If you were designing your own motorhome what features would you add?

[Guest Peter James]

pelmetman - 2010-09-12 11:03 AM

 

Peter James - 2010-09-12 9:51 AM

 

You wouldn't have windows in the roof at home, so why in a motorhome?

 

We have a Glass roof to the sun lounge (lol) and windows in the roof :D

 

Well I guess you can come out of the sun lounge if it gets too hot in Lincolnshire?

 

Unlike the motorhome when you have nowhere else to go in Spain or wherever to get out of the sun.

[Guest Peter James]

Bulletguy - 2010-09-12 11:42 AM

 

Peter James - 2010-09-12 9:51 AM

 

One of the things I didn't want is so many windows as it makes the van so hot. So I don't understand why so many vans are like greenhouses with windows all over the place, and even in the roof which must make the inside very hot?

You wouldn't have windows in the roof at home, so why in a motorhome?

Roof windows are commonly found in attic conversions. Absolutely nothing wrong with them as long as solar reflective glass is used. Exactly the same can be used in motorhomes (though not glass of course) and if yours doesn't have it, it's simple enough to fit.

 

I have a solar reflective blind in my kitchen as in summer it used to get hot. At £25 it proved to be money well spent keeping the heat out but lets the light in.

 

Perhaps I should have used that. I did use one clear PVC sheet on my garage roof to let the light in, but it became so insufferably hot in the summer with the freezer working overtime, I painted it over. I found a window in the roof lets a lot more heat in with the sun streaming directly down through it, than a window in a wall where the sun is only coming in at an angle. Put me off having a window in the roof of the van, so fitted a powerful roof fan instead.

 

I imagine the sun coming in through an attic window would be less savage than a flat window in a flat roof. At least the attic window is at an angle and gets some shade some of the time?

 

It still surprises me why there are about 3 windows in the roof of a van the size of one room in a house with one window the size of the van windscreens.

[Bulletguy]

Solar reflective would definately have proved worth investing in assuming you wanted plenty of natural light in your garage. If you don't want to go to the expense of glass you can buy reflective film which works in the same manner. Some new build high rise office blocks have huge amounts of glass, often floor to ceiling at each level, but it's solar reflective otherwise folk inside would be boiled alive!

 

A motorhome is different as the windows are acrylic based but usually have a reasonable enough tint to reflect the sun. If its not enough then you can use either the film or internal blinds.

[gasgas]

My first design requirement would be that it doesn't have any computers on board, either in the engine or the habitation bit. Then a) it wouldn't go wrong, and b) if it did it could be serviced by an intelligent mechanic instead of a spotty teenager with a laptop who wouldn't know the difference between a track rod end and a big end. Second design requirement would be that it should be no more than 6.0 metres long, then you can park it in a supermarket or by the side of a road and not have to search for a huge campers-only park, and it would cost the same as a car on ferries. Third, it would have a drop down bed over the front seats - why drag around more length than you need to with permanent beds at the back and why should you have to convert table and seats into a bed? When you are driving you don't need a bed, and when you are asleep you don't need the driving controls, so why not use the one lump of space for two purposes? Fourth it would need a front door at each side at the front.

OK, you are not allowed to make a vehicle without computers any more, but I don't see why the others could not be implemented for the (probably) majority of camper purchasers - retired couples.

 

[Guest JudgeMental]

Obviously to young or daft to remember vehicles without computers...breakdowns and failures to start where far more common believe me, modern vehicles are light years ahead *-)

[Guest Peter James]

A motorhome is different as the windows are acrylic based but usually have a reasonable enough tint to reflect the sun. If its not enough then you can use either the film or internal blinds.

 

I suppose that would be ok. But I wildcamp alone sometimes and sleep better with sheets of steel around me than I would with plastic windows.

[Guest Peter James]

JudgeMental - 2010-09-13 12:54 PM

 

Obviously to young or daft to remember vehicles without computers...breakdowns and failures to start where far more common believe me, modern vehicles are light years ahead *-)

 

Indeed. I can remember when petrol engines, let alone diesels, over about 1600 cc had to be 6 cylinder and even them could be pretty lumpy. A 4 cylinder 3 litre diesel would have deafened you, shook your guts out, and choked the following drivers with smoke when they were stuck behind it on hills. A far cry from the 3 litre Fiat beauty in the X250 van for example. We curse the new electronics, dual mass flywheels etc etc but they really are so much better.