Moving on...

[Cornishsue]

Hello everyone, I haven't been here for ages as I lived in my Romahome for the summer and chose to be without the internet for several months. It was a fabulous experience. But I'm now back indoors and will be selling my Romahome this spring, mainly because I need to replace it with a van for my business. Also, I need to be able to take two passengers and can't do that safely at the moment.

My N-reg Hitop has been very well looked after and the engine (83,000 miles) is apparently is brilliant condition (had three men-who-know look at it) but there are a couple of issues. I have water coming in somewhere when it rains heavily, and it gathers in the footwell inside the back door. In spite of attempts to find out where it's entering I've drawn a blank. Also, in last winter's bad frosts the hose to my water tank split.

These things haven't been a problem for me but now I'm going to sell it, I need advice on 1. how to go about the sale and 2. whether to sell it just as it is? I'm not in a rush but I don't know of any Romahome dealers near me (Falmouth, Cornwall). Apologies for long post. Looking forward to your wise words!

Cheers and a very Happy New Year to everyone,
Sue

[Ian.C.S]

Hello everyone, I haven't been here for ages as I lived in my Romahome for the summer and chose to be without the internet for several months. It was a fabulous experience. But I'm now back indoors and will be selling my Romahome this spring, mainly because I need to replace it with a van for my business. Also, I need to be able to take two passengers and can't do that safely at the moment.

My N-reg Hitop has been very well looked after and the engine (83,000 miles) is apparently is brilliant condition (had three men-who-know look at it) but there are a couple of issues. I have water coming in somewhere when it rains heavily, and it gathers in the footwell inside the back door. In spite of attempts to find out where it's entering I've drawn a blank. Also, in last winter's bad frosts the hose to my water tank split.

These things haven't been a problem for me but now I'm going to sell it, I need advice on 1. how to go about the sale and 2. whether to sell it just as it is? I'm not in a rush but I don't know of any Romahome dealers near me (Falmouth, Cornwall). Apologies for long post. Looking forward to your wise words!

Cheers and a very Happy New Year to everyone,
Sue

Dont go away Sue,You are getting something Bigger? so you are still ok to be a forum member.we are a broad church.Your nearest dealer is Avon Motor caravans At Bristol,He might have something bigger and you could part exchange? Worth a look.

[Cornishsue]

Thank you Ian, I certainly feel welcome here, but I need a bog-standard van next time, something that will enable me to transport furniture around the country, and also to be able to paint in, and it won't fall within the remit of a motorhome. I certainly couldn't afford to go bigger motorhome-wise.

[Cornishsue]

Mmmm, not used to these smilie thingies - not sure how I managed to make two appear inside a word!!!

[Ian.C.S]

Thank you Ian, I certainly feel welcome here, but I need a bog-standard van next time, something that will enable me to transport furniture around the country, and also to be able to paint in, and it won't fall within the remit of a motorhome. I certainly couldn't afford to go bigger motorhome-wise.

we still dont care,so stick around,times change and you may decide to turn your van into a stealth camper!

[jimish]

Why not sell it on the forum Sue?
There have been a few posts about the top of the back door seal leaking, I have spoken to Ant about this and he says that a common problem is that the door isn't closing onto it's second click. Not sure if this applies to your age of van but worth a look. I have noticed on my 2010 Outlook that the rear door, being quite tall, flexes easily and will leak if not closed to the second click so they haven't fixed the problem up to 2010! My Hilo didn't have the problem because the door isn't as tall. The new R20 with a wider door will probably be stiffer and might solve the problem??? Another thing, if the door has been adjusted too tight so it is squashing the seal too much, it can still leak. Check that the seal isn't split or perished too - new ones are available. Try rubbing vaseline into it to soften it if it's just hardened.
The water tank hose, if it is the one from the filler neck to the tank is easily changed - you can buy the hose from caravan dealers accessories shops.
Cheers, Jim

[Cornishsue]

Thanks Jim, the water pipe solution sounds easy enough.

The 'leak' is odd - there's never any evidence of splashing, which I would expect if it was coming via the door, and when I put down newspaper to try to see where the water's coming in, it seems to be leaking out from under one side or another of the kitchen area, so I wonder if it's coming in via the outer shell and seeping down inside somehow. If so, it sounds dastardly!

A friend thought water was coming in through the screws in the skylights so he renewed them and made them good but it didn't stop the water coming in.

I bought my Romahome 18 months ago without realising there was a problem but frankly it has never bothered me. I'm really only thinking about it now that I'm going to sell it cos I would want to be honest about it (which the person I bought it from wasn't!!). And yes, I could sell it on the forum, it's been really well looked after and is a little gem.

Cheers
Sue

[jimish]

I did leave our back door only closed on the first click once and a small amount of water appeared on the floor. You won't necessarily see any splashing.
Sounds like you have had a good look around for leaks and it's going to be hard to find it. Good luck.
What about the fridge vent. Is it coming in there?
Jim

[AGING HIPPY]

with regard needing a van you could get a van which is wide enough for you to sleep across then fit kitchen across frront of van and have bed fold down on to p of kitchen unit will do ok would only take up the width of kitchen unit as base of bed form splash back of unit and give you space to paint in and comfort of tea and biscuits and get removable seats to give you extra seating when needed and space when not needed

[mari2chris]

When I bought my S reg Hitop from Ant last sumer, he told me to ensure that I closed and locked the lower rear door before closing the top one as water could leak in if I didn't. Maybe that's your problem with the leak.

[peterholden]

I am sure that with a decent sized panel van it would be possible to make some temporary, removeable modules that would allow for occasional camping, they could also possibly be adapted to be useful when you use it as a mobile studio. Many people who have smaller vans such as the Mazda Bongo have removeable kitchen units.

Peter

[Cornishsue]

Thank you everyone for your helpful suggestions, all of which I'll be working on.