Fulltiming in a motorhome - a blog
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Sorry, not yet had the chance to sort out photo hosting after Photobucket changing their policy so no new photos to upload yet. I do have some and will get around to it, but life's a bit hectic currently.
And yes, to the question re: the motorbike, they will fit in quite easily at the back. One Charisma I went to look at before buying Carrie had a Ducati Monster in the "Garage" together with 2 mountainbikes and a whole load of other stuff. The Garage is BIG!!
And yes, to the question re: the motorbike, they will fit in quite easily at the back. One Charisma I went to look at before buying Carrie had a Ducati Monster in the "Garage" together with 2 mountainbikes and a whole load of other stuff. The Garage is BIG!!
Antony Moxey said:
I presume you have to be careful with what you put in there though, just because it's cavernous I don't suppose it's entirely sensible to fill it up, especially if you've got a motorbike in there. The garage does look to be a fair old distance back from the rear axle.
True, but I've got a lot of capacity on my rear axle. Even fully loading the thing with everything I live with, plus passengers, their kit and other bits and bobs, I still have c. 250kg of spare capacity. As you say, there is a reasonably sizeable moment from the rear axle given the length of the overhang, but even allowing for that, that's probably something in the region of 120-150kg of capacity there in the garage with me fully loaded everywhere else. That's plenty for most non-touring bikes.All of this is fairly academic for me though, as I don't run a motorbike and have nothing other than mountainbikes and outdoor gear which goes in there.
I am pleased at the capacity though (and payload) as it makes me cringe when I see people trying to cram in significant amount of things into their rear garage on 3.5t vehicles and hopelessly overloading the rear axle.
Spuffington said:
Antony Moxey said:
I presume you have to be careful with what you put in there though, just because it's cavernous I don't suppose it's entirely sensible to fill it up, especially if you've got a motorbike in there. The garage does look to be a fair old distance back from the rear axle.
True, but I've got a lot of capacity on my rear axle. Even fully loading the thing with everything I live with, plus passengers, their kit and other bits and bobs, I still have c. 250kg of spare capacity. As you say, there is a reasonably sizeable moment from the rear axle given the length of the overhang, but even allowing for that, that's probably something in the region of 120-150kg of capacity there in the garage with me fully loaded everywhere else. That's plenty for most non-touring bikes.All of this is fairly academic for me though, as I don't run a motorbike and have nothing other than mountainbikes and outdoor gear which goes in there.
I am pleased at the capacity though (and payload) as it makes me cringe when I see people trying to cram in significant amount of things into their rear garage on 3.5t vehicles and hopelessly overloading the rear axle.
Happy New Year to everyone. Hope 2018 has had a good start for all of you.
A little update from me. It's now 12 months since I started preparing to move out of the family home and into "Harry the Hymer". In some ways time has flown by, in others, it has dragged and feels every bit like I've been in the van a year. That said, 2017 finished well - "Carrie the Concorde" has made living far easier (BTW - I will post up pics of the interior and Carrie after a good wash), my relationship with little'un is still great although I do wish I could spend more time with her and 2018 has kicked off well too.
I spent the run-up to New Year itself in Kinsale for a wedding and then in Dublin for New Years Day. Lovely to be reminded how great and hospitable the emerald isle is. Whilst down in Kinsale, I had a quick trip out towards the Ring of Kerry and pretty much made up my mind that I'll be heading out that way with Carrie in early or late summer (try and avoid as much of the crowds) to do some wild camping and hiking.
I haven't spent a huge amount of time in the van since getting back from Ireland. A few days and then I was off to Frankfurt for a week, back to see my daughter for a week and now back in Frankfurt for the next 10 days. That's now likely to be the pattern for the next 18 months or so as work is desperate to keep me in Frankfurt rather than in the London Office. So long as I can still see my daughter for four days out of every fortnight, that's all I'm concerned about.
The time spent back in the UK was useful as it allowed me to refocus on getting the divorce sorted. As painful as it is (financially rather than emotionally), it needs doing - clearing the decks for the future!
I've had to accept a settlement which in cash terms is 98:2 in my ex's favour and relieves me of a significant monthly amount of maintenance for my daughter (which I can live with psychologically) and at least has enabled me to protect my pension pot. But the spectre of starting from scratch at 38 (nearly 39) is sometimes challenging. The divorce petition will be submitted to the Courts next week and the Financial Settlement has been drawn up into an MoU for Solicitors to turn into a Consent Order. With a following wind, the divorce should be through by June (I'd hope at the latest) and house sold by August so that I can start saving those mortgage payments and get me back on financial track.
So what does the year ahead hold? Well, as I mentioned, I'll likely to be doing more "fulltiming" in Frankfurt than Carrie. Carrie will continue to serve as my base in the UK and once the farmhouse has sold, I will have to think about transferring her to a fixed pitch at a local campsite. Will cost a fair bit (relatively speaking) but still much cheaper than renting a flat. I also intend to make sure she's left tidy so that it's not just a case of coming back and living in her, but hopefully actually using her for weekends away when I'm back. I'm so very much in love with her and not just for giving me space, comfort, heat and shelter but for the sheer enjoyment of driving her.
Concerned about surface corrosion to the front discs (which are, after all, new in early Dec), I took her for a drive last week. Was so nice to get her out on the open road again. I only drove her from the farm, to the A11 and down the M11 to Bishops Stortford to fill up with diesel and LPG (took 65litres of LPG!! But that was all of Scotland off-grid usage and cooking and a bit of gas heating to bring it up to temperature quicker than electric over the last month or so). But she felt solid, loved the run and I just love the way she feels on the road - the looks she gets and the pride I get when I see her parked up. I certainly will be keeping her until the end of her days.
I've done a lot of cosmetic work recently. I don't have much money at all anymore. What with solicitors & mediators fees and repairs to the chassis side, I'm as skint as I've ever been. I've got just a few k to my name, so having to be very careful. But I've replaced most of the interior lights with LEDs, the exterior over-door light had a couple of knackered halogen bulbs in it and was covered in algae so I took that apart, cleaned it and replaced the bulbs with nice bright white LEDs, which makes the van look a lot more contemporary from the outside and gives some really useful light.
I bought a Dyson V6 cordless vac for the interior and that has been a godsend. Means I no longer have to try and squeeze a normal domestic vac into the van and bash it against all the furniture. Because of this, I didn't vacuum nearly as regularly as I wanted to, nor should have done. But with the Dyson, I keep it in the offside locker under the offside settee. I can either get it from outside or from inside by lifting the base to the sofa and there's both an AC and DC plug there to charge. When I can justify spending the 15quid(!!!) on the holder, I will mount that to the inside of the locker to stop it from rattling around.
I have also tidied out the rear garage which had turned into a dumping ground. Conscious I will soon have to store both my bikes in there, I needed to create space and order. I managed to procure a plastic 3 x drawer cabinet thing from Homebase for a few quid and with some clever lashing, have secured it and it's now storing smaller tools, lubricants (for bikes & motorhome), spare bulbs, fuses, zipties etc. I am also talking to Concorde about getting two Thetford trays to secure to the shelf to store spare cassettes in the garage so they don't move around (especially if they're full!!!).
Before the house is sold, I want to take a day or so with the Dual Action polisher and some AutoFinesse Tripple to get the exterior looking shiny, give it a coat of hard wax and maybe (if I have the money) get the transfers on the rear of the van replaced as they're really badly weathered and are the one thing which gives away its age.
So whilst there's lots going on - both in the van, with the house, with the divorce and with work. It is broadly positive. The van really does feel like home, I have no emotional attachment to the house at all anymore. I'm keen to get the divorce sorted asap. And the future looks bright personally.
Hopefully next time I have cause to put the proverbial "pen to paper", there'll be more good news and things will continue to be "on the up". As one of my colleagues said to me yesterday........
"look at the bright side - at least you have the possibility to double your net worth every day! That's not something many people can claim!"
A little update from me. It's now 12 months since I started preparing to move out of the family home and into "Harry the Hymer". In some ways time has flown by, in others, it has dragged and feels every bit like I've been in the van a year. That said, 2017 finished well - "Carrie the Concorde" has made living far easier (BTW - I will post up pics of the interior and Carrie after a good wash), my relationship with little'un is still great although I do wish I could spend more time with her and 2018 has kicked off well too.
I spent the run-up to New Year itself in Kinsale for a wedding and then in Dublin for New Years Day. Lovely to be reminded how great and hospitable the emerald isle is. Whilst down in Kinsale, I had a quick trip out towards the Ring of Kerry and pretty much made up my mind that I'll be heading out that way with Carrie in early or late summer (try and avoid as much of the crowds) to do some wild camping and hiking.
I haven't spent a huge amount of time in the van since getting back from Ireland. A few days and then I was off to Frankfurt for a week, back to see my daughter for a week and now back in Frankfurt for the next 10 days. That's now likely to be the pattern for the next 18 months or so as work is desperate to keep me in Frankfurt rather than in the London Office. So long as I can still see my daughter for four days out of every fortnight, that's all I'm concerned about.
The time spent back in the UK was useful as it allowed me to refocus on getting the divorce sorted. As painful as it is (financially rather than emotionally), it needs doing - clearing the decks for the future!
I've had to accept a settlement which in cash terms is 98:2 in my ex's favour and relieves me of a significant monthly amount of maintenance for my daughter (which I can live with psychologically) and at least has enabled me to protect my pension pot. But the spectre of starting from scratch at 38 (nearly 39) is sometimes challenging. The divorce petition will be submitted to the Courts next week and the Financial Settlement has been drawn up into an MoU for Solicitors to turn into a Consent Order. With a following wind, the divorce should be through by June (I'd hope at the latest) and house sold by August so that I can start saving those mortgage payments and get me back on financial track.So what does the year ahead hold? Well, as I mentioned, I'll likely to be doing more "fulltiming" in Frankfurt than Carrie. Carrie will continue to serve as my base in the UK and once the farmhouse has sold, I will have to think about transferring her to a fixed pitch at a local campsite. Will cost a fair bit (relatively speaking) but still much cheaper than renting a flat. I also intend to make sure she's left tidy so that it's not just a case of coming back and living in her, but hopefully actually using her for weekends away when I'm back. I'm so very much in love with her and not just for giving me space, comfort, heat and shelter but for the sheer enjoyment of driving her.
Concerned about surface corrosion to the front discs (which are, after all, new in early Dec), I took her for a drive last week. Was so nice to get her out on the open road again. I only drove her from the farm, to the A11 and down the M11 to Bishops Stortford to fill up with diesel and LPG (took 65litres of LPG!! But that was all of Scotland off-grid usage and cooking and a bit of gas heating to bring it up to temperature quicker than electric over the last month or so). But she felt solid, loved the run and I just love the way she feels on the road - the looks she gets and the pride I get when I see her parked up.
I certainly will be keeping her until the end of her days.I've done a lot of cosmetic work recently. I don't have much money at all anymore. What with solicitors & mediators fees and repairs to the chassis side, I'm as skint as I've ever been. I've got just a few k to my name, so having to be very careful. But I've replaced most of the interior lights with LEDs, the exterior over-door light had a couple of knackered halogen bulbs in it and was covered in algae so I took that apart, cleaned it and replaced the bulbs with nice bright white LEDs, which makes the van look a lot more contemporary from the outside and gives some really useful light.
I bought a Dyson V6 cordless vac for the interior and that has been a godsend. Means I no longer have to try and squeeze a normal domestic vac into the van and bash it against all the furniture. Because of this, I didn't vacuum nearly as regularly as I wanted to, nor should have done. But with the Dyson, I keep it in the offside locker under the offside settee. I can either get it from outside or from inside by lifting the base to the sofa and there's both an AC and DC plug there to charge. When I can justify spending the 15quid(!!!) on the holder, I will mount that to the inside of the locker to stop it from rattling around.
I have also tidied out the rear garage which had turned into a dumping ground. Conscious I will soon have to store both my bikes in there, I needed to create space and order. I managed to procure a plastic 3 x drawer cabinet thing from Homebase for a few quid and with some clever lashing, have secured it and it's now storing smaller tools, lubricants (for bikes & motorhome), spare bulbs, fuses, zipties etc. I am also talking to Concorde about getting two Thetford trays to secure to the shelf to store spare cassettes in the garage so they don't move around (especially if they're full!!!).
Before the house is sold, I want to take a day or so with the Dual Action polisher and some AutoFinesse Tripple to get the exterior looking shiny, give it a coat of hard wax and maybe (if I have the money) get the transfers on the rear of the van replaced as they're really badly weathered and are the one thing which gives away its age.
So whilst there's lots going on - both in the van, with the house, with the divorce and with work. It is broadly positive. The van really does feel like home, I have no emotional attachment to the house at all anymore. I'm keen to get the divorce sorted asap. And the future looks bright personally.
Hopefully next time I have cause to put the proverbial "pen to paper", there'll be more good news and things will continue to be "on the up". As one of my colleagues said to me yesterday........
"look at the bright side - at least you have the possibility to double your net worth every day! That's not something many people can claim!"
And here some pics......I do apologise for how untidy the van is. The interior ones were taken just after I picked it up and hadn't found a home for everything at that point.
IMG_6052 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]
IMG_6053 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]
IMG_6054 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]
IMG_6055 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]
IMG_6056 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]
IMG_6052 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]IMG_6053 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]IMG_6054 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]IMG_6055 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]IMG_6056 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]Edited by Spuffington on Thursday 25th January 10:43
Here are some up to date pics:
Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]
Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]
Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]
Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]
Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]
Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]
Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]
Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151162389@N04/][/url]Edited by Spuffington on Thursday 25th January 10:49
And since I've managed to get Flickr to work - here are a couple of pics from Scotland. In what looks like just a landscape scene, you can just make out Carrie at the far bottom of the pic after having hiked up the hill. The joys of wild camping......
Scotland by Duncan Gibson, on Flickr
Scotland by Duncan Gibson, on Flickr
Scotland by Duncan Gibson, on Flickr
Scotland by Duncan Gibson, on Flickr
Scotland by Duncan Gibson, on FlickrScotland by Duncan Gibson, on FlickrScotland by Duncan Gibson, on FlickrScotland by Duncan Gibson, on Flickr
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