tezzabee
Free Member
Hi. I'm fairly new to motorhoming having started 3 years ago with (don't laugh) a Mazda Bongo. I bought it with sink and cooker installed, but after one outing decided to totally refit with 3ft rock-and-roll bed and some storage space as well as the sink/cooker unit. Once finished I was quite proud of it and went out a fair bit for weekends. However, I soon realised the limitations of a converted people-carrier when I travelled to Yorkshire with my son for a week's birding and photography. While the smaller size is useful on narrow country lanes, it was soon apparent that there was not enough space, and we had to keep moving everything every time we parked up. On our return I sold the Mazda and bought a used Ace Modena on Fiat chassis. With a fixed double bed, and me being past retirement age, this suited me perfectly. It meant that I could drive till I was tired, then park up, walk to the back and crash out!! Once again, my son and I went north to Yorkshire this June and I also towed my little Fiat 500 on a trailer so that we could get around easier. All was great........ until the return!!
After dropping my son off in North wales I was travelling back along the M5 when disaster struck near Tewkesbury. An explosion, steering wandering a bit, and no brakes!! Luckily I wasn't going too fast as I was towing and was in the nearside lane. Once on the hard shoulder I checked the problem. Easily found ---- no nearside rear wheel!! That had disappeared down the embankment somewhere.
The downside of this was not getting home until 2:30 the next morning. The upside was that the insurance paid out without any fuss ... almost what I had paid for it one year previously. It seems that the bearing had seized and overheated causing the stub axle to shear off. Repair would have been horrendously expensive ( I was quoted at least £10k just for parts - if they were available), so I looked around and bought a Bessacarr version with the same layout - 2 years younger and a little cheaper.
Well, that's my experience thus far. I love getting out in Bessie and would love to visit the continent, especially Italy, but I've never driven on the wrong side of the road (not intentionally, anyway). Any advice on continental visits, pitfalls, best places to visit etc would be most welcome.
I'm also thinking of attending some of the Funster rallies next year, so hopefully will meet some of the names I've seen of the Funster pages.
After dropping my son off in North wales I was travelling back along the M5 when disaster struck near Tewkesbury. An explosion, steering wandering a bit, and no brakes!! Luckily I wasn't going too fast as I was towing and was in the nearside lane. Once on the hard shoulder I checked the problem. Easily found ---- no nearside rear wheel!! That had disappeared down the embankment somewhere.
The downside of this was not getting home until 2:30 the next morning. The upside was that the insurance paid out without any fuss ... almost what I had paid for it one year previously. It seems that the bearing had seized and overheated causing the stub axle to shear off. Repair would have been horrendously expensive ( I was quoted at least £10k just for parts - if they were available), so I looked around and bought a Bessacarr version with the same layout - 2 years younger and a little cheaper.
Well, that's my experience thus far. I love getting out in Bessie and would love to visit the continent, especially Italy, but I've never driven on the wrong side of the road (not intentionally, anyway). Any advice on continental visits, pitfalls, best places to visit etc would be most welcome.
I'm also thinking of attending some of the Funster rallies next year, so hopefully will meet some of the names I've seen of the Funster pages.
Tezzabee, welcome to the fun 
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Sounds like you've had a fair bit of unplanned excitement in your motorhome life so far, but glad to hear you're all sorted! 
Hello and welcome what a horrible experience thank goodness you are safe and have a new MH to carry on your travels . There are some rally's still on this year if you look under the Rally section . Hope to meet up in the future.
