Are newer motorhomes lacking the equipment essential for travel?

Steve Travelvan

Steve Travelvan

Joined
Dec 10, 2018
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Exmouth
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57,533
MH
Adria Twin
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Since 2014
I am considering the purchase of a 2021 Adria Twin to replace my ten year old Adria Twin and was surprised to learn that it isn't fitted with a battery to battery charger, a SOG, a second leisure battery, (particularly as it has a compressor fridge), and only has an 80w solar panel rather than a larger one. These are all things that I would consider essential for my travels. Are all newer van conversions and motorhomes so under equipped for normal touring life? Which makes of motorhome and van conversion should I be considering that would be ready for the road or do I have to spend the rest of the winter on my drive fitting all the essentials?
 
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I don’t think your choice of motorhome should depend on what “extras” it has. My advice would be to choose the mh that has the layout you want and also has a good payload. You can then decide what goodies you want,or need.
Good luck.
 
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Steve Travelvan said:
I am considering the purchase of a 2021 Adria Twin to replace my ten year old Adria Twin and was surprised to learn that it isn't fitted with a battery to battery charger, a SOG, a second leisure battery, (particularly as it has a compressor fridge), and only has an 80w solar panel rather than a larger one. These are all things that I would consider essential for my travels. Are all newer van conversions and motorhomes so under equipped for normal touring life? Which makes of motorhome and van conversion should I be considering that would be ready for the road or do I have to spend the rest of the winter on my drive fitting all the essentials?
Click to expand...

So did your ten-year-old Adria Twin come fitted with a B2B, SOG, second leisure battery and a larger solar panel from new?
 
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I doubt any of those items are included in a basic motorhome, you might get a bike rack, reversing camera and an awning.

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If they include the things you want from new it will increase the price and anyone buying one who stays all the time on sites will be paying for a lot of stuff they don't want. We're not all the same I would want all the things you mentioned and the batteries being lithium if they fitted two gel or lead acid that's a waste straight away. Better to fit basic then people can add what they want
 
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Our naibors bought a large coach build with lots of nice things like fixed bed , microwave etc. They spend there time away on sites because the leisure battery is only 80 amp matching the 80w solar panel meaning they can’t be off grid for long.
One of the reasons we bought our older coachbuild secondhand was because it had been updated by the previous owners. We have two 110 leisure batteries and a 130w solar panel. I fitted a battery master.
The only way I would replace ours would have to be a conversion to order. No clever electrics. Decent sized batteries and solar panel. And water tanks big enough for at least three or four nights off grid.
 
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No, we just need more stuff now. Air fryers,external BBQ, Wifi, lots of gadgets which need power, to name a few.
 
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I only have one leisure battery, no solar nor B2B, no SOG and I feel quite equipped for my travels. I've spent a month at a time in Germany, Spain, France etc and even UK, rarely using sites without any significant problems.

Gordon

(I do have a 3-way fridge)

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Steve Travelvan said:
These are all things that I would consider essential for my travels.
Click to expand...

That is what you need.. not everyone
Steve Travelvan said:
do I have to spend the rest of the winter on my drive fitting all the essentials?
Click to expand...
no need, you could specify these "essential extras " from the dealer when you order...

People like myself who don't do 'off site parking', but rather use sites, CLs and Aires generally with EHU don't need any of those extras..

At the other end of the travel spectrum, people going on an 'overland expedition would need to customise a van to suit that kind of travel with a lot more than what you need ..
 
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We don’t do off site parking but we do do off grid on sites, or uk Aires, where we can. Our 2021 van bought new, came with 120w solar panel and b2b. It has a compressor fridge but had only a 90ah battery, so only suitable for the odd night off grid except in really good weather. We had a 230ah lithium installed. Do many vans come with a sog installed from new? I would have thought that was almost always a retro fit. We are quite happy with our ordinary van loo, so not something we would consider. I do think van manufacturers are not considering the need for additional battery capacity with compressor fridges. Maybe as more want to ditch an ehu hookup on sites this will slowly change. Incidentally our van came with a roll out canopy which if given the choice we would not have had. On our previous van we used it twice and on this van in nearly three years we used it once to try out and on one other occasion.
 
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My 2021 Burstner was a pretty basic spec one but did come with B2B charger. SOG I wouldn't have said is an essential. I've never felt the need for one. I would have liked an extra battery but I fitted one myself for the cost of a battery and a couple of cables.

I do agree it seems odd these things don't come as standard. They cost very little in the scheme of things and would be even cheaper fitted at the time of construction.

However, I bet they would charge a lot more for them than they cost to be fitted after market.
 
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Rapido925M said:
I only have one leisure battery, no solar nor B2B, no SOG and I feel quite equipped for my travels. I've spent a month at a time in Germany, Spain, France etc and even UK, rarely using sites without any significant problems.

Gordon

(I do have a 3-way fridge)
Click to expand...

OK if you move regularly. We spent 10 days completely of grid without starting the engine at LE Mans 24 hour race. One battery and no solar wouldn't do that. I think 2 batterys and a 150 watt solar would be reasonable original spec. items and would only cost a couple of hundred quid extra for the manufacture to fit.
 
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Some new vans come with just a tiny lightweight 70AH battery, pretty much useless unless you only use hookup.

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It's always been that way with Motorhomes, when we bought ours I ordered it with £15K of options. Then after we received it I spent another £10k on extras.
 
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I would imagine they make them a pretty basic spec as standard, one to keep the price down or profit margin up :unsure: then of course there is the old payload thing in that the more they put on as standard the worse the payload figures are, thirdly it allows them or their retailers to sell extras as part of a sale, and finally I suppose not everybody wants what one person sees as a minimum spec and would prefer to pick their own spec I know we did.
 
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As far as I know, in the Twin model (all ranges), the batteries, solar panels and solar regulator do not come from the factory but rely on the dealer.
Recently (I think since 2021) Adria delivers the Twin with B2B.
 
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With all the safety additions in base vans these days I guess the manufacturers are already dealing with additional weight. Add on the Hab area and all the toys, additional batteries, heating, hot water, fridge, waste and you quickly see where the payload goes. There has to be a compromise somewhere to keep vans below the C1 category (3500kg) which will be their mass market. It will be up to the buyer to add the options assuming the MH is capable and you have the license to drive it.
 
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Lenny HB said:
It's always been that way with Motorhomes, when we bought ours I ordered it with £15K of options. Then after we received it I spent another £10k on extras.
Click to expand...
:unsure::LOL: that only gets you one option on a Morelo ;)

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In the boating arena, you can buy a "sail-away" and then fit it out yourself. The sail-away has little more than an engine fitted.
Basic motorhomes have much more than that. Keeping the spec to a minimum will keep the entry price low (and payload high) whilst offering the purchaser the freedom to fit the components they prefer. Everyone is different.

I remember my first caravan. It was extremely basic by modern standards, but did the job. The lino flooring was something I missed as I progressed up the range and was obliged to have carpets - they were not as easy to keep clean.
 
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I've recently bought a new motorhome and initially thought the same The manufacturers lose a lot of potential extra revenue from not offering many extras but recently thay have had enough of a challenged building standard vehicles I've added:
solar panels and mppt, lithium battery, lithium charger, towbar, awning, satnav with vehicles dims, alarm, tracker, router and aerial, spare wheel, tyre and carrier.They could gladly have had most or all that extra revenue but I have had a complete choice of product.They should fit mud flaps as standard though.Pure penny pinching 🤨
 
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If I had a choice of the manufacturer including 10k's worth of extras and charging me an extra 10k, or having the vehicle at a lower base price and giving me the options list to choose what I want, I would always prefer the latter.

For example, we don't want a TV in our van, so I don't want to have pay for the all the TV related paraphernalia as part of a standard build...

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That's the thing if the option is a van at the current price including everything everyone would like that but that won't be the option
 
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Don't forget the fuss we make about payload. Those "little extras" add-up and reduce the one thing that's precious.
On my last van, I paid extra not to have certain things, to keep the delivered weight down. Most people would accept the delivered spec (because the price is lower) and have to live with the consequences. Motorhoming is about freedom and the freedom to add exactly what you want is a big attraction.
 
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I have some regrets about limiting the number of manufacturer's extras on my purchase order. A couple of them would have been handy, and if I could go back in a time machine I would have added them to the order placed with the factory.

On the other hand the budget was a bit tight. A bonus was that by keeping the total price below £50k the insurance company did not insist on me fitting an alarm system and tracker.

Nowadays one of the things that the French buyers seem to expect as standard on van conversions is a sliding insect screen across the side door, even on budget models. UK buyers of the same model will find it is an expensive option.
 
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VXman said:
OK if you move regularly. We spent 10 days completely of grid without starting the engine at LE Mans 24 hour race. One battery and no solar wouldn't do that. I think 2 batterys and a 150 watt solar would be reasonable original spec. items and would only cost a couple of hundred quid extra for the manufacture to fit.
Click to expand...
I agree and moving every couple of days is what we do ;)

I've had the van 16y now and I did fit an extra battery for a couple of years but decided the weight penalty (mine is a 3.5T Aclass) wasn't worth it. Similarly, it didn't take me much experience to realise that solar wouldn't be worth the cost and the weight.

As has been said by many, we're all different and I would be quite happy to go with lower original spec than you. And I'm more than happy to not have to spend "only a couple of hundred quid extra" in order to satisfy your desires. :rolleyes:

Gordon
 
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