, laid on beds, accidentally locked myself in a deffleths bathroom. Poked and prodded numerous MH.

Over the last 25 years we have camped then upgraded to a trailer tent then we went static van for 6 years but its always been my husbands dream to travel and own a motorhome. We have 4 kids mostly grown and flown, (youngest 17).

We think we will have weekends here (west Wales) and south England, and longer trips in Europe.

We like rear lounges, sleeping separately (he's 6.2" with restless legs and I get hot at night!)

. We are swinging between PVC and A class vans. Namely a vantage sol, warick duo xl or hymer deffleths with rear lounge. I've fallen for the vantage sol, he likes the build quality of the Germans, we have between 30k to 40k to spend.

If you are still reading this and haven't lost the will to live... Well done!

From all of your vast experience what advice would you give us?

Just read this post to husband, he felt "hello, undecided new to motor homing advice needed" would have worked! Chatty moi!?
Hello guys....sounds like normal day here to me....only ours is no kids and 2 doggies trying to look like they havn't seen grass for three weeks.....
Hope you don't think i'm pushy but I have just listed our 14 month Dethleffs Advantage in the classifieds if you want to check her out....I can hardly bear to part with her, but we have so fallen for this MH life that we are 2 weeks away from exchanging contracts on the house and taking off for sunnier climes....
Best advice I can give is that you will fall in love with the one for you, as soon as you se it....it should only take about half a nano-second, unlike the time wasters I had last week who spent 3 1/2 hours loving our van her model her layout...everything about her....and then didn't want her....!!!!!:Doh:
We have learned fast and furious cos we had never been in a tent caravan or motorhome before last year so feel free to pick my brains...

Good luck....Debbie:thumb:

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Mar 26, 2009
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:party2::welcome::party2:

Good luck with your search - but take your time and choose carefully.:thumb:
 
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Mousy

Mousy

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Guess my suggestion

Ahhh. Yours is bigger, the neo, I like the extra worktop length you've got but does the longer van make a difference to driving and parking?

We have a tight turning into our drive, the Asda man can reverse in (although another driver has knocked off my gate post) so that's why we are worried about going too big.

I'm really excited about seeing the vantage stand at Birmingham. Although I fear a new one is out of our price range. So it will depend on what second hand ones are available.

That's another reason why we keep swinging from a class to PVC (I don't like the front bulge on the c class) You seem to get so much more in an old hymer or deffleths. Although our budget is "healthy" it's such a huge amount of hard earned, we really want to get it right first time...hopeless dream?!
 

dollydeff

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Ahhh. Yours is bigger, the neo, I like the extra worktop length you've got but does the longer van make a difference to driving and parking?

We have a tight turning into our drive, the Asda man can reverse in (although another driver has knocked off my gate post) so that's why we are worried about going too big.

I'm really excited about seeing the vantage stand at Birmingham. Although I fear a new one is out of our price range. So it will depend on what second hand ones are available.

That's another reason why we keep swinging from a class to PVC (I don't like the front bulge on the c class) You seem to get so much more in an old hymer or deffleths. Although our budget is "healthy" it's such a huge amount of hard earned, we really want to get it right first time...hopeless dream?!
My other hard learned piece of advice is try not to be tempted into a new one, cos we did and now I am trying to sell a van that is only 15 months old, and are going to lose an enormous amount of money...far better to buy as new as you can, but avoid the instant depreciation of brand new...
Debbie

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D

deleted-member02

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I'm surprised that no one has suggested a low profile van. Something like a Hobby, Laika or Rapido would be ideal, I would of thought.

Front lounge and two singles for the layout - spacious and no beds to make up...

This kind of thing ?
Link Removed
 
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Jul 1, 2012
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Mousy,
I would have chosen the CAD but Jan wanted the extra work surface and the larder.
Was worried at first but after driving it doesn't seem to cause any particular problems in parking or reversing. It is really only another 18 inches. Have reversed back downside tiny lanes (lorries / buses don't have reverse) with only a slight attack of sheer terror
 

old-mo

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Ahhh. Yours is bigger, the neo, I like the extra worktop length you've got but does the longer van make a difference to driving and parking?

We have a tight turning into our drive, the Asda man can reverse in (although another driver has knocked off my gate post) so that's why we are worried about going too big.

I'm really excited about seeing the vantage stand at Birmingham. Although I fear a new one is out of our price range. So it will depend on what second hand ones are available.

That's another reason why we keep swinging from a class to PVC (I don't like the front bulge on the c class) You seem to get so much more in an old hymer or deffleths. Although our budget is "healthy" it's such a huge amount of hard earned, we really want to get it right first time...hopeless dream?!

Couldn`t you move the gate posts a foot each... :thumb:

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Jan 19, 2012
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Depends on where you want the compromise to be - I assume you want the best you can get for two people, so that means you don't have to compromise on the number of berths - as much luxury as you can get for two people in a van whose dimensions you feel comfortable with/can fit on the drive? Trouble is, you may not know what you are most willing to compromise on until you've lived in one for a bit!

We bought an Autocruise Starburst - low profile, end washroom, opposite long settees make huge double or two long singles. We loved it, but found making and remaking the bed every day a pain. So we realised we could compromise on the washroom [which was massive in the Starburst!] but not on the bed.

After 18 months we swapped for an Autocruise Starseeker, which gives us a low, fixed bed, at the cost of a smaller washroom and an L-shaped lounge, with kitchen opposite. It's our ideal van and we intend to keep it and bling it up a bit as well!

My point is, we thought we'd got the perfect van first time round. Only living in it showed us where we could improve on it. So, I'd not recommend buying new, as the hit if you have a similar experience is likely to be much greater than if buying secondhand!
 

dollydeff

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I'm surprised that no one has suggested a low profile van. Something like a Hobby, Laika or Rapido would be ideal, I would of thought.

Front lounge and two singles for the layout - spacious and no beds to make up...

This kind of thing ?
Link Removed


Hi again.....our Dolly is fwd lounge low profile , with 2 fixed twin beds at rear, with an infill mattress so we have the versatility of either twin beds or a giant superking fixed bed...which is how we have her set up....

Might suit you swingers:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 

pappajohn

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Couldn`t you move the gate posts a foot each... :thumb:

easiest option Mo :thumb:

i did that when we bought the RV......but it was a 15ft long x 4ft high grass bank i had to move back 3ft......by hand :Eeek:

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Apr 25, 2012
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Avery clever post. Good job you listed DOGGIES amongst your hobbies, with no spelling mistakes.

Now for the serious stuff. Hilldweller's advice is in my view spot on. We bought two brand new vans in 5 years before settling in our second hand Hymer and wish we'd gone this route at the outset and saved thousands.

In contrast, our friends swapped their A class Hymer for a 2 year old IH van, costing the best part of £50k. These van is 6.5m so exactly the same length as their old one, but narrower so they can get down the lanes more easily, but guess what? They miss the lounging space, and more importantly, the storage space their old Hymer gave them and as for the narrow lanes, yes, you do need to be more careful in an A class than a panel van, but not noticeably so, and what's 6" between friends? (No doubt some wag Funster will tell me shortly!

Happy hunting and welcome to the world of fun. :thumb:
 

Allanm

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Hmm, not what I thought this was going to be about. But, while I'm here, hello and here's some of my thoughts, or how we chose our van
We had an idea of what we wanted from the start having had vans before. Never one as big as this though.
So, we wanted as big a living area as possible and didn't want to sit round a table all day.
There are only two if us , we have two dogs and my daughter might come on the odd short trip or meet us somewhere and stay the night
We wanted a fixed bed, full size fridge freezer and it had to fit on the drive with access to the garage.
That ruled out a lot of vans
We wanted a well built van with a nice finish inside and out
Lits of other vans ruled out
We didn't want a drop down bed , most A classes ruled out
Then we looked in as many as possible close by.
We didn't want to travel miles to buy ( done it before, never again)
Choice reduced again.
We have 2 or 3 dealers close by and visited over about a year looking at everything they had in stock
So, big lounge area. Fixed bed. 3 or 4 berth for sleeping. Side facing sofas. Big fridge. Better than average finish.
As soon as we looked at our van in the showroom, we were spoilt. Nothing else seemed to have everything we wanted ( except an older Hobby 750 but that another story)
We looked at a 6 wheel KonTiki, very nice but a tad too long. A couple of Hymers, beautiful vans but wrong layout.
We bought ours and it is virtually perfect. I will be insulating the external tanks so we can use it 12/12 then it will be 100% for us
We never thought about new. Too expensive and tons of depreciation. But, after we had seen the van, nothing else came close, and as Mrs A said, no one has used the toilet before!
Good luck in your search.
Allan
 

Ed Excel

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I'm from the Mr Mousy school of communication. Sit in as many vans as you can. One day you won't want to leave. That'll be the one!
Good luck
Ed

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Mousy

Mousy

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Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. Will take all the advice on board. We have always thought we would go secondhand (I don't mind previously used toilets, as long as the seats not still warm!). I am however, a salesman dream, I just can't help fallin for the sales pitch, QVC has a lot to answer for! So will be leaving the cheque book behind at NEC.

Sadly my gate posts are attached to brick pillars and stone walls, hardly an afternoons work, so it's either small van, offsite storage or move!

Regards all mousy
 

Theonlysue

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New van

Hi, just make sure there is somewhere to stow your
chairs
leveling blocks
hook up cable
and a few other bits and pieces!

Good luck!

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Jan 28, 2008
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everyone use their van differently try and think what you want to do in your van if you like to cook a lot you need plenty of kitchen worktop if as some people do you will always eat out then you dont need much kitchen, will you spend a lot of time lounging in the van or are you always out doing and realy only need the van as a base
 
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Mousy

Mousy

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When abroad I expect to eat my body weight in croissants and ice cream.
Damp weekends in Wales.....fish and chips!
 
Jul 28, 2010
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Just noticed this threads heading.
Not sure if postee is aware that swinging is a naughty pass time
:ROFLMAO::RollEyes::Eeek: I almost made a phoopah :ROFLMAO:

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Jul 28, 2010
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everyone use their van differently try and think what you want to do in your van if you like to cook a lot you need plenty of kitchen worktop if as some people do you will always eat out then you dont need much kitchen, will you spend a lot of time lounging in the van or are you always out doing and realy only need the van as a base

Hmmm well said however if postee is in to swinging. Then bedroom size may be of great importance or impotence. :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 

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