To buy or to build?

merl said:
We found ourselves in exactly the same situation as yourself and I ended up buying a 5yo Tribute PVC which are relatively cheap and modifying it myself.
Pretty extensive changes and additions but we've now got the exact van we want and the internal finish has the professional appearance of a big brand Van which wouldn't be possible with a self build. While I'd got it stripped out I took the opportunity to insulate it properly, the original Trigano was pretty pathetic in this regard.
I'd always fancied doing my own conversion from start to finish but the work took way longer than I'd anticipated, I now realise just how much work would be involved and the time it would take and to be honest why these vehicles cost so much. If/when we need a replacement van I'd definitely do it again.
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Before we bought the Relay I did a bit of looking around to see if I could find a van that'd been sideswiped and written off so I could gut it and rebuild it, but nowt about, two weeks into the build and there were two up at auction, one was two years old an the other three and didn't go for silly money, below £10 k sods law.
 
wildebus said:
funny in a way that the idea of a bed "3' or even more" is considered a luxury :)

I regard my Motorhome as a 2 berth - each berth being 4' 3" :D (and it has a rear bathroom big enough to include a wardrobe as well :) )
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Wow!! that's seriously big, I don't think I've seen your van yet David.
 
That's the wiring sorted just need to cut and fit a new bit of formica
20230116_153004.jpg
 
exwindsurfer said:
That's the wiring sorted just need to cut and fit a new bit of formica View attachment 117077
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Just a general comment ....
The above install by exWindsurfer is very neat :) But I would always recommend to go for using the CBE Modular system for electric outlets (and other electrical stuff). If you install a few 240V sockets and find you don't need 2 of them, it is a matter of a few minutes to change a 240V socket for a 12V socket; or a USB socket. Maybe a Voltmeter or just put a blank in its place? With all the devices using the same size fitting, once installed, there is no need to do any more messy woodworking, with a bonus that everything looks nice and co-ordinated from the get-go.

More expensive initially it is true, but in the long term makes life a lot easier :)

And as an example of what I mean, this is a photo of a wall in my Motorhome
1673889099628.png

Relevance? One of those sets was fitted in the Factory in 2007. The other set was fitted by me in 2020. Go for a modular setup and you can adapt as you need and no one knows (unless you post a photo on a forum :D )
 
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Pudsey Bear said:
Which model or have you adapted it yourself David?
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It is the Autotrail Cheyenne 635 on a Ducato chassis - see this thread here:

Not a Self-build, but a Tweaker

I took delivery today of a very nice Autotrail Cheyenne 635SE :D The Cheyenne is in superb condition so not a fixer-upper in the slightest, which is great, but I plan to make a few improvements still to make her even nicer (y) A few pics just before we took ownership ... Kitchen Part of...
motorhomebuilder.com motorhomebuilder.com

For me, the layout is near-perfect. (Obviously there are some things I would like a little different, but I doubt there is a motorhome on the market that would be completely spot-on for anyone?)
The electrics were dated, but that was an area I was always going to work on regardless of what I bought (As an example, I did a complete electrics setup for someone who was buying a brand-new Hymer A-Class a year ago so shows no matter what you buy, you cannot get every box ticked in a oner).
But the fit and finish is great, and that is something I could not replicate. Adapted a bit to improve (Lagun Table system as an example) and job's a good 'un.
Officially a 4 berth, but only need two (only has two travel seats anyway), so can use the two 'double' beds as roomy singles (and adapted the lower one to work differently so even with that out, still have use of both the swiveled cab seats AND one of the lounge sofas).
 
wildebus said:
Remember to never have that heater running unattended! if the vents on a fan heater get covered (maybe a rug or cushion drops down say?) you can have a serious fire risk. A plug in Oil Radiator would be a safe option if need to run with no one around.
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Only runs first 15 mins of driving, nothing near it as its at the side trim box pointing across the pass footwell.
 
wildebus said:
It is the Autotrail Cheyenne 635 on a Ducato chassis - see this thread here:

Not a Self-build, but a Tweaker

I took delivery today of a very nice Autotrail Cheyenne 635SE :D The Cheyenne is in superb condition so not a fixer-upper in the slightest, which is great, but I plan to make a few improvements still to make her even nicer (y) A few pics just before we took ownership ... Kitchen Part of...
motorhomebuilder.com motorhomebuilder.com

For me, the layout is near-perfect. (Obviously there are some things I would like a little different, but I doubt there is a motorhome on the market that would be completely spot-on for anyone?)
The electrics were dated, but that was an area I was always going to work on regardless of what I bought (As an example, I did a complete electrics setup for someone who was buying a brand-new Hymer A-Class a year ago so shows no matter what you buy, you cannot get every box ticked in a oner).
But the fit and finish is great, and that is something I could not replicate. Adapted a bit to improve (Lagun Table system as an example) and job's a good 'un.
Officially a 4 berth, but only need two (only has two travel seats anyway), so can use the two 'double' beds as roomy singles (and adapted the lower one to work differently so even with that out, still have use of both the swiveled cab seats AND one of the lounge sofas).
Click to expand...
I had already seen that thread and liked a few of the posts, but one of the reasons I can't deal with electrics is I have a the worst memory and forget the calculations required, and I'm terrible with names too, faces I remember and other visual things but anything in writing vanishes rapidly, Youtube is my saviour quite a lot.

I'll have a proper look later but it looks to be almost the same layout as our Kontiki and the Bessie E745s we had the first Bessie was the best of the three as the front sofa were straight not and L like the others so just a straight pull out for beds.

Dropbox

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Dropbox

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We always wanted to try a Mohican but always out of our price range, one day Liz found one down i Mansfield at the Motorhome depot.

Dropbox

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This was without doubt the worst van we ever had, they had hidden a soft floor by putting a thick mat over it, dead sneaky so back it went and to be fair they did fix that, but a while later I started having engine problems, I had it into my local garage a few times and it just never got any better so I advertised it with a Turbo problem and sold it to a chap in Southampton, turned out after he'd stripped it all down the manifold was cracked out of site and it had broken the flange to the turbo, it had other problems in the hab too so I was well rid of that thing but I think I still made about £500 ish on it.
 
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