East Neuk Campervans

[Mark and Mindy]

I feel as if I'm forever starting new threads to ask about different vans and manufacturers!

However, having been back to the NEC again yesterday and had a look at our 3 target manufacturers and confirming that none of them really meet our needs for various reasons we've come to the conclusion that of everything that I've seen online and clambered over we really like the East Neuk Touring L the best.

The downside is that we haven't actually seen one because they haven't been at the shows we've been at and, talking to them earlier, they aren't going to be at any either due to their schedules. That's fair enough and now that Mark's booked a week off work I've sorted out various hotels for a week away which includes going to Anstruther to see the van and finally decide if its the one for us.

I've trawled all over the internet and this forum and see that some people do have East Neuk vans but am trying to find out if there are any others who have one, and what they had added. This will be our first van, and while I know that people don't necessarily get the first one right I'd like to try and get it as near to right as possible. It ticks so many boxes for us, and other than the fact that the factory is 460 miles away its a lot cheaper than a comparable van due to do so much being standard that is an optional extra with other manufacterers.

 

[DBK]

@hilldweller ?

Who has one hence the link. I've seen it and it is very well designed and put together. A cut above the well known makes.
I wouldn't worry about the factory being a long way away, you are unlikely to suffer the teething problems of the mass produced alternatives and if you do they will sort you out as the issues are likely to be with common fittings such as refrigerators which can be fixed locally. Price is no guide to quality, someone on here recently bought a MH for £300K+ and the habitation door didn't fit properly!

 

[CazPaul]

They have a decent reputation, for me both water tanks are underslung, the fresh is insulated and can be heated only if ordered from new and not retrofitted. Even so, the heat is 12v so uses a lot of power if not on EHU.
Compressor fridge and diesel heating so need a bit of power, its a big 230ah leisure battery though and a solar panel as standard although that's useless in grey winter days.
Front wheel drive if that matters.
Good build quality, they make their own GRP washroom shower tray and sink.
A nice van but front wheel drive and not as well winterised as the continental PVC's.

 

[hilldweller]

@hilldweller ?

You called Sir.

I've never heard the name before and I'm 300 miles away.

Just had a look at the web site, that looks a beautiful van. Though for that money the OP could get Magnificent in a C class.

For example...
https://www.spinney.co.uk/motorhomes/used/auto-trail/frontier/2895

 

[Koppersbeat]

Just a quick look at their video and it appears in the model you are looking at there is only one bed and you said you wanted 2.
The vans are not NCC approved,not sure what significance that would be.But most of all you can’t take passengers.I even had 4 belted seats in my tiny NV200 pop top conversion which I bought as a trial to see if I could manage touring abroad on my own.
They look really well made vans but as they are not intending to have other dealers selling their vans it means a big hike up to Fife for any warranty work,habitation checks etc.
Did you dismiss the Wildax vans completely? They have won all the awards in their class and also the latest customer satisfaction award.See their Facebook page.
Good look in your search.
Helen

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[Mark and Mindy]

They have a decent reputation, for me both water tanks are underslung, the fresh is insulated and can be heated only if ordered from new and not retrofitted. Even so, the heat is 12v so uses a lot of power if not on EHU.
Compressor fridge and diesel heating so need a bit of power, its a big 230ah leisure battery though and a solar panel as standard although that's useless in grey winter days.
Front wheel drive if that matters.
Good build quality, they make their own GRP washroom shower tray and sink.
A nice van but front wheel drive and not as well winterised as the continental PVC's.

We would change the citroen base for the fiat base because we wanted the comformatic option, I'd have to check out the winterising of the van but we weren't planning to use it in really cold conditions.

I'll add the heating of the fresh tank to the list.

You called Sir.

I've never heard the name before and I'm 300 miles away.

Just had a look at the web site, that looks a beautiful van. Though for that money the OP could get Magnificent in a C class.

For example...
https://www.spinney.co.uk/motorhomes/used/auto-trail/frontier/2895

We want a PVC as that suits us better, so although the Magnificent looks nice its not for us.

 

[Mark and Mindy]

Just a quick look at their video and it appears in the model you are looking at there is only one bed and you said you wanted 2.
The vans are not NCC approved,not sure what significance that would be.But most of all you can’t take passengers.I even had 4 belted seats in my tiny NV200 pop top conversion which I bought as a trial to see if I could manage touring abroad on my own.
They look really well made vans but as they are not intending to have other dealers selling their vans it means a big hike up to Fife for any warranty work,habitation checks etc.
Did you dismiss the Wildax vans completely? They have won all the awards in their class and also the latest customer satisfaction award.See their Facebook page.
Good look in your search.
Helen

We had another look at the Wildaxes yesterday, but decided that we prefer the ENC. We've had another think about the bed situation - the transverse won't work for us because its difficult for me to manoeuver myself into a lying position from being seated with feet on the floor - we tried in one van and I didn't care to repeat the experience in another van with different onlookers - I have sore hips and knees (can't kneel) and an ankle that doesn't bend properly. We also decided that the second bed in front of the Aurora wouldn't work either for Mark and its too short for me, not helped by the salesman not managing to put it together properly.

We also don't need more than the 2 seatbelts as it won't ever be more than the 2 of us. We won't be using it as anything but a van for us + dogs as we both have cars if we're ever going anywhere with passengers.

The distance up to Fife isn't a deal breaker for us, if it needs to go up there any time then I don't have a problem driving up with Mark or on my own.

I do sometimes feel that the more we see the less we know, but maybe that's the way to go about it.

 

[CazPaul]

They have a 2013 touring L model due in according to their website. When we were interested in one due in they were going to ring me when it was in but never did, I rang back a week later and it had sold. This happened twice to me with them so I gave up, its poor customer service by the son. His dad was apologetic though.

 

[lorger]

We had a look at them before buying our Globecar and although i thought the build quality was good I just didn't like them. I cant ut my finger on it but it wasn't for me.

 

[Deleted member 43219]

That'll be me that DBK is referring to. We've had our Touring L for 18 months and are very pleased with it. The only fault we've had was with the gas regulator. We felt the van was better finished and thought out than the offerings from bigger manufacturers. Ours doesn't have a heated FW tank but didn't freeze up in sub-zero conditions. My only criticism is that the waste tank ground clearance isn't great but the tank bottom is slightly lower than the step, so it will touch terra firma first providing you are moving forward and as it's solidly made I can't see it coming to grief easily.

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[davejen]

Just wondering why have a heated tank if you aren't going to use in cold conditions?
Seems a bit of waste to me, just sayin'
Cheers, Dave

 

[Ranger]

You could always go for a high quality bespoke build to your own design, its not a cheap option but at least you get what you want including the insulation.

 

[Mark and Mindy]

That'll be me that DBK is referring to. We've had our Touring L for 18 months and are very pleased with it. The only fault we've had was with the gas regulator. We felt the van was better finished and thought out than the offerings from bigger manufacturers. Ours doesn't have a heated FW tank but didn't freeze up in sub-zero conditions. My only criticism is that the waste tank ground clearance isn't great but the tank bottom is slightly lower than the step, so it will touch terra firma first providing you are moving forward and as it's solidly made I can't see it coming to grief easily.

I much prefer the layout than anything else we've seen so far, but still need to see it of course, it seems more logical to us especially when I factor in my dodgy limbs.

Just wondering why have a heated tank if you aren't going to use in cold conditions?
Seems a bit of waste to me, just sayin'
Cheers, Dave

As complete newbies to motorhoming, I wanted to try and find out if we should be asking for anything more than just the normal build - we would plan to use it for nice days and maybe the odd night over the winter period, but more from March to October (guessing here a bit), so not sure if that counts as using it in cold conditions which we would need a heated tank for or whether its not worth bothering with.

You could always go for a high quality bespoke build to your own design, its not a cheap option but at least you get what you want including the insulation.

We did briefly think of that, but we don't know enough to go down that route and the Touring L has ticked all the boxes for us - there are no compromises that we could find which all other vans have had.

I'm probably a bit starry eyed bearing in mind I've only seen it on their website, but I've read every review I can find online and of course on here asking questions. Only another 4 months until we can see it for ourselves!

 

[davejen]

March to O ctober.... I don't think you would need the heater. Just ensure you drain ALL water out of the system(s) when not using the van. Open all taps whilst draining and if possible blow down them, we use a small compressor with a rubber pipe. Also drain the pump.
Hope this helps,
Cheers, Dave
ps, it doesn't matter if there is a bit left in the tanks as there will be enough room for it to expand if it freezes.