Fulltiming in a motorhome - a blog

[Spuffington]

Thanks chaps.

Fulltiming is right if you have the right vehicle. But it is still challenging. I don't pretend that the Concorde will solve all the issues, but it goes a good way to resolving the ones around space and longterm warmth over winter. It's not that Harry is totally cold, a week or two for a Holiday in the winter is not an issue and something I did many times before fulltiming, but it's extended periods which are wearing (and expensive on gas).

So - once I get the Concorde back, cleaned and moved into, then the process of deep cleaning Harry, rectifying any niggles (I can't think of any immediately) and polishing the exterior will start and will get him marketed.

Anyone looking for a top quality, rare, supremely well looked after van, please get in touch. I'll be marketing around the 30k mark as this is where interest was shown when I dipped my toe in the water in April.

[Spuffington]

Thanks for all the compliments and best wishes, guys.

"Carrie" as she has been affectionately named by my daughter (who was initially very sad at the thought of having to say goodbye to Harry, but won over by the presence of a TV in the view van!) has now been collected from Aberdeen by my Uncle and Aunt and they have enjoyed two nights in her up in the Cairngorms wild camping. They've enjoyed it so much that the inference was that if I don't get my butt up to Oban swiftly, they're keeping her and trading in their 2015 Hymer S820 Starline!! High praise indeed!!

So far so good. They reckon the only things they can find wrong are the following:

- first stage continuous wiper mode doesn't work. Intermittent fine and full speed fine. Will get the lorry boys over the road from me to take a look at it, although Uncle reckons it hasn't been a problem whilst driving, he's just left it on one of the other two and not really noticed needing the slower setting;
- a single, old boy, owned the van previously and although he also co-owned a garage where it's been mechanically looked after well, it could've been better cleaned and maintained inside. Not that there's any damage, but needs a deep clean. And according to my Aunt "needs a woman's touch". It won't get that from me, but I am a bit OCD regarding cleanliness and "detailing" when it comes to automobiles, so I trust myself to be able to do the necessary;
- also hasn't been used a great deal, so things like blinds and some of the seals (like the fridge door for instance) needs a bit of "gummi pflege" applying.

And that's about it! As I've said to them, if that's "as bad" as it gets after driving 100miles in it and spending two days pouring all over it, then I'll take it. I think the fella who sold it now realises how he undersold it. He's been back onto my Uncle telling him that if I don't want it, he'll buy it back. He's evidently getting c. 15 enquiries per day from his eBay ads. Why he hasn't taken it down, lord only knows. We ended up scoring the van for £45k. Not bad at all!

So, that's where we are at the moment. I'm flying up on Friday together with my daughter to Glasgow and being picked up by my Aunt from the airport and being shuttled up to theirs just north of Oban. Little'un and I will then set off just after lunch on Saturday and find somewhere around the Lakes to stop overnight and then give it beans back on Sunday. I'd like to have spent a bit of time up in Scotland exploring but it worked out nicely having the weekend with my daughter to integrate collecting it and her seeing her Godparents.

In answer to some of the questions:

- yes, I'm living at the bottom of the garden of the house I am paying mortgage on. It's frustrating but the best setup for my daughter so I'm sucking it up and will hopefully be back in around or just after Easter next year;
- I believe the Concorde is plated currently at 5,990kg, I'd like to get it updated to 6,600kg as I understand they come out quite heavy from factory and I like to give myself lots of headroom. That said, I will get it weighed on my way down south before I stick all my belongings in it and see where to go from there. It's a paper exercise from SVTech so at least just that to pay for rather than ought else. And yes, you need a C1 category license (up to 7.5t) to drive one of these. I passed my test in 1996 so I'm all good and have a fair amount of experience driving 7.5t lorries in the past and Harry himself is 4.6t all up. It'll still require some care as there's a large rear overhang and tail-swing will be an issue if I'm not careful. Carrie has airbrakes too!

All in all, I'm uber excited. I've paid the VED (£165), Insurance (a hefty £570 but includes EU cover and breakdown and windscreen cover which no-one else was willing to provide. Given it's c. £2k for a new windscreen, the premium seemed like good value) and I got the V5c on Saturday. I just need to put my current plate on retention from Harry so it's ready to go on Carrie when she gets back. Harry is now up for sale on eBay at £30k or nearest offer. I expect I might have to revise that a bit since I've had lots of views (three thousand!) but only 35 watchers, although it has only been 48hrs.

What am I most excited about? Well the following, pretty much in order of how much they're going to change my life right now:

- space (both storage and physical space to move around in and cook);
- central heating;
- huge water tanks - both for longer showers or for wild camping;
- big fridge to be able to do a proper weeks' shop;
- separate bedroom for me when I'm on my own or for my daughter when she comes to stay. There's a big cupboard on the floor in the corner of the bedroom which I'm going to dedicate to her so she can have a proper toy box. There's also enough room on the floor in the bedroom to play with things like Lego!
- garage to store my bikes and also I will be able to store my guitar in there and use that, since I've nowhere in Harry to store or room enough to play it.
- TV

There's loads more I'm sure, but those are the big ones I can think about. The buttery-smooth autobox, loads of sound insulation and torquey engine are just the icing on the cake. Both from my test drive of the Concorde in Lincoln and my Uncle's commentary, the drive is S-Class Mercedes-like. So smooth, cosseting and quiet. Will hopefully make the journey back from Oban more soothing than it even was in Harry, and that's not bad for a commercial vehicle base.

More reports when I get her. But please, if anyone is interested in Harry, please do get in touch. I am happy to flex the price a bit for someone who is really interested as I am paying 2 x VED and Insurance and don't need two vans no the driveway.

[Spuffington]

oblio said:

Nice one Spuff - I hope it all goes well with you

Thanks mate and thanks also for the guidance on the 8.7m issue. It's the only thing which has been bothering me, so much so that I have so far chickened out of phoning Canterbury to amend my booking for 11th August where I currently have Harry booked in and want to take Carrie! In a lot of ways it's not the end of the world if they say no as I'll just take Harry anyway, but I'd like to give Carrie a proper outing at the soonest opportunity. I'll pluck up the courage later today

[Spuffington]

Rosscow said:

Blimey Spuff, you don't muck around do you!!

Couldn't you just keep Harry and rent a flat for a few months?

I did consider it but it's just so darned expensive. By the time I've knocked utility bills on top of the rent, I'm looking at £1k it not more for even the smallest flat locally. I don't have that cash.

Carrie's purchase has been funded by way of interest free-intra family loan. So I only pay when I have the cash and already drop-feeding funds through but there's no maturity on it. It was granted on the basis that 1) I'm special(!) , 2) we believe we've got Carrie at probably >£5k under market price and as such unlikely to depreciate further in the near term and 3) I'll eventually pay it all back.

Makes more sense sticking money into something I'm going to use for a long time to come than into rent too, even if I had the cash.

[Spuffington]

Thurbs said:

Awsome Van, just the job. Forget about the length, just get a camera or jump out of the cab all the time (like I do) when reversing.

Thanks.

I tend to reverse off my mirrors anyway - always have done when driving trucks without sensors or cameras. There is a camera fitted to this though, but seems to be intermittent. I will see how it goes, have a look to see whether it's something I can fix or not and if not and I think I need it, get it replaced.

Well, I got around to calling Canterbury C&CC site. They weren't especially pleased with my choice of rig. Reckoned it was too big for most C&CC sites (which I don't believe) since their pitches are only 8m long. I told her that the overhang is quite long so can leave that over the grass at the back providing they don't position me too close to a hedge etc. In the end they found me a hardstanding with enough space. For another ten quid......!

All of that, far more hassle than the CS I've booked just outside Penrith for my return journey on Saturday. Sent a quick email, made a point of the length and the weight and that perhaps I should be on a hardstanding given how much rain is forecast and she immediately offered me a pitch long enough and happy days!

I'm going off the C&CC - expensive and oytie toytie!

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eric twinge said:

best of luck with it all spuff, saw the advert pop up on Hymermarket the other day.
I'm sure it won't hang around for too long.
Make sure you put some photos up after the weekend!

Thanks mate. Phone went a good bit in the early days but slowed down. Usual eBay tosh of "what's your lowest price?".

I've changed the listing to Auction style with my lowest price as the starting point. In all honesty, as much as I need to recoup the cash, I also need it gone as I've got two lots of insurance and VED being paid and another vehicle to keep an eye on and run up every now and again is irksome. Hence if someone pops around today with 26k in his pocket, I'll take it.

[Spuffington]

oblio said:

Is it this one...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hymer-B640-Starline-Merc...



I'll pop an ad on motorhomefacts for you as well mate so you get some more exposure...

That's the one, thanks mate.

[Spuffington]

fesuvious said:

Does Harry have a towbar?

Yup. Towbar with electrics. Need to check on towing limit but think it's 1,200kg on the manual gearbox. Will check and let you know (in the pub at the moment)

[Spuffington]

Spuffington said:

Yup. Towbar with electrics. Need to check on towing limit but think it's 1,200kg on the manual gearbox. Will check and let you know (in the pub at the moment)

Gross Train Weight is 6,600kg so can tow 2,000kg.

[Spuffington]

fesuvious said:

Thanks, tempting. Will give a little thought.

Also, looking forward to the updates regarding life with Carrie

No problem. Ping me a line if you have any other questions etc. I've tried to be as comprehensive as possible in the ad but inevitably there'll be things I haven't covered which might be of interest.

Will keep up to date with Carrie's adventures!

[Spuffington]

Well, a quick update from me (that's what I'm intending, but previous experience probably means it'll be an epic post!).

I flew up to Glasgow on Friday afternoon with my daughter, got picked up by my Uncle and driven two hours up to their place between Oban and Fort William. Got there to find "Carrie" taking up most of their driveway - what a beast! Had a good nosey round but by the time we got there it was late and little'un needed feeding and putting to bed. I was aching to spend more time in the van, but that had to wait until the following morning.

Next day my Uncle showed me around and tried to give me as much of a handover as possible. In reality, the previous owner didn't seem to know much about all the bits on the van and, as such, my Uncle wasn't shown much either. I knew a bit from finding an owners manual online, but there's so much kit that I'll need to read it again and again to work out what everything does. Even just the control panel is like a super computer compared with the Hymer!

Lucky for me, my Uncle and Aunt are in the process of trying to rent their house in Scotland so they were happy to offload loads of spare pans, bedding, crockery etc into the van, so we were pretty much set up from the off. Little'un and I readied ourself to go and set off around 11am on Saturday. The drive from their house is on single lane roads with tree canopies encroaching over the road. Three vehicles encountered, with some reversing required (camera doesn't work, but mirrors are fine) and we sneaked out onto the main road and my first opportunity to see how she went. Sublime. That's all I can describe her as. You have to be patient with the autobox, although it does rev higher than I would do with Harry in the manual. It will rev up to 4K rpm if you don't urge it to change up, very seldom have I ever gone that far up the revs with Harry. But the autobox is mostly smooth - can be a bit foxed sometimes if you try and hurry it, but otherwise suits the size and weight of the vehicle.

The handling, particularly for something so big, is astounding! It corners flat but the ride is so cosseting, it seems like a bit of a paradox. From Oban across Inveraray to Tarbut, I certainly never held anyone up and she handled like a dream. She's a fair bit quieter than Harry on the move - I found the reason for this when treading on the floor in the cab - unlike Harry which is solid, the floor is cushioned which is all the extra lagging (sound and heat insulation) which has been laid underneath.

Stopping a few times en route for wee stops for little'un, we eventually arrived at our campsite Cross Fells outside Penrith at around 17:00. What a beautiful little site - clean and really neatly maintained. Happily recommend and for £10 for hard standing pitch and £14 with electric, it was good value too IMO. The ladies who run it are charming and I'll definitely go back on future trips North-South. Once pitched up, little'un and I played ball together and chased each other around the grass. She needed to let off steam and it was also so nice to have quality time together. She loved the van but even more so at bed time when she had the French bed all to herself and is pretty much her bedroom. I also liked it as I put her to bed, laid with her until she was asleep and then closed the door between the hab area and her bedroom, played some music and had a living area to myself. I slept like a log on the pull down bed over the cab - firm but sooooo comfortable. We both slept until 7am without even stirring. After breakfast, another kick around, a game of Dobble and toilet empty, we set off at 10am for the remainder of the journey south.

The A66 was a nightmare - stuck behind tractors first off, we eventually started making progress when, just as we were about 12miles from Scotch Corner, there was a vehicle fire and the road was shut. Cue turning off the road down some decidedly narrow lanes, which enabled me to really get used to Carrie's heft, width, length, all in one go. We survived unscathed (thank god) and got back on the A66 and A1M and stopped at Ferrybridge for fuel. It had been 350miles since leaving my Uncles and I filled with a >80litres of fuel. I worked it back to 18.5mpg. Harry would've been doing 20-22mpg with that kind of journey. Not too bad considering the autobox and another couple of tonnes of weight (not to mention aerodynamic drag). From there the next stop was Peterborough just for a break for little'un. Read her a few stories, played a game and then set off for the last hour home. Just before home I filled with another 30-odd litres of fuel and calculated 17.5mpg - a fairly constant 100kmh (62mph on the dash) on the cruise control all the way from Ferrybridge. It's obviously uncomfortable numbers but then I rarely do such long trips unless they're holidays, in which case fuel is always budgeted for and always going to be the main component of the holiday. If I average 18mpg over Carrie's life, I can't really moan. Don't understand where the previous owner got his 22mpg from unless he's been driving everywhere at 40mph.

Anyway, driving aside, first impressions.....

Beautiful. Just beautiful. Everything about her exudes class. She's big but she wears it well. She hasn't been looked after quite as well as I'd like to have seen - there are some scuffs on the bodywork and some questionable stickers and bits and bobs stuck around the place. The wipers split on the way back, so vision was iffy when it rained (just ordered some new Bosch Aerotwins), the cab aircon doesn't work, which is bad in an A class as it's the automotive equivalent of a greenhouse in anything over 18degs C! Not sure if it's just a regas or a compressor required. But a definite priority to get sorted. Also the switch for the position one wipers seems to have broken. Will need that sorting.

But Hab area-wise. Lovely. Not scuffed up, but not massively clean. But at least nothing that some time with a detailing kit, cleaning fluids, cloths and brushes can't sort. What strikes me most though is the amount of space. Harry worked perfectly for me and is, in all likelihood, the perfect van for me. I love how compact he is but has everything you need. Carrie is definitely a flat on wheels. I don't necessarily need that when I'm travelling, but I do now that she's my home. Had I not have been fulltiming, Harry would still have been perfect. Indeed today whilst moving all my clobber from one to the other, there was a great deal of sadness in having to get rid of him.

Carrie is, however, indulgent. The separate bedroom will by psychologically so important for separation between living and sleeping. The bathroom, whilst not generous in proportion (apart from the shower cubicle and basin which I can now shave in) is opulent with wood cabinets and beautiful little lamps over the mirrors. The central heating is devastatingly effective, as is the insulation. To the point where you try not to run it as it heats everything up perhaps a little too hot! Need to play with it a bit to work out the finer art of control.

I love the large kitchen area and having worktops to prepare and serve on. As well as a "mezzanine" level half way raised off the worktop which fits my nespresso machine perfectly! A large freezer and fridge makes life easier for a week shop and the seating area is so generous that 8 people could sit around for an evening.

Nothing is perfect though and the following things have hit my attention and need work fairly immediately;

- cab aircon regas / leak test and whatever is required to sort it out
- windscreen wiper blades (ordered)
- blind spot mirrors (has none - ordered)
- service - showing 1000miles on countdown until next service due. Probably do myself
- satellite - doesn't seem to be able to find satellite reception. Just spins around. Not a priority though
- change the halogen bulbs to LEDs and the ones which have already been changed, change them from bright white to warm white / yellow as they're too stark
- rooflight seal over bed
- ns garage seal - replacement
- one of the hob rings needs looking at at it's not quite as effective as it should be

Over time:

- replace rear decals which have split and worn on rear panel
- replace tyres (Easter time) - currently 5yrs old and beginning to have some light cracks on the sidewalls
- maybe a remap for some more mpg

I think that's it.

In spite of the little issues, I am overwhelmed by it and looking forward to feeling better about "living". Little'un adores it, which is half of the battle and makes me happy knowing she is happy.

Now just need to get Harry cleaned and sold. The pair of them are parked end to end on the "drive" at the bottom of the garden.

I'll get some photos up once I get them hosted somewhere since Photobucket has cut me off.

[Spuffington]

oblio said:

Nice one Spuff

Have you sold Harry yet?

Thanks! No one just yet - have the feeling I'm selling to a pool of people who are already away on holiday........in their vans!!!

Had a few calls and some interest - one fella particularly keen but away in France until end of the month. We'll see. I'm probably going to Sorn him to save a bit of cash. I can drive him around the farm where I live to keep everything turning.

As for Carrie, well new wiper blades and blind spot mirrors were ordered last night and will be fitted towards the end of the week before heading to Canterbury on Friday.

I've also persuaded my trusty Indy to take her on. She's too heavy for his ramps and almost too long for his yard but he's agreed to take a look at the aircon issue and replace the combination switch for the wipers, give her a full service and also a once over to check for anything else to be aware of. I take comfort from him doing it as he knows my OCD and I have a feeling his OCD matches mine when Harry has been in. Just want her to be in tip top working order, just like Harry. Booked in for next Monday.

Found the manufacturer of the satellite dish online and sent them an email in German re: the fault codes I was getting. Within 10mins I had an email back with a description of how to reset to factory settings and the nod that that should hopefully resolve the issues.

Otherwise had a brilliant night sleep last night and genuinely looking forward to "going home" tonight.

[Spuffington]

Thanks onthebrakes

Yes, I've found the "floating floor" and have set it in the highest position to make my lounge feel like one rather than a cab. What I meant about the spongey floor was the chassis floor under the floating floor arrangement - the usual Mercedes rubber covering in mine has been lifted, filled with insulation and then reset, unlike in Harry where it is bonded directly to the metal cab floor.

Loving it though and will love it even more once the Little niggles with the aircon and wiper switch are sorted and after Alex has hopefully told me I've got a peach of a van after servicing it!

[Spuffington]

So - first weekend away in Carrie and a real chance to get to know her better. Fundamentally a solid van. BUT - there are some niggles, some more of which I discovered over the weekend, which inevitably left a bit of a poor taste in my mouth and have (and will) require attention. I know some of this is my OCD and slight inferiority complex about having a 12yr old van instead of a new one, but some things really are urgent:

- Tyres - I'd noticed some light cracking when I picked up the van in Scotland. It looked more cosmetic than anything else. But sitting next to the van for long periods of time over the weekend, I noticed one of the tyres has a very deep "cut" - well, a crack I guess. But you can almost see the belt. Also others are a bit more UV damaged than previously though (it was wet when I picked the van up, so the tyres looked black - they're in fact brown). And the final straw was trying to top up the tyres at a Service station and finding the valve extenders are knackered. Not a massive issue in itself, but final straw to make me book Event Mobile Tyres for a full set of 7 Conti Vancontact 200 on Friday. (850quid down)
- Leak in the Garage - I'd noticed this in the Lake District but upon opening the Garage door last week, I noticed a bigger pool of water in the near-side rear and then a really foisty smell upon opening the doors too. Concerned it was coming in from the door itself, I had a good look and the seal is intact. But had a look up at the roof and found there was a bit of a crack in the seal between the GRP rear and the metal roof. So I plugged it with some caulking. Next I checked behind the rear lights for water ingress (was none) and then removed some interior trim (20 torx bolts!) and found dry GRP but a wiring loom coming up from under the floor which had sealant around it, but had failed and seemed to be the source of the problem. Cue then large amounts of bathroom sealant applied around the loom and then a bead running around the chequer plate where the floor meets the walls. Job done - left to dry and trim replaced. Hopefully that'll do the job. 8quid on sealant. I'll stick a dehumidifier in there to improve the smell.
- Missing door seal - with all the investigation work, I found that the outer seal on the offside garage door is missing!! Hadn't noticed before, neither had my Uncle. But once you do notice, it's hard not to unsee the problem. Measured up and I need 5m of seal for that one door. Tried all the usual places to source it but no-one makes that exact one. Will be on the phone to Southdowns (official importer) to source it. Rumour has it - 11quid per metre. Going to be a costly fix, relative to materials and my time involved. But heyho. Needs to be properly watertight for winter. Plus has my OCD properly twitching!!

Other than that, I still can't get the satellite to fix on to anything, in spite of being initialised to factory settings.

Ordered the wrong wiper blades, so new ones ordered. Sadly destroyed the previous ones by trying to make them fit!

Aircon (or lack thereof) is proving to be an annoyance. It's bloomin hot in that cab when the sun shines. Carrie's in to All Klasse Autos today in Bishops Stortford for a full Service, aircon investigation and new combination switch for wipers and indicators. Alex (one of the co-owners) was over-awed by her when I turned up this morning. We knew she'd be a squeeze but I don't think he appreciated how big she is when I booked her in. Bless him, he's setting about making alterations to his Workshop entrance to get her inside! I'm so pleased as I trust him implicitly and really wanted him to take a look at her, fix the issues and tell me if there's anything else I need to plan into future maintainance.

Otherwise, there's a few bits here and there which need less urgent attention:

- a tiny strip of veneer is coming away from the lid of the waste bin. A dab of superglue will fix that;
- the edging to the movable cab floor isn't secured properly. Needs four large-headed screws to replace the current ones which have slipped through the holes and not securing the trim;
- the Nature Pure filter probably needs replacing but this is hidden behind some wood panelling behind the draws under the sink which means the draw itself Needs removing, then the wood panelling, just to get at the filter! Poor design but will keep me out of mischief for a few hours! :lol:
- the SOG System is really smelly. First time I've had one but not convinced. Supposed to vent through the roof, which I'm sure it does. But when opening the lid of the toilet, there's a smell like a filthy urinal. I've cleaned the bowl with toilet cleaner, wiped it all down and it still persists. Upon emptying the Cassette the other day, I almost barfed - which I've never done before. The absence of chemicals is vile so I've filled with Elsan Green and blocked off the vent. But I fear the Cassette will need an intensive clean with Thetford Cassette cleaner for 12 hours or so. Could be it's never properly been cleaned before. Either way. Vile.

Otherwise, I'm very happy with her. Seems like a long list and for sure I'm dropping a couple of grand which I can ill afford right now. But I'm keen to continue DIYing the rest of the things which crop up. She's beautifully put together so shouldn't be too difficult to take things apart and put them back together again.


He says!

Watch this space!

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chasingracecars said:

Spuff,

Try and see if you can get one of these...

https://www.thetford-europe.com/product/toilet-fre...

Thanks mate - I bought one of those kits for Harry so I had a spare cassette for wildcamping. I'm going to try using that cassette next empty to see if it improves things. I'll be keeping it anyway, exactly for wildcamping but might buy another if I can't clean the old tank.

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custardkid said:

double check these are the right ones, often motorhomes need specific high pressure tyres


eg michelin agilis normal/van = 60psi
michelin agilis CP = 80psi

Good point. I'll check that. The handbook states 68psi for the rears and 63psi for the fronts for the 616 chassis.

I chose the Conti not just because of the value vs. the Michelins but because the fuel consumption was rated C on the Michelin and the Conti's are B. Given I'm only getting 17mpg, I couldn't afford to loose anymore off that!!!!

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custardkid said:

this place has most shapes and sizes of seal

http://www.monkeydub-car-parts.co.uk/

Thanks, sadly not. I'd also been trawling Seals Direct who have hundreds (if not thousands) and no matches.

[Spuffington]

Yeah sadly, all the hatches (inc. the toilet one) are bespoke. As, it seems, are the seals which go around them too. They're double-sealed - an inner which i guess does the majority of the job of keeping water out and an outer seal which prevents water coming into contact with that seal in the first place. Guess it's also down to keeping the Thing insulated given all of the hatches are between the hab floor and the chassis floor.

Clever and effective. But a pain and expensive!

[Spuffington]

Hi all,

Many thanks for the hints and tips and general great PH support, as ever.

I got Carrie back from All Klasse Autos yesterday with a clean bill of health. I'm so glad I got the service done. The previous owner had promised it had been done recently, but had obviously not reset the service indicator as it had 800miles to go when I took it in yesterday. Alex told me when I picked it up that the oil had indeed probably been serviced recently - the oil filter was new-ish but a dreadfully cheap pattern part. The air filter had also been changed at some point for another cheap part but that was the extent of it - the air filter was a lot older and well clogged. The cabin air filter had never been changed and neither had the fuel filter, which was evidently hanging by one of the two clips. One of which had broken off and needed replacing. So all in all, I'm very grateful I went with gut feel and got it all done. Peace of mind now.

Alex said the rest of the van was in good nick and he has no concerns in recommending just to bring it back for a simple oil and filter change next year with no other work needing scheduling, so far as he can see at this stage.

He also replaced the combination switch for the wiper & indicators, which means the wipers now work in all settings. And thankfully the issue with the aircon was solved just with a regas. No leaks found. It was blowing lovely and cold on the way home and Carrie was pulling a lot smoother on the way back too. Some of it might have been Placebo but if the air filter really was that old and clogged, then I dare say a tiny bit of the responsiveness was down to the improved airflow. Maybe even could expect a couple of mpg more? We'll have to see.

Although I was removed of 797quid for the privilege, I'm pleased that Carrie has a clean bill of health and is now looked after as I would want. My attention now just turning to tyres and the internal issues. I went around the van yesterday counting LEDs. Some of the halogen bulbs have blown and been left and some have been replaced with super bright white LEDs which are completely out of character with the van. I counted 18 of the flat side- connection bulbs being needed inside the van, plus two end-connector barrel types for the bathroom. I have therefore ordered a complete set of warm white LEDs to replace everything, making it consistent and also lowering energy consumption from when I'm wild-camping. That was 100quid for the set.

I've also bought two door retainers since one is broken on the offside for one of the lockers and the one on the nearside has seen better days. 10quid.

I still forgot to take the chassis number to phone Southdowns with - will have to wait until the end of the week as I'm in Frankfurt until Friday.

I think I will take the plunge and replace the toilet cassette. Point also taken on giving the toilet itself a super-thorough clean too.

And to the question about being in a Concorde - no, I never thought it a possibility. I still can't quite believe it and spend a lot of time gawping at her and being overwhelmed by the sheer scale of her when I'm outside and walking around, but then marvelling at how comfortable and home-like she is inside. Simple creature comforts like a Nespresso machine feel opulent in a motorhome but also make it feel so much more like home and tolerable over the medium term.

I'm looking Forward to having leave next week to treat her to a light dual-action polish, coat of Collinite Marque-de-Excellence wax and maybe try and remove the scratches from the perspex windows to complete the rejuvenation.

When more funds are available I might buy some self-adhesive LED strips to line the cavities above the lockers in the lounge and kitchen area to make it feel cosy of an evening. That's a 150quid Investment which doesn't need to be made right now though.

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oblio said:

Did you sell Harry in the end Spuff?

Not yet mate. Have a chap who's coming to see him when he gets back from holiday. Decided against relisting after that other fella messed me around. We'll see what comes of this chap and if not then I'll see about relisting or just holding on until Spring when I'm in a better bargaining position.