Oh heck ... yet another very, VERY expensive show ...

[Hettie's Crew]

We'll see how we get on with it, if it's a bit too big I'll just remove the existing top and put my own in - I've done this in most of our MHs/campers and it also means we don't have to worry about damaging it.

This is what we did in our B544, the original table isn’t big, it’s stupidly oversized so as a ‘temporary measure’ , until we had one made, I cut a piece of 15mm thick MDF just slightly larger than the mount and covered it in vinyl. It’s been there nearly four years now.

 

[Minxy]

These huge tables put me off, yes I did play with the back and forward side to side 180 but quite frankly they are ridiculous and really cause stress, fine to sit down for supper, but the simple answer in my opinion that I have seen in a few is the ones that fold in half with almost seem less hinge giving you a more practical day coffee table, I saw so many in Dusseldorf it was as if all used the one choice of table and mechanism from the stock room. There are alternatives about.

Some are bigger than others and do cause issues regardless of how you position them, some people remove them altogether and put in folding/removable ones, or just replace the top which is what I've done in the past. We'll see how we get on our with ours but if needs be I'll just put my own smaller top in and use that.

 

[Minxy]

This is what we did in our B544, the original table isn’t big, it’s stupidly oversized so as a ‘temporary measure’ , until we had one made, I cut a piece of 15mm thick MDF just slightly larger than the mount and covered it in vinyl. It’s been there nearly four years now.

I have a couple of table tops that we've used in previous MHs/campers so will just adapt one of those if needs be ... means no worrying about it getting damaged by the monsters ... and that includes hubby!

 

[Manic]

Great looking van, will ‘one’ of the scooters fit in the garage?

 

[Minxy]

Great looking van, will ‘one’ of the scooters fit in the garage?

The Sym Jet 4 might have but we sold that as hubby prefers the Sym Jet 14 which I don't think would and besides there's no way I would want to be loading/unloading that as it weighs 124kg without fuel!

We wouldn't use one anyway as we do shopping en-route to places and I have a bicycle if we really need something desperately.

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[Clarky]

Just caught up with this thread Mel Minxy Girl.
Congratulations on your new van and joining the happy band of Carthago owners.
Hope it comes up to all your expectations, I’m sure it will.

A couple of points that others have mentioned:-
1) Extra cooling fans for the fridge. Apart from a couple of VERY hot days we’ve not needed them. We also have the roof vent for fridge and oven.

2) The large table. I’m not sure why so many people dislike the table. We find it perfectly OK in our C-Line ( a bit wider than your new van though). If it was any smaller there wouldn’t be enough room for all the glasses and bottles required for a decent meal.

Enjoy your lovely van.

Richard

 

[Minxy]

I'm now in the throws of trying to sort out insurance for our new baby ... I've started a new thread about it as it's not just a case of changing the vehicle details over!

Help with new A-Class insurance please

I'm trying to sort out insurance for our new Carthago but as it's over £75,000 value our current insurer, Comfort, are insisting on a tracker (cat 5 or 6), however they don't require an alarm, I'm therefore looking for advice/info on the following please: How much a tracker is likely to cost...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

 

[Just smiffy]

About time you got a proper Motorhome...?

 

[Hettie's Crew]

Your troubles regarding the build date of the first one got me thinking about our Hymer, not that it matters now really.
We brought it at a year old and I probably wouldn’t of thought about checking if we’d bought it ‘new’.
CdC FIAT was 27/02/14, CoC Hymer was 08/07/14 and registration was 17/07/14, only 9 days later. Lowdhams told us the original owner had factory ordered it through them.
Not really adding to your thread I know but I found it interesting.
Good job on your detective work, we’ll be doing the same if we ever swap.

 

[BobtheBass]

Lovely vans Carthagos. We enjoyed ours immensely for a couple of years till Sues ops made us swap to our current Hymer but please don’t fall into the seriously annoying habit that we found with many Carthago owners (and to a lesser extent Hymer owners as well) of stopping calling it a "motorhome" and calling it a Carthago all of the time! We did this in the Carthago, we did that in the Carthago, we bought some widgets for the Carthago. It’s actually one of the reasons we left the Owners Club because they talked as if all other motorhomes were inferior because they owned Carthagos! One of the senior members when asked a question about Truma heating in a C-Tourer actually said "Truma heating? I think you’ll find all Carthagos have Alde heating dear boy". That did it for me and I cancelled my membership.

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[596]

One of the senior members when asked a question about Truma heating in a C-Tourer actually said "Truma heating? I think you’ll find all Carthagos have Alde heating dear boy". That did it for me and I cancelled my membership.

I will have you know that my new Swift has Alde heating dear boy!

 

[The Wino]

Thanks for reminding me about it ... I'll have to investigate it as we intend to keep this one for a LONG time (yes really!) it might be something worth doing. I'm pleased the Familyscout is going well, lovely layout, very similar to what we will have in the Carthago!

When you say a long time what's the longest time you've had one for so far???. By the way it looks lovely!!

 

[Pausim]

That did it for me and I cancelled my membership.

Were they snobby about how Carthago is pronounced? My dealer said the proper pronunciation is Ca-Tah-Go, or something like that and I think Hymer is Him-er. Happy to be corrected by fluent speakers of German, especially if it means I can be even more superior and snobby.

 

[Chockswahay]

Lovely vans Carthagos. We enjoyed ours immensely for a couple of years till Sues ops made us swap to our current Hymer but please don’t fall into the seriously annoying habit that we found with many Carthago owners (and to a lesser extent Hymer owners as well) of stopping calling it a "motorhome" and calling it a Carthago all of the time! We did this in the Carthago, we did that in the Carthago, we bought some widgets for the Carthago. It’s actually one of the reasons we left the Owners Club because they talked as if all other motorhomes were inferior because they owned Carthagos! One of the senior members when asked a question about Truma heating in a C-Tourer actually said "Truma heating? I think you’ll find all Carthagos have Alde heating dear boy". That did it for me and I cancelled my membership.

We’re the other way round. We had a Globecar followed by a HymerCar ........ never called them motorhomes........ always a Campervan! ?

 

[596]

What is the posh name for a Swift? I guess I will get fed up of the ladies whistling at me as they pass ?

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[Pausim]

What is the posh name for a Swift?

Apus apus

 

[596]

Apus apus

And in reverse Supa Supa

 

[BobtheBass]

Were they snobby about how Carthago is pronounced? My dealer said the proper pronunciation is Ca-Tah-Go, or something like that and I think Hymer is Him-er. Happy to be corrected by fluent speakers of German, especially if it means I can be even more superior and snobby.

Car Tar Go. And according to our German friends it’s Hoomer!

 

[Minxy]

When you say a long time what's the longest time you've had one for so far???. By the way it looks lovely!!

You might regret asking that question!

Longest was nearly 4 years, there was an overlap with the first 2 and the last 2.

Late 1995: Autosleeper pop-top on a Commer - H reg 1990 (1y 10m)
Aug 1997: Home converted Ford V6 Ambulance - C reg 1985 (1y 9m)
May 1999: Elddis Autoquest 320 - H reg 1990 (1y 4m)
Sept 2001: Swift Suntor 590RS - FE51 PEO (1y 8m)
May 2003: Rapido 709F - FN03 CUX (3y 10m)
Feb 2007: Rimor Sailer 645TC - FJ56 YPM (3y 2m)
Apr 2010: Chausson Flash 04 - WA10 AGZ (2y 4m)
Aug 2012: Autocruise Accent - FX12 DCF (2y 9m)
May 2015: Globecar FamilyScout L - FX15 RRZ (2y 11m)
Apr 2018: Globecar Campscout - WFZ 8708 (1y 6m?)

They weren't just changed on a whim though, the Commer was lovely and all we could afford at the time but wasn't ideal as it was small for us and the dogs, that's why I converted the Ambulance over winter (blooming freezing but great fun!). We then went from having 4 dogs to 2 dogs within the space of 15 days (old age/illness) so having more freedom we got our first coachbuilt (Elddis) which was great but it was heavy on the steering so only hubby could drive it and we got it for a really great price so couldn't complain. Then we were tempted by the Swift at a good price and being newer it had power steering, warranty and more modern fittings so we bit the bullet getting a very good PX for the Elddis, quite a bit more than we paid.

What a mistake getting the Swift was ... it was cold as the heating was cr@p and we had quite a few issues with it the most major being a swimming pool under the side sofa due to Swift forgetting to fit a vent cover in the bottom of the gas locker (located just behind the sofa) so that water was sprayed up from the rear wheel and got in to the letter box sized hole! It took them 3 weeks to dry it out. We weren't overly happy with the Swift as you can imagine and when at the NEC in Spring we saw the newly launched baby Rapido 709F and it was love at first sight but we resisted as it wasn't cheap despite Rapido doing it at a great price in order to get it out in public's eye. We went to 2-day MH show at Driffield a couple of months later and saw it again, we still loved it just as much as when we first saw it and we chatted about it all day, going back to have a last look at the end of the day and found that the dealer's hadn't sold much so just wanted to shift something ... so we pounced and after a lot of hard negotiation and nailing the dealer to the flag pole we ordered one.

After nearly 4 years it was getting a bit too small for us as we were doing longer holidays, including in winter, so wanted a bit more space ... hence our search and finding the Rimor ... going from 5.53m to 7.14m! The Rimor was beautiful, a luxury MH with everything we could want and we really enjoyed having it but as our holidays changed we decided that something a bit shorter would be better and whilst we were considering a PVC at that time it was a step too far so instead changed to the Chausson at 6m which was a lovely MH but nothing like the quality of the Rimor and whilst it was shorter it was chubbier ... we had some issues with it but nothing that couldn't be sorted, however being 'fat' it eventually got to the point that it was stopping us doing what we wanted, we therefore looked again at PVCs.

Eventually we bought our first PVC, an Autocruise Accent, we saw it at the Stratford show originally but decided to think about it a bit more and eventually bought it at a later show. It was great and worked really, really well but we decided that something with a bit more storage for our stuff which was easier to get at, would be better. ludo kept 'teasing' us with his lovely Globecar so eventually we gave in and got one too, a FamilyScout L; the quality was great overall but we did have issues with the shower tray, graphics etc and the aftersales from Globecar and the dealer were slow to put it mildly.

When we were on holiday in autumn 2017 we realised that we needed to seriously think about changing the camper as on my bad days I couldn't get in/out of the transverse bed easily as I had to clamber over hubby to the far side, but it wasn't practical for me to sleep on the 'access' side as hubby often got up in the night for the loo. This brought us to the conclusion that we needed to look again at what we needed and the Campscout model fitted the bill with separate single beds with steps, but the cost to change from our FamilyScout was silly so we didn't do anything about it then. It was only when we were away again when the issues were even more apparent that we realised something needed to be done. We occasionally had a browse on the web to see what was available and on a Sunday spotted a Campscout for sale which was a good price so meant we could change without 'silly' cost. We made a call in first thing on the Monday (from Spain!) and put a holding deposit on it, seeing it just over a week later when we got back to the UK and decided it was just what we needed ... it meant we ended with with TWO Globecars for a while but that's another story!

The Campscout has been great but as we want to go for even longer now, plus having 3 dogs, one of which has illness issues so needs bedding changes a lot due to a weak bladder, we were coming to the realisation that we needed just a bit more space but didn't want to go any larger than a PVC. Also although the insulation of the Campscout is good we want to go to the colder countries (Norway, Sweden, Iceland etc) but as I really do suffer in cold temperatures and I was made even more aware of this having had a bit of a 'do' on the way back from Spain this year, so it has become an even bigger concern than it was.

We'd seen the slimline Carthagos previously and liked them a lot but at the time they were out of our reach but now we can do it and it has all that we want ... and more ... good insulation, double floor, loads of payload, a great layout that we know works well for us, along with it being an ideal size. It will mean bread and water for a while but it'll be worth it!!!

So, whilst we've changed over the years, they weren't just 'on a whim' but due to changes in our requirements/needs at the time. The Carthago though will definitely be a keeper for a long time, we know the layout works for us, we know there's nothing else we could ask for so barring a disaster this one will not only be our 'baby' but grow up to be our 'toddler' and 'teenager' too!

 

[Minxy]

Been on to the dealer today to ask about number plate choice, there were few options so hubby let me choose and I went for: DD69 DWG

So I'm undecided whether I change my user ID to Deputy Dawg?????

Hubby has suggested I get a new one as there are quite a few MNX ones available and MXY too on the Ebay and DVLA sites.

We also are undecided whether to transfer WFZ from our Globecar and put it on the Carthago or just leave it as is.

Decisions decisions decisions ...

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[Minxy]

Just been having a mooch on the forum and came across an old thread about deciding when/why to change your motorhome ... perhaps I should have read it before we decided to get our new Carthago, especially my own posts!

When do you decide to change your motorhome?

We have a motorhome which we are very happy with, but still like looking at newer units. But can never agree if to change or stay with what we know and love. Do you change your motorhome at regular intervals, like a lot of people do with cars. Or is it a spur of the moment decision, seduced by...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

 

[The Wino]

Been on to the dealer today to ask about number plate choice, there were few options so hubby let me choose and I went for: DD69 DWG

So I'm undecided whether I change my user ID to Deputy Dawg?????

Hubby has suggested I get a new one as there are quite a few MNX ones available and MXY too on the Ebay and DVLA sites.

We also are undecided whether to transfer WFZ from our Globecar and put it on the Carthago or just leave it as is.

Decisions decisions decisions ...

But what does the 69 refer to !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Chockswahay]

Just been having a mooch on the forum and came across an old thread about deciding when/why to change your motorhome ... perhaps I should have read it before we decided to get our new Carthago, especially my own posts!

When do you decide to change your motorhome?

We have a motorhome which we are very happy with, but still like looking at newer units. But can never agree if to change or stay with what we know and love. Do you change your motorhome at regular intervals, like a lot of people do with cars. Or is it a spur of the moment decision, seduced by...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Haha So that'll be both feet with both barrels Minxy!

 

[Lenny HB]

You're correct, the top fridge vent is on the roof but it may still be possible to do a fan retrofit if we find it necessary.

Tend to be more efficient so may not need them. Could still fit one blowing in on the bottom vent on the side away from the burner.
Well worth fitting an internal fan we found that makes a big difference.

As for the age of the first van as you say definitely an old build.
From friends Carthago's everyone I have seen the Carthago build is about a year after the Fiat & Al-Ko build compared to to the 3 Hymer's we have had always within a couple of months.

 

[Millcourt]

MH69FUN still available from DVLA.......... SWMBO forbid me!

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[jezport]

I dont know how they can make an A class on the lightweight chassis. Hope it isnt made of cardboard! What are the axle weights? You may have to put the dogs in a trailer.

 

[Lenny HB]

I dont know how they can make an A class on the lightweight chassis. Hope it isnt made of cardboard! What are the axle weights? You may have to put the dogs in a trailer.

Loads of A Class on the AMC light chassis, nearly all Hymer's up to 7.2 m available on it, latest versions have the even lighter SLC chassis.

 

[Minxy]

I dont know how they can make an A class on the lightweight chassis. Hope it isnt made of cardboard! What are the axle weights? You may have to put the dogs in a trailer.

They way they are constructed means the walls done't have framework/structures in them which saves a lot of the weight, along with the lightweight Alko chassis.

Funnily enough this morning we were looking at the overall weight:

Extras already included: 166kg
Extras to be added: 73kg (solar panels, alarm etc)
Total of all extras: 239kg

Basic weight of MH: 2795kg
Plus all extras of: 239kg
Total of MH & extras: 3034kg
Payload left @ 3500kg: 466kg (*326kg)
Payload left @ 3850kg: 816kg (*676kg)

*As some MHs are supplied up to 5% over the original weight that could reduce the payload by up to 140kg so at 3500kg it would leave 326kg or 676kg at 3850kg.

Don't think we'll have an issue with putting our stuff in!

 

[Lenny HB]

They way they are constructed means the walls done't have framework/structures in them which saves a lot of the weight, along with the lightweight Alko chassis.

Funnily enough this morning we were looking at the overall weight:

Extras already included: 166kg
Extras to be added: 73kg (solar panels, alarm etc)
Total of all extras: 239kg

Basic weight of MH: 2795kg
Plus all extras of: 239kg
Total of MH & extras: 3034kg
Payload left @ 3500kg: 466kg (*326kg)
Payload left @ 3850kg: 816kg (*676kg)

*As some MHs are supplied up to 5% over the original weight that could reduce the payload by up to 140kg so at 3500kg it would leave 326kg or 676kg at 3850kg.

Don't think we'll have an issue with putting our stuff in!

Carthago's always come out of the factory 130 kg over brochure weight.
Fine at 3850 if the rear axle loading is OK ( depends where the water tank is).
Would be very, very tight at 3500 kg.

If we down size in a few years will give the Compact Line serious thought as we really don't think we could cope being shoehorned into a PVC.

 

[CazPaul]

They way they are constructed means the walls done't have framework/structures in them which saves a lot of the weight, along with the lightweight Alko chassis.

Funnily enough this morning we were looking at the overall weight:

Extras already included: 166kg
Extras to be added: 73kg (solar panels, alarm etc)
Total of all extras: 239kg

Basic weight of MH: 2795kg
Plus all extras of: 239kg
Total of MH & extras: 3034kg
Payload left @ 3500kg: 466kg (*326kg)
Payload left @ 3850kg: 816kg (*676kg)

*As some MHs are supplied up to 5% over the original weight that could reduce the payload by up to 140kg so at 3500kg it would leave 326kg or 676kg at 3850kg.

Don't think we'll have an issue with putting our stuff in!

Wow it just shows how construction has changed, our little 2005 A class Concorde 6.48 metre, basic weight is not far off a tonne more than yours.

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