Does It Exist ??
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Happy to help, too, if you have any questions, B2.
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By that time we may have used the van more and I’ll be able to tell you what's dropped off.
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to keep the post shorter, how about whats still in place?
only kidding, TW, but you've made a couple of passing comments to AS build recently, a bit of a one off or some design issues?
these are supposed to be right up there with the best 'quality' PVCs and im sure youre disappointed if things are a bit bumpy at the moment.
im sure you'll get all the issues sorted but it can drive you mad when better PDIs and attention to detail would sort most of them.
good luck.
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That’s exactly what it is, BB. Mostly PDI and lack of attention to detail. The fridge overheating might have been a component fault or incorrect installation but a tap that fouls the raised sink cover so won’t fully operate is symptomatic of lack of attention and checking. Drawer fronts coming off has to be build quality. A seat cover about to go into a hole - hmm, well...
Apart from the fridge, it’s mostly niggles and others do far worse. We hope all is now fixed.
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Hi all, what a very interesting thread. Especially the detailed long ones from BB which were really good. I have just caught up with it, but was very interested since, after 28 years of caravanning with 3 vans we moved over to the dark side almost 20 months ago. We retired in Dec 13 so treated ourselves to a new van, a roomy one with island bed which the Mrs had been dreaming about for years. It was a Quartz and we loved it. We had 13 snagging jobs but Highbridge Caravans sorted them all out with no loss of vanning time to us. We also lost our two Retrievers at the same time and touring in this van with huge Isabella awning was not the same. So after a few months we started the seach for a MH. We looked at hundreds, didnt like the German lounge layout with bulky fixed table so decided on a Bolero 724. We went to the NEC in Oct 14 to view the new Bolero with a list of questions and compromises. We didnt like the French bed and storage was a huge problem. That was the year when Swift moved the heating system from under a front seat to under the only decent storage space under the bed. We didnt see this until we got to the show. We retreated to the coffee lounge and decided, after all, it had to be an entry level Kontiki (635) and we have been happy ever after; no matter what BB has to say about these big vans, We have three good compartments, a fair bit of luxury, ample storage and carry two very heavy ebikes and the beds are sensational! Single or double. I dont have any problems driving it or parking it. It has the new ALKO long chassis, and we have had it to the weighbridge and still had spare loading capacity, even though we were loaded up for a month away.
In 21 months we have covered 13,500 miles, mostly over the water and will be off to Spain in Feb for three months.
I think it is a case that we all have different needs and tastes, which is what makes it more interesting
The worst part of moving from a caravan to a motorhome is when you have a caravan parked next to you on a Club site and men of a certain age refuse to speak to you and even notice you are there. I am a very working class Geordie who served 24 years in the forces and definitely not a snob, but very surprised when people can act like that.
I could go back to caravanning tomorrow, it wouldnt bother me, but the Missus wouldnt! So I am stuck.
As a caravanner, have you ever snubbed a motorhomer?
BillC
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Is that the model at just over 8m, Bill? If so, it’s far bigger than I’d want but doesn’t that just prove that what suits one doesn’t suit another?
Good luck to you. Carry on motorhoming.
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Bill, nice post....
FYI, 3 years ago we bought the Carthago in my avatar....7.4m long, 2.27m wide, pair of singles over a large garage, what a lovely van...just like yours
however, our touring began to include a longer 'journey to.....xxx' where we dillied and dallied, ducked and dived, exploring lots of different places, staying on village aires and making the 'journey' much more part of the overall holiday...
this led us to thinking that we might be able to slip into more places with a smaller van..
of course, we wanted the same build, same thoughtful design, just a bit smaller....
so we lobbed a metre off the length, put the van on a diet and shaved 15cm off the width....but same large garage for all the stuff...
Presto! a Compactline
we've had it nearly a year now, done nearly 7k miles and cant wait to get back in it....
incidently, had a look at the 635 when the NEC when it came out and was offered an unbelievable deal against our Bolero...however, at over 8m we thought it was too big...
since then weve been moving in the opposite direction
good luck.....see you in spain...
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The worst part of moving from a caravan to a motorhome is when you have a caravan parked next to you on a Club site and men of a certain age refuse to speak to you and even notice you are there. I am a very working class Geordie who served 24 years in the forces and definitely not a snob, but very surprised when people can act like that.
I could go back to caravanning tomorrow, it wouldnt bother me, but the Missus wouldnt! So I am stuck.
As a caravanner, have you ever snubbed a motorhomer?
BillC
Well as a caravan man I am, of course, lowering myself to even read this thread about pesky MHs!
I am long in the tooth but still remember our first caravan-an ex hire van with not a panel without a scrape or window without a scratch-and the looks that we used to get.
It is a sad state of affairs but while disappointed at your experiences I am not surprised but just do the same as we did and ignore them.
We holiday with two couples who both have MH and one of the certainties when we get together is that there will be much mickey taking about each others outfits and it is fine as we are all comfortable with how we choose to camp.
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Bill
Without going too far off topic I have found over the years that there seem to be a lot of members in the Greta Garbo fan club in the sense that many take up our hobby so they don't have to communicate with each other. I am not sure it's related to the type of outfit you have either? The more gregarious amongst will always find that difficult to understand but I suppose at the end of the day we have no choice but to accept that not everyone is an easy communicator.
For the last five years we have owned a 7.5 metre motorhome having changed from a caravan after 30 years. I think on reflection we should have gone for something a bit smaller but like many in the same position we wanted to replicated the room we had in the caravan which is understandable but perhaps with a little experience a different choice might have been made.
David
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The perfect MH probably does exist but most of us are constrained by other factors.Cost, space on the drive at home, even perhaps the aesthetics of any given van impinge on the choice. We all do the best within our own personal criteria.
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Thanks A&J, good advice.....
Hi TW, yes it is 8.06m, which is a bugger! That extra 2" over 8m costs me a lot of dosh. With Red Pennant I am within the weight and height limits for the long van addl loading charge, but lose out on the 2". Same on ferries etc, but it goes with the terriortory and we have to live with it, or downsize!
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Hi BB, thanks for that;
the one thing that might make us consider downsizing at present is to let the wife drive it. She would not consider driving the big van, even though she has the correct licence, but she is repeatedly reminding me that she could help out with the driving if it was about 6.5m long. Might have to arrange a trip to Chelston!
BillC
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....but, Bill, surely for ferry bookings your van is 'upto 8m'
AFAIK, ferry companies dont (yet) use laser measuring equipment or refer to manufacturers data.
even CC website doesnt use the data it has for campsite bookings, allowing you to put what you like.
i inadvertantly put upto 7m once for our old van 7.4m (not deliberate...) and we just went straight through without me (or anyone else) realising.
i thought the price was good
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Hi BB,
I have been tempted in the past to declare 8m but have not so far, but I might go for it when I book my next trip in January. If I get caught, I will just blame you!
We have just been up to Chelston (excuse was I had to pick up my Kontiki handbook from the van in Cadeside storage), got the Carthago brochure but they only had 4 x 2017 models in, one long TAG and 3 7.4m models, new stock, including your model due in imminently. They are a nice build quality, great garage which we like a lot and bottle storage out of this world. You could become an importer!
BillC
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It’s a dilemma, for sure. Ours is 5.998m but we have a bike rack. Now, if we load that rack with a box then, fair enough, I’ll have to add 0.3m or whatever to the length but if we don’t take the box and the rack is folded, I might well forget to add in the extra few cm and go for up to 6m.
The only times we've been measured is twice for the IoW ferry and that was by a man pushing a measuring wheel along the tarmac. I doubt that would be accurate to within 25cm or so.
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i agree with TW, for a cm or two, i wouldnt worry.....just park a fraction closer to the van in front
even an empty towbar might take a PVC beyond 6m bit would anyone really pay the extra?
you're right about the bottles....we did bring rather a lot back from France/Spain in May....
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Regarding size a few years back we changed our van and when speaking to the club to get a price the lady informed me that it was not 2.6m but 2.62m.
We had a discussion about this and whilst my inclination was to stick with 2.6, despite her saying that I could be turned away and my responding that if a person sitting in a booth, with just a marker line on the side of the booth opposite to judge by, was the arbiter I would risk it.
I then asked if I was in the up to 2.7 rather than up to 2.6 what would the difference be?
She checked and the answer was none as it was the same price!
Personally I have never seen any attempt to measure the length of my outfit but have seen the height being checked and I assume that this is due to the fact that this is the critical issue when loading due to the headroom available when decks are raised/lowered.
Re blanking people and Davids comment we have too noticed that it seems to be fellow Brits but maybe that is down to their personality. My wife is far more likely to engage in discussion with another lady at the shower block than I am with someone.
In regard to being in company, which is how we holiday, I have found that actually increases our contact as a group as there are four of us who may make contact with others as opposed to two but can fully appreciate the comment.
Last year in Spain we were well and truly blanked by a group of Brits on a rally after having the nerve to stop and say hello one day and this year a couple stopped to chat to my wife and I, our friends were not there, and said that they had not spoken to us before as we were in company!
We would always gave an hello to any fellow Brits but the response can be quite varied!
Finally re the Dutch, I have often said to others that whilst there is no guarantee, it is usually a positive having Dutch on site as they are usually friendly, speak English, like a beer and will often have a TV to watch major sporting events-for those occasions when you have spent all day trying, and failing, to get a satellite signal..
We met such a family in France in 1994 and are still friends and have visited each other many times, holidayed with and attended weddings etc.
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Alan, i assume the 2.62m is the height of your car/caravan?
our van is 2.89m.....i always put 'upto 2.90' although the satellite dish adds probably around 5-10cm to the height.
when we come to load, we seem to be loaded together with the taller vehicles (lorries and most coachbuilt MHs, which are a bit taller than the std caravan).
im sure this is to prevent any 'incidents'....we were asked once, when i think we were going to be put in the lower height deck, how sure were we about the 2.89m and did we want to go on the tsller deck....so we moved lanes.
i think the cost thing is much more to do with length, and therefore the number of vehicles, rather thsn the height where any height is used more to determine 'where' rather thsn 'how much'.
regarding Kontiki's shiping length......should definitely be 'upto 8m'.
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Hi BB, yes the height of the van and so far as costs are concerned I did play around with the club booking facility at the time but cant recall if the increase in cost was more prevalent with length or height but I bet if I was to assume it was one it would in fact be the other!
Agree with your comment on Ks outfit but after the comment to me form the club I usually do a quick check when comparing prices to see if there are any savings to booking at <2.6 rather than <2.7 and it is slightly puzzling that, for example, Brittany Ferrie height bands are different than the clubs.
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The problem with mhomes is that it can be irritating to have to pack up everything to go out for the day, to just shutting the habitation door, leaving the mhome on site and using some other mode of transport to see the sights.
Its a matter of choice, we started of many years ago in. VW air cooled camper throwing sleeping bags in the back, 50 years later we tow a car behind our mhome. With the enjoyable years towing a caravan, and car loaded with children.
I would not say any one way was better than the other, what I would say is advancing years do change your ideas as life, family, money ebb and flow and make changes accordingly.
As they say on distant planets, "Live long and prosper, and enjoy the journey!"
Rgds
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Well, we've done it! We have upsized from our Adria Twin SP. We went to the dealer specifically to look at a 2017 Elddis coachbuilt MH, but whilst there we spotted a newly arrived 2015 Autosleeper Kingham.
It was being prepared ready to go on the forecourt, so we just had to have a look around. it would have been rude not to ........
So .... we came away having part exchanged our van for the Kingham which we collect on the 11th Dec. We are very pleased, the extra 40 cms in length and a different layout make all the difference.
Plus we also get the 4 crystal glasses as standard - Just right for my 70th birthday celebration in the van a week later!!
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Well done. We've got 8 glasses now.
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A not dis-similar layout to the caravan that I've sold. I think I'd have almost been tempted but for three things. No garage storage, lowish payload and £17K more than my Majestic has cost me. Ooh, and the extra 40cm would have made it a very tight fit on the driveway.
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All of this is helpful reading for us as we plan the switch to motorhome. So far we are convinced that small is beautiful so hoping to buy an Auto-Sleeper Stanton which has the benefit of being built on a Sprinter so we can have auto. The overall length is less than 6 metres and it offers a generous payload. There will be inevitable compromises after years of 2 berth caravans but the decisions made.
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Qashqai, Think long and hard. Can you solve the problems of increasing old age and lack of mobility by throwing money at them?
After a new caravan which didn't do the trick for you last year, and there will be a sizeable loss on that, a new Motorhome might be clutching at straws once again. Spending £70,000 for a new Mercedes based Auto Sleeper, or spending some of it for other sorts of holidays?
We are in the same situation and age bracket as you are and our caravan might go next year too. But a £70,000 new Motorhome won't rejuvenate us and would just be pouring good money after bad. We are more and more moving over to renting holiday houses and using smart hotels along the way to get to them.
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