Motorhome

There seems to be an opening in my life into which a motor-caravan would fit (although the finances are going to be a struggle even for something well over ten years old).

I've found a firm called "Romahome" based on the Isle of Wight (UK) ( although they seem to have allowed their domain name to lapse) who have been building 2-berth motorhomes onto Citroen base-vehicles (C15, Berlingo, Relay) for several years, and what I've seen and read on-line so far suggests that they are good. Their 'Hylo' models look the most suitable for my purposes, as they are not much bigger than a normal car.

Does anyone here have any experience of that make, or any other based on Citroen?

Also - would I be expelled if I sold my ZX in part exchange for something not even remotely Citroen-related? The motorhome aspect may have to trump loyalty to Citroen, assuming I can manage the finances at all.

Reply to
Whiskers
Loading thread data ...

Might be worth posting your questions to the news:uk.rec.motorcaravans group too.

Reply to
:Jerry:

Yes, but it's a bit quiet over there so I thought I'd get the Citroen angle first ;))

Reply to
Whiskers

Whiskers

You can also post to news:uk.rec.caravanning which is where most of the nonposters to news:uk.rec.motorcaravans who have motor caravans seem to hang out.

Richard Web pages:

formatting link
for caravanning,
formatting link
for my personal web site and
formatting link
because I love the email address.

Reply to
Richard Cole

Whiskers ( snipped-for-privacy@operamail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Buy an H-van or Acadiane. Fit it out as a camper.

Job done, with a damn sight more style than a B'lingo or Relay...

Our Acad has a raised bed base which takes a 1m wide futon - I'm 6'2", and we both sleep comfortably in it.

Best H-van conversion I've seen was simple - they bought a Welsh Dresser, took it home in the van, found it wouldn't fit in their kitchen, so bolted it into the van. Conversion finished. Lob a mattress on the floor.

Reply to
Adrian

Adrian ( snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

I should add that there's plenty of full-on cooker/sink/everything H-van campers about, but they're boring...

Reply to
Adrian

Different style, certainly. I don't think I've ever seen any sort of H van in the UK. I think they're a bit larger on the outside than I'm contemplating - although I might tolerate that if the price is right. But I really want to able to park in the space that a car would use, hence the C15 or Berlingo as a base vehicle.

I do like the 'real Citroen' aspect of the H vans, although I'd be rather concerned about the reliability of a commercial vehicle that would have to be at least 25 years old now.

I'm really not up to doing a conversion for myself, and I'm too old and stiff to want to manage with a mattress on the floor in the back of a basic panel-van.

An Acadiane might be more the size I'm looking for, but again the age and reliability would worry me.

I think I want some insulation, heating, and other luxuries - and something I can use as a passable 'ordinary car' too.

Reply to
Whiskers

I don't mind that sort of 'boring'; where can I find them and how much do they cost and how easy are they to park and how well can they handle long journeys and bad weather? (I have found and ). Presumably, they are all left-hand drive - which is not a good feature in the UK, particularly when trying to pay at tolls or car-parks without a passenger to reach through the right-hand window.

I suspect that my octogenarian parents would struggle to get aboard.

Certainly, a Citroen H-Van camper would be more to my liking than a VW-based one, if I end up looking at things that age and size.

Reply to
Whiskers

Whiskers ( snipped-for-privacy@operamail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

There's plenty about.

No larger than the Relay you mentioned, I wouldn't think.

... and certainly no bigger than a large car.

You want an older H, anyway - the last few years were very rot prone.

Pfffft. You're a big girl's blouse.

Reply to
Adrian

Whiskers ( snipped-for-privacy@operamail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

If you aren't a member of the CCC, then you ought to be.

You'd struggle to pay much more than about five or six grand for a nice H.

They're very square at the corners, so you can see exactly where they are.

Long journeys do require a certain state of mind, flat out at 50mph, 'tis true.

Reply to
Adrian

I passed a H-van (and proper period camper conversion too) going the other way a few days ago, such was my surprise that I nearly ran up the read of the car in front! Always wanted a H-van ever since childhood, many happy memories of the family driving through France to holidays in Spain, tis true that every other small trader seemed to have one (mind you every other car seemed to be either a 2cv or DS back in the '60's and early '70's), I often wonder how many H-vans the local 'Ice Man' [1] got through in his working life...

[1] sold blocks of ice, the size of washing up bowls, each morning from the back of a H-van
Reply to
:Jerry:

Not where I look, but inner London isn't the natural habitat of camper vans and when I'm driving I don't pay attention to the make and model of every vehicle in sight, so I can accept that they may have failed to register on my conscious mind.

That's the top end of my tolerable size-range.

True, at least in terms of road space covered.

Thanks for the tip!

I'm certainly big, and well past the stage of life at which comfort can be dismissed as unnecessary. I can't afford to run two cars; even one is a stretch.

Reply to
Whiskers

One step at a time; I'm right at the beginning of this line of thought.

I'll struggle to pay anything. I've seen adverts for C15-based campers in that sort of price range, and they have the practical merits of being newer and less basic in design than the H-vans. They do lack the charm, of course.

I could probably manage to acquire a nice line in Breton or Gallic invective and small-talk, but I no longer smoke so the strong cigarettes are out (and I was a pipe-smoker anyway, which in my mind goes better with a Light 15 than with an H-van), and I don't want to get into the habit of swigging from bottles of Pernod or bad wine. I do quite like garlic.

I'm no speed merchant, and one of the reasons for thinking about a camper van is so that I can break down cross-country journeys into two or more days without the expense and planning of finding 'conventional' places to eat and sleep. I only use motorways if time is short or to simplify navigation.

Being able to just go, at the drop of a hat, is the plan.

My family are scattered to the far corners of southern Britain, and aren't getting any younger - so I want to be able to visit at short notice and be useful without imposing any need for them to provide hospitality. My own health and mobility aren't what they used to be either, and money is scarce. The hobby and leisure aspects of a camper van are secondary in my thinking at the moment, albeit not unattractive.

Reply to
Whiskers

Buyers of his old vehicles would probably have a problem with rust, I suspect.

Reply to
Whiskers

Whiskers ( snipped-for-privacy@operamail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Not nearly as much as the buyers of horse- and cattle-boxes... You *really* don't want to buy one of them.

Reply to
Adrian

I suspect back then he only bought a new van when the old one got swept up...!

Reply to
:Jerry:

Indeed, sellers are often on a piss take.... :~o

Reply to
:Jerry:

Rust might not be the most noticeable problem with those!

Reply to
Whiskers

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.