ldenise286 Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 I have recently sold my beloved bailey bretagne caravan and in the process of purchasing a new life motorhome and am quite excited when i can go and collect it from swindon it is having air con fitted in the cab and another belt as i have 5 children plus my husband and hoping i'm going to be a succesful motorhome owner with the change a bit more freedom and more weekends away and not being such a chore having to collect my caravan from storage every time i want to use it and spend the whole day cleaning it he he he motorhome will hopefully go on the drive please give me any feedback on the motorhome itself and any good weekend spots with plenty for my children to do too Denise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 Welcome. I changed from caravanning to motorhome and never looked back. Our children loved the van. Glad to see you are having the extra belt fitted. Although now outside their teen years, when young my children enjoyed racecourse sites, sites in woods (not so much pine forests). Scotland has many sites near glorious beaches. It depends on the age interests and where you are located. They also enjoyed going abroad (much easier in a motorhome). Post you make and model of motorhome for comments on your choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davenewellhome Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 Hi Denise, with five kids and a husband make sure your prospective new motorhome has sufficient payload available. Don't just take the salesman's word for it either, they have been known to be wrong before now. D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porky Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 I agree, payload could be your main problem. I would suggest you go to a weighbridge as soon as you can after collecting the van and be as acurate as you can about the water and diesel you carry. You might also consider getting your van replated if the combined axle weights are more than the plated gross weight. A search on this forum for "payload" will give you lots of information. Five childrern eh. Wow!!! Roy Fuller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ldenise286 Posted September 14, 2009 Author Share Posted September 14, 2009 how do i find out what the payload is before i have received it can you advise me on it it is an enagh new life fiat ducato maxi chassis we were never over weight in our caravan was pulling it with a 56 reg discovery 3 we will have less stuff to take in the motorhome already losing alot mmmmm denise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 Take the 7 of you and visit the dealer and ask him to take you to a weighbridge then you will know what spere capacity you have if anything! *-) if he does not wana play ball threaten to withdraw from the deal and report him to trading standards :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david lloyd Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 ldenise286 - 2009-09-14 1:02 PM how do i find out what the payload is before i have received it can you advise me on it it is an enagh new life fiat ducato maxi chassis we were never over weight in our caravan was pulling it with a 56 reg discovery 3 we will have less stuff to take in the motorhome already losing alot mmmmm denise Hi Denise - it's unfortunat but payload is one of things that has to be considered up front along with the layout, price etc. But, it is important that you find out as soon as possible now to avoid possible problems later. It is much easier to keep within the payload of the caravan as you only had to worry about bedding, clothes, food, kids toys etc etc and could have put some of these things in the towcar to avoid being over. BUT, the motorhome will be carrying all those things (and could easily be up to 200kg for the 7 of you) plus the seven of you and water (approx 1litre+1 kg), diesel and all the stuff you may have carried in the towcar before. As you can see, it will soon mount up and you may have to make some decisions about what to take and what to leave behind. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
libby Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 And if you keep feeding the family they will grow and grow and, according to the laws of nature will weigh more each day, that means your payload will be reducing each day also. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 Hi Denise and welcome to the mad house! :-> I am a bit concerned about exactly what you are purchasing and how/where the dealer is fitting an extra seat belt. There are very few 7 belted seat motorhomes out there and I'm concerned that the fitting of the extra seat belt could mean it is being done to a standard type seat without any steel reinforcement etc and therefore would be useless in an accident. Payload, as has already been mentioned, is also a concern. Firstly, can you tell us exactly what year and model your getting (ie does it have a number/model name etc) that we can look up, better still, do you have a web link to where it is showing on the dealers website if it's still showing on there. If you're not sure of the model, can you describe the layout, is there a picture of it somewhere? I've heard of SEA New Life motorhomes, but not Elnagh New Life motorhome so I've done a search on the web and the only Elnagh New Life motorhome that I can find is a low profile one at Marquis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ldenise286 Posted September 18, 2009 Author Share Posted September 18, 2009 sea new life 48 which is a 4000kg van and being losing alot of weight allready as such we never used the tow car to carry any weight only used the caravan to pull all nwe needed we are getting a van to suit our needs e.g 4000kg under our estimated payload as previously we are well withon our previous payload we have looked on inte4rnet and the MTPLM of van is 4000kg maximum payload uyser is 925 kg thanks denise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 You'll proboly be fine, but you may need to be a little more carefull with loading than you might think, you see all your passengers are payload so that might account for up to 250kg, then some manufacturers don't account for gas and water, then you have to consider how much rear overhang there is and how much you pile in the back loading up the rear axle, I'm not sure of the layout of that model, but with rear garages it's very easy too think there's loads of room lets take the kitchin sink ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 Found it! http://www.marquismotorhomes.co.uk/new-motorhomes/newlife/newlife-48 I assume the extra seat-belt is being fitted to the forward facing single dinette seat. Nice looking van. :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike 202 Posted September 19, 2009 Share Posted September 19, 2009 Welcome to a super way of life, we had a caravan for 25 years and changed for a motorhome 18 months ago. we are so pleased we changed. Currently writing this from Empuriabrava in the Bay of Roses, warm days and lots of fun. Just remember that your children will grow older (an obvious statement) and your "people weight will increase" and your therefore your total weight will need to be assessed at regular intervals. Enjoy Enjoy (lol) . Our kids now 30 & 33 have many fond memories our our holidays together - Good luck from Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
libby Posted September 19, 2009 Share Posted September 19, 2009 I read "Designated passenger seats 4" You are 5 people, so where is the 5th belted seat? Facing foreward?? Others can explain the seating laws better than I. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted September 19, 2009 Share Posted September 19, 2009 Libby If you look at the link for the van in question, it has 2 dinettes, a double and a single, the double already has fitted seatbelts for 4, 2 front facing, 2 rear facing, so the 5th belt in the back must be going either on either the forward or rearward facing single dinette seat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ldenise286 Posted September 24, 2009 Author Share Posted September 24, 2009 We have got our new motorhome SEA new life 48 4000kg van now as am amazed how easy it is going from a caravan amazed how much we don't need to take now and almost feel naked and the time to load is dramatically shortened why did we not do this years ago?????? been on weighbridge done all weighting as advised front axle & back axle and overall loaded as fully laiden with all persons too as if we were going on a long trip is under weight amazed with it WOW now having to sell all the crap we used to take away with us sorry but am so shocked!!!!!!!!! Denise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 ldenise286 - 2009-09-24 10:11 AM We have got our new motorhome SEA new life 48 4000kg van now as am amazed how easy it is going from a caravan amazed how much we don't need to take now and almost feel naked and the time to load is dramatically shortened why did we not do this years ago?????? been on weighbridge done all weighting as advised front axle & back axle and overall loaded as fully laiden with all persons too as if we were going on a long trip is under weight amazed with it WOW now having to sell all the crap we used to take away with us sorry but am so shocked!!!!!!!!! Denise That is fantastic news and I admire your dilegence........ Enjoy! :-D (just wondering how long it will take Frank to notice your complete lack of punctuation:D ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhorsf Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 [ (just wondering how long it will take Frank to notice your complete lack of punctuation:D ) (lol) (lol) (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ldenise286 Posted September 25, 2009 Author Share Posted September 25, 2009 just keep on writing don't stop had been in shock yet still not stopping until you drop. SORRY Denise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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