I have brought a Sherbourne

Hi all,

I have just sold my Autosleeper Symphony and brought a Sherbourne is there anything I need to know or tips as I will pick

it up next bank holiday and go off to Wales for the long weekend.

best regards
 
Pat & Mags   

Hi Pat & Mags
Congratulations on your purchase.
The Sherbourne is a great van and when launched was the flagship of the Autosleeper range.
When picking up any 'new' van the obvious things come to mind....make sure you collect all the documentaion and have a good handover.

The Sherbourne uses all the standard internal A/S parts as found on many of the Coachbuilts of that era. The fridge/freezer is unique, (especially for that era), as it has a self switching power source to determine between Gas/240V and 12V when moving.

Just remenber that it is on a long wheelbase and manovering will be very different compared to your previous van.

In today's market the Sherbourne is terrific value for money, well built by A/S and on a reliable chasis.

Enjoy

John

Hi all,


thanks for the info I have posted a few posts in the past on the van conversion section and hope to do the same on this one.

 
Pat

Hi Pat and Mags,

We've owned our Sherbourne for 15 months now and we love it. The washroom is one of the best I've seen, loads of room to shower and change etc. The engine is beautifully smooth and refined. I've been using BP Ultimate for the last 3 tanks and given it a number of prolonged high speed runs ( 200 motorway miles to Dover etc. ) and it seems to get even nicer with each tankful. We find it has a spacious feel considering it's size and the bed is very quick to make up and is comfortable.

I'm sure you're going to really enjoy it.

Steve

Peter Brown wrote:http://www.autosleeper.vwt4camper.info/html/vw_t4_autosleeper_sherbourne.html

They are rare - I've only seen one - on a campsite in France last year.

There is a lot of info at the link above.  I don't know how accurate it is as the body is incorrectly described in the piece as a Monocoque when you can see from the photos that it is a coachbuilt.

Peter

Hi Pete.

Like you I've only seen one other Sherbourne. Where in France did you see one last year ? It could well have been us.

Steve

Not us Pete, we were May and July.

Steve

Croeso y Gymru...Welcome to Wales!  I hope the terrible gales we are experiencing will have blown away before you come.  Enjoy your stay!

Croeso i Gymru!!

I've been the owner of a Sherbourne for 7 years and I'm reluctantly selling it, but only because I want the option of single beds to take friends away. I've absolutely loved mine and will be sad to say goodbye. I've only ever seen 2 others - one was a 3 berth owned by a lovely couple (sorry, can't remember their names) who live in Mallaig and I met in the Tesco's car park in Oban last year. The other I saw at Sunnyside Croft Campsite just outside Arisaig this year. Didn't get a chance to chat to them though. Not sure how many were built, but hope you have many a pleasant trip in it.

And in my opinion, it's based on the best chassis and engine you can get

Hi all,

Wales was great and the Sherbourne has surpassed our expectations   , since then I took it over to Belgium for a week to visit Waterloo (minus the missus) the van performed


really well and had no problems distance travelled 1150 trouble free miles, the next trip was to Southern France staying on Aires and a campsite very hot but the fridge freezer

did us proud distance covered 1850 trouble free miles so all in all I am very pleased with the Sherbourne    and plan to go to Cheddar this weekend.

I am looking to purchase a reversing camera and will post a blog later for some help. 

Pat & Mags

Glad but not surprised that you're enjoying your Sherbourne. We've had ours for 15 months (18,000 miles) now and so far can't find anything that disappoints us. The engine is wonderful. For the last 5,000 miles or so I've been using BP Ultimate diesel or equivalent and I think it's made a real difference. I would guess that it has gradually cleaned the fuel system and it is noticeably quieter and smoother. The last tank of fuel gave approx. 38mpg of mixed, open road driving which I'm really pleased with. I doubt that the consumption makes up for the extra cost but I'd pay that just for the feel.

Habitation wise it works for us but is very definitely just a two berth. One of the great things is the washroom which allows showering and changing etc. without spilling out into the rest of the van and with two windows and two skylights in there it had plenty of natural light. The bed is so quick and easy to set up that it is difficult to see why I would want to drag around a bed that it permanently taking up space. We have never got to the point where we have filled the available storage although the longest time we've been away is only three weeks. I've been pleasantly surprised by the insulation. It has never felt like an oven in Provence and in the winter we've not been cold.

All in all, a great van.

Hi Styler,

thanks for your input I don,t feel so alone now   I think they only made 200 sherbournes I am going to start a new topic asking the pro,s and con,s of wire

or wireless reversing cameras as I found a nasty blind spot while travelling over the "pond" about one and a half seconds you were blind to cars overtaking, on

my second trip I fitted small mirrors which were ok but in my previous Symphony I fitted a reverse camera and miss it, do you have a camera fitted.

P.S. I am still running on low grade French diesel so on next fill up will do as you suggest failing that I will pay for a chimney sweep!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

  Pat

We had a reversing camera ftted to our 2000 Legend (Monocoque) by "Mike" who works at Continental Caravans at Cross Hands near Llanelli

It is invaluable!  He fitted it perfectly and completely unobrusively.
www.continental-caravans.co.uk
We use it as the rear view of choice when travelling, as it gives a much clearer view of what is behind then the mirror.  One tip, though!... Turn the sound down when driving, otherwise you might think a jumbo jet is about to land on your roof.........just use that when you want to avoid running over the foreman giving parking orders from behind!