Full time through winter in search of new life

dawsey said:
our plan is to immediately buy 6 new statics on tic (credi-buy) and design, build, set up a brand new restaurant.
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Have you considered allowing 'bring ons' - so long as they are of a decent standard of course. that way there is no outlay from you re purchase, but you get the advantage of a quick cash injection or a bring on fee (around 1000 euros) plus site fees paid in advance, we currently pay 2400 euros in Challans.

i even connected up three of our vans (ours and our two daughters), which included digging, installing and connecting up the drains, water connection and electric cable (for connection by electrician) as i served an apprenticeship in plumbing before joining the fire brigade!


it sounds like a great project and i wish you well !
 
MisterB said:
Have you considered allowing 'bring ons' - so long as they are of a decent standard of course. that way there is no outlay from you re purchase, but you get the advantage of a quick cash injection or a bring on fee (around 1000 euros) plus site fees paid in advance, we currently pay 2400 euros in Challans.

i even connected up three of our vans (ours and our two daughters), which included digging, installing and connecting up the drains, water connection and electric cable (for connection by electrician) as i served an apprenticeship in plumbing before joining the fire brigade!


it sounds like a great project and i wish you well !
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Thanks. Yes we are considering having residents, and 6m winter worker rentals. We will be close to many industrial zones. Not too close, all are sandwiched between the main road and the freight railway which both pass approx 1km from the site. We also plan to offer caravan storage etc etc. Anything to make a few quid to invest.

We have seen many sites have residents. We don’t know how to go about getting them, I guess we will find out.

We will have about 8 knackered old statics that we need to sell/scrap immediately (in addition to another 18 that we will gradually sell and replace with high end new ones as we try to drag the place a bit more upmarket. There are already 6 new ones and they look fantastic. (32 total statics current but we will drop it to 26-28 quality static offerings). Replacing these 6 we are scrapping with residents would be a great plan :).

The place I think would attract residents, it is beautiful, like an oasis. It’s like staying in a country park estate with the large manor overlooking everything. Loads of open space and perfect for kids as there is room for them to play without irritating anyone. I’m sure we can make it special and attract loads of quality Brit and Dutch and Belgian and yes even the very fussy French tourists in summer (need to be a bit careful with the Frenchies, I can explain why if anyone interested), in a mix of caravans, campers and tents, plus the young and trendy glamping brigade, we will have some very cool offerings for that lot.
 
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Captain Yoghurtpot said:
Thanks very much.
Main question is about electrical power.
Our van was built in 2000, so geared around simple 12v and 240v systems ie lead acid12v battery and onboard charger.
Would love to upgrade van to lithium and good solar, but am concerned that the current wiring systems and chargers are likely to be cost prohibitive to upgrade, plus suitable solar and inverter systems.
Might be better to leave as is, ie simple system, which works ok, and wait until we can upgrade to a better and more up to date motorhome.
Ideally looking at being “ self sufficient” ie not relying on ehu.
We dont watch much tv in the van and dont have an oven, but would need to run a low wattage microwave occasionally, and / or a rice cooker.
Fridge can be on gas, as can the boiler and hob, but would be nice to have spare capacity from lithium for phones, tv, ipads, charging radios etc etc plus additional internal lighting.
Current lead acid battery arrangement is somewhat limiting, hence always looking at sites with ehu.
Interested in your thoughts, costwise, and the potential impracticalities or virtually rewiring an entire vans habitational capabilities.
Cheers
😊
PS am not unhappy with what we have, but feel we are limiting our potential use currently.
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I won half price Lithium on Funsters draw a couple of years ago, OakTree who sponsored draw supplied and fitted it to My 2002 Symbol..Took them a couple of hours..It has worked perfectly since then.BUSBY.
 
Your plans and enterprise sound fantastic, I'd just be concerned at your admitted lack of experience in creating and running a campsite and restaurant. I know nothing in this area either but I do know it's not as straight forward as it might seem to make it successful.
Good luck, I wish you well and hope you realise your dreams.
I'm sure a few funsters will be happy to drop by when you're open, me included 👍
 
Figaro said:
Your plans and enterprise sound fantastic, I'd just be concerned at your admitted lack of experience in creating and running a campsite and restaurant. I know nothing in this area either but I do know it's not as straight forward as it might seem to make it successful.
Good luck, I wish you well and hope you realise your dreams.
I'm sure a few funsters will be happy to drop by when you're open, me included 👍
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Thanks very much. We are very aware of the risks and the challenges, it just has to work, two pretty successful careers have been jettisoned, pensions will be cashed in via QROPS for major investment purpose when I’m old enough (bloody frenchies will take 20%, ouch) all UK assets (other than my cars) liquidated and converted to Euros, heavy borrowing to buy a money pit old chateau and all UK property equity going into it. There ain’t nothing like a good old gamble!

How’s the old expression go? If you build it, they will come… :)
 
dawsey said:
Thanks very much. We are very aware of the risks and the challenges, it just has to work, two pretty successful careers have been jettisoned, pensions will be cashed in via QROPS for major investment purpose when I’m old enough (bloody frenchies will take 20%, ouch) all UK assets (other than my cars) liquidated and converted to Euros, heavy borrowing to buy a money pit old chateau and all UK property equity going into it. There ain’t nothing like a good old gamble!

How’s the old expression go? If you build it, they will come… :)
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I have said this before but you really should be getting into TV or at least YouTube,could be a good earner.
Channel 5 have give the strawbridges the boot so they will be looking for someone else.
 
Just finished reading this, very interesting I love your style of writing. Good luck to you and please keep us posted.
 
Ginam said:
Just finished reading this, very interesting I love your style of writing. Good luck to you and please keep us posted.
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Why thank you very much. It’s heartening to get a comment like that. I hope I don’t get chucked out, but suspect I soon will be… :)
 
dawsey said:
Hello All

Well, Brittany Ferries staff announced an impromptu strike for today so the ferry is cancelled and we are stuck in UK another day. Thought I’d have a look at this thread again.

You are a law abiding lot, I’d no idea my comment about SORN would get so much interest. It seemed obvious to me having been involved in some high level industrial insurance claim negotiations in the past - my own understanding is that in even of incident, what would normally determine insurance company attitude to indemnity are facts that are ‘material’ to the claim. So if, for example you have bald tyres your claim will be compromised, even if you have a valid MOT. The same is true vice versa, if you don’t have an MOT it would only affect your insurance cover if they could prove there was a defect with your car (not having MOT would just mean they would look much more closely at the vehicle).

It seemed pretty common sense to me that not having UK road tax (just a tax for having the privilege of driving on our potholed roads remember) would absolutely not be material to insurance. You would simply be prosecuted for breaking the relevant law if found driving on UK roads without it.

My understanding is as follows:
All insurance covers, like absolutely all contracts of any type always stipulate that all relevant laws must be complied with, it is a catch all, but not a defence in court against insurance company liability if the fact of being in contravention of this or that law is not ‘material’.

However, i’m just a simple engineer and not an insurance specialist, or perhaps more pertinently a lawyer, so I will simply call up my insurer tomorrow to ask them the confirm, in writing, whether my cover would in any way potentially be compromised. I am a ‘private client’ with about 7 vehicles insured so maybe I will get a straight answer. If I do, I will share it.

Cheers
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Spanish Police are now impounding uk SORN motorhomes, BUSBY.
 
busby said:
Spanish Police are now impounding uk SORN motorhomes, BUSBY.
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Hello Busby and thanks as OP for reading the thread. You will note a little further in that I decided back in January, for slightly vague insurance reasons, to leave the van’s tax in place in the end, it is still taxed in UK to this day.

Do you have direct experience of the Spaniards doing this or can you elaborate further, because it is going to make a large number of people sit up and take notice !

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dawsey said:
Hello Busby and thanks as OP for reading the thread. You will note a little further in that I decided back in January, for slightly vague insurance reasons, to leave the van’s tax in place in the end, it is still taxed in UK to this day.

Do you have direct experience of the Spaniards doing this or can you elaborate further, because it is going to make a large number of people sit up and take notice !
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It was on Spanish police site N232, They were towing them away on the Costas..They have access to You Gov tax/mot. BUSBY.
 
dawsey said:
calling the yogurtpot. I’ve free time for the elec diag now, remind me if u still want it.

Summer now. Waiting for the purchase to progress, can’t stand staying on aires anymore. Now staying on campsites.

We have learned a hard lesson. Staying on aires is great in autumn, winter (if water works) and spring. But summer ?

Nooooooooo!!!!

If you are not in a hurry, and you need more than an overnight car park, no. absolutely not. We just can’t stand them anymore…

Have ASCI, 15-20€ well spent. Now off for a swim. Camper safari tent up, awning open, bikes down, table up, stuff left outside, and now off for a beer in the bar with camper just left open and unlocked. Maybe then for a long dog walk, then an impromptu few beers with our brit or dutch neighbours as last night. Far, far, far better than sitting huddled in some miserable shitty little free aire just to save a few quid - watching the locals passing by giving a look that says ‘you freeloading c***’ (or words/thoughts to said effect).

Yeah that’s a grand holiday make no mistake.

ahhh, Campsites rule! maybe we will buy one !!! :) - I knew there was a reason :)
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Yes please, but only if time permits.
Don't stress :giggle:
Enjoying your threads. 👍
But I can see you are very busy.
Still following with interest, albeit at a distance.
 
I will knock up a diagram for you tomorrow. I Need year and model of your camper and how you want to use it (off grid or ehu or flexible mix) and whether u have or plan to use lithiums. From memory it’s an easy solution for you. I will do all I can to help you.
 
We will build a model of a friendly open big space campsite. Pitch size will
be 120 to 250 sq metres. No maximisation of space like the brits love to do. We won’t develop huge areas, leaving loads of space for kids to play. I will be very brit about cleanliness. disturbing others and how the place is maintained. Time will tell if you and others like it or not. My. French wife Bea is worried senseless we will lose everything in and only very recently stopped trying to talk me out of it…..

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dawsey said:
I will knock up a diagram for you tomorrow. I Need year and model of your camper and how you want to use it (off grid or ehu or flexible mix) and whether u have or plan to use lithiums. From memory it’s an easy solution for you. I will do all I can to help you.
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Fiat ducato 2000 model 1.9td, occasional off grid. Mainly on EHU.
Have been looking at power stations like the Anker range, as our layout is causing us to consider a change of vehicle rather than upgrading, and a power station could be a good temporary fix with the existing one, as both portable and a very easy fix.
Horses for courses at our stage, but am open to all sorts of advice/ suggestions.
It's what makes this hobby / holiday style fascinating. (y)
PS - No lithium avenue considered, so was looking at plain old fashioned Lead Acid, to keep costs down, hence the desire to look at a van change with better layout for us now ( circumstance change ) rather than expensive upgrade on a van with potentially the wrong layout for us, going forward.
Open to all ideas though, but don't stress .
Enjoy your own endeavours.
 
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Captain Yoghurtpot said:
Fiat ducato 2000 model 1.9td, occasional off grid. Mainly on EHU.
Have been looking at power stations like the Anker range, as our layout is causing us to consider a change of vehicle rather than upgrading, and a power station could be a good temporary fix with the existing one, as both portable and a very easy fix.
Horses for courses at our stage, but am open to all sorts of advice/ suggestions.
It's what makes this hobby / holiday style fascinating. (y)
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any solar or planned ?
 
dawsey said:
any solar or planned ?
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Only really considered a portable panel.
Don't really want to go to a lot of expense at this stage with permanent fixtures to the van IF we are to change to a much newer van with a more practical layout, and one that will actually come with some sort of charging profiles that may suit lithium plus accompanying suitable wiring.
Hence now looking at Power stations, as an alternative, but open to all ideas.
Current van is also VERY tight on space.
 
Captain Yoghurtpot said:
Only really considered a portable panel.
Don't really want to go to a lot of expense at this stage with permanent fixtures to the van IF we are to change to a much newer van with a more practical layout, and one that will actually come with some sort of charging profiles that may suit lithium plus accompanying suitable wiring.
Hence now looking at Power stations, as an alternative, but open to all ideas.
Current van is also VERY tight on space.
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i understand why you wouldnt want to be spending a lot if youre considering this wont be your next motorhome!!! have you considered getting 'pre loved' add ons? they might add to the value/saleability?
Try posting an advert for things you want. some of use have left over bits from upgrades knocking around and you might get lucky!

for example, there are a couple of used solar panels in Derby on Gumtree (and i am sure lots of others advertised elsewhere), so not too far from you at £80 each? they come with controllers, and i wouldnt be too bothered at this stage whether they were mppt or not!

i picked up 2 x 100w renogy panels inc brackets for under £100, so it might be worth you working out what you need and start buying bits and bobs as you go along? would it be worth you fitting a lithium even though the charging profile isnt perfect, but keeping your old battery to swap out when you sell? my motorhome doesnt have a lithium selection so i use Lead Acid setting, which though not perfect does work well and doesnt damage the battery.
 
Captain Yoghurtpot said:
Only really considered a portable panel.
Don't really want to go to a lot of expense at this stage with permanent fixtures to the van IF we are to change to a much newer van with a more practical layout, and one that will actually come with some sort of charging profiles that may suit lithium plus accompanying suitable wiring.
Hence now looking at Power stations, as an alternative, but open to all ideas.
Current van is also VERY tight on space.
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OK I read from this that you are likely to change your van sooner or later and this don’t want to spend significantly on stuff that can’t be removed from the current van. From earlier posts, IIRC, you’d like to be able to occasionally use high power electrical stuff in the current van when off EHU.

This advice is thus based on the assumption you want to spend the absolute minimum.

I’d first recommend you ‘invest’ in 200a/h of new batteries. Take your old leisure battery/s off and put them to one side to put them back on the van when you sell it.

Simple solution? put in 200ah of new cheap lead acid leisure batteries. You can take your new batteries with you if you want when you sell the van, putting the old one/s back in. Then buy a quality 2kw invertor (which you can also remove when you sell the van) and connect it to your 200ah of new leisure batteries. You can then use microwave etc for short bursts. Running the vans engine for a bit will (slowly) recharge the batteries.

It’s cheap n cheerful but will see the van out at minimum cost, and you can take the stuff with you.

Far better but not cheap….
You can buy lead acid (cheapest is about £250 for 200ah) or you can splash on the far superior modern lithium batteries that are better in every way and last much, much longer. 200ah of decent lithiums can be had for £800. I decided on Renogy, they are cheap and work very well.

Remember you can keep your batteries when you sell the van so they are good long term investment. The batteries are so good you can easily get more than 10years out of them, in fact, given typical use profile, for most they are a one time purchase.

If fitting lithium batteries to an older van, you should us a B2B charger for one hugely important reason - only a B2B can charge the lithiums appropriately from the alternator. This is vital to protect the alternator, the wiring and the batteries themselves. A B2B also safely allows the lithiums to demonstrate another of their many advantages over lead acid, the ability to very rapidly recharge. It is called a B2B because you simply connect the vehicle and leisure battery together via the device. The charging is done by the vehicles alternator.
The last bit of kit is a decent invertor. Put a 2 or 3kw (Renogy are excellent) very close to the 200ah lithium, use the biggest shortest cables you can find and then just run an extension from the plug to where you want your 240V or reroute your ehu incomer to the invertor, connect the output direct to the distribution panel and use the auto switchover when on ehu. That is neat, but probably too much if you selling the van, so just maybe an extension.

The advantages of lithium and a B2B are significant - very rapid recharge, easy to see state of charge, far more reserve of power, minimal voltage drops, much deeper discharge without damage, much much longer lasting and you can practically use any electrical device as long as your invertor is big enough. It’s a great solution and very easy to wire up. Remember, you can remove it all when you sell the van.

Though solar is handy it isn’t absolutely necessary if you regularly run the engine, which with a 50A B2B will charge the batteries 10x faster than a 100W panel even in full sun. It’s about 30x faster if it’s cloudy. For solar to really make sense you need a lot of it. Again, if you are thinking of a portable panel to help top up the battery when remaining in one place, just clip it to the leisure battery using a cheap PWM charge controller, all of which can be removed when you sell the van.

Renogy do a nice integrated B2B and solar charge controller which I use, cuts down on the number of devices and allows you to expand your solar if you want to, and switch between 25A/25A shared engine/solar or full on 50A engine charge modes.

All can be installed in a removable temporary way so it can be put on the next van, and when the next van arrives, it can all be hardwired as I have done with my old bus. All the 240V sockets in ours are permanently live inc all the kitchen, and Bea loves it, says it’s just like a little house. It’s extremely important to keep SWMBO happy, as I’m sure you already know… :)

Let me know if any detailed questions, very happy to answer. Beyond the bits as mentioned, you just need wires, connectors and switches/fuses.

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Wow what a really interesting thread ! Really hope things work out for you dawsey .
Totally with you on the B… stuff, what a colossal faff and all for …. ? 🙄
Would love to come out and stay at your new gaff with my wife and kid sometime ( we’ll happily pay the going rate ) . I’ll even offer to help with a bit of grass cutting if you like but that’s about as far as my usefulness goes 😂

Will keep reading with interest, good luck 🤞
 
UptheGas said:
Wow what a really interesting thread ! Really hope things work out for you dawsey .
Totally with you on the B… stuff, what a colossal faff and all for …. ? 🙄
Would love to come out and stay at your new gaff with my wife and kid sometime ( we’ll happily pay the going rate ) . I’ll even offer to help with a bit of grass cutting if you like but that’s about as far as my usefulness goes 😂

Will keep reading with interest, good luck 🤞
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Many thanks for that, much appreciated. We have been checking out the wider competition (up to 100km away). A similar site we have just stayed on has been developed by Brits and is absolutely awesome, very hard to see how we can compete with a chateau site in 50Ha (120 acres) of its own forest perfectly situated in the Loire…. it’s very sobering to see what you have to compete with..
 
dawsey said:
. A similar site we have just stayed on has been developed by Brits and is absolutely awesome, very hard to see how we can compete with a chateau site in 50Ha (120 acres) of its own forest perfectly situated in the Loire…. it’s very sobering to see what you have to compete with..
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You could compete by letting all Funsters stay
for free, yes you would prob soon go under but we would all say very nice things about you ....

Unlike my MiL who looks as though she will NOT be going under anytime soon ...so it's unlikely anyone will be saying nice things about her for a long time !

:LOL: :LOL: :LOL:
 
MisterB said:
You could compete by letting all Funsters stay
for free, yes you would prob soon go under but we would all say very nice things about you ....

Unlike my MiL who looks as though she will NOT be going under anytime soon ...so it's unlikely anyone will be saying nice things about her for a long time !

:LOL: :LOL: :LOL:
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Yes, I think I offered a nights free pitch to all on here in return for a decent glowing review (so important these days) and all ‘points for improvement’ mentioned to us privately. We know what many of the ‘points for improvement’ are going to be (the campsite is very, very tired, literally everything is worn out) but there’s loads of nice things can be said about the ambiance (apart from the noise from the freight train line), the location (apart from the nearby industrial estates), the village (apart from it having no restaurant and no shops) and the nearby Vienne river (apart from the badly positioned sewage treatment plant)

Other than all of that, there’s lots of
nice things to say! Friendly owners for one !
 
dawsey said:
Yes, I think I offered a nights free pitch to all on here in return for a decent glowing review (so important these days) and all ‘points for improvement’ mentioned to us privately. We know what many of the ‘points for improvement’ are going to be (the campsite is very, very tired, literally everything is worn out) but there’s loads of nice things can be said about the ambiance (apart from the noise from the freight train line), the location (apart from the nearby industrial estates), the village (apart from it having no restaurant and no shops) and the nearby Vienne river (apart from the badly positioned sewage treatment plant)

Other than all of that, there’s lots of
nice things to say! Friendly owners for one !
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You keep ‘pitching’ it like that and you’ll have Q’s of guests looking to stay!!! 😂🤣😜

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