klyne

Hi Riggy The two Truma panels on the bottom right obviously control the water on the left and the heater on the right. It wouldn't surprise me that it only runs on gas as this is quite common in European caravans and motorhomes. The left hand switch controls the water temperature and the right hand one controls the heating level The best thing for your friend to do is to have a look at the actual boiler because it would be clear whether there was a 230v supply attached as well as 12v which only controls the actions of the boiler rather than obviously providing power. Da

No plans for going to Europe this year anyway. Need the Brexit exit to settle down first. Realistically can't see us getting away in the UK much before May/June and then only if we feel it worthwhile. If we can't return to a more normal life I just don't see the point. We had a couple of trips away in 2020 but we felt constrained as to what we could do, strange as it seems I feel more comfortable at home. If we have a second year on hardly using the van I wonder if we will be thinking whether its worth having £50,000 of motorhome sitting in the back garden? David

David Just worth bearing in mind that the restrictions in Europe re emissions is usually concentrated in towns and cities so if you can avoid those you should be OK. David

Hi David Welcome to Motorhome Talk. The opinions of changing from a caravan to a motorhome are many and varied as you have probably already discovered! We made the change about seven years ago and we are now on our second motorhome. Despite caravanning for 30 odd years I can't see us going back. I recorded our thoughts about changing in this Blog here http://www.davidklyne.co.uk/motorhome_blog.html You are obviously looking for a large motorhome? Tag axle motorhomes are usually longer, usually eight meters + so you do have to be sure that sites can accept that length. Obviously abo

It looks as if it is not a normal sink plug but one that presses in like a domestic one? Have you tried Adria, they might be able to identify. SMEV is a brand of sink but a search only seemed to show up smaller diameter as you have probably already discovered. David

Welcome to the forum. David

Our motorhome had a solar panel fitted as standard. Unfortunately due to Bailey penny pinching they only connected it to leisure battery despite installing a controller capable of providing links to both cab and leisure batteries? I would have thought that a solar panel would be ideal for your circumstances providing your van is stored in the open. I imagine the tracker and alarm are linked to the cab battery so it would be important to set the controller to send a higher charge to the cab battery. Often with a twin setup the cab battery is only set to receive 10% of the charge bu

Congratulations. We are of course living in uncertain times but hopefully next year you will get a lot of use out of your motorhome. We have just had to cancel our booking for Broadway in a couple of weeks time and it is unlikely we will try and go away again this year. Earlier in the year we had a new kitchen and conservatory fitted at home thinking that getting that done in February/March would give us plenty of time to enjoy the summer!!! How wrong we were! We have only manage eight nights away this year. David

I suppose as motorhomes tend to move on quite frequently you would have the bother of packing them away and storing them. Solar panels combined with latest generation batteries there really shouldn't be a need? David

Gordon Our first Bailey had a level floor throughout apart from the step up into the cab. Our Alliance has a raised floor in the lounge which we weren't keen on but have got used to. One possible reason is that it allows heating pipes to go from one side of the van to the other. It also means the under bed lockers are much deeper so there are pros and cons. David

Gordon I was initially very excited about this new range as they all have automatic gearboxes which I would love to have. However having delved into the detail a bit all models have minuscule payloads, somewhere between 350 and 410 kgs, especially as most of them have four seat belts. I have no idea if they can be uprated but then the problem becomes the 3500 kgs weight many of us of 70 and over have on our driving licence. David

There seems to be less and less included in the all in weight of the vans now. My original 2013 Approach 740SE had a payload of 550kgs and some things which are now extras were included in the weight of the van before payload was calculated. It won't be that many years down the road that people who passed their test after 1997 will probably start buying motorhomes and they will be restricted to 3500kgs. There are lots of motorhomes under 3500kgs with a good payload but probably not as luxurious as those with the lower payload? David

The payload of that model based on a 3500kgs chassis seems to be 358 kgs which as you have already recognised is not enough for 3 adults (driver already include in base weight) It might be OK for a day trip out with a virtually empty motorhome but if you were going away, even for a weekend, I think you would be struggling to stay legal? It is possible to upgrade the weight but you will have to weigh the motorhome in travelling trim to check front and rear axles to make sure you have enough leeway to upgrade. This company http://www.svtech.co.uk/ is used by many motorhomers to upgrade the weigh

I have always found the DVLA to be pretty good with things but I imagine the current COVID situation is not helping. When ever I have difficulty getting through to organisations on the phone I leave until about 15 minutes before they are due to go home as by then they are probably not making any outgoing calls so you could strike lucky. David

Bob I cheated and got my dealer to install our Vision Plus camera! Do you have a Facebook account? If so there is a very useful Bailey Motorhome Owners Group which might be able to help. David