Globebuster1

My brother-in-law has decided that a camper/motorhome of sorts would be a good idea. Having seen mine and visiting us in the New Forest he announced that he'd like to spent around 4-5k! I explained that he really needed to spent a bit more, although I guess if you'd never looked at pricing before you might be shocked at the cost of a 35 year old Talbot Express! Anyway, I've been looking at options up to 10k - clearly quite a limited choice😄 I think for that budget you'd really be safer with a van conversion over a coach-built, although anything in that price range is likely to be pretty knackered. I just think that whilst an old van conversion may have been welded to death by now, a coach-built of that age is likely to be riddled with damp and rot that at first glance might not be visible. Given that I've seen coach-built's rotting away at 4 or 5 years old, I really do worry at the amount of unsuspecting buyers who could well be spending 20-30k on a rotting time bomb. I've never personally owned a van conversion, but I think if I were buying a sub 15k 'starter' now, I'd be inclined to go down that route. For around 10k I've found one of two old Talbot based Autohome Rhapsody and Harmony models and even the odd monocoque - the rest of the coach-builts are frankly rectangular rotting boxes, that had probably succumbed to damp before their first MOT! I still have fond memories of our first - a '76 Autohome CF coach-built bought in '94 which I stripped out, rebuilt and meticulously hand painted! Back in the day I guess for £500 it was worth the punt!

I think it's time this thread was frozen

Dear John, I think you'll find it was Den who commented on the S/S mug distraction in his post 6/2 I made no objection whatsoever. As Keith rightly said - If we all stay on topic and leave out the tenuous political stuff I'm sure we'll all get along just fine.

That's a quick response from Adria Gary - although at a price! I guess Air Freight ain't cheap either.... My old Adria was probably the most trouble-free of all the vans I've had to date, and the one for giving us our most memorable trips. Still miss the island bed arrangement too!

Dear John, I'm not sure you do 'get it' - because you have just done it again in your last reply! It seems you are unable to either raise, or respond to any topic without some political under current. Even when you start a new thread, the subject always seems to take the back seat, because eventually at some point you just can't help inserting some political slant to it. Take this 'dead cat' situation for example - you know full well it's not relevant - probably why it's now consigned to Chatterbox. Now please ask yourself this - How is it that just about every other thread on 'Matters' is free of politics or opinion, with the exception of your input? I'm sure there are many other forums where you can express your political or social views. As I've said before - you destroyed your own 'soap box' [along with one or two others] and have been instrumental in bringing Chatterbox to where it is now - defunct. Please don't do the same with Matters.

Check lists are a great thing........as long as you remember to look at them! Drawers opening at the first roundabout is my speciality! At sea, as in the air no doubt, failure to follow a safety procedure can become a matter of life and death. Especially if adverse weather is involved.

Your last post has no relevance to motorhomes what so ever! Paragraph one - is just your usual poorly disguised political rant Paragraph two - a story of your experience filling up a water container, on the flimsy pretext that it will 'dead cat' your first paragraph 😁🥱

Sorry John, don't quite understand your reply - Den said he misses the technical chat, hence my response regarding a previous post about my EBL issue. He also commented about S/S mugs? - to which I attempted a witty reply. There were really only one or two people responsible for the demise of Chatterbox....with the irony being they also destroyed their own 'soap box' in the process Sadly, it seems one of those individuals is blissfully unaware he's doing the same with Motorhome Matters

I think it's clear that all A class vans are more difficult to work on, and I think the owner has to factor that in [along with windscreen replacement] when purchasing. Every little task is more tedious with an A class - for example I have to remove the bonnet - if you can call it that, just to refill the screen wash. I guess your average busy garage takes one look at an A class, and thinks no thanks. You just need to find a nice old school mechanic who likes a challenge, and has a sense of humour! To me the implications of owning an A class, are outweighed by the driving comfort and vista when driving, and the benefits once on site.

Good morning all. Further to my last post - I've decided the best way forward will be to spend the money on a new Victron charger, which will actually cost less than the EBL repair [around £130] Everything else functions via the EBL correctly, so it's just a charger fault. My reasoning being, the current EBL is limited in capability to charge different types of battery - in fact it's not really suited to the factory AGM set up! So going the Victron route will enable me to have a wider choice of replacement LB going forward - and will charge my current AGM correctly. Added bonus of a phone app for monitoring too. I'm thinking I would wire this entirely separately to the EBL [seems the most popular option on other forums] so if I remove the 240v kettle plug and EBL charger fuse I guess I could then use that 240v {KP] live feed to power the Victron? Then run new cables to the LB. The Victron will fit nicely under the seat base behind the EBL with plenty of ventilation. We seldom use an EHU anyway, and not over reliant on a mains charger, the solar always seems to keep us topped up - even throughout winter. I understand that this Victron option won't be charging the engine battery, but the dual solar arrangement takes care of that, and I can vary the input between batteries if necessary. Do you think this is a viable way to proceed?

Well Den, I'm going to follow up on my Hymer EBL problem later - so I'm looking forward to your input🙂 Hopefully any replies won't involve mugs.....S/S or otherwise

Morning Ray, Yes, I checked that yesterday pulled it out and reinserted. It's clearly been repaired before, and when I first purchased it there was a dodgy connection on the EBL [charging to LB from alternator] I will report back any findings after my son gets back and gives it the once-over Thanks for all the input to date chaps

Good shout. Not yet - but I think I'll wait for my son to get back from NZ, he's a marine engineer and I will get him to go right through the whole system for me. As an option, I have considered adding another charger - something like a Victron Blue Smart which would give me the option of going Lithium at some point in the future, but truth is we seldom use EHU anyway! Nonetheless, I'd like to put it right if possible.

Hello Colin, Only a single 90ah LB - so well within spec

Thanks for the info rayc - very useful indeed! Especially the 'charger on' explanation, seems a weird arrangement. I looks like its been back to Apuljack for repairs before, judging by a sticker I've found on the unit. TBH - It's not a major issue for me, as my solar normally keeps both batteries topped up [they weren't really that low even given the recent awful weather] strange that its just given up the ghost though. I think with our normal fair weather usage it won't really be a problem. Thanks again for your help

Any electrical gurus out there? As there's not been much Solar input to charge my batteries recently, I thought I'd plug in to the mains for a few hours to top up. Once plugged in there was no 240v icon showing on the panel, so assuming there was a supply fault I checked the lead and connections - all seemed ok. So I plugged in a few 240v appliances [and whacked on the fridge and Truma heating to check] and have found that everything is actually working on 240v - with perhaps one exception, the EBL 29 does not appear to be charging the batteries. Typically we are now experiencing the first sunshine for weeks and the solar is doing its bit! I'm going to have to wait until it's dark to confirm that the EBL is not charging the batteries. So, to summarise - I have 240v supply, and appliances working, but no icon showing on the LT95 panel as mains being connected. I potentially have an issue with the EBL not charging the batteries when on EHU. Surely it would be a more than a coincidence if the two weren't in some way linked Any pointers gratefully received.

I can't say it's on my bucket list John 52......but nice to know you are thinking of me, as the season of goodwill approaches.

As Derek says, that will probably be a light polyester lay-up. It's not unusual to find voids - especially where a moulding has a more intricate shape. Looking at the picture there does look to be a clear void - camper mouldings tend to be light and not particularly great quality [my Hymer GRP mouldings aren't great] A decent boat moulder/builder would be your best option, they would knock out the void, back to a solid substrate - because it's probably a bit bigger than the picture suggests, and re-gel. It's not a difficult job to do a gel repair yourself, but there is a black art to blending and finishing. Likewise, it probably won't cost a lot if you use a pro, and you'll never notice the repair if done well. Depending on which part of North Devon you are, I may be able give you some pointers.

I think all types of insurance has increased. My Comfort renewal went up by around 20% and like Peter, shopping around did not improve my options, so I've continued with them on the camper. Strangely, I have a multi-car policy to cover both modern and classics, this has always stayed pretty much the same but had decreased slightly for this year. Right at the time of renewal I sold one of the classics [so around 20k less exposure to the provider] only to be told that the policy was 'loaded' to cover a minimum amount of vehicles, this reduction to the fleet caused the policy to increase by £35! You just need to shop around, but I wouldn't SORN your van without insurance!

Totally irrelevant to the actual question - as usual But if it gives you the opportunity........blah, blah, blah 🥱

I don't think a toll road is a tax John - it's an optional route which you can use, and you'll pay for the privilege. You probably can't separate taxation from politics, but clearly a question relating to toll roads does give you the opportunity to bang on about stealth taxes and politics.............again.

I like to call it re-emphasizing.....seems to have worked though😁

Well said John - I sincerely hope you remember that.......even though you were unable to avoid making a political comment in your last post! Well said John, and I sincerely hope you remember that - although ironically, you seemed unable to do that in your last post!

Always loads of dodgy Motorhomes on Ebay - some on there now in fact. As Colin says, just look at the other items for sale! It's not unusual to find they're using a legitimate sellers account to make it appear they are a long-standing Ebay member with good feedback. Some are actually getting smarter, and pricing them at a more believable figure - just enough for you to think it might be a genuine bargain.....

I would leave them being charged via the solar - you won't get much of a yield at this time of year anyway, I have never had to resort to plugging into the mains to keep either the LB or SB topped up. If your starter battery is not also being fed by the solar, then that's a different matter.