Guest Bill H Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 Went to the show today Tuesday. Best Motorhome for us was a Rapido 985. Needs a couple of mods but has two good large beds. Any comments? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andy Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 We spent 2 days just looking at motorhomes at Peterborough this year, but once we had been into the Rapido's we knew they were the ones for us. Now had one since May and have absolutly no regrets. We bought a 2 years old 972M and quality of build seems really good with no signs of wear and works really well with 2 or 4 people. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Derek Uzzell Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 Potentially very limited useful payload if the 3500kg chassis version is chosen. This model has a quoted unladen weight of 3140kg - this is in basic standard specification and includes a 75kg driver and 90% full fresh water, fuel and gas reserves, but excludes the weight of any passengers, accessories or clobber. However, to allow for build variations and changes to the basic specification Rapido quote the 3140kg figure with a tolerance of + or - 5%. So the unladen weight for a particular 985M could be anywhere in the range 2983kg to 3297kg. OK if the vehicle turns out to have been built 'light', not so good if it's heavy. Other than that caveat, no real criticisms. Excellent reputation, Mercedes chassis, sensible layout (better in RHD than LHD) - even the windscreen-wiper pattern is converted for RHD (as opposed to Hymer's offerings). Might be a bit of a tight squeeze getting into the bathroom, but that's par for the course with a lengthways rear bed. We were keen on the Rapido 9-series at one stage, but eventually concluded that we couldn't justify the outlay in view of the limited amount of time we use our motorhome. My wife also developed the AMGW maxim (All Motorhomes GO Wrong) which tends to discourage spending lots of money on a 'van. That's why we ended up buying an 'entry level' Hobby from Germany. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Clive Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 Nice Base vehicle then! I ran (Blisfull ignorance until my Mrs read Mel.E article in MMM and insisted on a visit to a weighbridge!) ours for 7 years nearly half a tonne over weight on the back. Not a single problem but the twin rear motorcycle rack is now a tow ball and a balanced near zero nose weight aluminium trailer behind! Reversing camera is essential for reversing with the trailer though. Plus a critical clear out of everything and only putting back what we actually needs. The MMM main vehicle reviewer also purchased a Rapido on a Merc so you are in good company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bill H Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 Thanks to those so far on the Rapido. I do wonder at some who nag on about weight and I know its limited. I recently went to OZ & NZ for 3 months (age 72)with a 4kg back pack, no problem. Just look at those whom trail out of airports to Spain with monster cases then sit in the sun half naked all week!! Tell me more all you guys. Bill Ps and I wasn't smelly either! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RonB Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 Bill - Excess weight in itself might not be seen by many as a problem, however, the consequences in law most certainly are and hence the 'nag' as you put it. What do you do if you kill someone with your vehicle, it's found to be overweight and therefore your insurers withdrew from providing you with perhaps 20 million pounds worth of public liability cover, on the grounds that your vehicle was not in a roadworthy condition? We can all make mistakes and I, for one, prefer to sleep sound at night. Join weight watchers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bill H Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 Hi to all, I wasn't having a dig at those who comment about weight I just don't cary any. Regarding vehicle loading I wouldn't carry water other than a couple of flask's full and all goodies to be loaded go in a case and are weighed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Derek Uzzell Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Bill: Obviously, if one is prepared to take a rigid minimalist approach to weight carrying in a motorhome that has a limited payload, then this limitation becomes incidental. By the way, my earlier comments referred to Rapido's 985M (Mercedes chassis) and, as you didn't correct me, I assume this is the model you are interested in. Afterwards I recalled that Rapido market a 985F, also with a two-bed layout but on a Fiat-powered Al-Ko chassis base. I remember, when I looked at RHD Fiat-based 9-Series, I found it extraordinarily difficult to reach the handbrake due to it being obstructed by the cab furniture. However, I don't think this is a problem with the 9Ms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest David Powell Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Clive...as you have given me so much very sound and useful information on 'van electricals, may I respectfully offer you a tip on your trailer:- Load the nose weight to 7% of the loaded weight of your trailer for best stability,rather than near zero.That was worked out by university research on trailer stability for the caravan club. I think it was Bath Uni. that did it. If you look at newer caravans you will notice that the axle is no longer central but a bit further back to place a little more weight on the nose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bill H Posted November 4, 2005 Share Posted November 4, 2005 Derek U. Yes the 985M or as yet not certain the 987M was the type I'm interested in. We sat in a Fiat engined model at the show and the hand brake was tight to the drivers seat on the right with little 'hand room'. I visit the company next week to make further inspection so can add more input after that. I think I've exhausted my questions apart from a battery one which I will look at in the archive section or post anew. Many thanks to all. Bill H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Clive Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 Hi David, Thanks for the pointer. In a previous existence as a tugger (2 years) towing what seemed a large caravan then behind my old Land Rover Doscovery I always ran at LOTS of nose weight. It made for better towing, the LR didn,t mind at all but when the jockey wheel kept touching on the ground on the smallest bump and found that the centre section of the sliding tow coupling on the van had started cracking away from the flange that bolted it onto the vans aluminium chassis. It was no longer horizontal but nearer 30 degrees skywards. I deduced from this subtle pointer that perhaps I had overdone it a bit! A very carefull re-arangment of the junk in the van plus dumping all the water (I had a built in tank and for our style of holiday carrying it empty is a non starter) the two cracks closed up and I achieved equilibriam. It was of course on a Saturday evening high up in the Alps on a very small windy road. Some stress and 100 carfully slow miles later we pulled into the site we were aiming for at Agde where the very helpfull resident French engineer did a cracking repair and strengthening job. On return home the Van went and we went back to motorhomes. The bike trailer nose weight is a "nice handfull". The intention was to have minimum impact on axle loadings on the Motorhome. Its a light all aluminium DIY trailer (apart from the wheels and indespension units). With the two minibikes loaded and sometimes an extra 30 litres of fresh water in a camping can, weight is about 350 Kg. But un-coupled I can walk it round with ease. One does learn from experience! Enjoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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