Tell us about yours

[Innkeeper]

Me and the wife are selling up waiting for sale to go through. We plan to buy a Motorhome our first.
We will spend the worse of the winter under a roof. So say about 8 to 9 month in the Motorhome.
There will only be the 2 of us and our small dog. As for touring in the future would like to go as far South as Morocco futher South if poss but looking at the forum think Morocco is about it and as far North as Northern Finland. But more of that later for now could the fultimers long times tell me what make and model they have and what mods they have had done (something to do with suspension. That sort of thing) can you have the mods done to a preloved Motorhome. Its just so we can narrow our search a bit. Also and I know it's a big ask but but would you mind sharing whats good and bad about them. Am sure no Motorhome is perfect.

 

[Riverbankannie]

What is one man’s sardine can is another’s luxury Palace and long term travellers have the whole range.
Firstly, do you have the driving licence for over 3500kg?

 

[Innkeeper]

What is one man’s sardine can is another’s luxury Palace and long term travellers have the whole range.
Firstly, do you have the driving licence for over 3500kg?

Yep have a granddad license. One of the good thing about being more mature. As the wife has took to calling us want to be grey haired nomads

 

[Southdowners]

I guess a lot will depend on your budget. Folk may make suggestions but they might be wildly out of what you wish to spend. Can you give some idea budget-wise?

 

[DBK]

Best wishes but remember if Br+++t happens you can only be outside the UK for 90 days maximum then you need to come back for 90 days. There are numerous permutations how you do this but the rule will be applied as it is now for as example to US and NZ folk.

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[Innkeeper]

Worry about Brexit if when it happens more thinking of the Motorhome for now.
Budget wise would be 40/50k

 

[Innkeeper]

Best wishes but remember if Br+++t happens you can only be outside the UK for 90 days maximum then you need to come back for 90 days. There are numerous permutations how you do this but the rule will be applied as it is now for as example to US and NZ folk.

Dont want you thinking Brexit is not in thinking. I just dont think it will be all doom and gloom. All parties have to much to lose.

 

[Southdowners]

There's a really nice Niesmann & Bischoff Flair for sale on this forum. Take a look at the classifieds.

Niesmann & Bischoff are really good quality and I would think perfect for what you want to do.

 

[funflair]

Well @Southdowners pipped me, Niesmann+Bischoff are cracking vans in my opinion OK we have a Flair very similar to the one being referred to but a tad longer at 8.5 metres.

OK you have a decent budget that would get you a new or nearly new budget van or you could get a great quality van most likely German somewhere between 8 and 12 years old, on the face of it that might sound like madness and you really have to ask yourselves how you are going to use the van.

I can not help with your thought process but I can tell you mine, first off people will tell you that the third one you buy will be the right one, well I did a lot of homework and got it right "for us" first time.

This was/is our first motorhome after a lot of years towing a caravan but we decided that when we retired we would travel more and as we did/do a lot of cycling we wanted to be able to "up stick" quickly and easily and move a few miles to a new area to explore, we started going to the outdoor shows in our caravan and had a good look around but we both fell in love with the Niesmann+Bischoff Flair but new prices 8 years ago were £100k ++ which seemed a lot of cash for our "toe in the water". I decided that we wanted a van with a decent garage for bikes and I wanted rear wheel drive and a good commercial chassis so straight away we were limiting our choice to the larger vans 8 metres and over, we did look at other stuff but I just could not get N+B out of my thoughts and decided we should look for something used for more sensible money and if we didn't like it we were not breaking the bank selling it and we still had the caravan.

So I will try to cut a long story short, we looked at a couple of N+B Flair,s around 2006 vintage (this was over 7 years ago) and liked what we saw we put an offer on one on the South coast but missed it so we went back up to Scotland for a second look at the one we bought, so it is a Niesmann+Bischoff Flair 8000 at 8.5 metres long and running on an IVECO chassis Left hand drive and manual box, plated maximum weight is 6t and it came out of the factory with about 1.4t payload, it has rear air suspension as standard and we have added front semi air, I have added extra solar panels and the advantage of doing it yourself is that you can fit a better solar regulator that a lot of the dealers fit as standard I then added a decent inverter and eventually 2 more Gel batteries so we can be completely self sufficient as long as we get some sun. We have added E&P Hydraulic jack which are great for levelling and stability when you are parked up but my other argument for these was easy wheel changing and if you get it stuck in mud or sand you stand a chance of getting yourself out by jacking it up and putting something under the wheels, 4 wheels of course on the back axle so great traction in muddy fields.

So 7 years on we still have the same van and it is worth about what we paid for it so cheap traveling really, I love the build quality and the relative simplicity so that you can work on things yourself without needing a degree in computer science, I love the big garage for bikes scooter canoe kayak whatever you want to take. Yes we keep looking at new stuff and the likes of a new Niesmann/Concorde/Morelo etc do drive smoother and quieter than ours and so they should for £200-£250k I don't honestly think they are better quality than the older vans, actually I am trying not to upset people with newer luxury vans as really I think the old stuff knocks spots of the new for build quality, there is nothing new in the layouts for us so really not much to gain and a lot to loose.

Happy hunting and sorry to ramble on so but when I was looking I read everything I could find and really appreciated the time people had taken to describe their van so hopefully you do as well @Innkeeper NO ours is not for sale but if you are ever in the North East you are welcome to have a look and a chat.

Martin

 

[Northernraider]

What he said ^^^^^

I'd avoid the new budget van , especially if your first

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[SGNV]

I'm 16 months into full timing in my first motorhome. I'm very happy with it, haven't seen anything else yet that ticks all the same boxes. All I can suggest is (within your budget of course) to really consider how you will travel, where, what you want to do, how you are going to use the van, hobbies etc. Look at as many options as possible before deciding. Some important things for me were: fixed single beds, garage, light (large windows), winterised, I like painting so I looked at how I would do that in the van, some interiors I couldn't see how I'd make that work.

 

[nicholsong]

Read all you can about payload - there are lots of threads on various forums.

Some of it may be a shock/eye-opener, as some MH models have ridiculously low payloads.

Then remember never to believe the manufacturer's or dealer's figures. The only figures that matter are those on a weighbridge as the vehicle is, and the Max Permissible weight. The difference is the 'Payload' you can carry. No other figures are relevant.

For full-timing I would suggest 700-800kg would be needed, but that includes you 2 people, fuel and water before you start on contents of cupboards, garage. bicycles/scooter - it soon adds up.

 

[Speve]

Think @Innkeeper has now got a van

 

[Dazzlin]

I would add to look for fixed bed/beds. We full timed for five years in our first and only van after a lot of homework. We were very happy with twin single beds and the freedom/flexibility it gave us.

Now got a spanish bolt hole and looking for another van asap.

Research is king.

 

[Innkeeper]

Thanks for the replies. Just waiting to go and collect van. Need to wait till the bank give us our money out of savings. But then its game on

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[Speve]

Thanks for the replies. Just waiting to go and collect van. Need to wait till the bank give us our money out of savings. But then its game on

Good luck and enjoy you new van