Introductions

Hi

We are owners of an old K reg Talisman, which is our 3rd campervan, and our second Auto Sleeper (the first one being a Rambler). The first two were High Top van conversions, so the Talisman is our first coachbuilt 'van.

We have two dogs (both rescued), and bought our first 'van to take to Flyball* events (wild camping) at weekends with our previous dog (sadly no longer with us). However, neither of our current two are suited to flyball, so our 'van now does duty for more conventional holidays on UK campsites with the dogs. I also take it to the stables when I go riding, so I can enjoy a cuppa afterwards (and get changed easily if I get drenched!), and also just to give it an outing so it's not standing idle for months at a time between trips.

Julie

*flyball.org.uk

Welcome to the forum Julie.


squip

Hi and welcome to the forum Julie

Thats the joy of our vans ... versatility

Brian & Chris

Hi JUWLZ



Waves117

Hi Juwlz.



Welcome to the forum from Notts. Thought your first dog was called Flyball there for a minute. Only joking. Good name for a dog though.



Whisky.

Welcome from Paul and Carol from North Wales

Well doesn't time fly?

Since joining, 12 years ago, we sold the old 1993 Talisman (aka Tally, for obvious reasons) after 9 years of ownership, replacing it with a 2000 W reg Legend (aka Vanda) with rear lounge, on the basis that the beds would be much easier to make up (and other things about the layout would be better with the dogs).  We kept that for 5 years, but although the interior was wonderful, I never really loved driving and manouevering it, and although I had carefully chosed it because it would fit on our drive - just! - it was just that little bit too long to fit into most parking spaces when out and about, and we hadn't quite realised just how much we valued that. 

So, after 20 years of Motorhome ownership in total, and 5 years with the Legend, we have just (in May 2023) exchanged it for another Talisman - this time a 2003 Talisman SE.  This is our 5th Motorhome, and our 4th AutoSleeper (the first was a Holdsworth, based on a D-reg Renault Trafic which cost us the princely sum of £2900 in 2003).  Each time we've changed, we've paid a little bit more, and each one has been an upgrade for us.  

At 5.75m, Honey, as she's known, is slightly longer than our old 5.45m Talisman, but shorter than the 6.3m Legend, and with much better all round visibility for driving and manouevering (not to mention having had a twin reversing camera installed by a previous owner).  Making up the beds is much easier than in our original Talisman, if not quite as straightforward as the Legend, so it's a good trade-off for us, although we'll perhaps miss the additional storage of the Legend (particularly the boot space; the outside locker on the new Talisman is quite a bit smaller).  But it's a good opportunity to weed out the stuff that we don't need to carry around, and to find different storage solutions for some of the other things that we do need to take!

With both the old Talisman and the Legend, the difference between the price we paid and the price we sold for worked out at £200 depreciation per year, which is pretty good value!  We've only once achieved the reverse, which was a £850/23% increase over 3 years with our Rambler.   

My lockdown project was to create a website of various tips and tricks that we've picked up over the years, particularly with new owners in mind.  Travel restrictions meant that a lot of people suddenly wanted Motorhomes but had no idea what to choose or how they worked.    

We no longer have dogs, but we often use the MoHo to attend events, such as festivals or Steampunk gatherings, as well as having holidays in it.  A friend and I often use it to stay at equine 3 day events too.  

So now, after a long weekend away at Badminton Horse Trials with my friend, who commented that she hadn't appreciated all my improvements to previous Motorhomes until we didn't have them, I've made a start on all the usual modifications that I tend to add to our classic Motorhomes (a hanging rail in the washroom, utensil rail and kitchen roll holder in the kitchen, plenty of charging points in useful places, cushion covers for rolled / folded bedding so that everything gets a use during the day instead of having to find storage space for it, and so on.)  I have a long To Do list!

Great post, juwiz, only after reading did I realise it was started way back in 2011  .   Almost a "best seller"  

There's very few of us who joined during first year of this forum who are still members . Glad to see you're still around and still owning an AS.

IanH wrote:That looks a good buy. Is is  boxer base?
Still think the monocoques are the best "old" van option, as long as the base vehicle is rust free

Yes, it's a Peugeot Boxer, and a joy to drive - way more refined than the Legend's Transit, and considerably more gutsy than our original Talisman's 2-litre petrol Talbot - we needed to take a run up at hills in that one, and dreaded having to stop at an uphill junction 
 
The monocoques are great.  I'm not looking forward to the day when the old monocoques aren't viable any more, except for absolute die-hards who are happy to source parts for very old vehicles.  

I love the huge windows they let you have.  A former owner has also fitted a Heki rooflight to this one, which just floods it with light in the morning, without having to open a single window or blind to compromise privacy.  

Ironically, when we bought our first Autosleeper (a Rambler PVC) we naively thought that all Autosleepers had rock and roll beds with all the hab units down the driver's side of the van.  If the advert had mentioned that it was an Autosleeper, we'd probably never have gone to look at it (back in the days of newspaper adverts with just one photo).  These days, as you can tell by our ownership history, we're very much fans.   

And @BobK, thanks, but it's juwlz (pronounced Jools), not juwiz.  I hadn't realised that I was such an early member.