Minxy
LIFE MEMBER
- Aug 22, 2007
- 32,624
- 66,461
- Funster No
- 149
- MH
- Carthago Compactline
- Exp
- Since 1996, had Elddis/Swift/Rapido/Rimor/Chausson MHs. Autocruise/Globecar PVCs/Compactline i-138
I knew we shouldn't have come to Lincoln show ... the plan was to come for the day originally as we'd not been able to book well in advance to be able to park with funsters, but then we got some camping tickets from another member who couldn't attend (donation to MH Fun charity to be made shortly 
) and we were well chuffed as we haven't been away for a break since early January so the poor camper was sulking, as were we and the dogs.
Thursday afternoon we arrived and got pitched up, putting up the 'new to us' awning we'd bought from a member a while back, its a beauty and fits the van perfectly. After a bit of chit-chat with the 'neighbours' walking the dogs and having tea we then settled in for the night ... ooooooo it was lovely to be 'chilling' again.
Friday morning saw us up and into the show early on, having a good waddle around the various stalls with all manner of wares ... octagonal garden huts with fire pits, garden furniture, bikes, clothes, shoes, craft and food stalls, ferrules, fixings and general stuff, pork crackling (yummy sample!), fudge, and chocolate covered roasted coffee beans ... not recommended to be eaten after the fudge sample unless you want to practice gurning!
All manner of accessories for MHs including crockery, pots, pans and the obligatory (for some!) solar dancing minions. Plenty of awnings, gazebos, windbreaks to choose from as well as bags to stick all the purchases in.
Of course there were camper vans and motorhomes of all shapes and sizes, and prices to suit all budgets ... and it was as we started to meander through the various dealer stands that our best intentions and plan to just enjoy a nice leisurely weekend relaxing went awry! There in all it's glory was a MH, a version of which we had previously considered but at the time didn't feel it was right for us ... we had a good nosy round it (it was a used one) and after a bit of chatting with the dealer left to decide if we wanted to get more 'serious' with it, we then spotted another MH, similar type of thing from another maker which was being sold as 'used' but in effect hadn't ever been slept, cooked etc in so was in all but name 'new', but it was LHD and we were unsure about it.
After more pottering we spotted another one the same as the first one but this was brand new (2018 model), yes it was a bit more money (quite a bit more!) but it was just 'grinning' at us ... we were seduced ... nay, totally mesmerised ... or was it hypnotised? We pottered over and had a shuftie ... ooooooo ... its nice! Size wise its only a smidgen longer and wider than our PVC so that ticked a couple of important boxes ... lots of 'investigating' of this, that, and the other, what engine did it have, weight, payload, kit fitted/included ... we could feel ourselves being drawn in to being it's new owners ... okay, time to put our sensible heads on! After talking turkey with the dealer and going over what we'd want adding to it we came up with what we feel was a good deal but, despite being 'asked' to sign on the dotted line there and then we agreed we'd call in the morning before the show opened to let them know what we wanted to do so they could move it off the stand and put another to sell in its place. This we did and had a good test drive today and then talked turkey a bit more, confirmed the stuff we wanted and the price ... we did try to get a 'bit' more but to no avail ... it was a bit tongue in cheek though as we had already driven a hard bargain ... we are Yorkshire folk after all! ?
Okay, I'll stop waffling now and tell you what we're getting ... its a Carthago C-Compactline i 138, its only 2.12m wide and 6.41m long, so just 7cm wider and 5cm longer than our Globecar. Double floor with loads of storage, lightweight chassis so only weighs 2900kg in basic road trim, it can be uprated to 3850kg as a paper exercise which the dealer is going to do FOC. They thought we wanted an awning so included that as a sweetener but we don't so negotiated for other bits to be done instead including 2 x 100w solar panels, 2 x 80ah gel batteries, rear view/reversing camera, DAB radio, alarm & 12v socket in the rear (it only has USBs). It's got a lovely big fridge freezer (145 litres) so plenty of room for icecream ... yay! As its a 3-way there'll also be no worrying about running out of electric 'juice' when wild-camping as we don't use sites and won't need the generator now ... oh jezport it's AES! ?
As it's the 6b engine there's no 'new' road tax and luxury tax to pay which is great, if this turns out to be wrong the dealer will pay it (and subsequent years) as I had them put this on the paperwork! We agreed a PX price which is fairly good but we've also the option of selling ours privately too so we'll be trying that first once I've put it back in to it's original trim and reinstalled all the stuff I took out (to protect it) and removed stuff I put in (within reason of course!) ... I will be leaving the lovely tap I put in the kitchen though so whoever buys it will be able to get their kettle under it to make a cuppa. 
We should take delivery by the end of October so I might Christen it Brexit!
I'll be doing an advert for our camper soon but if anyone is in the market for a nice Globecar Campscout let me know!
) and we were well chuffed as we haven't been away for a break since early January so the poor camper was sulking, as were we and the dogs.Thursday afternoon we arrived and got pitched up, putting up the 'new to us' awning we'd bought from a member a while back, its a beauty and fits the van perfectly. After a bit of chit-chat with the 'neighbours' walking the dogs and having tea we then settled in for the night ... ooooooo it was lovely to be 'chilling' again.
Friday morning saw us up and into the show early on, having a good waddle around the various stalls with all manner of wares ... octagonal garden huts with fire pits, garden furniture, bikes, clothes, shoes, craft and food stalls, ferrules, fixings and general stuff, pork crackling (yummy sample!), fudge, and chocolate covered roasted coffee beans ... not recommended to be eaten after the fudge sample unless you want to practice gurning!
All manner of accessories for MHs including crockery, pots, pans and the obligatory (for some!) solar dancing minions. Plenty of awnings, gazebos, windbreaks to choose from as well as bags to stick all the purchases in.Of course there were camper vans and motorhomes of all shapes and sizes, and prices to suit all budgets ... and it was as we started to meander through the various dealer stands that our best intentions and plan to just enjoy a nice leisurely weekend relaxing went awry! There in all it's glory was a MH, a version of which we had previously considered but at the time didn't feel it was right for us ... we had a good nosy round it (it was a used one) and after a bit of chatting with the dealer left to decide if we wanted to get more 'serious' with it, we then spotted another MH, similar type of thing from another maker which was being sold as 'used' but in effect hadn't ever been slept, cooked etc in so was in all but name 'new', but it was LHD and we were unsure about it.
After more pottering we spotted another one the same as the first one but this was brand new (2018 model), yes it was a bit more money (quite a bit more!) but it was just 'grinning' at us ... we were seduced ... nay, totally mesmerised ... or was it hypnotised? We pottered over and had a shuftie ... ooooooo ... its nice! Size wise its only a smidgen longer and wider than our PVC so that ticked a couple of important boxes ... lots of 'investigating' of this, that, and the other, what engine did it have, weight, payload, kit fitted/included ... we could feel ourselves being drawn in to being it's new owners ... okay, time to put our sensible heads on! After talking turkey with the dealer and going over what we'd want adding to it we came up with what we feel was a good deal but, despite being 'asked' to sign on the dotted line there and then we agreed we'd call in the morning before the show opened to let them know what we wanted to do so they could move it off the stand and put another to sell in its place. This we did and had a good test drive today and then talked turkey a bit more, confirmed the stuff we wanted and the price ... we did try to get a 'bit' more but to no avail ... it was a bit tongue in cheek though as we had already driven a hard bargain ... we are Yorkshire folk after all! ?
Okay, I'll stop waffling now and tell you what we're getting ... its a Carthago C-Compactline i 138, its only 2.12m wide and 6.41m long, so just 7cm wider and 5cm longer than our Globecar. Double floor with loads of storage, lightweight chassis so only weighs 2900kg in basic road trim, it can be uprated to 3850kg as a paper exercise which the dealer is going to do FOC. They thought we wanted an awning so included that as a sweetener but we don't so negotiated for other bits to be done instead including 2 x 100w solar panels, 2 x 80ah gel batteries, rear view/reversing camera, DAB radio, alarm & 12v socket in the rear (it only has USBs). It's got a lovely big fridge freezer (145 litres) so plenty of room for icecream ... yay! As its a 3-way there'll also be no worrying about running out of electric 'juice' when wild-camping as we don't use sites and won't need the generator now ... oh jezport it's AES! ?
As it's the 6b engine there's no 'new' road tax and luxury tax to pay which is great, if this turns out to be wrong the dealer will pay it (and subsequent years) as I had them put this on the paperwork!
We agreed a PX price which is fairly good but we've also the option of selling ours privately too so we'll be trying that first once I've put it back in to it's original trim and reinstalled all the stuff I took out (to protect it) and removed stuff I put in (within reason of course!) ... I will be leaving the lovely tap I put in the kitchen though so whoever buys it will be able to get their kettle under it to make a cuppa. We should take delivery by the end of October so I might Christen it Brexit!
I'll be doing an advert for our camper soon but if anyone is in the market for a nice Globecar Campscout let me know!
