Our Autosleeper Symphony

We've owned our Symphony since January 2008. This is our first motorhome (sometimes we call it a campervan but mostly just refer to it as 'the van') after being caravanners for over 25 years. We did have a break from caravans several years ago when we bought an old Transit Mk2 conversion with a pop-up roof which planted the seed for motorhoming but back then we couldn't afford anything decent.
Anyway after weekends of visiting every dealer in a drivable-in-day radius, we found this one at Spinney Motorhomes. It was above the budget we had set ourselves but met the criteria of being able to fit it on our drive so we took the plunge. We kept the caravan at a storage compound but the transporting everything down there each time we wanted to go away took away the spontaneity and so wanted something that could fit on the drive and then we could 'just go' when the mood took us.
It's a 1997 based on the medium wheelbase Peugeot Boxer with a 2-litre petrol engine. Our first outing was early March 2008 to Oswestry C&CC site to check everything worked which it did. Next came the Spring Fair Motorhome Show at Newark but we decided to go the scenic route over the peak district and discovered a distinct lack of power at each hill. This lack of power got steadily worse on the way home, even keeping to motorways, and by the time we got home we could hardly move at all. Next day rang Spinney and told them we couldn't even drive it back to them. They asked if I had a local mechanic that I used which I did for my taxi and they agreed that they would pay my mechanic which they did. It was a blown headgasket and burnt valves which had caused the problems but with a new headgasket and a complete new set of valves all has been well ever since. We will never win a speed trial with it but it will go all day at 55/60mph returning 23 mpg. I would certainly not consider another petrol engined motorhome.
The biggest problem we encountered with the change from caravan to motorhome is the lack of storage. we sleep on the two single beds and so can leave one of the large fill-in cushions at home which empties the top locker quite a bit. We have also removed the wire tray from under the long seat's front locker and stuff the bedding and pillows under there and use a variety of plastic boxes for clothes in the top locker. We've changed and tried all sorts of permutations for storage but think we've more or less sorted it now.
When away for more than a weekend we take a storage tent (as seen in my avatar) to leave water carrier, chairs etc when we go off site. It reserves our pitch and also leaves the van clearer. We haven't got a fixed awning but have got a sunshade that clips to a J rail, much cheaper than a wind-out awning (you can also see that in my avatar). Other than that , we have not made any alterations to the van although we do use an expanding curtain rail between the walls of the washroom as somewhere to hang wet coats and I've replaced the original radio/cassette player with a CD player.
The heating in ours is by a Carver P4 blown-air heater which developed problems last year and as they are now obsolete I had great difficulty in finding a replacement. I nearly swapped it for a propex but did eventually get a P4 off ebay so thats now sorted and the water heater also developed a fault during our first summer away and that was fixed by Spinney under warrantee (new burner).

Hi Paul

Glad you got your engine probs sorted out eventually.

Like you it took us a few trips away to work out storage and what/what not to take( and our Triden'ts smaller than your Symphony) We've got a wind out awning for short trips, a drive away awning for longer trips or if extras people are travelling with us. A couple of years ago on a trip to FRance we just took a pup tent with us and kept loads of things in there to stop cluttering the van up and as you say it reserves your pitch when you pop out in the van.

Anyway a great write up about your van - Howzabout adding some pics !

Stevo

Hi Paul,
Welcome to the forum.
As a fellow Peugeot van owner it's good to have another on the forum. Your van and mine are very similar [Symbol] so I am aware of the storage problems you mention. However by careful packing and not taking anything uneccesary we manage fine for at least four weeks away at a time.
We do not need to take any of the infill cushions as we sleep across the width of the van. This leaves the whole of the ovecab clear for storage. In here we store the sleeping bags, 2 pillows, small camping table, the external and interneal windscreen covers and the tv.
The hot air heater is in a small separate compartment under the bench seat. I have replaced the fixing screws of the lid of this compartment with thumbscrews and can now use the spare space inside for extra storage. Spare loo rolls and kitchen rolls and the fan heater go in here plus a few other items.
A fair amount of extras can be stored in the gas bottle locker.
We carry a 10 litre water container which is useful to top up the main tank and also to give us a little extra capacity. This is very useful as we use aires and stellplatze abroad and sometimes wildcamp in Scotland.
Because of this we do not have a storage tent and actually have no need of it. The water container stores in the shower when on the move or just by the back door when on site.
When camping, the area in front of the driver's and passenger's seat is called the shed and things such as the
chairs are put there.
My sister had a Symphony until about a year ago and was very pleased with it but like you was not so keen on a petrol engine.

squip

stevomar wrote:Anyway a great write up about your van - Howzabout adding some pics !

Stevo

It's been a long time coming but I've followed the 'load photos' tutorial, lets see if I 've got it right.
and another one of Carol doing what she does best

Nice socks!!
and van of course
See you keep an old Tesco bag like us for rubbish
Stevo

Excellent Paul, good to see you posting pics mate

Nice to see your Symphony

CC

Thanks, I haven't got many more with the Symphony in them, I tend to take views from the van but not with the van in them. There are a couple though, here's one of them
can't put it in the 'where's my autosleeper' because the location is printed on it.