Hi - Just registered as we have just got our first motorhome - all tips welcomed

[Ian_n_Suzy]

Thought we would say Hi.

 

We have just bought our first Motorhome, a Lunar Roadstar 786.

 

Really looking forward to getting to use it, though a little apprehensive about getting used to driving it and all the "new stuff" we have to learn about operating the equipment.

 

All tips greatly received.

 

CHEERS

[Guest Tracker]

Welcome to the forum Ian & Suzy - whatever you need to know just ask no matter how simple it seems as we all had to learn once upon a time even if it was a bloomin long time ago for many of us!

 

For a wealth of info have you tried the forum 'search' facility - even if it does go on the blink from time to time!

 

Just type in whatever you feel like - like maybe 'gas' - for advice on which systems to use, 'battery' - for when yours go flat or are inadequate for needs, 'grip tracks' (for when you get stuck - and you probably will get stuck sometime!

 

Use the 'motorhome matters' field to search and set the search period to 'one year' for best results.

 

Hope that helps - if not just ask - good luck,

 

Rich.

[Ian_n_Suzy]

Many thanks for the welcome and the tips - I hope I don't wear out the search function. :-D

[Guest Tracker]

Ian_n_Suzy - 2009-01-18 8:27 PM

 

Many thanks for the welcome and the tips - I hope I don't wear out the search function. :-D

 

It is far more likely that we on 'ere and the search function will together wear you out first!

[BGD]

Welcome aboard you two.

 

Don't worry about stuff.

 

Just do it.

 

Best way to learn is by doing. (At least, that's what I always tried to persuade my girlfriends).

 

Any questions, just ask.......this Secure Wing of the MMM Towers home for the Dazed and Confused is a friendly place..................there's some people in here who really know what they are talking about.

And then there's me.

:-D

[Rapido-lass]

BGD - 2009-01-18 8:47 PM

Any questions, just ask.......this Secure Wing of the MMM Towers home for the Dazed and Confused is a friendly place..................there's some people in here who really know what they are talking about.

And then there's me.

:-D

 

.........And me too!

 

Best advice as already said is to learn on the hoof so to speak, even out and about on sites if you've a problem someone will help or give you advice. Like learner drivers, we all had to start somewhere with probably little know-how.

 

Relax and enjoy your new toy!

 

[libby]

The first thing you should be pleased about is that you avoided a FIAT, so what made you choose your Lunar Roadstar 786.

 

Potential buyers may like to know how you made your choice.

 

Bill

[Ian_n_Suzy]

BGD - 2009-01-18 8:47 PM

 

Welcome aboard you two.

Don't worry about stuff.

Just do it.

 

Rapido-lass - 2009-01-18 9:12 PM

 

Relax and enjoy your new toy!

 

THANKS for the welcome.

 

 

libby - 2009-01-19 1:11 AM

 

The first thing you should be pleased about is that you avoided a FIAT, so what made you choose your Lunar Roadstar 786.

 

Potential buyers may like to know how you made your choice.

 

Bill

 

Hello Bill,

 

I could say we did vast amounts of research into the Fiat "Judder Problems" and "ECU Re-Mapping" etc, etc. But it would be something of a "fib".

 

In all honesty we just really liked the look and layout of it and that was what we based our decision on.

 

CHEERS

 

[Derek Uzzell]

Welcome to the forum Ian and Suzy.

 

The best piece of advice I can offer you is to obtain one (or several) of the books written specifically for motorhome owners. Particularly useful should be John Wickersham's "The Motorcaravan Manual", as this provides a general overview of motorhome basic technicalities.

 

The following supplier offers plenty of choice:

 

http://www.vicarious-shop.co.uk/

[Derek Uzzell]

libby:

 

I believe the Roadstar 786 bears a Fiat badge...

[Ian_n_Suzy]

Derek Uzzell - 2009-01-19 8:59 AM

 

libby:

 

I believe the Roadstar 786 bears a Fiat badge...

 

 

Hi, many thanks for the heads up on the above book - I do intend buying a couple or so books / magazines.

 

With regards to the engine, she does indeed have the Fiat engine (im not 100% but think it's the 2.8JTD).

[Tony Jones]

Hi, and welcome to both of you.

 

The search facility on here is OK when it's in the mood, but it only works on alternate Tuesdays with an R in the month.

 

Your best bet, each time you've got a question, is just to ask it as a New Thread.

Even if it's been dealt with before, one of us will still usually give you a straight answer. (We're NOT the sort of grumpy old gits who'll say "What are you bothering me for? Push off and look it up!")

But if the answer is complicated, or there's been some debate about it, someone will dig up the old thread and refer you to it.

 

But best of all is just to get on with using your new pride'n'joy, and find things out as you go along. Use campsites to start with, so there will always be people around who'll give you advice.

 

As you get more confident though, you may find one of the great advantages of a MH over a caravan is that (even in the UK!) there are lots of places you can get away with an overnight stop without paying extortionate site fees.

That's not because we're mean or anything - it just means we'll spend our available dosh on things we want to do in the daytime instead of using it all up while we're asleep!!

 

But hey, everyone to their own preferences. Whatever you do, and however you use YOUR van, enjoy it to the full!

 

Tony (& Liz)

 

[LordThornber]

Hello Ian & Suzy, welcome to our world. My advice is get yourselves out there, get your hands dirty and get on with it.

 

It's a great learning curve, there's no right or wrong way of camping and please don't let anyone tell you there is.

 

From a purely personal point of view, one of the best decisions we made was to join one of the "big 2" clubs, the Caravan Club in our case. It opened up a whole world of locations either on the sites or on their network of 5 van sites known as CL's.

 

It might not be your scene of course, you may well be into "wild" camping, (call it what you will), and enjoy it if that's the road you choose to go down. No pun intended..

 

Don't be afraid of asking what may well seem as a daft question, we'll usually provide an answer for you. I know I've learnt some corking ideas/tips and hopefully have provided an odd one myself.

 

Happy camping and safe journeys

 

Martyn

[Ian_n_Suzy]

THANKS to you two guys above for your excellent comments. I am just finalizing things with the Deal before I get to work on my Q & A list. :-D

[Sparkle]

Hi and welcome to the madhouse from me too.....

 

Theres loads of tips etc to be found on here.....Heres one of mine :if you get any magazines then I always tear out any reports on sites or areas worth a visit and file them in the van in one of those a-z files but have renamed the a-z bits according to areas (of Spain in our case9 but you could do counties......that way if you fancy a visit to a certain region you just go through what you have under that area.

 

 

 

[Patricia]

Hi welcome Ian n Suzy. I don't know whether you read the MMM magazine but that's a useful source of information. There are others too but I think this is the best all-round one. Another idea is to join the Lunar club (if there is one!) where you will meet like minded people and pick up good tips and hopefully new friends. We only ever went out once with the Auto Trail Club, due to my husband's health, and made met a couple who have proved to be really true friends in every sense of the word, especially since my husband died. You mention that you are worried about the driving which is something I had to get used to now that I travel alone. my m/home is quite high (almost 3m) so the wind was a big problem at first although I have learned to cope with that. I was an experienced caravan tugger so lorries did not present problems but if you are not experienced the "drag" when they overtake you, or vice versa, can be a bit worrying. A usefu tip is to judge when you are about to pass, steer slightly away from them and when about half way accelerate gently - this takes most of the feeling of being "vacuumed" away. I find that in England keeping behind a good leading lorry takes away all the hastle of overtaking (the motorways are so crowded with lorries -never ending streams of them) but abroad I usually drive faster and overtake them. Hope I have not insulted you with these tips.

You can now teach me something please. How did you quote from so many different threads?

Anyway enjoy your new pastime.

[Ian_n_Suzy]

Sparkle - 2009-01-19 9:28 PM

 

Hi and welcome to the madhouse from me too.....

 

Theres loads of tips etc to be found on here.....Heres one of mine :if you get any magazines then I always tear out any reports on sites or areas worth a visit and file them in the van in one of those a-z files but have renamed the a-z bits according to areas (of Spain in our case9 but you could do counties......that way if you fancy a visit to a certain region you just go through what you have under that area.

 

 

 

Spain is a place that is very high on our list of places to visit in the Motorhome. Infact the plan is to get used to it double ASAP, with a view to a long break in Spain during the school hols (all being well).

 

Thanks for the tips.

 

Patricia - 2009-01-19 10:43 PM

 

 

You can now teach me something please. How did you quote from so many different threads?

 

Chinese Magic, lol. Nope simply by repeatedly "Copy & Pasting" from each post. i.e click quote. Type my reply, select everything, copy it. go back, click the next quote.......repeat as neccessary :)

 

You have given us some great info there. It really is all greatly appreciated and will be taken on board.

 

(Sorry to hear about the loss of your husband, and without wanting to sound condescending, I think it is awesome that you have kept on the road)

 

THANKS AGAIN.

[Ranger]

Welcome to this forum Ian & Suzy, don't worry too much about having a Fiat, most owners manage to drive around the problems, my old mate reverses 3 yards at a time thus avoiding the dreaded judders.............David.........

[Ian_n_Suzy]

Ranger - 2009-01-19 10:58 PM

 

Welcome to this forum Ian & Suzy, don't worry too much about having a Fiat, most owners manage to drive around the problems, my old mate reverses 3 yards at a time thus avoiding the dreaded judders.............David.........

 

Hi,

 

 

It will give me a good excuse to blame my "Kangaroo'ing caused by poor driving" on a Manufacturers fault. Every cloud and all that.

 

 

[Patricia]

Ian_n_Suzy - 2009-01-19 10:57 PM

 

Patricia - 2009-01-19 10:43 PM

 

You can now teach me something please. How did you quote from so many different threads?

 

Chinese Magic, lol. Nope simply by repeatedly "Copy & Pasting" from each post. i.e click quote. Type my reply, select everything, copy it. go back, click the next quote.......repeat as neccessary :)

 

.

 

Thanks for the tip will try it out . Also thank you for your kind words. Must admit it was very difficult at first (mine is quite a big m/home and I had to learn lots of new things - even how to fill with diesel!!) and obviously very lonely but I have my trusty friend (see avatar). I talk her to death sometimes so when she has had enough she gives up and goes to the back of the m/home for some peace!

[BGD]

Pat is a great example of the "there is no such thing as can't" if you have the guts to set your mind to achieving it.

 

 

 

Pat - Respect.

You've got balls babe!

[Patricia]

Thanks Bruce but wished I didn't need to have them! Just posted on another thread and feeling a bit maudling now so need to cheer up again. Loved looking at your site by the way - what a charming lady you found and what a lovely wedding. Hope you will thoroughly enjoy you new m/home - MOT for mine today. It passed but will need a new bearing in about 6 months! Oh, woe, more money to find! Not really moaning as I am lucky to be able to have a m/home in the first place and at least it passed. Charged me £50 instead of £46 (why?) but I wondered Bruce do you have MOT in Spain and if so how often and how much?

[Derek Uzzell]

Ian & Suzy:

 

I don't know if you are aware that there was a test-report of a Roadstar 786 in MMM April 2005. The motorhome was a pre-production model, but probably not much different from yours. I hadn't realised it was such a big 'un!

[Ian_n_Suzy]

Hi,

 

We just collected it earlier this afternoon. The couple that we got it from have really cared for it, it looks almost new. They also have thrown in loads of kit for it (including some of them grip mats mentioned earlier) so we have little if anything to buy upto now, which I would think is a godsend for a "Complete Newbie".

 

We are both really excited and are eagerley looking forward to getting some mileage under our belts.

 

With regards to the review. Can these be bought online or would I have to buy a back issue of the magazine?

 

Also, how the hell did you remember it was reviewed from so far back, lol ?

 

Your right, she is a "Big-Un", she looks gigantic to myself being a newbie.

 

(Im just off back out to her to "have a fiddle and see what I can suss out")

 

CHEERS

[Patricia]

Can you post some details then e.g. length, age, layout? Not being nosey but interested.