Hello :can i pick your brains

[MOS]

Hello .....WE( Geoff and Heather ) are fairly new to motorhoming especialy small motorhoming we are experienced european motorists but not a lot in campers .
we have just purchased a romahome ,its a c15 hitop i know next to nothing about it .and we are running away to france soon to try it out ,i have no evidence of when the timeing belt was last changed so thats the first job .but is there anything i should know about with this camper or any tips that will keep us on the streight and narrow ,and a verry important thing does anyone know if there is a toilet that will fit anywhere in this camper .
the roma seems to be in reasonable condition and the overcab area has been blanked off and turned into overhead cupboards as well as overhead lockers over the windows ,they seem to match the origional fittings and are nicely finished ,but we havent seen another like it before .was this an option or is it possibly a well done home conversion
yours hopefully G&H

[Dolly]

Hello Geoff and Heather, welcome to the forum. Don't know much about the C15 because I have an old demountable Romahome, but I'm sure someone will be on soon who'll tell you everything you need to know!

Anyway, just thought I'd say hello

[pendel]

Welcome to the Forum ,the best one ever. If you look on the main menu list there is an "ask ant" section. He's the man to ask any technical questions. He has been dealing in ROMAHOMES a long time and is a tried & trusted chappie.

We have a porta loo in our Roma and it fits snuggly between the bench seats while in transit and at night it goes in the footwell betwix the cooker & sink.

Hope you have a great time in France, we went once and missed our turning on the Paris equivelent of the north circular so we had to go around again. Once we found our way to where we were going we had a great time. We arrived on Bastille day so were soon caught up in the celebrations. hic !

[jayjay]

Hi to you both and welcome to the best website!!

Can you possibly sneak off to somewhere local for a weekend before going to France? It might just iron out the kinks and you'll have a better understanding of your van and how it works, where things are best being stored etc, before you are far from home!

Yes, change the timing belt! You might also like to do a full service before you go a distance.

[Twolitre]

Hi to you both and welcome to the best website!!

Can you possibly sneak off to somewhere local for a weekend before going to France? It might just iron out the kinks and you'll have a better understanding of your van and how it works, where things are best being stored etc, before you are far from home!

Yes, change the timing belt! You might also like to do a full service before you go a distance.

Sound advice! You may also realise that you have forgotten to pack some essential item. To do so in France would be a little late!

[gadgetman]

Hi Geoff and Heather welcome to the forum, I agree with jayjay and Twilitre one hundred percent, after all it's "PEACE OF MIND" you want especially on a long european trip. your van sounds great, you will get all the help you require here, happy camping, safe journey.

[Minimouse]

Sound advice! You may also realise that you have forgotten to pack some essential item. To do so in France would be a little late!

Just like I did at our recent Moreton meet .... I had taken out my leisure battery to charge as we were not going to be on EHU .. and I forgot to put it back in before leaving home .. I realised an hour up the road

[peterholden]

If you can try it at home before you go anywhere (We have done this everytime we have changed a van or caravan) because there will be any number of things that you have forgotten or will want to change.

Good Luck

Peter

[peterholden]

I also forgot to say that in France if you can be self sufficient for a couple of nights (ie own water and toilet) you can save money by staying on motorhome aires, also there are some in very spectacular places. Info is available about them on the Internet and there are also books. Just ask if you need moire details. The only proviso is that you should avoid motorway aires where possible.

Peter

[1_man_and_his_dob(lo)]

Just like I did at our recent Moreton meet .... I had taken out my leisure battery to charge as we were not going to be on EHU .. and I forgot to put it back in before leaving home .. I realised an hour up the road

And to think that I was annoyed at forgetting to pack the pasta when I was away last week...

...that puts things into perspective

[MOS]

thank you ALL for the warm welcome
I have done the belt and bearings and a service .i have fettled and tinkered ,prodded and poked all sorts of things with variouse sharp implements ( even a few bodily parts ,OUCH )and sa soon as the other half's back eases off we will have a test run, as you so rightly advise .
i must admit to being excited about the jaunt to france . we are planning to pop over into belgium to pay our respects at the last post ceremony, before poddling back along the north coast with a mind to get as far as Nantes and the machines des iles factory but we have a few friends to visit along the way. so we will just wing it and see how we get on .
has anyone had the pleasure or otherwise of useing the All the aires books ,they seem at first glance to be a good store of usefull info and as we will be moving allmost daily and should be fairly independant appart from showers i am planning on getting one before we go .but recomendations do put your mind at ease sometimes .
i will let you know how we get on with the test run when we get back TTFN
G&H

[peterholden]

The aires book that I use is the one available in France from one of the french clubs but available in bookshops, newsagents and supermarkets. We have started to use aires for 2 or 3 nights and then book into a campsite for a night to shower and do washing etc, replenish water supplies and empty waste tank and toilet. We usually look for a municipal site but this year used a couple of ACSII sites with our discount card. We don't usually use the borne on aires because of having to pay for 100litres of water. This year we filled up with water at a cemetry when running low.

I cannot lay my hands on our aires book at the moment but when it comes to hand I will post the details. This website is worth looking at http://www.campingcar-infos.com

We bought the download version last year and have it installed on our netbook for when we cannot get online. Just one other thing, we avoid motorway aires but have stayed at the one at Aire dela baie de la Somme near Abbeville.

When we use the ferry we pick cheapies at antisocial hours and sleep in the ferry terminal carpark at Calais

Peter

[peterholden]

Found the book

It is called Le Guide Officiel Aires de Services Camping-Car

ISBN no 978-2-902417-90-2 My copy is the 2009 one

We also use Le Guide Officiel Camping Caravanning


They are both produced by the Fereration Francaise de Camping et de Caravanning.

We have found the campsites book much more useful than the Michelin guide

Look on the ACSII web site for details of the discount card although I doubt that there will be any left for this year. We bought our ACSII card and book from the Camping and Caravanning Club.

Peter

Just one other thought. Make sure that your insurance cover and breakdown cover in Europe are what you expect. many insurances say that they cover you but the level of cover drops to the minimum once across the channel. We are insure with Safeguard, not the cheapest but we hav had good service and from experience can say that the cover in France is the same as we get at home.

There are also certain extras that you must take and are recommended to take with you. Please ask if you need more information.

[MOS]

Well

Well we did a test run (or two)
we set off for weston supermare for the day and ended up in Morcomb (dont ask) ,so we carried on to kendle and windemere we stopped a few times and did cooking and boiling things we had a play with everything and stashed things in various places and rearanged all our stuf till it sort of made sence .then we set off for shropshire and ended up in castletown in the peaks (i know but i will get a map with top writen at the top one day )we spent the night outside the blue jon mine on the top of the world and tryed the sleeping arangements (aaaargh oooow)so we now have nice cumfy over cushions (yayyy).
then i set too on the electrical systems(pannic).there where isolator switches on everything the cigaret lighter in the back had two and they were three way switches so it was like a combination lock ,the isolator switch on the pannel had an isolator switch off the pannel .the other 12v socket had an isolator switch but the socket wasent even wired in ,the battery charger was wired to the wrong side of the breaker so it tripped as soon as it was switched on .
also in the cab i have found three more isolator switches ,one for the injector pump (secret switch )marked start on off and in plain sight ,one for the thermostatic fan WHY!! and best of all there is an isolator on the hazard warning lights so i now have lots of spare switches if anyone is short of some .
we did around 600 miles and did uping and downing twisty roads we did a few motorway thrashes and we twiddled and tweeked everything in sight we have a list of stuff we need to sort out and with luck we will be off to france soon to start enjoying our new romahome (which at the moment is called Naddete )this may stick or she may tell us another name she prefers
we will let you know how we get on if we ever come back
yours the MOS's

[Vanderella]

Well we did a test run (or two)
we set off for weston supermare for the day and ended up in Morcomb (dont ask) ,so we carried on to kendle and windemere we stopped a few times and did cooking and boiling things we had a play with everything and stashed things in various places and rearanged all our stuf till it sort of made sence .then we set off for shropshire and ended up in castletown in the peaks (i know but i will get a map with top writen at the top one day )we spent the night outside the blue jon mine on the top of the world and tryed the sleeping arangements (aaaargh oooow)so we now have nice cumfy over cushions (yayyy).
then i set too on the electrical systems(pannic).there where isolator switches on everything the cigaret lighter in the back had two and they were three way switches so it was like a combination lock ,the isolator switch on the pannel had an isolator switch off the pannel .the other 12v socket had an isolator switch but the socket wasent even wired in ,the battery charger was wired to the wrong side of the breaker so it tripped as soon as it was switched on .
also in the cab i have found three more isolator switches ,one for the injector pump (secret switch )marked start on off and in plain sight ,one for the thermostatic fan WHY!! and best of all there is an isolator on the hazard warning lights so i now have lots of spare switches if anyone is short of some .
we did around 600 miles and did uping and downing twisty roads we did a few motorway thrashes and we twiddled and tweeked everything in sight we have a list of stuff we need to sort out and with luck we will be off to france soon to start enjoying our new romahome (which at the moment is called Naddete )this may stick or she may tell us another name she prefers
we will let you know how we get on if we ever come back
yours the MOS's

Well, it sounds as though your mechanical/electrical skills are better than your map reading! I am the other way round, much better with maps than with fuses!

Good luck with France, hope Naddete is Très Bon!