Woohoo, we are now the proud owners of a motorhome! Let’s start with some pics!
They spent over an hour going over the vehicle with me, pointing out features to look out for and explaining how everything works – the awning, gas hot water heater, batteries, the tables and how to remove or reposition, beds, toilet, shower, etc etc.
There were a few things they were meant to fix up, of which they did some – thankfully including the mechanical service (yep oil looks clean now and filters are new!). They missed/ignored two things – the entry door seal and a loose window, so they’ve agreed for me to take it back to the factory for a day to have those fixed. I’m being fairly fussy, but they are the ones who offered to fix these when I mentioned them, despite already having signed a purchase contract!
Now it’s time to think about some modifications – you can’t go buying a motorhome and not customise it! 🙂 We won’t want to be staying at caravan parks all the time (or much at all hopefully!), so we’ll need to make additions to improve our remote staying capability. Add an inverter for example. For power, should we go solar panels and more batteries, or buy a generator?
First things first though; we need to fill ‘er up and go on a test trip!!!
Awesome mate -we saw one like this last weekend. I’d go the solar road any day though you need to read up on how to attach them properly -What sort of roof does it have? Is it the EPDM one? (rubber surface) Get Collyn Rivers books on motor homes and solar. I’m making three batteries at the moment from ups’s One is eight x seven amp hour batteries in parallel and eight twelve amp batteries in parallel and the last one will be 5 x 25 amp hour batteries. I want to run a 12v freezer with extra insulation -I’ll rebuild one if I need to. Lots of good forums for these mods. If you have enough solar you can keep it separate from the starting battery -mine connects with a solenoid. Don’t forget fuses next to your batteries. I’ve got some mobile panels for now with a morning star regulator. Email me and I’ll head you towards some awesome forums -I’m testing mods to my three way fridge now for gas mode -more insulation and extra low wattage fan on a very cheap thermostat.
If your going for a genie check out the 2.8kva Fuji genies that are about $600 on ebay -you can buy three of them for the price of a honda 2ue and are just as quiet -if you want to try a good deal for two of them I’ll join you. Seems the best value for money to me -Congrats to all the family,
Dale
Thanks Dale. It already has a 100Ahr battery just for the motorhome – separate from the two large vehicle batteries. Ctek charger keeps it topped up from either vehicle alternator or 240V. I can get 25Ahr AGM batteries from work at Chinese wholesale price if it isn’t big enough. May get 2 days or so out of it? Fridge is 12V compressor driven, so that will be the main power user. Not sure if I’ll glue panels to roof, or just use a folding pair when at a place for longer stays. Fibreglass-foam-fibreglass panels/structure all round, including roof.
Don’t know if we’ll get a gennie initially – if we do it’d be for the 240V air conditioner, microwave and emergency battery top-up (though can always just run the engine to do that). Thanks for the brand suggestion, I’ll have a look. The Honda ones have been out a long time, so I imagine the copies are pretty good by now!
I don’t think I have your email address, but it would be good if you could send me the links – just use my email address on the ‘contact’ page. Thanks.
Simon