Hey Everyone! (1 Viewer)

[mortonprod]

Been looking over the internet for a good source of motorhome information and fun and you guys fit the bill.

Me and GF are planning to buy a motorhome at the worst possible time given how the market is . However it is now or never.

Looking at models for less than 10k, so we are limited to very old models. Plan to live in it full time and travel across EU if possible given the pandemic.

Have so many questions, ranging from cost of insurance to finding parts for old makes, but not sure how to approach it in this forum. I looked through your categories and would maybe put these questions in beginner? Any help would be welcome since I am quite nervous about making this jump into a completely different lifestyle and don't want to make a mistake.

 

[Kev and Carolyn]

All the best guys with the journey. Just enjoy it and keep travelling

Kev and Carolyn

 

[Janine]

Hello and welcome to the Fun

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[Boringfrog]

 

[Dramfineday]

Welcome guys and just go for it, wish I had done years ago ....enjoy your adventure

 

[Figaro]

If you can pay the £15 to become a full member you can go to resources section and download motorhome buyers guide which you will find very useful.
You raised a lot of factors in your post that you need to research apart from the vehicle, like extended stays in EU after 1st January 2021.
All you need to know can be found with the very knowledgable people on here.

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[RubyOptics]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

My girlfriend and I were in a similar (similar in budget and when we were looking to buy, we differ in that ours isn't going to be used to full-time in) position to you a couple of months ago.
If you are planning to full-time in the van, and your total max budget is 10k, then you need to realise that you won't be able to spend 10k on a van. There WILL be things you will need to do to it, especially with a van of the age you are looking at (for an idea, we ended up spending around 12k on a 2001 Burstner). This could include things like a full service, cambelt and water pump change, tyres etc. If you are full-timing around Europe, if your van breaks down, you don't just lose the van, you lose your house for however long is needed to fix it.
Have you tried going away in a van for a short time to see if it really is for you? All the "vanlife" videos can make it look fantastic (and it is!!) but there will be days when it's peeing down and you are stuck in a very very small space with each other. It might be worth renting one for a few days (you should be in off-season now for cheaper prices...also check on e-bay for rentals as some individuals do rent theirs out on there).
If you are planning to leave for Europe before winter hits, then you will need to consider the colder weather we get over here. I live in Poland and -20 isn't particularly rare. Look for a van of European manufacture such as those from Hymer and Burstner (to name just a couple). In an ideal world you would want both your fresh water tank and your "grey" water tank (this holds dirty water from the sinks and shower) to be inside a double floor. This helps to prevent either of them freezing in sub-zero conditions. Note "prevent" and not "stop"!!
A lot of the older vans will be on a Fiat Ducato or a Ford Transit base vehicle. Spares, at least for the engine, shouldn't be a problem as far as I am aware.
I'm not sure really what else to talk about in this post?! Feel free to PM me here if you have anything in particular you want to ask about buying an older van...as I said, we have just been through that very same thing! Good luck!!

 

[Jo662]

 

[TheBig1]

the first thing you will need to check, as it appears you may be youngsters, is what driving licences do you have? over 3500kg you will need a C1 licence for hgv, so this will rule out a lot of vans from your search. Under 3500kg and living in full time, PAYLOAD is your biggest issue for a reasonable size van

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[gus-lopez]

 

[f6c]

Welcome aboard

 

[MikeD]

Hi and welcome

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[davidbaldam]

Hi and welcome to FUN.

 

[AndyPK]

Welcome from Blackmore!

 

[James-Alex]

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[HugoBNB]

Welcome

 

[Riverbankannie]

 

[ambulancekidd]

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[AnnB]

Hi and welcome.

 

[Jo662]

 

[WynandJean]

Hello and welcome from West Midlands.

Wyn

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[mortonprod]

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome.

TheBig1 I have been looking through autotrader which as far as I can see does not allow you to select using weight. I must be missing something since surely this must be an important distinguishing feature. I can't even find specs from some of the motorhomes online. I'm worried about space but I'm somewhat used to cramped conditions; so as long as I have enough room to cook small meals, cupboard for clothes and misc, table for computer and place for tv should be fine. At least I hope.

RubyOptics Thanks for detailed reply. We do have a budget well beyond this but hoping to have as much spending money as possible. I think due to my ignorance I am going cheap as possible missing some of the details like winter running as you have mentioned.

Would any of you guys have recommendations up to 20k? My budget can't really go beyond that point.

• It has to be liveable full time
  • Would I be able to run a big tv and playstation from leisure battery?
    • How long should I expect this to last? Maybe this would drain too much?
  • Also need internet for remote working.
    • Separate issue from buying motorhome but people might have input on setting this up.
  • Winter running
    • Is additional insulation needed?
    • How often would I need to buy more gas?
• Able to travel to EU
  • Gas and electric converters needed?
  • Should I be concerned with LHD or RHD between UK and EU?
• Needs to be under 3500 kg since I only have normal licence
• Needs to be a model I can find replacement parts since plan to use for sometime.

Also have the option of caravan since we already have a car which would have the same questions above. However, even though cheaper, it brings a bunch of other questions. Stressful all of this...

Sorry for the long message. Any input would be great.

 

[TheBig1]

mortonprod,
Would any of you guys have recommendations up to 20k? My budget can't really go beyond that point.
A smaller hymer or similar would fit the bill

• It has to be liveable full time
  • Would I be able to run a big tv and playstation from leisure battery?
    • How long should I expect this to last? Maybe this would drain too much?
    • Think in terms of a matter of hours using an inverter. More batteries and solar panels would help
  • Also need internet for remote working.
    • Separate issue from buying motorhome but people might have input on setting this up.
    • A mifi with good contract would get you 4g most places. Or use mobile phone as a hotspot
  • Winter running
    • Is additional insulation needed?
    • depends where you want to go
    • How often would I need to buy more gas?
    • gas heating takes quite a bit of gas. Refillable cylinders is the cheapest and easiest route
• Able to travel to EU
  • Gas and electric converters needed?
  • Yes but available cheaply
  • Should I be concerned with LHD or RHD between UK and EU?
  • In my opinion no, but others think different
• Needs to be under 3500 kg since I only have normal licence
• Needs to be a model I can find replacement parts since plan to use for sometime.
• Fiat ducato parts are available for 20+ year old vans. The internal fittings are identical to caravans

Also have the option of caravan since we already have a car which would have the same questions above. However, even though cheaper This may be your best option but again you need to upgrade your licence to tow above 750kg

 

[RubyOptics]

mortonprod the weight ties in to the fact you can only drive a vehicle up to 3500kg total mass. A motorhome is not (in general) a lightweight vehicle and so most vans that you are able to drive on your license will have a limited amount of weight that you can legally carry. This weight is referred to as your payload. This payload has to account for your passenger, all your belongings, anything more (normally) than a dribble of water etc etc. It adds up quickly and when you start to look closely at it things weigh more than you think they do!!
As TheBig1 said, a playstation will drain your batteries real quick!! I'm looking into onboard computing at the moment myself. For remote working I'm assuming you will be using laptops, these can be charged as you are driving with a cigarette lighter adaptor and then used for work when you stop. That is assuming again that you aren't working from a gaming laptop which might overwhelm a small lighter socket charger. For in-van gaming, would you be able to settle for older systems such as PS1, SNES, PSP that kind of thing? If so, you can emulate those systems on a Raspberry Pi 4, which uses a tiny amount of power and could be run for literally days on a standard habitation battery.
A caravan will cost you less, but I get the impression you will want to wild camp off-grid. That's a lot more difficult to do in a caravan than it is in a motorhome.
As for electric and gas, certainly where I live a lot of smaller sites don't have the 16amp 3 pin sockets (the blue coloured ones that will be fitted to your motorhome) instead just relying on a normal EU household plug, so I would make sure you take an adaptor to go from one to the other. Gas hoses again vary by country. I can get to Germany in maybe 45 minutes, but the minute I cross the border I would need a different hose to connect to a German gas bottle.
Finally, I hate to be "that guy" but with the UK leaving the EU, the rules on travel will be changing come 2021, so unless you have dual nationality or residency in another EU country, your plan of travelling around Europe for a year is going to be difficult at best.

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[Snoopy]

Hi and welcome