John52

A brush is the least likely thing to scratch your van as the grit embeds itself in the bristles, rather than being contained on the surface like sandpaper on a cloth or sponge. Ideally you want a long handled brush connected to a hosepipe - plenty of water running through the brush to wash the grit away. Then when you have rinsed the grit away you can work on the surface with something else if necessary.

I've been to the Auction centre in Pickering where they film the 'yesterday' TV channel series 'Bangers & Cash'. Most of the old cars look incredibly good. But, from what I saw, if they displayed them upside down so you could see underneath they wouldn't sell many! So I think of old coachbuilt motorhomes in the same way - except its much harder to find the good ones because you can't look inside the structure like you can underneath a car.

I wouldn't quibble about tyre age and cambelt changes on a 21 year old motorhome - thats easily fixable As has been pointed out the MOT history check won't reveal engine size but I wouldn't worry about that either. All that could detract you from what really matters - damp. To give you an idea of whats involved, I copy and paste a quote from Dave Newell, who reskinned a motorhome which would have been around the same age when he did it. He posted this about 10 years ago, so the prices he quotes will be far more now; QUOTE FROM DAVE NEWELL Being an elderly Elddis its stick built, that is to say the frame is 1" square softwood with polystyrene infill for insulation, a thin plywood skin on interior with decorative coating and a thin aluminium skin outer with thin paint finish. Rebuilding a motorhome of this type with such extensive damp is a huge task; I know I was that soldier! I re-skinned a 1990 Autohomes Highwayman a few years back and had to reframe a quarter of the entire structure. There are three main areas that water gets in and whichever is the one (or more) in your case will need dealing with or you'll just end up with a damp motorhome again. The first point of water ingress is poorly fitted window seals. Second is roof to wall joints. Third is the worst, when water has got into the structure the wooden frame will eventually rot. Wet rot in soft woods as used for motorhome framing releases chemicals that will eat through aluminium skin in short order and will appear as tiny dots on the outer skin in line with the framework sections (often referred to as aluminium cancer). One and two are easily dealt with but three is a bugger as it means the rotten timber will need removing and the skin replacing. Replacing the frame timbers is difficult if the damage is extensive as once you start to remove the interior or exterior skin and rotten timber the strength of the body just evaporates. I did mine one stick at a time after removing the entire outer aluminium skin (not an easy job in itself) and replaced all rotten timberwork with 1" square aluminium box section screwed together with stainless self-tappers. For the roof I fabricated a TIG welded framework of 1" alloy box section, which was placed on top and screwed to the sidewall frames. Re-skinning was the most challenging part and took four of us three days to do the two sidewalls, rear wall and roof. Trust me when I say handling a 5 metre by 2 metre sheet of 0.8mm alloy without kinking it is not fun and spreading twenty odd tubes of sikaflex over the surface by hand is no easy job either! Sorry if this sounds negative but I write from personal experience of a similar project. Cost wise I spent over £3K at trade prices and took nine months to do it!

I have also posted a link to that Guardian article on other forums No one else has censored it I feel it wouldn't have been censored here if Globebuster had let it go like everyone else.

Some people may think we can still rely on those who used to check the batteries we buy are safe. This has already resulted in fatal fires - its that important So we have to say we can no longer rely on those who used to check them for us And its necessary to explain why. To censor that is political - and dangerous.

So, going by whats left, I guess we can say you can no longer rely on the UK Government, or the EU, to check the batteries we buy are safe. But we can't explain why without offending the Tories and Brexiteers.

Well now the link to the Guardian article has been 'moderated away' too. There is still a post saying its an 'interesting read' but the link to it has gone. Has the Guardian been censored here? I must have missed the explanation for that Can you please let me know what it was?

Well I wasn't able to find a cheaper quote. I used to switch backwards and forwards between insurers every year to get the new customer discount. But they have been stopped from doing that now. So I had to pay another 47% for the same cover from the same company when the only thing that has changed is I have got another year of no claim discount (now over 50 years NCD as I have never made any insurance claim in my life) I get that different companies charge different premiums some people do get a cheaper quote by shopping around, and I'm glad they post and let us know because it shows which companies are worth trying. But it doesn't alter the fact that average increases are much higher in UK than elsewhere - because international companies like Admiral are increasing premiums more in UK than elsewhere.

Thats understandable. My installation works well but its not idiot proof 😉 For instance the batteries connect in parallel when you turn on the ignition, so if you completely flattened the secondary batteries they could sap the power from the main battery and prevent you getting started. Unless you flick the switch I have installed on the dashboard to cut the power to the relay and keep the batteries separate until the engine starts.

Whatever I post on here isn't going to make a scrap of difference to the next election etc I just want to make it clear why its down to us to ensure the batteries we buy are not counterfeit and won't catch fire.

Does it have a separate connection to the alternator? All the installations I have seen draw power from the existing battery wiring, as mine does, and mine has been working fine for 14 years over 2 different vehicles

But the batteries cannot draw more than the alternator can produce, and it has its own regulator to stop it overloading, so the wiring must be capable of that? As I say, I am not aware of Ducato motorhomes with a bigger alternator than mine - which is the standard Bosch 180 amp. Can you say which have them and do they have a bigger wiring loom to cope with it?

Mine was up about 47% with no changes (but its a Light Goods Vehicle) Your increase appears to be way below average, so I wonder if its the timing? (last year just after a price hike and this year just before)

Anyone who has renewed their motorhome insurance lately will have had a shock But why is it only UK The Association of British Insurers (ABI) put the average increase for car cover in the UK at 34%, but many drivers have seen rises far exceed that, even doubling in the case of electric vehicles (EVs). By contrast, car premiums over the same period rose by 6% in Italy, 5% in Spain and 2% in France, according to the recent financial results of one of Britain’s biggest insurers Admiral, which also trades in Europe. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/apr/06/uk-car-insurance-cost-up-by-third-despite-smaller-rise-in-payouts I see Admiral offered some flannel about liability being different in the UK, but how has that changed since last year?

Well I see part of my posts have gone, but are still there in other people's quotes We have to check for ourselves as best we can. The importance of this cannot be overstated - we have seen fatalities caused by counterfeit batteries. (Moderated)