Ownership Diary - Dethleffs Motorhome No1

Thanks chaps.

Handover was pretty good. However I tend to find I research my vans so well I feel sometimes like I could do the handover myself! Chap was nice and polite though and keen to help.

Good point on average speed. I had another look and it was 62mph. Still very good though. Considering it was rush hour on a Friday everything moved very well the entire way. Only two very small 50mph sections, the rest of the time I was between 67-70mph on the cruise.

I’m actually quite ok with the mpg. It’s a brand new vehicle so will loosen up a bit in due course. And I never expected any better than 20mpg given the 5.4t max weight and bluff Luton bed. Still better mpg than my house!

What was surprising but hugely important - aside from a headrest which needs a bit of attention, the van was practically silent on the move. Shows really good quality of the build. It’ll get a bit noisier now that it has a lot of our kit in it but at least that’s easy for us to attend to.

Today is being spent filling it back up with all our kit. Then it’s back to the storage yard tomorrow, with a return on Friday a likely trip away with my daughter.

 

So had a good long play with it over the weekend. Saturday day saw us loading in the various bits from previous van and trying to make sense of where everything could go. For the first time ever, the storage is so significant, we're actually looking like having more capacity than we know what to do with! Also means that we're having to buy storage containers for shelves/cupboards to keep things tidy as the space is so vast, things would otherwise be rolling around. Nice problem to have!


Saturday night saw the first overnight. We eased ourselves in gently with putting the baby down it the house with the monitor initially inside the van. We then put my eldest son (4) into our bed at the rear and closed him off with the bathroom door. That left us an hour or so with our daughter (12) to play Uno around the table, then she went to bed in the Luton, I removed the backrest from the side sofa, popped sheets on and made up my eldest son's bed. I then made up the travel cot, which fits perfectly in the kitchen with just enough space to squeeze past. I was able to scoop my son up and put him into his single bed without waking him. And then it was back into the house to bring the baby downstairs and into the travel cot. Amazingly, he slept like a log - as did all the other kids - not a peep from any of them until the baby awoke at 06:05 on Sunday morning.

Myself and the wife retired to our bed just after 22:00. Although the transverse bed layout is the ultimate compromise, the mattress is so comfy and by pulling the curtain across to separate us from the bathroom (we had the door open for this first night test-run), it felt like a very private and cosy space. I slept like a log - Mrs Spuff was on high alert for any noise out of the baby - so she didn't sleep hugely well. But overall a roaring success!
We kept the baby in with us in our bed for an hour to let the other two lie in a bit and then we all convened around the table for breakfast & coffees before getting on with the rest of the day! If it goes as smoothly as that every day/night, then we're doing well!

I then had a play with all the bits of kit on the van. There are various Victron bits needing pairing with phone, together with the hydraulic rams which, when paired with the phone app, can weigh the vehicle! No more heading off to a weighbridge to check axle weights and whether you're overloaded. The app puts the vehicle up on the rams, then somehow weighs it, then drops it down and shows you your axle weights and total.


As expected, the front axle doesn't have much room for manoeuvre. This was myself & wife in the cab and 55% fuel. With full fuel we'll be on the limit and with my daughter in the rearward facing dinette seats, we'll be over. However, I also had c. 30kg of camping equipment under the front lounge plus we have 50kg of leisure batteries under the drivers seat. Once I replace those for a 25kg LifePo4 lithium battery, have moved the camping equipment to the garage at the rear and put 160l (160kg) of fresh water in the tank over the rear axle, I'm confident the front axle will get sufficient relief to ensure we're within a 100kg or so of the limit. The rear axle is no problem at all with >800kg available.

Sadly, after showing my Uncle & Aunt around en route back to the storage yard, it was back it went to its new home. Looking absolutely resplendent in the sunshine. It was a real bind to leave it there but I don't want to push my luck with the neighbours. As a test, I've left it with the heating on 8C for the coming week. Let's see what it does to the leisure batteries and gas in that time. I'll be back down again on Friday for the first trip out with my daughter. No exact plans yet but will have two nights away just the two of us. Can't wait!

 

Well, I'm 674miles in and although perhaps an update might be better at the end of the week, I have some time available today so thought i'd put "pen" to "paper".

I collected it with 4miles on the clock just 2.5wks ago, so I've got a lot of wheel time already! Just a week after taking delivery, I found myself on the motorway up to York for a weekend away with my 12yr old daughter. We did a trip up to Penrith this time last year which was so much fun that we decided it would be good to make it an (semi) annual thing and I gave her the option of choosing where to go. She actually wanted to go to Penrith again but I put my foot down given how far it is. York seemed pretty fine so we left home at 0930, headed over to the storage yard for 1015 and eventually found our way again just before 1100. But OMG, what a mistake to go from Braintree. An hour later, we were only just heading back past our house off the M11 south of Cambridge. It made an already long trip feel horribly long. Fact was, we only decided to go from the yard since a couple of the neighbours had expressed some unhappiness at the motorhome being outside the house for a period of time, so in order to head that off, we went from the yard. Never again! I'll do my best to mitigate the amount of time it's out front but unless we're going south, I'm not going from the yard. The trip up was done at indicated 60mph up the M11/A1 and 50mph on A roads. Fuel consumption was around 22mpg.

Anyway, that aside, we had a good trip up. Stopped around 1400 for some pre-made lunch in a truck stop near Doncaster then did the last bit via Drax to show my daughter how enormous the place is! And arrived at the campsite around 1530.

First time staying at a Caravan & Motorhome Club site for a while and what's interesting is that they allow you to choose your pitch. The site itself was tidy, clean & well maintained but not very inspiring, but we got a nice pitch overlooking a meadow - only just fitted on and used the entire length of it for the van.
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But popped down the hydraulic rams to get level and 45secs later, I was strolling through making a cup of coffee and settling in as the rain was beating down outside. A nice evening had with a Charlie Bingham Lasagne & some garlic bread cooked in the oven(!) and a couple of cold Stella Artois from the fridge. And a super night sleep - first 2200-0800 uninterrupted night sleep for over a year!

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Next day it was up and showered with breakfast eaten outside in the sunshine! It was chilly but we had the benefit of sun beating onto the pitch, so whilst wrapped up warm, it was perfectly doable and a lovely start to the day.

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We then ordered an Uber (which arrived quickly) for the £9 trip into York City Centre. We'd pre-booked Jorvik Centre tickets for 1130 (an absolute must) so had some time to visit the Shambles and a few department stores (daughter has suddenely got into shopping in the last 6m! ) and then we took up our place in the museum. What a fabulous and immersive experience - I'd recommend to anyone going to York to make the time. We spent a good couple of hours there and then on to a nice restaurant for lunch.



After lunch, we went to York Minster and made the stupid decision to climb the Central Tower(!) 275 steps later through a staircase I can only describe as being a claustrophobe's worst nightmare, we got to the top and both our vertigo fears kicked in. Straight back down and vowed never to do something so daft again! A good bonding experience. After that the light was fading and we were pooped so headed back to the van for dinner (just ham sandwiches after a big lunch), a glass of wine for me, coke for her and a movie on Netflix.



Following day it was -2C outside and a cosy 17C overnight in the van. The central heating is an absolute boon and we both slept soundly. We skipped breakfast as yet again the lure of Murgatroyds fish & chips in Yeadon was too great to avoid. We left the campsite at 1030 to get there for opening, took some fuel on the way, had lunch and set out on the long trip south. Again, 60mph the whole way apart from the wind this time being very strong and into the front of us, so mpg took a tumble to 19mpg. I dropped daughter off at the house and I took the van back to the yard (35miles away) and returned, pretty tired, in the 228i.

It was a long trip just for a weekend and you soon realise that driving a big vehicle at 60mph is much more tiring than driving a 6m van at 70mph so I think the weekends away will tend to be a bit closer than maybe I might have done in the Knaus. That said, it's a lovely vehicle to drive. It's pretty quiet, the performance is acceptable and it will do 70mph quite happily, even if it shuffles between 7-8-9th gears a lot to manage any inclines and keep the speed constant.

What the trip taught me besides that was that it was good to have a shake-down ahead of the big trip to Ireland next week. As expected, there are a number of snags, but the biggest of which are:

• Fridge seems to have a fault with the relay. It has automatic energy selection, so it uses a relay (I presume) to switch between the best power uses. AC when you've got shore power, gas when there's no AC and 12v from the alternator when driving. Everything works fine apart from when driving, when the whole thing powers off! I wonder if there's a fault with the D+ wiring/relay. But in any event, given the huge amount of driving we're doing next week for the next 3wks, we need a fully functioning fridge;
• Query on the charging of the AGM batteries. Voltage seemed to drop a bit whilst driving rather than being fully charged at end of journey. On a side note, definitely need the Lithium battery fitting as it's going to be a job managing the 180aH of AGM given you can only use 50% of that capacity. I think the Nespresso machine might have to remain switched off;
• Front blinds don't close properly (query if magnets need replacing); and,
• TV doesn't work (not major issue but annoying).

So long and short of it is I'm off to Stafford tomorrow to take the van up for at least the electrical issues to be resolved. Anything else is a bonus but given the importance of them being right for the trip, they get first priority. Travelworld wanted me to leave the van and collect it later on but I can't justify the return trip either time or cost so I'm staying with the vehicle; working in their showroom Weds/Thurs and overnighting somewhere locally in the van Weds night.

So that's the update really. I'll do more on driving dynamics and toys that I've discovered in due course but suffice to say it's being used as intended and we have plenty of further plans post-Ireland in April. Watch this space!

 

Thanks chaps.

Yes, York is lovely. It reminds me of a mixture of Cambridge (nr where I live) & Canterbury (where I went to Uni). A very nice vibe to the place.

@isleaiw unfortunately the problem at home is the interpretation of the deeds. It’s a new build estate and has the usual prohibition on the storage of caravans & boats plus commercial vehicles (carrying tools of the trade) >2.8t. My view is (and always has been) firstly the same as yours - live and let live - we’re hugely considerate folks and actively go out of our way not to annoy the neighbours. And furthermore Motorhome don’t fit into any of the foregoing categories. But I understand the principle and concerns, which is why store the big units offsite and I felt comfortable with the Knaus because it was relatively compact and, again, not a tradesman’s vehicle.

Anyway, we’ve resolved that a night or two at each end of the trip shouldn’t be an issue. As ever, it’s about the minority of individuals. Most of our neighbours think what we’re doing is cool and adventurous - it’s just one or two who are a bit sniffy.

All going well here at Travelworld - so far so good and averaged 22mpg on the way up this morning.

 

So a bit of an update here. We’re up to 973miles on the clock in just under a month! Average fuel economy 19.7mpg although seeing up to 23mpg on a 60mph run and on flats in 9th gear, nearly 30mpg. The issue with this is that the van for some reason doesn’t like being in 9th gear when on cruise control so I have to manually override it using the tip tropic function on the gearbox. This is very odd as when cruise control is off and I’m driving it in auto mode when it goes into 9th quite happily. Hmmm. I’ve heard from other owners using this chassis that it’s quite possible to get very good mpg once it’s in 9th. Let’s see what we can manage as the miles climb and it gets more run in.

All of that said, upon pulling up at the storage yard last week, I came across an air line which I forgot was there. I checked the tyres and in spite of Travelworld telling me they were all correct at PDI, they were all 1bar under inflated. They should be 5bar all round. So I’m wondering whether that will have had a big effect on mpg. All tyres now correctly inflated last week and checked again yesterday, so I know they’re holding pressure. So let’s see on the next trip.

Travelworld fixed the fridge (blown fuse evidently - didn’t have the guts to ask what may have caused it!). Determined that the split charge relay was working effectively - for a split charge relay. I have plans for that (see below). But the other work required - new TV and replacement front blinds - will need another return trip in a few weeks time.

In order to test the van, I stayed overnight at Tackeroo in Cannock Chase - just 15mins from Travelworld - this was a place I’d stayed at last year MTBing at Cannock Chase and love the place. It’s so quiet and feels like wild camping. £15 for the night and had a super overnight.

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En route back from Cannock I managed to find a Morrisons fuel station with LPG at Camborne which is not a million miles from home. There I filled up with 15litres of LPG at around £20. Now have 52litres of gas on board for the trip to Ring of Kerry. Hopefully given the weather we won’t use a huge amount of gas for heating but the fridge will use it when not on hookup, plus cooking, plus heating when required. Should be sufficient though and I’m sure I can find some LPG in Dublin en route home if needed. I also stopped at an AdBlue filling pump as I’d used half a tank (c. 15litres also) and prefer to fill up from the tank rather than buy potentially old/stale AdBlue off a forecourt.

This week has seen me in my first week of Paternity Leave (4wks in total). I headed back to the yard yesterday to clean the van as I realised I’d not have enough time on Friday to do so before we set off. Four hours later I was super grateful I’d had them ceramic coat the van before taking delivery. Really helped remove the traffic grime which had collected. Unfortunately the beating sun made for hard work and some unwelcome water spots but otherwise very happy with the job. I didn’t get any befores as my head wasn’t in it at the time but here’s a “during” which shoes just how bad it had got:

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And here are some gratuitous post-prep pics. Although the hose was pathetically weak, it was great to have the facility at the yard to be able to do this. There was also a hookup point which allowed me to run the hot water boiler (for the shampoo) without burning gas and also helped to provide some high power charge to the batteries since they’d been relying solely on solar power over recent weeks. All fine though but nevertheless good to get a solid charge into them.

Van is all now spic and span:
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I’m picking it up tomorrow to bring it back home to fill up with our packing for the next 2.5wks away. We’re off to see family in N Dublin for a few nights and to celebrate our youngest’s 1st Birthday (already!) and then off to the Wild Atlantic Way for about 9nights. Can’t wait!

Once we get back, the van will be going to Premium Motorhomes (supplier of my Knaus) for some electrical upgrades. I’m not happy with the capacity of the 2x 95aH gel batteries nor the charging. So Premium will be fitting the 230aH under seat Lithium battery I bought a few months back, a Victron DC-DC (50amp) charger and then a few other bits of Victron goodies which interface with the solar MPPT regulator, DC-DC charger, the inverter already installed and a Battery Shunt which will then be shown on a small iPad like monitor in the van so I can keep proper track of our production and energy usage. All up that’s £2k but should see us right for the foreseeable future and provide us the proper off grid capability I’m looking for.

I’ll try and update the blog as we go around Ireland. If not, then I’ll pop something up once we get back.

 

Odometer - 2300miles and 19.4mpg average since new.

We've just got back from our first family get-away and I can thankfully confirm that not only did we all enjoy it - it was one of the most fabulous holidays we've had and there's very few things about the van that we'd possibly change (aside from a few bits I'll note at the end!).

The trip saw us leave home on 5th April bound for Ireland.

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We set off at 9am for a 15:00 check-in for 16:00 sailing from Holyhead, which felt about right until about an hour and one stop already for the baby made us think otherwise given the potential for multiple stops and any traffic delays. As a result, after bumbling along at a steady 60mph with c. 23mpg on the clock, we traded diesel for time and monstered along the remaining 200miles at 70mph which saw mpg plummet to 15mpg. That said, the trade-off was worthwhile and we got to the port just before the Premium Lanes were opened for early boarding and made our way on to the ship to get comfortable for the 3.5hr (uneventful) crossing to Dublin.

Arriving at around 19:30, thoughts quickly turned to parkups. Whilst my Wife was staying with her Mother in Skerries with the two boys, it was decided that for both safety of the van and not to overcrowd the small house, myself and my daughter would find a place to spend the next few nights. Amazingly, upon arriving in Skerries, we had the luck of the Irish (Wife) on our side and bagged ourself not only a spot in prime free parking area, but exactly where I wanted, just behind the beach.

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There we spent a very comfortable 3 nights before heading off. The van was our base but spent lots of time with my MiL and other Inlaws - not least celebrating my youngest lad's 1st Birthday!! - but retired to the van for the night watching movies once I'd helped put the boys to bed.

8th April saw us make our way early away from Skerries headed for Killarney as the starting point for the Ring of Kerry. It was a long old drive which tested the patience of all the kids and indirectly therefore, ours. This saw lots of swapping of seats as we took it in turns to have my 4yr old up with me, then my 12yr old, depending on who needed what. invariably the baby needing Mum to settle him as he lost his sh!t with the ever increasing total of miles going by. In the end, we got to a very clean but thoroughly unimpressive campsite around 16:00. Time to pull out the awning, toys for the kids, let them roam and start cooking dinner.

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I had booked 3 nights at this spot, the idea being to tour the local area using Ubers and taxis, but the campsite was so underwhelming and with the weather due to turn in 3-4days, we decided it would be a far better use of our time to head further West to another campsite I was really looking forward to on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. We set out the next day and were rewarded with the most spectacular views over the 2hr drive across the northern Kerry peninsular!

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When we eventually arrived at our campsite, the decision to move on proved worth it in spades! Honestly, this place - Wave Crest Campsite - is up there with some of the best places I've been fortunate enough to overnight at.

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Although a bit dicey with the kids moving around (with the cliffs), we set clear parameters on where they were allowed to stray and we spent four nights there using the campsite as a base for mini-expeditions and day trips, around the baby's nap schedule. Different to what we had initially planned, but it was much easier rolling with the punches than actively trying to push against his schedule and needs. It ended up working really well - nice breakfast all together in or outside the van, put baby down for a nap around 10-11am. Then set out for a 30-45min drive - park up, find a restaurant or cafe for lunch (which ended up as our main meals for the day), do some wandering/touristy bits, then back to the van either to get back for his afternoon nap, or he'd have it en route back to the campsite.



Eventually, our luck with the weather ran out and by the Sunday the intermittent showers which came through turned to more sustained downpours. We decided to leave the site a day early and headed to Kenmare via Moll's Gap (for lunch)

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And then on to a pub stop - Kerry Way Inn - where, in return for us eating dinner in the restaurant - we were allowed to park up in the carpark, put the boys to bed and then had takeaway pints of Guiness for the adults and coke from the bar in the van with our daughter. A fun evening and peaceful overnight had.

After the pain of the outbound trip and again looking to pacify the youngest, we decided to break up the return leg to Dublin by stopping en route. We found a lovely campsite near Limerick, which reduced the return leg to just 2.5-3hrs rather than the 5hrs originally. En route we found one of very few LPG stations to top up our gas supply. With the offgridding in Skerries (using both heating and lots of fridge use) and the bits and bobs we did of cooking and fridge away from the campsite, we'd used c. 20litres. A friendly chap filled us up, relieved us of EUR 23 and we were on our way. We stayed just outside Limerick and then the next morning headed NW to Bunratty Castle and Culture Park - a wonderful setup of a small village characteristic of Ireland in the late 1800's/early 1900s. We all loved it. With lunch inside us and a fun day out already had, we set course for Dublin.

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Nightmare of the M50 ringroad (Dublin's M25) aside, we got back to Skerries relatively fresh, reverted to the previous setup and were even lucky enough to score exactly the same spot to overnight for the remaining 3 nights. Then an 0800 start to head to Dublin for the ferry home. This is always worse on the return leg as you've been travelling for 3-4hours before you get back to the UK - then there's 5hrs ahead! It's horrible. This time was no different and we ended up having to stop around Rugby for me to grab 30mins sleep and the wife to feed the boys as it all went horribly wrong mid-journey. That said, we got home at 20:00 and the big clean & unpack commenced the next day.

In all, a fabulous trip. The van was an absolute pleasure to drive (noting however the poor italian ergonomics - Italians must have very short legs and long arms!). It had enough power for all but the steepest inclines, where it dropped to 60mph but no worse. All up we were 4.9t which was impressive given we took bikes also. I had plenty of spare capacity on front and rear axles and nearly 500kg of payload to spare, which is incredible. The only snags were ones we were already aware of and which will be addressed by Travelworld in due course and then some concerns about offgrid capability with the gel batteries. As it turned out, we were fine. But there's not nearly as much control/oversight, confidence or buffer around the systems so I paid Premium for the parts I want and am now booked in for early June in order to address some of those issues.

In short, we will have the 230aH Lithium battery fitted (already sourced), Smart Shunt to monitor battery state, full Victron monitoring unit plus ipad like screen plus Victron DC-DC battery charger as the split relay is not up to the job. It comes in at around £2k all in which is not cheap but very much one of the last things major things we NEED doing. Then I may WANT to upgrade the lights with some Lazer lights for full beam (in winter) and may also look into having the audio upgraded in the cab and some speakers fitted in the hab area as that was noted by everyone as being poor en route (kids like their music too!). Depending how we get on during the next trip, we may see if Premium can also wire the Hab aircon into the inverter so that we can use that whilst travelling as the cab aircon can't really cut it on the move.

But none of this bothers me since we found the van just so perfect. My wife and I spent every evening lamenting its capabilities and comfort and it got to the point that even after 14 nights, myself and my daughter didn't want to leave it. On Ireland itself, what fabulous countryside - it was like a mixture of NW Scotland with more vegetation and parts of W & E coasts of Canada. We found it easy to find places to park on the side of roads in towns and using the many coach spaces at attractions. A lot of places were free to park and motorhomes seem very well tolerated unlike in the UK. We averaged 23-25mpg whilst touring Kerry. We stuck to N roads (equivalent of A roads in UK) and R roads (more like B roads) but unlike on the NC500 where virtually everything can be tackled in a large machine, we steered clear of L roads (invariably single-track) as the said vegetation made these much more overgrown, difficult to sense possibility of getting through and very few appropriate passing places. It was a shame and I had to concede that a VW California or similar would've been in its element for accessing the deeper parts of the W Coast. But oddly enough, we didn't find ourselves feeling particularly short-changed. Perhaps because we had the boys to consider and our days were limited anyway.

Overall, I can't recommend the W Coast of Ireland enough if nature is your bag. And motorhoming - well - Dethleffs have nailed it with this one and I don't have one ounce of regret or desire to change. So much so we've just booked the next holiday to Holland in a few weeks! Booked on the Harwich to Hook of Holland ferry and then a campsite and Theme Park for four nights. Can't wait!

 

To be honest, in normal use (i.e. 60mph motorway journeys), the mpg is kind of where I anticipated it to be. Perhaps a tick lower (1mpg) but it "feels" about right for the size & weight of the vehicle, bearing in mind the front has all the aerodynamics of a large house brick. The luton cab, whilst sculpted, creates all kinds of drag where it meets the windscreen and then the wider bodywork behind the cab.

My much older (Euro 3) Sprinter A-class would do between 15-18mpg with a similar weight and I used to drive that between 60-70mph on the motorway.

It doesn't shock me but I don't like seeing the 15mpg on the dial when I'm hoofing it on the motorway. But to put it in context, for the Holyhead-Home trip, the difference between 15 and 20mpg is just £25. So providing the majority of the journeys are more sedate, sucking up that cost differential is very doable.

Good to hear it's an Italian thing. Although my hips aren't especially fond of it right now - hopefully they'll get less bothered by it over the longer run.

I honestly love travelling to Ireland. Aside from the drive in the UK, we've been very lucky with the ferry for 90% of the journeys. And it's "only" 3.5hrs so long enough to relax after a car journey but not too long if it's rough. We always get a cabin regardless of the time of day as it's nice to have a bolt-hole to relax in if the public areas are busy. I'd say a really good road trip could be had from Dublin down across Wicklow Mountains then West and the Wild Atlantic Way north. ;)

Have a great time with the kids. I've absolutely loved the family time even if it is hard going at times.