who does shortest fixed bed m'home? (1 Viewer)

[marymary]

I love my Nu Venture but I think I would love a fixed bed better, but have been spoilt as its short and easy to park as its a Fiat Scudo 2L base, oh and very economic.....any ideas on who does the shortest fixed bed motorhome??

 

[Mikeco]

There are plenty on a 6m long van including my own conversion but have a look at Globecar who I believe do one on a 5.6m van.

Mike

 

[Fireman Sam]

How short do you want the bed to be?

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[marymary]

well I'm 5ft 3 at the most so doesn't need to be massively long....

 

[marymary]

has anyone got a Rapido 709f??

 

[catspyjamas]

Hi MaryMary

I'm in the same boat, and coincidentally have the same motorhome as yourself!

I LOVE my van, but often think how nice a proper bathroom and a bed that you don't have to make every night would be. I go to motorhome shows and spend my time endlessly looking at the various m/home models on display.

To date I've been quite taken with the Hymer 508CL. It's 6 metres and has a drop down bed. There's also the Rapido 707F which has a French Bed.

Many of the other continentals have fixed beds but a lot of the time they are at the expense of the living area.

Good luck in your search :thumb: I'll be very interested to know what you eventually plump for.

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[mikebeaches]

has anyone got a Rapido 709f??

We used to have one. Lovely van - spent two years deciding that was the one for us (it was our first)! It ticked all the right boxes, or so I thought...

However, I'm 6' tall and discovered I couldn't cope with the driving position. The problem was I couldn't push the seat back far enough. It's a French van of course and in left-hand drive it would likely not be a problem because the dinette table is behind the driver, and can be moved backwards as far as required.

In right-hand drive, the kitchen unit is directly behind the driver, and for me it compromised the space too much. I thought I'd manage, but unfortunately, I couldn't - got an arthritic right knee, which didn't help. My wife, who is 5' 5" tall, therefore used to do most of the driving and said it was comfortable for her. Though she wasn't too happy about not sharing the driving.

So we changed to our current van, which is still only 6m and has a (more-or-less) fixed bed. In fact a rather clever design.

But the 709f is also very clever and very well specified for a pre-2007 MH. Cab air con as standard, as are twin armrests on the swivelling captain's chairs. External gas point and shower, also standard. Central-locking on the habitation door as well as the cab. Window in the hab door, and also in the back wall, so able to see what's following on the road behind. The bed and the dinette seat were extremely comfortable.

Any specific questions just ask - was sorry to let it go - only just over 5.5m long, which I think probably is the shortest proper fixed-bed model.

One for sale on eBay: Broken Link Removed

Mike

 

[marymary]

thanks so much both! When they say a French bed...what exactly is a French bed?? Mike would the Rapido 709f be a medium wheel base or short? I wonder how you tell....? oh: What sort of mpg?
Jane or Jess.....I know I love driving the NV, I use mine as my car too so its great

 

[Minxy]

We had a Fiat 709F, in fact it was one of the first sold in the UK! We thought long and hard about it and finally took the plunge and kept it for nearly 4 years ... it was sooooooo cute!!!!!

It think it was 5.53m long (don't ask me why I remember!) and was lovely - the only reason we really sold it was because we out-grew it, what with us and 2 dogs (then). The underbed storage was great and we used to put 2 folding bikes (20" wheels) and a very large inflatable canoe with all the other gubbings under there, the only downside was the stupid size of the external door to the underbed storage so we had to lug them in through the habitation door ... not ideal!

The original 709F had a convector heater with blown air, and the later one was a combi boiler/heater (ie no convector), this meant that the wardrobe on the revised one was larger but I loved my convector heater ... standing over it on a chilly morning with the heat going up my top ... bliss!!!! They also changed the window in the door from a slide up one (which was extremely useful) to an open out one. They came as standard with a rear ladder and roof bars and we got an awning as part of the purchase deal, and I put on the bike rack (very easy) and a Status 530 aerial (through the roof type), I also replaced the roof vents over the bed and in the washroom to clear ones as they were heavily colours so it was like the black hole of Calcutta! I also made a new table for it as the original one was way too big and extremely heavy.

This was our little 'cutiepie' on a campsite in France.

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[Minxy]

A French bed layout means that the bed runs from front to back in one of the rear corners, this is the interior of our 709F which had one.

 

[Hollyberry]

Mine is not quite 6.5 metres long, only 2.9 high and has fixed bed in rear right hand side. Opposite corner has loo and basin with separate shower tray.

Low mileage for age, under 32,000 miles.

And will be for sale when I get moved into my new house, end of May....

Sorry just seen pics above -- mine same lay out.

 

[mikebeaches]

Mike would the Rapido 709f be a medium wheel base or short? I wonder how you tell....? oh: What sort of mpg?

I'm fairly certain it is on a short wheelbase, but I'm not close enough to the specification now to have the facts and figures to hand. I just can't imagine a Fiat Ducato with a shorter wb.

I reckon we could get about 30 mpg if we drove reasonably carefully. Ours was a 2.3 litre engine, and I believe the majority were - but it was also available with a 2.8 litre - presumably as an option. Not quite sure why you'd want the bigger engine, as our 2.3 had plenty of power.

Oh, and I've seen Mel's post - ours was a slightly later model '54 reg', and only had the blown air heating, but not the convector heater, which could presumably be used without blown-air if you wished, and hence no 12 volt electricity consumption.

Whilst on the subject of electric, the water boiler in our van could run on gas or 230 volts, when on hook-up, which was handy. Don't know if the earliest models had that or only gas water heating.

And another thing, when on hook-up there must have been a split-charge relay, because both the cab and the leisure batteries were charged. On our current van, it's only the leisure battery (budget van ).

Mel was - of course - also right to say the table is a tad on the large and heavy side. We didn't change ours, and frequently appreciated the space - but it is a bit of a monster, given the bijou nature of the accommodation.

Mike

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[Minxy]

From memory our 709F only had gas water heating but they all had central locking including the habitation door which was great ... except when one of the dogs locked us out by standing on the locking button on one of the cab doors! oh:

We had the 2.3 engine and it was fantastic, the 2.8 of the same era was very agricultural I recall and it really was not needed. We got around 28-30 mpg, but I'm sure we would have got more if hubby hadn't liked pressing his right foot so much!!!!

Oh, as far as I'm aware it was the SWB version, being only 5.53m it didn't need anything else!

 

[mariner]

I have a fixed bed Autocruise Pace which is 6.185 meters long but only 2.25 meters wide.

Selling it when I get back to the UK if anyone is interested.



:Cool:

 

[Minxy]

I have a fixed bed Autocruise Pace which is 6.185 meters long but only 2.25 meters wide.

Selling it when I get back to the UK if anyone is interested.

:Cool:

We have the Autocruise Accent, same as yours but with the option of the rear lounge or rear bed depending on how we want to leave it set up! It is actually 5.99 long (without bike rack stickyout bit!) and 2.10m not including mirrors. Having had the 709F previously I can definitely say that it was manoeuvrable due to the shorter wheelbase so as a normal runabout it would have the edge over our LWB pvc. But they are both great!

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