2012 Adria Twin 640 SL bathroom

[Motorman]

Hello all. I bought this van recently and am beginning to doubt my decision. The bathroom is dreadful. It has a sliding washbasin that slides only part way and so does not completely free up the shower space. The basin is seated on a standard piece of wall ply behind which are the water supply, waste and heating pipes, and I can't understand why it has been built like this. Because of the arrangement with the waste pipe from the washbasin, which drops into an unsealed hole, the bathroom cannot be used as a wet room. And I'm not sure that the walls are fully sealed anyway. It comes with a shower curtain that wraps right around and when closed leaves about a square foot of the shower floor. I haven't used it yet, but I'm pretty sure that I will end up wearing the shower curtain as soon as the water is turned on.

 

So after my rant, has anyone got this make and model,and have they found it okay or not? And if I want to turn it into a wet room, what do you good people recommend for coating the walls?

 

Finally, I would happily dispense with the sliding basin in exchange for a small fixed wall mounted basin as I could then seal the waste pipe hole. I have searched on line and can't seem to find a light weight basin that would fit the bill. Something that is only about 20cm from front to back.

 

Thank you for any help you may be able to give me.

[Derek Uzzell]

Your photo seems to have been taken from this on-line advert

 

https://www.geoffcox.co.uk/vehicle-details/Used-Adria-Twin-640-Sl-For-Sale-U3318/

 

and I’ve attached a better image below.

 

Later Adria Twin models with the 640 SL layout have a bathroom with a ‘fixed’ washbasin and the current version has separate basin and shower water outlets as well.

 

If you want a fixed washbasin, your best bet would be to opt for a triangular one designed to fit into a corner and there is a fair amount of choice. However, whatever you do, the shower’s floor area is quite small. I don’t see converting the complete bathroom into a ‘wet room’ by coating the walls being a practical proposition. (If you do attempt this, you should expect it to devalue the motorhome.)

 

Even if you just swapped to a fixed washbasin I believe you’d still be stuck with using a curtain during showering, but you might be able to optimise this. Our first motorhome had a compact bathroom and my wife produced a double-width shower-curtain that better protected the walls and toilet and reduced the clinging-to-wet-skin potential.

 

Some motorhome converters using this size of Boxer/Ducato/Relay panel van install a cleverer, more usable, shower arrangement than that of of your Twin SL, but the Adria SL design may well be superior elsewhere. The Adria bathroom is what it is and I doubt that owners use it to shower daily.

 

(Hopefully other forum members will be able to provide 640 SL ownership experience and suggestions.)

[Will86]

Do you really need a shower, staying on a site may be a better option than having to struggle with the 'so called' fixed one and, as has been said any alterations could reduce its value.

 

My view of a shower indeed any shower is that they are extremely over rated extras where the very name "shower" rolls of the tongue like strawberries and cream. It originated from water companies exploiting their marketing. Being of a squeaky clean nature may well contribute to falling victim of a virus.

[SAlexander]

I would say that the layout and size isn't substantially different to that in the Adria Twin (2011) that I had previously, but the sink in mine was fixed. It was certainly tight for space, but quite usable as long as you were careful in positioning the shower curtain. Both my wife and myself are pretty skinny though!

I do have to admit though that one of the things we wanted in our latest van was indeed a slightly larger shower, and the one in our Rapido 640F is brilliant!

[Den]

We did look at the 640 and thought the showe arrangement not upto our requirements.

We purchased the Malibu with a swivel toilet and a solid plastic surrounds.

Works superb and with us staying on Aires most of the time was a big reason to buy the 640 Malibu

[Cattwg]

Hi,

Sorry I can’t give any ideas but I do sympathise and agree it’s a daft “design”. We had the same bathroom in our previous Adria. I looked at replacing the wash basin but decided against it. The main problem I could see was re-positioning the tap. What seemed like a straight forward swap could turn into a major job in a confined space. So, we learned to live with it.

As it happens, 18 months late for various reasons, we changed the ‘van for a later model Adria Twin.

Cattwg :-D

[Derek Uzzell]

SAlexander - 2020-05-01 3:01 PM

 

I would say that the layout and size isn't substantially different to that in the Adria Twin (2011) that I had previously, but the sink in mine was fixed. It was certainly tight for space, but quite usable as long as you were careful in positioning the shower curtain. Both my wife and myself are pretty skinny though!

I do have to admit though that one of the things we wanted in our latest van was indeed a slightly larger shower, and the one in our Rapido 640F is brilliant!

 

In 2015 we replaced our 2005 Hobby T-600 FC motorhome with a Rapidp 640F. The Hobby had an L-shaped kitchen with plenty of work surface and an excellent bathroom with separate shower cubicle (upper image attached below), but we had grown to dislike its ‘French’ bed. The Rapido 640F’s layout has an unusual minimalist transverse kitchen unit, a washbasin in the bedroom area and the shower is integrated into the toilet compartment. The Rapido’s kitchen and shower are significantly inferior to the Hobby’s, but the Rapido’s bed is much superior and it was a better bed that was the priority ‘must have' when we were looking to replace the Hobby.

 

There’s no doubt that the Hobby had a better bathroom/shower than the Rapido, but I’m not disappointed with the Rapido’s showering facilities because it was obvious when looking at the 640F model what the implications of its combination toilet/shower compartment would be. We don’t use campsite showers and, although when we owned the Hobby we used its shower daily, because showering in the the Rapido is much more of a faff, we’ve increased our showering interval to every two days. We knew what we were getting into (or at least I did!) when the Rapido was chosen and, as there’s little that can realistically be done to ‘improve’ the Rapido’s shower facilities, we’ve modified our usage accordingly.

 

I’ve browsed through Motorman’s previous forum postings. In 2018 he was thinking about replacing his motorhome (an Auto-Sleepers Warwick or Autocruise Rhythm was been considered then) and I’m guessing that - 2 years on - he has now bought the Adria Twin. Assuming that is the case, the motorhome that the Adria has replaced was a 2008 McLouis Tandy 673G.

 

This link advertises a Tandy 673

 

https://www.3asleisure.co.uk/used-motorhome-mclouis-tandy-673-10049

 

and it will be seen that not only is the Tandy a large coachbuilt model (the length is some 7.4m), but the ‘ablution’ facilities are de luxe, with a toilet/washbasin compartment on one side of the bedroom area and a separate high-class shower cubicle on the other (lower photo attached).

 

There’s no way that comparable showering facilities can be shoehorned into a 6.36m-long Ducato-based panel-van conversion and, although Motorman may not be keen on Adria’s sliding washbasin approach, the available-space restrictions need to be accepted. If ‘on board’ showering daily and easily were an absoliute must-have, a 2012 Twin 640 SL is the wrong choice, but - when the 640 SL’s shower is not being used - the bathroom looks pretty good to me.

[Motorman]

Thank you everyone for your insights, advice and comments. As Derek Uzzel says, it's all about compromise and for the money we have most of what we wanted. The newer Adrias and Globecars with the walk through shower in the corridor are outside my budget. So we will live with what we have. In the current circumstances in the world it really isn't a matter of any great importance. At least, not until the wife takes her first shower...