motorhome newbie, old hymer, one year in europe....
Discussion
It's a hell of a climb, we went from Monteux in the south and the van was mainly in 2 and 3rd. It's really steep towards the top when you come out of the tree line. Kept getting overtaken on the way down by mad cyclists on the wrong side of the road doing about 40, again we had to come down slowly so 2nd and 3rd again.
sorry for being so quiet for so long, but things here have been bonkers.
so we completed on the house at the beginning of the month, and are now living with my folks for the couple of months until the big off.
with the house sold, we have some funds to spend getting the van ready to go.
jobs so far include buying and fitting a new tambour door which was missing on the overhead cupboard in the kitchen.
we replaced the gas struts on the drop down bed as my back was groaning lifting it already (im 35!) so replacement parts from sgs engineering who were most helpful, and about an hour in total to do both sides and it's much easier to shift now. it really is a very simple job for anyone tempted, just be methodical and release the end facing away from the screen first just in case
we took a trip up to ikea at the weekend, and picked up some pots, a bin i modified to allow it to pull out, and fit in a cupboard under the sink, bits and bobs, small storage boxes, and most importantly a new matress.
we chose the morgedal foam mattress, and it seems nice and comfy. bearing in mind it'll be used daily, we wanted a mattress, not a piece of standard foam. hopefully it'll serve us well.
the obvious thing to do with a brand new mattress is of course take it out of its cover, and attack it with a bread knife which is exactly what i did. laying it in place we drew the shape, and trimmed the new one to shape. re-fitted the cover (tucked in the corners on the curved side) and we now have a custom fit mattress, ideal!
we also scored ourselves a near new kampa rally pro 390 xl air awning on ebay which arrived at the start of the week.
to say its f
king huge is an understatement!
it doesnt quite fit under the bench seat in the dinette, so with a plan to raise the height of the base, i took a trip to the diy store. a few hours later, and a new ply base to boot, it fits..... just, and i mean just! we will need to find a technique to pack it down to make it fit a little better.
consistent to form, were away in the van this weekend to try it all out (the last/first time we went out in the van was a cold snap in november and it was freezing then too)
i'll update with how we get on.
in the meantime, my wife is working on covering the cushions, with one base and back done so far, they look great!. were a good combo, as i just have no patience for fiddly bits, where shes happy to get on with it.
i'm sorry there are no pics, i'm working on it. i'm a bit of a tech luddite nowadays, so bear with me.
also, the lights look to be a piece of cake, fear of the unknown and all that, i have a switch, cable, a string of leds, and a soldering iron, that'll be next weeks job.
for now, i cant wait to have a restful couple of days away, and to play in the van again with wifey and the little one.
thanks for all the comments.
cheers
craig
so we completed on the house at the beginning of the month, and are now living with my folks for the couple of months until the big off.
with the house sold, we have some funds to spend getting the van ready to go.
jobs so far include buying and fitting a new tambour door which was missing on the overhead cupboard in the kitchen.
we replaced the gas struts on the drop down bed as my back was groaning lifting it already (im 35!) so replacement parts from sgs engineering who were most helpful, and about an hour in total to do both sides and it's much easier to shift now. it really is a very simple job for anyone tempted, just be methodical and release the end facing away from the screen first just in case
we took a trip up to ikea at the weekend, and picked up some pots, a bin i modified to allow it to pull out, and fit in a cupboard under the sink, bits and bobs, small storage boxes, and most importantly a new matress.
we chose the morgedal foam mattress, and it seems nice and comfy. bearing in mind it'll be used daily, we wanted a mattress, not a piece of standard foam. hopefully it'll serve us well.
the obvious thing to do with a brand new mattress is of course take it out of its cover, and attack it with a bread knife which is exactly what i did. laying it in place we drew the shape, and trimmed the new one to shape. re-fitted the cover (tucked in the corners on the curved side) and we now have a custom fit mattress, ideal!
we also scored ourselves a near new kampa rally pro 390 xl air awning on ebay which arrived at the start of the week.
to say its f
king huge is an understatement! it doesnt quite fit under the bench seat in the dinette, so with a plan to raise the height of the base, i took a trip to the diy store. a few hours later, and a new ply base to boot, it fits..... just, and i mean just! we will need to find a technique to pack it down to make it fit a little better.
consistent to form, were away in the van this weekend to try it all out (the last/first time we went out in the van was a cold snap in november and it was freezing then too)
i'll update with how we get on.
in the meantime, my wife is working on covering the cushions, with one base and back done so far, they look great!. were a good combo, as i just have no patience for fiddly bits, where shes happy to get on with it.
i'm sorry there are no pics, i'm working on it. i'm a bit of a tech luddite nowadays, so bear with me.
also, the lights look to be a piece of cake, fear of the unknown and all that, i have a switch, cable, a string of leds, and a soldering iron, that'll be next weeks job.
for now, i cant wait to have a restful couple of days away, and to play in the van again with wifey and the little one.
thanks for all the comments.
cheers
craig
mikal83 said:
Don't forget to get an ACSI card
I'd definitely go for the acsi id card. Standard practice in foreign campsites is to take passport to at least copy it, some will insist on holding it as security if you're staying a while as most are pay on exit. Acsi id can be used in its place, and will compensate the site if you do a runner.
Hearing talk recently about the acsi discount card being less useful, lots of sites will give a better rate without it, especially those that are busy enough out of season.
agent006 said:
mikal83 said:
Don't forget to get an ACSI card
I'd definitely go for the acsi id card. Standard practice in foreign campsites is to take passport to at least copy it, some will insist on holding it as security if you're staying a while as most are pay on exit. Acsi id can be used in its place, and will compensate the site if you do a runner.
Hearing talk recently about the acsi discount card being less useful, lots of sites will give a better rate without it, especially those that are busy enough out of season.
As a back up it might be an idea to buy memory foam mattress topper aswell.
Ours is only 3cm thick but it has made a massive difference in comfort.
Good luck with the trip. If you are in south west France at any time give me a shout if you want to plug in to the mains etc,happy to help.
Ours is only 3cm thick but it has made a massive difference in comfort.
Good luck with the trip. If you are in south west France at any time give me a shout if you want to plug in to the mains etc,happy to help.
mikal83 said:
Not in our experience........where did you "hear this talk"??
On "a couple of sites" in "southern Spain" last month. People "had" asked about acsi rates but found either "the site" offering a better rate "or the" acsi rate being uncompetitive.Seems to be mostly on busier sites that don't need the acsi to boost winter trade.
agent006 said:
mikal83 said:
Not in our experience........where did you "hear this talk"??
On "a couple of sites" in "southern Spain" last month. People "had" asked about acsi rates but found either "the site" offering a better rate "or the" acsi rate being uncompetitive.Seems to be mostly on busier sites that don't need the acsi to boost winter trade.
bear with me,
so here are a couple of pics of me ripping out the bathroom to glass the cracks up in the shower tray and reseating the skylight/replacing the cracked window that was in there.
the tambour door was bought over size on ebay. i cut a few grooves into the back edge of the runners to allow them to take on the profile of the existing cabinet.
then trimmed the slats to size, et voila!
this is the awning not fitting in the bench in the van, and another one of the bench with the height raised, and the first of the cushions covered. the original material is on the panel on the wall. these too will be wadded and recovered.
and heres a thrilling shot of the bin (has my life really come to posting pictures of bins on an internet forum ?)
slides in and out though, so it does make it quite practical to live with.
i'll try and take a few more pictures over the weekend, i often find when i'm doing something, i cant be arsed to stop and take photos as i'm usually too busy swearing and being cross, but will try to get any shots of what im doing in the future. i'll also get one up of the bathroom and repair i made to the tray.
cheers
craig
so here are a couple of pics of me ripping out the bathroom to glass the cracks up in the shower tray and reseating the skylight/replacing the cracked window that was in there.
the tambour door was bought over size on ebay. i cut a few grooves into the back edge of the runners to allow them to take on the profile of the existing cabinet.
then trimmed the slats to size, et voila!
this is the awning not fitting in the bench in the van, and another one of the bench with the height raised, and the first of the cushions covered. the original material is on the panel on the wall. these too will be wadded and recovered.
and heres a thrilling shot of the bin (has my life really come to posting pictures of bins on an internet forum ?)
slides in and out though, so it does make it quite practical to live with.
i'll try and take a few more pictures over the weekend, i often find when i'm doing something, i cant be arsed to stop and take photos as i'm usually too busy swearing and being cross, but will try to get any shots of what im doing in the future. i'll also get one up of the bathroom and repair i made to the tray.
cheers
craig
craigthecoupe said:
bear with me,
i often find when i'm doing something, i cant be arsed to stop and take photos as i'm usually too busy swearing and being cross
It rather sounds like you operate the same way as I do! I've started a mini-refurb of an old Mill in Somerset so the dog has learned a whole new vocabulary of profanity. i often find when i'm doing something, i cant be arsed to stop and take photos as i'm usually too busy swearing and being cross
Another vote for the ACSI card here.
By all means check the rates when you get to a site and ask them which is cheaper but I'll wager that in 99% f the cases it will be cheaper with ACSI when travelling out of high season.
Last year my lad and I went to Paris for the France v Wales match and one night in the Bois de Boulogne site in Paris paid for the years subscription to ACSI...and we stayed 3 nights. Also south of France just after Easter last year...€18 discount per night on a site for 10 nights! Basically half price. Just came back from a month's trip down to Spain and the main site we stayed at was less than €13 per night saving at least €6 per night for 2 weeks. I could go on...
It's a no brainer out of season...and some sites even give a cheeky discount in their restuarants with it too
By all means check the rates when you get to a site and ask them which is cheaper but I'll wager that in 99% f the cases it will be cheaper with ACSI when travelling out of high season.
Last year my lad and I went to Paris for the France v Wales match and one night in the Bois de Boulogne site in Paris paid for the years subscription to ACSI...and we stayed 3 nights. Also south of France just after Easter last year...€18 discount per night on a site for 10 nights! Basically half price. Just came back from a month's trip down to Spain and the main site we stayed at was less than €13 per night saving at least €6 per night for 2 weeks. I could go on...
It's a no brainer out of season...and some sites even give a cheeky discount in their restuarants with it too
thanks for the help on the ACSI cards all. it is on our to do list.
we received the kampa awning last week, and penned in the diary a weekend away as i finished early from work on the Saturday.
naturally, the tempertures plummeted, but we took the van away anyway, despite knowing we'd be without heating overnight (we've not had a hab service since we bought the van, so despite the heater working fine, and a carbon monoxide detector in the van, i'm not prepared to leave it running yet.)
so the awning went up just fine. the only snag being the ground we were on. the site advised using rock pegs, and i bent three of these trying to find a way through the rocks. anyway, here are a couple of pics.
it isn't the prettiest of jobs, but i was damned if i was going to try more pegs for the sake of making it look a bit ore taught, at the end of the day, it fits, and despite the weather, we managed an hour in the afternoon in a tshirt and jeans loafing about.
having previously posted a grotty picture of the bathroom, heres one of it finished.
i still need to finish the trim by the sink, and ideally wanted to make a new door underneath, as we got the van without one. does anybody have any idea what i need? presumably a sheet of some kind of plastic/coloured perspex?
the shower tray repaired quite well, and was given a coat of showertray paint from somewhere on amazon. it went on ok, no idea how it will hold up in the long run though.
finally heres a shot of the van looking fab against the backdrop of chesil beach.
this was just after taking it up a climb of 17%!
i wont lie, it struggled up for sure, but we still had one gear left!!! so all was ok in the end.
worth mentioning, that the weymouth to bridport coast road is superb, a few small villages, open roads, good visability, and stunning views. a must if your in the area, there were loads of bikers out over the weekend giving it some.
oh, and predictably, it was bloody cold at night!
the vans off for a mechanical service tomorrow, then once back it'll be booked for a hab inspection. theres a new vinyl floor on its way which will take some serious language to fit no doubt, then i think were getting things sorted.
thanks for all the comments, i'll try and keep things updated as we go.
cheers
craig
we received the kampa awning last week, and penned in the diary a weekend away as i finished early from work on the Saturday.
naturally, the tempertures plummeted, but we took the van away anyway, despite knowing we'd be without heating overnight (we've not had a hab service since we bought the van, so despite the heater working fine, and a carbon monoxide detector in the van, i'm not prepared to leave it running yet.)
so the awning went up just fine. the only snag being the ground we were on. the site advised using rock pegs, and i bent three of these trying to find a way through the rocks. anyway, here are a couple of pics.
it isn't the prettiest of jobs, but i was damned if i was going to try more pegs for the sake of making it look a bit ore taught, at the end of the day, it fits, and despite the weather, we managed an hour in the afternoon in a tshirt and jeans loafing about.
having previously posted a grotty picture of the bathroom, heres one of it finished.
i still need to finish the trim by the sink, and ideally wanted to make a new door underneath, as we got the van without one. does anybody have any idea what i need? presumably a sheet of some kind of plastic/coloured perspex?
the shower tray repaired quite well, and was given a coat of showertray paint from somewhere on amazon. it went on ok, no idea how it will hold up in the long run though.
finally heres a shot of the van looking fab against the backdrop of chesil beach.
this was just after taking it up a climb of 17%!
i wont lie, it struggled up for sure, but we still had one gear left!!! so all was ok in the end.
worth mentioning, that the weymouth to bridport coast road is superb, a few small villages, open roads, good visability, and stunning views. a must if your in the area, there were loads of bikers out over the weekend giving it some.
oh, and predictably, it was bloody cold at night!
the vans off for a mechanical service tomorrow, then once back it'll be booked for a hab inspection. theres a new vinyl floor on its way which will take some serious language to fit no doubt, then i think were getting things sorted.
thanks for all the comments, i'll try and keep things updated as we go.
cheers
craig
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