Return to MORELO (2 Viewers)

[nicholsong]

Martin

Great series of posts and photos. Thanks very much for taking the time. Were all the photos from the Palace production line? Did you see any of the Home and Loft?

How was the party last evening?

Geoff

 

[AndyVW]

Martin
Brilliant set of Photos, very interesting subject matter, Factory,s I mean, after all once you've seen the hills and valleys of Germany good as they are, they will be the same next year, But your thread highlights just how things move on in the eng. world
Needless to say as you know I'm currently making the jump N&B to Morelo so I will be there next year.
Best thread in a long time thank you.

 

[dabhand]

The factories attention to detail is only bettered by your own Martin, You should be making documentaries…. For Morello, very interesting, informative and well pictured. Vario factory next please

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[funflair]

Martin

Great series of posts and photos. Thanks very much for taking the time. Were all the photos from the Palace production line? Did you see any of the Home and Loft?

How was the party last evening?

Geoff

Hi Geoff

The production was/is quite mixed up so you get Grand Empires being built at the same time as Place Loft and Home, my photos of production represent with possible exception of the Home.

We didn't stay too late last night and it was quieter than the night before with the fireworks, apparently Reinhart who is one the directors didn't finish till 4am and had lost his voice this morning, some others can't remember what time they got back to their vans of even how they got back.

 

[funflair]

Martin
Brilliant set of Photos, very interesting subject matter, Factory,s I mean, after all once you've seen the hills and valleys of Germany good as they are, they will be the same next year, But your thread highlights just how things move on in the eng. world
Needless to say as you know I'm currently making the jump N&B to Morelo so I will be there next year.
Best thread in a long time thank you.

Thnks Andy will be great to see you again but in you new van

 

[funflair]

Well that is us officially on the road again, part of what's great about these vans big is that we filled with water about 30 miles from the factory on a fairly quiet stellplatz then we have had 4 night with about 800 other so you can imagine that the dump and fill facilities would be very busy but as we still have around 50% water and about 25% in the waste tanks we are just heading for the Mosel and Stellplatz there where we will service in a couple of days or so when it is quiet.

I have to say that the factory have looked after us very very well, parking is free, bread rolls every morning, we did the prosecco carriage ride which is free and 6 bottles of Prosecco included, friends did a walk and all drinks at the lunch stop were included, the factory service team have been doing as many small jobs as they could fit it and apparently they have completed over 300 service jobs.

Yes it's great when stuff is free (OK we have paid for it up front) but the biggest lasting impression is how friendly the staff are, the director Reinhart Lohner he is the LO in MORELO by the way is always walking around stopping and chatting and thanking everybody for coming, the international sales team were great and would just wander round sit down have a chat drink coffee have a beer or buy you beer, our dealer Mike from Premium has been great company as well and seemed to have an adequate supply of beer money just a pity I couldn't last till 3am to try to spend it all.

All in all top marks to MORELO

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[funflair]

The factories attention to detail is only bettered by your own Martin, You should be making documentaries…. For Morello, very interesting, informative and well pictured. Vario factory next please

Vario is indeed interesting Simon but as Paul CazPaul said earlier they asked for no photos, at vario you would not see so many stages of production as they have fewer vans on the go at any one time.

 

[bigtwin]

Thanks for following this build and I hope some people find it only half as interesting as I do

Fantastic photos and commentary Martin. Thanks for that.

Ian

 

[WESTY66]

Glad you all had a great time, sounds like a great weekend although I expect the run up to be almost as exciting
Thanks for the insight

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Rob Turner]

Really enjoyed reading this thread.
Thank you for all the pictures and descriptions.

 

[EuroTrotters]

View attachment 622375

That is the factory Stellplatz that is open for all makes but MORELO can get in free.

View attachment 622381
Starting to fill up nicely,

View attachment 622382


View attachment 622391

What is that Sprinter? Open Back?

 

[Monty777]

I still can't understand why I could spend all that money, have all that, space but no oven. Surely if it's a home from home you'd want to be able to cook properly.

We have only had motorhome’s with ovens-Jo wouldn’t consider one withou-even our current Hymer Exsis at 6.0m has a proper over and separate grill + 3 gas and 1 electric rings.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[corconx]

Fantastic read. Thank you.

 

[Monty777]

Thanks for all the time taken and photos Martin, I have always liked the look of the Morelo’s but would need a major lottery win to afford one since I would have to buy a much bigger house as well-our last Hymer at 6.7 meters could only just fit on our drive……..

 

[Bradders65]

Excellent thread. Thanks

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Lazyboy]

Martin I have to say that the thread was a bloody marvellous read. Really interesting and gives an understanding to the attention to detail that goes into building such a marvellous piece of luxury. Thanks very much.

 

[jongood]

A great thread and really interesting to see all of the components being built and put together.
Like someone has said earlier, it makes you think how difficult it will be to access a failed joint on a pipe as it’s custom fit with the sides then added. However, we are talking quality here so you’d like to think that a pipe joint won’t fail.
I was interested to see the Blaupunkt label on the oven (or at least I think it was the oven).
Are they now owned by Bosch? I know that Bosch own loads of German brands but didn’t know Blaupunkt did anything other than audio. You learn something new everyday.
Thank you for sharing this.

And sadly Bosch are not immune to putting their name on
Chinese produced goods, I went to buy some drill bits picked up the bosch ones and they were all made in china, so bought some makita ones instead.

 

[Wissel]

Really interesting thread Martin, thanks

Always love seeing how this things are made. Plus it's quite nice to know that Morelo fit a few of the same things that I'm adding to our new build (the underfloor heating and Tecma toilet )

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[jongood]

Yes great thread Martin, really good for the elevated and raw chassis pics, a level of detail we never quite got into at Polch but do Morelo have the autojumble? . Seriously though N&B no longer have the participants at the higher level, no true Liner, no truck chassis etc etc so Morelo have naturally slipped into the vacant place left by them and a slightly complacent concorde who needed Morelo to make them picktheir game up. Afaics phoenix and Vario who both have a very high quality product but probably don't have the volumes to do tours like this.

 

[funflair]

What is that Sprinter? Open Back?

Yes I think it has a three section sliding roof for the rain, Klaus Hunerkopf is a bit of a conversion specialist, it spent most of its time driving around with noisy Germans in the back drinking beer.

 

[Mr porky]

Great thread. Thanks Martin

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[funflair]

We have only had motorhome’s with ovens-Jo wouldn’t consider one withou-even our current Hymer Exsis at 6.0m has a proper over and separate grill + 3 gas and 1 electric rings.

Baked Friday but eaten yesterday, not by me well not the baking bit anyway, to be fair it wasn't the standard oven but there is always a way.

 

[funflair]

Really interesting thread Martin, thanks

Always love seeing how this things are made. Plus it's quite nice to know that Morelo fit a few of the same things that I'm adding to our new build (the underfloor heating and Tecma toilet )

The underfloor is straight off the Alde

 

[funflair]

Yes great thread Martin, really good for the elevated and raw chassis pics, a level of detail we never quite got into at Polch but do Morelo have the autojumble? . Seriously though N&B no longer have the participants at the higher level, no true Liner, no truck chassis etc etc so Morelo have naturally slipped into the vacant place left by them and a slightly complacent concorde who needed Morelo to make them picktheir game up. Afaics phoenix and Vario who both have a very high quality product but probably don't have the volumes to do tours like this.

Hi Jon

Glad you enjoyed it, as you know I can get a bit "nerdy" over these techy bits but as long as people enjoy it I will keep doing it (actually I might even carry on if they don't ).

Yes the chassis bits and the elevated cab is what sets these vans apart from some of the competition and to be fair is part of the reason they are the price they are, on the line they had one van up in the air and we could walk underneath OK it's not everybody that wants to get under their van BUT,

Here you go then, the big round thing with Telma written on it is a Telma oh sorry, it's a Telma retarder and for anybody who doesn't know what this is it is basically a "eddy current" braking system fixed into the prop shaft, it's like a motor but working the other way so it becomes a brake and creates electricity rather that using it, the power it produces is lost as heat.

The Telma is a brilliant bit of kit and I am really pleased that I spent a small fortune ordering it on this trip we have dropped down into the Mosel valley a couple of times and it is quite steep I just set the retarder on two or three clicks and don't need to touch the brakes, Anybody ordering a MORELO needs to bear in mind though that when they fit the retarder the standard 90 litre fuel tank drops to 70 litres to give clearance so you really really need to order the extended range 200 litre tank.

Of course you are right about N+B Jon as they have nothing that currently matched the Clou like you have and they most likely never will again, they are now in a slightly different market to MORELO and Concorde but again they are busy and expanding, PhoeniX have a new building since we were last there and they might have been doing tours I am not sure but what they were showing outside looked even more dated than I remembered but quality build all the same.

Vario will do you a 1 on 1 tour but you need to pretend you can afford one like Paul CazPaul did, mind you he might have got the idea from me

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[CazPaul]

Ok,

Hi Jon

Glad you enjoyed it, as you know I can get a bit "nerdy" over these techy bits but as long as people enjoy it I will keep doing it (actually I might even carry on if they don't ).

Yes the chassis bits and the elevated cab is what sets these vans apart from some of the competition and to be fair is part of the reason they are the price they are, on the line they had one van up in the air and we could walk underneath OK it's not everybody that wants to get under their van BUT,

View attachment 623899
Here you go then, the big round thing with Telma written on it is a Telma oh sorry, it's a Telma retarder and for anybody who doesn't know what this is it is basically a "eddy current" braking system fixed into the prop shaft, it's like a motor but working the other way so it becomes a brake and creates electricity rather that using it, the power it produces is lost as heat.

View attachment 623900
The Telma is a brilliant bit of kit and I am really pleased that I spent a small fortune ordering it on this trip we have dropped down into the Mosel valley a couple of times and it is quite steep I just set the retarder on two or three clicks and don't need to touch the brakes, Anybody ordering a MORELO needs to bear in mind though that when they fit the retarder the standard 90 litre fuel tank drops to 70 litres to give clearance so you really really need to order the extended range 200 litre tank.

Of course you are right about N+B Jon as they have nothing that currently matched the Clou like you have and they most likely never will again, they are now in a slightly different market to MORELO and Concorde but again they are busy and expanding, PhoeniX have a new building since we were last there and they might have been doing tours I am not sure but what they were showing outside looked even more dated than I remembered but quality build all the same.

Vario will do you a 1 on 1 tour but you need to pretend you can afford one like Paul CazPaul did, mind you he might have got the idea from me

Oi, I hope you’re not suggesting we were economical with the truth

I was seriously interested in buying I just didn’t let them know I hadn’t got quite enough in the piggy bank and yes you did put me onto the idea Martin but it did cost me a few drinks to you in return, or did I dream that?

It was a great experience and because it’s a small bespoke manufacturer great attention to detail is absolutely evident.

German friend of ours told us that in 2007, because of massive increased demand, Concorde opened a huge new factory expansion to meet this. He said the attention to detail and quality went down after this, which makes sense.

Example is that, March 2005 registered, we are still on our original inverter, batteries, solar, fridge freezer, no bodywork issues or leaks, everything feels like it’s hewn from a panzer tank.

I’ve always had that in mind when looking although reports now suggest that the quality has subsequently gone up in the last few years, which is good to hear.

 

[Dutch 68]

Hi Jon

Glad you enjoyed it, as you know I can get a bit "nerdy" over these techy bits but as long as people enjoy it I will keep doing it (actually I might even carry on if they don't ).

Yes the chassis bits and the elevated cab is what sets these vans apart from some of the competition and to be fair is part of the reason they are the price they are, on the line they had one van up in the air and we could walk underneath OK it's not everybody that wants to get under their van BUT,

View attachment 623899
Here you go then, the big round thing with Telma written on it is a Telma oh sorry, it's a Telma retarder and for anybody who doesn't know what this is it is basically a "eddy current" braking system fixed into the prop shaft, it's like a motor but working the other way so it becomes a brake and creates electricity rather that using it, the power it produces is lost as heat.

View attachment 623900
The Telma is a brilliant bit of kit and I am really pleased that I spent a small fortune ordering it on this trip we have dropped down into the Mosel valley a couple of times and it is quite steep I just set the retarder on two or three clicks and don't need to touch the brakes, Anybody ordering a MORELO needs to bear in mind though that when they fit the retarder the standard 90 litre fuel tank drops to 70 litres to give clearance so you really really need to order the extended range 200 litre tank.

Of course you are right about N+B Jon as they have nothing that currently matched the Clou like you have and they most likely never will again, they are now in a slightly different market to MORELO and Concorde but again they are busy and expanding, PhoeniX have a new building since we were last there and they might have been doing tours I am not sure but what they were showing outside looked even more dated than I remembered but quality build all the same.

Vario will do you a 1 on 1 tour but you need to pretend you can afford one like Paul CazPaul did, mind you he might have got the idea from me

Retarders are life savers, every heavy vehicle should have one, I had hydraulic retarders on various HGV’s when you go down a mountain in winter, you give the retarder a few clicks, if it then turns itself off, you know that you hit black ice, so you can adjust your driving before it’s too late

 

[MobyDick57]

Really very interesting and great photos Martin A big thank you.
We will try to attend next year’s bash.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Carol]

funflair Martin might have been a bit Nerdy but I enjoyed your visit.
Thank you

 

[funflair]

funflair Martin might have been a bit Nerdy but I enjoyed your visit.
Thank you

Thanks Carol this is just for you then, there was a competition "pimp my MORELO" this was our entry

All handmade by Jen, no it didn't win "we was robbed"

Anybody wanting to join a Knit and natter group at our Shrewsbury rally just shout up and I will tell Jen when it's too late for her to back out

 

[Lenny HB]

Thanks Martin, hopefully we will make it one year, no harm in dreaming.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}