Guest pelmetman Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 pepe63 - 2013-10-07 2:50 PM bolero boy - 2013-10-07 2:26 PM We are fortunate enough (wise enough) to have paid off our mortgage prior to my retirement so I didn't have to spend some of my lump sum freeing us from debt.... Well, that was my "plan"(..as the mortgage on my family home, would've been paid off several years ago). Unfortunately..I have an ex-wife who had other ideas.... :-S ;-) Fortunately I got divorced when I had nothing ;-)................so I let her keep it :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sshortcircuit Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 Thanks Chris for that useful information. We use the CS or whichever with the CCC on the way down to Dover and in addition the holiday sites which are all excellent value, problem is they tend to be isolated which is ok for tuggers. We have used Park Resorts at Eyemouth for £9 but same pitch ends up £28 on season. Will keep Haven in mind for future. Deals are there to be found and am now looking around as we move off Beni 20th November for a site nearer Alicante for 10 days at MH goes into storage until end of February. Whatever, we will enjoy, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 Didn't you read the Gravelines thread, all the Brits apparently bragging about not paying. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sshortcircuit Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 1footinthegrave - 2013-10-07 4:41 PM Didn't you read the Gravelines thread, all the Brits apparently bragging about not paying. :D I did not follow the posting. I will make use of free Aires and where it is payable that is the first on the agenda even if it is an honesty box. If you don't meet your dues then they will disappear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 olley - 2013-10-07 1:27 PM We live fulltime in our RV, cost £95 per week including leccy, mains water and grey drain. That's £380 a month. Only extra is broadband via my Mifi at £17 per month. Add fulltime insurance at £1800 a year, Mot and service at say £200. So about £7000 a year. Its not for everybody but its worked for us over the last two years; however we will be moving back in to bricks before winter. Ian We plan to long term so hopefully our costs will be less ;-)....................£1800 full time insurance 8-)........I may as put that in the bank, as after 3 years I'd be able to buy another Horace (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 I don't get the full time insurance bit, I thought I could use my van all year if I wanted to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 pelmetman - 2013-10-07 12:36 PM pepe63 - 2013-10-07 11:11 AM pelmetman - 2013-10-07 10:51 AM Cant say I'd want to fulltime if still working.... as I can't see the point? :-S........ Well, I dare if you already OWN a house outright or have mortgage repayments that are negligible compared to todays' going rate, then there probably isn't much "point".. If on the other hand, it's a means of getting an affordable roof over your head, that is, by the sounds of it in "capcloser's" case,in a pleasant location, then I can certainly see the point.. ;-) As our landlord/landowner and neighbour is in the process of selling up all his land for development(..which'll include flattening "our" cottage, his farmhouse and his 2 son's barn conversions),we may be looking at something along those lines.... :-S ...especially when faced with the prospect of starting from scratch with 750-1000 quid a month mortgage repayments!? 8-) You must live in a posh area Pepe ;-)...................£750 a month around here will get you a big detached house with land.............you'd be spoilt for choice with just £450........which when compared to the cost of staying fulltime on campsites?..............there's not a lot in it cost wise I would think ;-) Blimey Dave where on earth do you live, Our daughter brought a small quite tatty 1930's house 2 years ago her mortgage is £850 a month and we had to loan her the deposit (not that we will ever get it back). Pleased to say we did pay off our mortgage 8/9 years ago otherwise we would have never afforded a Motorhome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 Hi Lenny We live in lovely rural Lincolnshire, which is sometimes overlooked by house hunters. Yes you can still buy good properties with land for really competitive prices. Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 sshortcircuit - 2013-10-06 12:27 PM Unfortunately my heating is Trauma hot air and this soon depletes the battery bank when running. Thats a myth a Truma combi takes around 5-6 amps on start up for about the first 15-20 mins then the fan speed drops and the draw is about 2.5-3 amps and when the van is up to temperature another 20 min or so the fan drops to low speed and the current draw is less than an amp. Running for 4 hours it will consume less than 7 amp hours even on a very cold evening if it to run at full output for say 1 1/2 hours to get the van up to temp it would only use about 12.5 amp hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 Yes my experience is the same, our van has a quite sophisticated control panel which shows current draw, the biggest surprise is we can have all 16 lights on, now converted to lcd/smd units should we wish, and the current draw is only around the equivalent of 1 halogen bulb as were originally fitted. ;-) We can go almost indefinitely without mains power, or lengthy drives since I invested in a solar panel, even on rainy and dull days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capcloser Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 Same for us all lights changed to led,if we didnt watch telly and have the freesat box on we could run lights water pump etc indefinitly just off our solar,right better get the pack up made for tonghts shift,start at 10pm,have a good night eveyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peter Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 1footinthegrave - 2013-10-07 4:08 AM JudgeMental - 2013-10-06 9:33 PM I think fulltiming a fascinating subject..I could do it easy.. not in a panel van mind! if there was a good informative book on the subject I wold happily buy it.... must be real grim in depth of winter in UK though..but Spain would surely be a better location then... Here's a couple of tips to get you started, first get yourself a beat up old van ( you'll have saved up for that out of your benefits money and cash in hand work, something you could put a wood burner in, you can fabricate one easiest out of an old Calor bottle,then get a friend to cooperate by using their address and a field to Park up in, put your heads together, he can charge you rent which housing benefit will pay, then get the benefits rolling in, a bad back is probably worth around £60 extra, then get into the black economy, loads of opportunities there, boot sale selling for example, or if you're a bit handy like a car mechanic or anything that pays cash in hand. They used to call them new age travellers, I called them scrounging bastards, I'm not sure what they call them now,unless it's benefit cheats, perhaps capcloser knows and has some more tips. Bang on Onefoot. I was thinking along the same lines myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peter Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 pelmetman - 2013-10-07 4:00 PM pepe63 - 2013-10-07 2:50 PM bolero boy - 2013-10-07 2:26 PM We are fortunate enough (wise enough) to have paid off our mortgage prior to my retirement so I didn't have to spend some of my lump sum freeing us from debt.... Well, that was my "plan"(..as the mortgage on my family home, would've been paid off several years ago). Unfortunately..I have an ex-wife who had other ideas.... :-S ;-) Fortunately I got divorced when I had nothing ;-)................so I let her keep it :DSo did I. Stupid cow went off with a bloke 25 yrs her senior with a wodge of cash. She was 20 and me 22, he's probably dead by now. She did me a big favour, as I was fed up with her obsessive jealousy, as I was so good looking then, that all the girls were throwing their knickers at me. I met a lovely girl and we've been married 40 Yrs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sshortcircuit Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 lennyhb - 2013-10-07 7:07 PM sshortcircuit - 2013-10-06 12:27 PM Unfortunately my heating is Trauma hot air and this soon depletes the battery bank when running. Thats a myth a Truma combi takes around 5-6 amps on start up for about the first 15-20 mins then the fan speed drops and the draw is about 2.5-3 amps and when the van is up to temperature another 20 min or so the fan drops to low speed and the current draw is less than an amp. Running for 4 hours it will consume less than 7 amp hours even on a very cold evening if it to run at full output for say 1 1/2 hours to get the van up to temp it would only use about 12.5 amp hours. That's what I like about this forum, always an expert to keep you right. My actual experience with the Truma blow air heating is as follows:- 2 x 110 A/h brand new batteries Cable from batteries to Sergeant upgraded to cut down volts drop Cable from Sergeant to Truma upgraded to cut down volts drop On power up heater turns over at low level to heat up Once heater temperature reached fan increases to full speed to heat MH to temperature set at thermostat. If left at a high level fan will run between high and low for possibly 2 hours Truma will trip out on under voltage Now either I have two duff batteries, the Truma low voltage trip is set to low or the heater is operating correctly. When back in UK next April will carry out a load test on the batteries and measure the current drawn of the heater. Interested to hear of other users experience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Let's be fair, there are so many variables, van size, level of insulation, and if you're a cold arse like me, I've just posted my experience of a Truma blow air system, but I would much preferred the convector / blow units fitted to some vans, with zero current draw on the convection option seems to make far more sense. I'm bound to say having had three vans with the Truma blow system, yours definitely sounds to perform far worse than any I've experienced, and we have rarely been on hookups over the years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 I didn't realise that Truma's couldn't be operated without power 8-)................we have blown air on ours but the fire will still work without it......... I only put the fan on to warm up the loo ;-)........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sshortcircuit Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 pelmetman - 2013-10-08 8:51 AM I didn't realise that Truma's couldn't be operated without power 8-)................we have blown air on ours but the fire will still work without it......... I only put the fan on to warm up the loo ;-)........ Different Truma with different options. I have looked at the possibility of the convector type heater you refer to but not possible to install. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billggski Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Anybody found the generator......? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capcloser Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 I'm trying to put some pics on here but dont know how,help please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capcloser Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Looks like i have,if pics loaded should be woodburner flue in place and back of trailer with woodburner removed,flue has another bit on top to better clear roof Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capcloser Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Or this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crinklystarfish Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 sshortcircuit - 2013-10-07 10:10 PM That's what I like about this forum, always an expert to keep you right. My actual experience with the Truma blow air heating is as follows:- 2 x 110 A/h brand new batteries Cable from batteries to Sergeant upgraded to cut down volts drop Cable from Sergeant to Truma upgraded to cut down volts drop On power up heater turns over at low level to heat up Once heater temperature reached fan increases to full speed to heat MH to temperature set at thermostat. If left at a high level fan will run between high and low for possibly 2 hours Truma will trip out on under voltage Now either I have two duff batteries, the Truma low voltage trip is set to low or the heater is operating correctly. When back in UK next April will carry out a load test on the batteries and measure the current drawn of the heater. Interested to hear of other users experience Something fishy there. If there's no other draw on the batteries then that shouldn't be happening. We've spent a couple of days in mid winter on several occasions with heavily used Truma Combis - in different 'vans and with less battery capacity - and never had them trip out due to low voltage. Currently use a Truma 2400 (blown air only) heater with 1 x 100 ah battery and have used it full chat for an entire evening and then on a lower thermostatic setting overnight, no issues. The 100 ah battery also supplies TV / LED lighting circuits all of which are also used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Billggski - 2013-10-08 9:32 AM Anybody found the generator......? Do you want to buy it? ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olley Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 1footinthegrave - 2013-10-07 6:38 PM I don't get the full time insurance bit, I thought I could use my van all year if I wanted to. Depends on your insurance company, but most I believe only allow 6 months at a time, (go abroad and you have to return after 6 months) and all insist that you have a permanent residential address, I do not have one. Some fulltimers use a relatives or friends address, if they find out your insurance becomes invalid. Not worth the risk in my opinion. Guy came on rvoc a while back, his insurance company had found out and had withdrawn cover, that fact had gone on to the motor insurance data base, and he was having trouble getting any kind of vehicle insurance. Only one company does genuine fulltime insurance as far as I know, and that's comfort, so they charge what they like. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 capcloser - 2013-10-08 10:29 AM Or this I like that B-).................how long does it take to refit each winter? :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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