What was the biggest single issue with your Motorhome

[andyelbac]

As relative newbies to MH's, we were probably very lucky to have ended up with a model that pretty much meets our needs, despite it being an emotional decision and one taken at speed. We could very well have ended up with a MH that, having taken a few trips, turned out to be unsuitable. But that doesn't mean everything about our bus is great. Before I begin, a little context. We purchased our first MH in August last year; a new Burstner Lyseo Harmony Line, TD 680G with 9 speed auto. It's just me and my partner, no dogs or kids. The biggest gripe we have is the opposing bench seating. Don't get me wrong, it was one of the things that attracted us to the vehicle. We liked the fact that we could sit opposite each other when eating or just talking, and with the table adjustable (folds in half, moves up and down and horizontaly in both axis), it seemed a great place to sit....until you tried it for any length of time. There just isn't enough depth to the bottom seat cushions, and for someone like me, being nearly 6'3", I found the lack of support quite painful after any length of time. Even my partner, at 5'8", would get uncomfortable. It started to sour the overall positive impression we had of the Burstner.

 

[Itsmcb]

If this is a serious question :Chip shop

Serious question . I'm still alive so no definitely not a serious question........chips though, good thinking

 

[jdk62]

Biggest problem we had with our first new Moho was Swift build quality… we solved it by selling it and avoiding Swift moho’s since.

 

[DerryW]

I wish the island bed would retract (if thats the corrrect phrase) a bit more when in day mode, to provide a littel more room around the bottom of the bed.

A bit more prep area around the cooker, I'm working on a little project to solve this (which I'll share when finished)

The most annoying thing is having to change most of the reich plumbing conecctors on the water system with John Guest fittings. Makes you wonder why the convertors cant get it right at the building stage.

 

[Clivefog]

Having had several Conway Cardinal folding campers, which have pull out beds at each end, we got used to separate beds. 1st motorhome was a Compass Cruiser, which had a rear lounge, quick viewing and yes it was the one for us. However as a single side bed it was too short for me, made up into the huge super king getting in and out disturbed each other - at that age when frequent night visits to the loo -, ended up with wife on half a big bed and me on the made up dinette which was ok. So just dropped into a sales place to change gas bottle and saw our one in the trade ins. Single beds, German length, German quality, yes I would prefer a manual but hey ho. The dealers were great solved a small heater problem by fitting a new one, changed the clunk between 3rd and 4th by fitting a new gearbox, what no awning they fitted one. Into our 4th year now.

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[Dave7]

The wait for it to be delivered.

Same
Very annoying

 

[StephandJohn]

Not being able to go abroad for health reasons and, this year, not even sure we'll get away at all. Sob sob.

 

[L' Hobo]

Trouble is, if I leave her home, who is going to cook my dinner

You are only paying for one so you probably could afford to eat out or have a take-away delivered. I'll not tell you more or you will not want to pay for my other info?

 

[Reallyretired]

Single beds are the business for those of us of a certain age. Ours look the same but in fact mine is 6'5" and swmbos is only 6'2" but as she's only 5' that's plenty. If we can avoid treading on any dogs in the middle of the night all is well.

 

[Captain Yoghurtpot]

Apologies, fat fingers....the title was meant to say "what was the biggest issue with your MH and how did you fix it! Also accidentally pressed 'post reply' early. I was going to say that our seating issue was solved by one of those eureka moments......we set the seat bottoms against the rear of the seat backs instead of having the seat backs sit on top of the seat bottoms. Suddenly we had an extra three to four inches of thigh support. Its a lot more comfortable now!

Now THAT is one of those “so simple” solutions that I must try !
Brilliant

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[Nanniemate]

ME

either choosing the wrong expert who was a rip off merchant

Or fixing something worser than when I started

 

[AG 2602]

We let the dog decide where he wants to sit and we take what’s left!!

 

[The Artilleryman]

Two problems.
1. Bailey not fitting the correct seal to the front skylight, so having a high pitch whistle at anything over 50mph - replacement fitted, although they were still fitting the wrong one at the factory for another 2 years.
2. Overhead cupboard door above cooker not staying shut when driving - door is far too heavy for the hinges and locks - only this one other 3 are OK. Door removed, problem sorted.

Electrics stuffed in the bottom of the wardrobe and difficult to work on - roll on the warm weather.

 

[Basildog]

Diesel

 

[tonyidle]

Build quality. Common to every van I've owned but current van worst of the bunch.

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[nicholsong]

Sorry have not read all the thread, but for me it was giving up the boat in Greece.

Since then the MH has been great - including taking it back to revisiting some of my favourite beaches in Greece.

 

[Aireworth]

Ours is a great layout, but no bulky storage space and no outside storage. Cured by adding a bulk LPG tank and using the gas locker for external storage.

Large box for the rear ordered!

 

[garry55]

It may be frowned upon but, at this stage, I might 'accidently' be tempted to name the company involved. Are they extending your warranty, it's not your fault that the diesel people are 'busy'.

I won't disclose who we bought it from, but if someone else asked the question of if they are good or bad to deal with, well............................

 

[funflair]

At the moment our biggest problem seems to be keeping air in one of the rear tyres, and of course it is the inside of a pair on the rear axle.

 

[VXman]

As relative newbies to MH's, we were probably very lucky to have ended up with a model that pretty much meets our needs, despite it being an emotional decision and one taken at speed. We could very well have ended up with a MH that, having taken a few trips, turned out to be unsuitable. But that doesn't mean everything about our bus is great. Before I begin, a little context. We purchased our first MH in August last year; a new Burstner Lyseo Harmony Line, TD 680G with 9 speed auto. It's just me and my partner, no dogs or kids. The biggest gripe we have is the opposing bench seating. Don't get me wrong, it was one of the things that attracted us to the vehicle. We liked the fact that we could sit opposite each other when eating or just talking, and with the table adjustable (folds in half, moves up and down and horizontaly in both axis), it seemed a great place to sit....until you tried it for any length of time. There just isn't enough depth to the bottom seat cushions, and for someone like me, being nearly 6'3", I found the lack of support quite painful after any length of time. Even my partner, at 5'8", would get uncomfortable. It started to sour the overall positive impression we had of the Burstner.

We have the same layout (albeit in a 727 version) and we don't use the bench seats at all - other than as leg rests for when we are lounging in the swivel driver seats.

Having said that even those seats become uncomfortable after a while. The bench seats are too upright to be useful for anything other than sitting up to eat.

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[CazPaul]

Build quality. Common to every van I've owned but current van worst of the bunch.

Wow I thought Le Voyageur were quality?

 

[Howard B]

Build quality. Common to every van I've owned but current van worst of the bunch.

I would agree. Bought a Burstner last year, quality not what i expected it to be.

 

[Hawkstone]

Front wheel drive…absolutely love our Rollerteam 707, 2013 but we race motocross and often park in boggy, muddy, hilly fields. We tow our bikes so fwd is shocking. Been towed out many a time And other than it being a blooming great cheese wedge so mpg is rubbish over 56 mph, it’s perfect.

 

[PDrill]

Our previous van was a Hymercar 322 and the first - and that last - big issue concerning the habitation was discovered the second day. Here in Finland we only really use 11kg gas bottles (one type, available everywhere) and up to that point I always thought that any MH would take two of them but this wouldn't. At that point I discovered it wasn't the only factory made PVC with that problem. Anyway. We wanted to travel in the winter too, and below -10c the Truma 4kw can easily use the whole bottle in 1½ day so one bottle on board was not an option, nor was storing the extra bottle under the bed and do the whole replacement routine (instead of just changing the hose to another bottle) an option either.

So, nothing to it, hole in the wall and so on. Worked well for the years we had it, just had to replace the gasket and adjust the door once a year.

One funny thing though. Even if the bottles are standard, some manufacturers had used ~1cm higher valves and those bottles fitted only on the left side. After I noticed that the first time, it was easy to choose a lower bottle from the row at the shop so not a big problem.

 

[Thornebt]

Only thing I don't like about my Autosleeper Cotswold EB is the Thetford fridge winter vent covers. They are very woolly in the way they fit. You have to try to push them down and prise the bottom out to remove them. They seem a poor design to me.

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[Stealaway]

Only thing I don't like about my Autosleeper Cotswold EB is the Thetford fridge winter vent covers. They are very woolly in the way they fit. You have to try to push them down and prise the bottom out to remove them. They seem a poor design to me.

Leave them off?- In 12 years I've never felt the need for covers.

 

[Mixyblob]

Loads of storage space but not enough payload to use it. We knew that before we bought it so no big deal. Other than that, perfect.

 

[tonyidle]

Wow I thought Le Voyageur were quality?

So did I - it has lots of decent quality kit installed (as far as I can tell) by trained monkeys on piecework.

Rooflight with rounded corners (and a template available) installed in a cut-out with square corners (it leaked)
Another rooflight installed with all clamping screws loose (it leaked)
Step fitted to a flimsy, untreated, steel bracket. (it rusted and split) No rust on any Mercedes chassis part.
Moulding that bridged dash to windscreen so loose it resonated at certain engine speeds (adhesive not keyed, poor soundproofing material used)
No drain installed on central heating
Garage doors struts installed with brackets reversed leaving struts angled inwards and obstructing access
Sliding door upper track screwed to ceiling (3mm ply) using short screws. It detached.
'Posh' bathroom mirror lights wired with cheap twin flex that snapped within days after continual flexing when opening cabinet doors

I could go on - I've forgotten most of the things I've repaired / re-designed.

 

[bikerman0346]

Sorry have not read all the thread, but for me it was giving up the boat in Greece.

Since then the MH has been great - including taking it back to revisiting some of my favourite beaches in Greece.

Hello , on a separate note we've been given a 2 year advance notice of a wedding invitation in Greece. Just wondered what route you took to get there and any tips for us in our MH . We will probably have our whippet with us too .

 

[stuartholmes]

As relative newbies to MH's, we were probably very lucky to have ended up with a model that pretty much meets our needs, despite it being an emotional decision and one taken at speed. We could very well have ended up with a MH that, having taken a few trips, turned out to be unsuitable. But that doesn't mean everything about our bus is great. Before I begin, a little context. We purchased our first MH in August last year; a new Burstner Lyseo Harmony Line, TD 680G with 9 speed auto. It's just me and my partner, no dogs or kids. The biggest gripe we have is the opposing bench seating. Don't get me wrong, it was one of the things that attracted us to the vehicle. We liked the fact that we could sit opposite each other when eating or just talking, and with the table adjustable (folds in half, moves up and down and horizontaly in both axis), it seemed a great place to sit....until you tried it for any length of time. There just isn't enough depth to the bottom seat cushions, and for someone like me, being nearly 6'3", I found the lack of support quite painful after any length of time. Even my partner, at 5'8", would get uncomfortable. It started to sour the overall positive impression we had of the Burstner.

I can sympathise with sitting on seats designed to double as beds. We had our previous 'van reupholstered to make all the cushions 25% thicker.
Didn't cost a fortune & made a vast difference.
In your case I think the backrests are too vertical & what you need is a couple of wedge shaped scatter cushions.

But to actually answer your question, the biggest single issue we have is the venetian blinds on the back window rattling on wiggly roads. I'm going to swap them for a roller when I get a round tuit.

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[stuartholmes]

So far, and it's early days yet, getting our motorhome back from the dealers. They have had it longer than we have.
We paid for it on Jan 3rd, collected it on Feb 10th - they wanted a month to get it MOT'd, serviced, hab-checked and then use the rest of the time to sort out any issues it might have (allegedly)..................
Back on our drive, I cleaned the roof (that they "thought they had done"), worked through the electrics (all OK), water system (OK) and the heating system - works on electric, but not on the diesel heater. Also has a water leak on the hot water tank. Contacted the vendor as it has a 6 month warranty - they asked us to take it back to them for repair / replacement, which we duly did by arrangement on the 14th of February. A week later, the motorhome was still on their site, awaiting a slot at the diesel specialists who were / are "extremely busy at the moment". Several weeks have now passed and our motorhome is finally at the diesel specialists, but they are still too busy to commence work on it. We were due to have a trial run-out in the motorhome next week, joining some camper-van friends for a couple of days at Barnard Castle, but we have had to cancel that as we have nowhere to live! Fortunately, we hadn't booked anything. We have, however, already booked to go to France at the end of the month.
The vendor offered to retrieve our motorhome (with the heating problem still unfixed) so that we could go away next week, then we could take it back to them and they would take it back to the diesel specialists - we declined and said we want the van back, with diesel heater working and the water leak fixed, by next week at the latest.
We live in hope......................

And the dealer's name is.....?