Have you ever been without your van?

[yorkslass]

I can sympathise with you all for your loss of mobile holiday venues. We have been without our Hymer now for 14months due to PPP, dodgy 'specialists' and inferior working practices carried out by alleged professionals. We have missed the summer, the weather, the camaraderie and all the vacations and places we love to visit for the last year.
We do have alternative transport but after only a few months of Helga the Hymer last year we realised what we had been missing, then the dreaded 5th gear Gremlins put a stop to all of that fun.
Hopefully soon we will be back on the road.
It is good to be able to read and share some of your experiences and even some of the problems and solutions by being part of the community here.
Thanks to all who have been helpful with recommendations and contacts, much appreciated.
Slainte, Growlie and Littlepony

Would love to know more. I didn't think the 5th gear was such an issue.

 

[nabsim]

I can sympathise with you all for your loss of mobile holiday venues. We have been without our Hymer now for 14months due to PPP, dodgy 'specialists' and inferior working practices carried out by alleged professionals. We have missed the summer, the weather, the camaraderie and all the vacations and places we love to visit for the last year.
We do have alternative transport but after only a few months of Helga the Hymer last year we realised what we had been missing, then the dreaded 5th gear Gremlins put a stop to all of that fun.
Hopefully soon we will be back on the road.
It is good to be able to read and share some of your experiences and even some of the problems and solutions by being part of the community here.
Thanks to all who have been helpful with recommendations and contacts, much appreciated.
Slainte, Growlie and Littlepony

May be a daft question Growlie but what is PPP in this context?

 

[The laird]

Van still in garage engine getting fitted this afternoon to call mid day Friday aghhhhh!

 

[The laird]

Van now needs a radiator should be ready Monday ,so at home this weekend agh!

 

[trevskoda]

Use them or lose then Trev, use them or lose them ................................. so i`ve been told.

I think the new master cyl is either incorrect or a valve inside is stuck,brakes come on if the pedal is held for a short while,doin my fecken head in.

 

[edina]

I think the new master cyl is either incorrect or a valve inside is stuck,brakes come on if the pedal is held for a short while,doin my fecken head in.

Have a cuppa and think it through Trev - hope it's something simple

 

[The laird]

Hope to get van back this coming week,had to add a radiator to the ever growing list ,bloody be like a new van when it comes back ! But a vintage as it’s been away so long

 

[Lee]

You be careful with it and don't go breaking it again.

Who's going to drive the truck? I assume you will be off on an adventure once the van's back.

 

[The laird]

You be careful with it and don't go breaking it again.

Who's going to drive the truck? I assume you will be off on an adventure once the van's back.

Hope to get away sat after a funeral ,just one night ,then see how it goes the following weekend ,playing gently when it’s back lee

 

[Lee]

Hope to get away sat after a funeral ,just one night ,then see how it goes the following weekend ,playing gently when it’s back lee

Sorry to hear you have a funeral to go to.
You are wise not to go to far just so you can check it out.
Enjoy you freedom.

 

[trevskoda]

Have a cuppa and think it through Trev - hope it's something simple

5 fails as of today,left rear wheel imbalance,every thing looked at,been told by N I trucks to change drums left to right and slacken of adjusters on right wheel,cost so far over £100

 

[edina]

5 fails as of today,left rear wheel imbalance,every thing looked at,been told by N I trucks to change drums left to right and slacken of adjusters on right wheel,cost so far over £100

That's a bu**er Trev.
These things all seem to happen at once, years with nowt wrong then wallop - just have to work through them.

 

[The laird]

Hope that solves the imbalance trev,pain in the bum for you

 

[Ffion]

After 10 tears of living in a van full time I now live with someone and I miss going around in the van a lot. He isn't a motorhomer so doesn't realise how much I'm missing it . We are going to Spain for 2 months shortly so I hope he falls in in love with it too.He has been on a couple of jaunts though with me

 

[Molly 3]

Nothing more sole distroying than spending £ XXX on a new van and returning it for weeks for Repair's .vans used to go through quality control ,, now the first quality controls is the customer.

 

[The laird]

Hope it all goes good from now on esp with the van you parted with ,was looking at the showroom pics of yours

 

[The laird]

Thank you very much, I really do hope so, otherwise it will be going!
But that will cost more than we can afford!
I really do wish we still had the previous van, maybe I should have done the medical, but after speaking to DVLA it was very borderline.
Hurts after driving trucks all over Europe and the new van is similar size to the previous van, just 1000kg lighter!

It may take a while but you will get over it mate

 

[BarryE]

Don’t know if this fits but we took a fortnights Holliday using planes and fancy hotels and the whole time I was away all I could think was I’d rather be away in the van somewhere nice for two weeks than stuck in a hotel. Do you think that’s the bug

I know exactly what you mean. Paul and I took a flying mini-break to Nice for a week in June. We stayed in a lovely small apartment in a nice part of the town and had a really good time. However, we both remarked that we would rather have been in our motorhome with all our familiar comforts and conveniences than in four walls in an apartment. Being "nailed down" is just not the same.

 

[BarryE]

My van has been off the road for a fair bit of time now, suffered cabin fever before now, handled that fairly well,!but this is different this time, I went to a meet the weekend past and roughed it in a normal van, but had a good enough time but on reflection it’s the first time in about 5 years or so that I have not had the van at all .
I really have and do miss it ,does this mean I’ve got the bug?
Any one else had yhis dilemma?
Be interesting to find out stories

I do sympathise. We have rarely been without our motorhome for more than a day of two but circumstances are conspiring to wind me up just now.
Two weeks ago we bough a rather nice 52 plate Laika which ticks all the boxes for what we were looking for in an upgrade.

Buying it through a reputable local dealer, a family business run by really nice folks I was really happy with the deal that we agreed. As the dealer was selling it on behalf of another customer, they had not done any pre-sale preparation until a buyer was found - fair enough we had to wait a week before it would be ready to collect.

Collection day came and I arrived eager to drive it away, but we concluded that there was something "not quite right" about the clutch action. Left it until the next day to have that checked out and it transpired that a new clutch was the appropriate remedy. All good really, I'd rather get this sorted before we take it away and the dealer is handling it all really well, but the waiting is driving me crazy. I want my new toy to play with.

Having transferred the insurance to the new vehicle, I can't even use the old one now although it's sitting outside the house taunting me. I feel like someone's taken my legs away. I just can't wait to get the Laika and get away in it.

 

[Rec]

Been without our van since July although we have borrowed our old Relay conversion back for very short periods. Miss the ability to decide to take off at the last minute and our long trips to Europe .Never left UK with the brand new bit of rubbish we had from Feb to July. Spent most of that time waiting for Fiat parts and driving to garages! Will make up for it when we do the self conversion next year! Got all our collection of "necessary stuff" waiting to be put in the next one.