Advice on motorhome purchase

[TabletRablet]

Hi,

 

I am new to motorhoming, having borrowed a friend's 1986 Fiat Ducato 6 berth campervan last year for a few trips. I am now hoping to buy my own and am trying to do as much research as I can before committing. I do not have a big budget, prob £10K max. I have quite specific needs and I am aware that finding the perfect van is likely to take some time.

 

What I'd love from anyone on here who can offer advice, is any thoughts that might help me find it.

 

Apologies in advance for the length of this post.

 

So, firstly, what I'll be using the van for:

- mostly weekend trips to BMX races so needs to be able to carry bikes

- a week here and there in the summer

- a week ski-ing in the winter

 

Secondly, what I think I need from the van:

- at least 4 berths but with three separate beds, more probably a 5 berth with an overcab double, a double and a single in the rear, I have three children and one of them needs his own bed

- ideally I want the same layout as my friend's which is a 4 seater dinette behind the front cab, kitchen area running up the side of the van opposite the dinette, sofa to the rear which can be a single or double with toilet/shower room opposite. Side door is in the middle of the van, kitchen to left as you enter, rear sofa to right. With this layout I have been able to carry the bikes in the van, beside the rear sofa when travelling and then stow them about the van at night (two in front cab, one alongside the dinette-double

- a winterised van probably probably with on board fresh and waste water tanks to avoid freezing in the cold

- and all the usual things like cooker, toilet, shower, etc.

 

Thirdly, my family is me (43 year old woman) and three children (13, 10 and 6) plus two dogs (small and medium sized). I have no problems driving big vehicles and am also fine without power steering. However, I probably don't want anything bigger than 25ft in length because of getting in and out of my drive (awkward entrance).

 

I was advised by a friend that old Hymers and Dethleffs are good for the winterised bit so have mostly been looking at them. However, very few of them have the layout described above and not that many are under £10k. I am willing to consider other layouts, for instance the ones with rear bunk beds where you can remove the bottom bunk to create a 'garage' space but most with this design seem to be above my budget.

 

The questions I have, and there are probably lots of things I haven't even thought of are:

1. Are there any other makes that 15+ year old vans are winter ready? This seems to be the age of van I'll be able to afford.

 

2. How do you winterise a vehicle if it isn't already and what are the cost implications? This is probably answered somewhere on the forum so I will search but if anyone has a quick answer, I'd be grateful.

 

3. Where to look/buy? I'm sure there are as many opinions as posters on this but my research seems to suggest that eBay is a pretty well used avenue and as such most vans will come up there as well as on other sites. Few dealers seem to have vans in my price bracket so not really looking at them except where they post on eBay.

 

4. To give me more options on layout, are there 'garages' big enough for three bikes that can go on a pullout motorbike carrier or towbar or such so bikes can travel and be stored securely overnight? I know this might affect the rear axle payload.

 

These are my main queries at the moment. Thanks for reading this far if you have and I hope someone might have some advice/thoughts.

 

Thanks,

Tab

 

[Brian Kirby]

TabletRablet - 2015-01-21 11:17 AM

 

.........................2. How do you winterise a vehicle if it isn't already and what are the cost implications? This is probably answered somewhere on the forum so I will search but if anyone has a quick answer, I'd be grateful.........................Thanks,

Tab

Hello, and welcome. I'll have a punt at this one to get your ball rolling.

 

Winterisation means a higher than normal standard of insulation, a comprehensive (central) heating system (i.e. not one of those "panel fire" type convector heaters), inboard heating distribution system (i.e. no hot air ducts or heating pipes run beneath the van floor), an inboard fresh water tank, ideally an inboard waste water tank (though there are "work arounds" for this, such as tank heaters or leaving the drain tap open and putting a bucket under it to catch waste), and above all, that the waste drainage and fresh and hot water distribution pipework is all inboard. This is often provided by giving the van a double floor, where the lower floor is insulated, the floor void heated, and the upper floor (which you walk on) generally uninsulated. Apart from the tanks and plumbing etc, access to this void for storage is frequently provided. This means the van will have been more expensive when new, so is likely to have a higher value when second-hand - even if 15+ years old.

 

People will possibly tell you that adding insulation to exposed tanks and pipework etc, and possibly adding a tank heater to an underslung fresh water tank, will be sufficient. It may be OK in a typical UK winter, though not necessarily Scotland, but if the skiing is to be in the Alps (where temperatures plummet to -15 and below, and wind and driving snow are not that uncommon), frozen pipes will be a perennial risk. Trace heating the pipes under the insulation would work to some extent, but would require a permanent electricity supply (implying a camp site), for a week in one place, and that heating would have to be manitained during your driving, or the pipes would be liable to freeze en-route.

 

Cost implications? Depending on how much you can DIY. If executed professionally, for that lot, not cheap!

 

Final thought. How do you feel about driving a left hand drive van? Winter sporting is quite popular on the continent, and many more vans are made with the necessary degree of winterisation built in. The supply is larger, and in general, the prices lower. Germany would be a good place to look for what you want. Have a look at this German website: http://tinyurl.com/6ap65zo for examples of what you want. Don't be put off by the idea of importing. It may be of marginal price advantage (or even a bit more costly, depending on the route you take) once you factor in the extra costs, but I'm pretty sure that with a larger range of reasonably priced fully winterised vans, it is where you stand the greatest chance of getting what you want. No 15 year old van is without risks, and a LHD import will be no less risky than a similar van bought in UK, but you are more likely to have a number to choose from, once you have decided which vans (make/model etc) you think will suit your requirements.