calling for owners thoughts of Kemerton

Hi all, we are looking at the Kemerton as a possible replacement for our coachbuilt. We would appreciate any views ( good and bad) from current / ex owners on what you like or dislike about the van. We would also like to hear about how reliable the conversion is and does the quality of the build hold up over time? Many thanks in anticipation! Ross.

Hi Ross
Welcome to the forum from Bridlington .Perthshire caravans appear to have a Kemperton on there stocklist.
Boaby

Hello and from Leicestershire

Hi Ross
Had our Kemerton for 31/2 years and apart from the odd little niggle it has been and still is a great van and is still our preferred layout. We have made numerous little improvements to suit our needs but nothing major, in many ways we have more storage in this van than we did have in our previous coach built plus it is lot nicer to drive. The 2 negative's possibly would be the Whale heating system and the fact that you can not make 2 single beds but neither of these are a real issue.
Regards Batch

Thanks Batch , what is the problem with the whale system? What sort of water heater is in your van? Thanks again..

When comparing it to a Truma heater it is quite noisy  and generally not as efficient. Initially it would not send any heat to the bathroom at all. I eventually found that AS had fitted the flexible connector on the Whale heater the wrong way which was easy to resolve, I also changed the fully open heater vent in the living area to a open & close vent and  the open & close vent in the bathroom to a constantly  open vent this made a big difference we at least now have a warm bathroom even if the heater is a bit noisy . The 1 bonus is that the Whale heater takes up a lot less space.
Batch

We love our 2013 Kemerton...

It has had silly niggles mostly from squeaks and rattles but they were easily solved ! Let me know if you buy one and I will chat on the phone and tell you where they come from and how to cure them ! 
Build quality is excellent with high quality kit used . Comfort is brilliant for the size of the van with equipment levels high. 

The bed can very easily be adapted to be able to be used as two singles and that is how we have ours. It involves making up two simple boards and adjusting the space behind the folding section behind the passenger side bed. 

The heating is the usual blown air and very effective but like all blown air systems they make a noise.

We simply plug in a wee oil filled radiator and it keeps the van nice and warm all night with no noise whatsoever. It keeps the whole van warm including the rear washroom. 

Like all Van conversions space is at a premium and for that reason we may sell ours for a larger van. Perhaps a Broadway. 

Make sure you buy with the "premium package" which consists of the Thule Omnistor and the Air suspension plus a couple of other odds and sods . 

Problem for me is I hate a vehicle............Any kind of vehicle that has squeaks and/or rattles. Our Kemerton now is free of these but I wonder if its possible to get a coachbuilt vehicle as quiet !!

MPG is exceptional on our van which has only done 11,000 miles so far ! 

Its a great drive which is very relaxed and seldom lacking in power. The engine and gearing suits the vehicle very well indeed, 

As above the only question mark for us is space. Its been a cracking first van and one we have not regretted buying for a second. 

Any specific questions just ask . 

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Hi Ross
Welcome to the forum from S.Yorkshire. Purchased our Kemerton from new in June this year [built in2014] & not having a MH previously cannot compare it with other models. As you are likely to be aware of, Auto-Sleeper now builds only the Kemerton XL model which is a little longer than the standard one I have. As such the single bed issue is resolved. But like Charlie says it is possible to make two single beds with a little ingenuity. I have also organized a two single bed layout though not in the same way as Charlie. I confess that it was my partner who chose the Kemerton. Looking far & wide she eventually fell for the layout of the interior, especially the rear separation of shower & toilet & the largish kitchen area. Very important also was having a full view of the countryside when the sliding door is fully swung open. For me it is pleasure to drive, can't fault it. I could go on with the attributes of the Kemerton but Charlie & Batch has covered most of the important points & I fully agree with them. We do have a few niggles but members of the forum are quick to resolve all of them..including the occasional squeak or rattle, which touch wood I have none, yet!

Mel

PS If you do decide to buy a Kemerton I would take up the offer of Charlie . He's a fountain of knowledge & when he's not sure of the answer, he's knows a man/women who does.

Thanks all so far for prompt replies and a special thanks to Charlie for the offer of call back. Had a look at a Kemerton today and liked what we saw. I am interested in the boards you made up , do they use the front seats?

Charlie mentioned noise from blown air heaters. We have one in our Lancashire and I don't find the noise at all intrusive - we have the heater on at night and don't notice when it comes on or off.

kaspian wrote:Thanks all so far for prompt replies and a special thanks to Charlie for the offer of call back. Had a look at a Kemerton today and liked what we saw. I am interested in the boards you made up , do they use the front seats?

Yes they do go into the front seats. They pop in in seconds.. We face the front sets forward and tilt the backs upright then in go the upholstered boards jobs a gud un. 

The Kemerton really is a cracking van ! I/we looked at many Panel Van Conversions and the AS range and the Kemerton in particular simply left them for dead. Our van is a late 2013 on a 63 plate and had 8.000 miles on it so it was not cheap ! But the extra paid over say an Autocruise or a Swift was worth every single penny coin. One we looked inside an AS that was it.

There is a builder of these vans called IH motor homes who build the ultimate in van conversions but they are Mega expensive and a little opulent for our tastes ! 

I will see if I can find the pictures of those boards if you like ?

That would be great as they say a picture is worth a thousand words

We also have a Kemerton bought new April this year. We love it! We downsized from a Broadway and don't feel as though we have lost much space. We find it extremely quiet and smooth to drive. We love the layout and also have a Kela drive away awning which gives us an extra room. We also carry a small radiator which is silent to run and can have on at night without keeping us awake. Apart from the noise from the blue heating, we can't find any negatives.

Sorry,.... Meant to read as blow heating !!

judy wrote:We also have a Kemerton bought new April this year. We love it! We downsized from a Broadway and don't feel as though we have lost much space. We find it extremely quiet and smooth to drive. We love the layout and also have a Kela drive away awning which gives us an extra room. We also carry a small radiator which is silent to run and can have on at night without keeping us awake. Apart from the noise from the blue heating, we can't find any negatives.

 Hi Judy, When using your radiator, where do you stand it, I find that when the bed is made up the floor space is limited.  I have a small fan heater, but that is just as noisy as the blow heating.  How are you enjoying your Kemerton, you may remember we met briefly at Jedburgh earlier in the year.

I don't have a real problem with the blown air heating. In fact it is very good and efficient. But the wee oil filled radiator just works so very well.. 
We place our one down in front if the cupboard under the sink. Leave the door open to the washroom and it warms the whole lot up a treat !

Seeing this thread reminds me I never posted up the pictures of the extra boards we have to extend the sofa and R&R bed so we can enjoy two singles instead of the more usual large transverse double. This arrangement takes up less floor space and its easy for either of us to visit the loo in the middle of the night.  

If anyone is still interested I will try and find them ?

Hi Charlie , yes , still awaiting the photos you offered earlier thanks. Still looking for a Kemerton but was looking to trade in our motorhome but dealers are offering stupidly low figures as a trade in..They offered me the same in trade in for our van as they were boldly asking for a 4 year older base spec van of same model and it was in poor condition!!!

As requested from Charlie, many thanks!

Right here are the pictures. I didn't actually do this wee conversion it was done when we got the van. It works remarkably well and takes no time to drop the boards in . 
The pictures are of the bed on the passenger side of the van but both sides work exactly the same. We leave the driver side one in place all the time when parked up as it neatly extends the sofa and makes the island table so accessible ... 

Pictures
This one shows the board. 
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This one shows the space the board fills. It really does extend the bed very well and gives more than enough length for even the tallest person

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This one shows the board in place. We tilt both seats forward slightly just to give that bit more room. Pillows sit really well up against the backs of the tilted seats. They can of course be left vertical.
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Last picture shows the slight alteration to the cabinet. This alteration is not strictly needed unless the user is really tall. 
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We love our Kemerton. But we are thinking about changing to a bigger van at some point soon. The gain in space with a bigger van will be paid for dearly by the brilliant drive of the Van conversion the excellent economy and just how easy to drive and live with a large van conversion is ... Oh and the noise......... I drove a couple of coach built vans before the Kemerton.. The rattles squeaks and groans in the coachbuilts were frankly bloody awful ! This was one of the big influences in our decision to go for the Kemerton ! It still had its wee squeaks and rattles but they are all sorted now and we have a near silent ride. 

All in all a fabulous vehicle and for us as our very first motor home its been wonderful !

Hi Charlie,
My Kemerton is the same age as yours and still suffers from a few squeaks and rattles. The dealer has dealt successfully with some, but the main problem is the window blinds. I would be interested in how you have cured your rattles in those areas. Having said that, we still think it is a superb van and perfect for our needs.

Frank

opatija wrote:Hi Charlie,
My Kemerton is the same age as yours and still suffers from a few squeaks and rattles. The dealer has dealt successfully with some, but the main problem is the window blinds. I would be interested in how you have cured your rattles in those areas. Having said that, we still think it is a superb van and perfect for our needs.

Frank

Ahhh The window blinds....

Firstly the main culprit is the one in the sliding door.

Because the door is opened and closed often the wee boogars  come loose and/or fall out .  

It is fixed on metal brackets and the screws are quite simply to short. To remedy this you will have to remove the door cards and swap all the screws for longer ones. I did this and when putting the new ones in I dab the holes they go into with a wee dab of clear high modulous silicone just to hold them firm . 

 Whilst the cards are off just move all the various parts of the blinds and its really easy to see where the rattles come form. Use an appropriate thickness adhesive foam tape or the rubber they use to seal round windows which also has an adhesive back. You will soon rid the noises and the difference is immense !

I did this to every window in the van. Removing all the panels is quite an undertaking and it took an age. But as they are not in the sliding door so not getting so much thumping it is possible to do virtually all of the windows in situ.. 

There is one area that really makes a blooming din and its the panels under the cabinets on which the wee spotlights and speakers are mounted.   

Where this panel contacts the walls they squeak like flaming hell ! 

To remedy this you either have to strip them all off like I did or use some of the glazing rubber strip I mentioned above and get it between the edge of the panel and the wall. Honestly it took me ages to find the noise and a while to sort it !

There was another absolute swine of a noise that turned out to be behind the draws under the wardrobe.  It took another age to find with me lay on the floor in the back of the van while a mate drove up and down some rough roads. 

Take all the draws out and you will see a panel that contacts with the wheel arch. This panel in our van was not loose but not well secured either ! As its out of sight and always will be I simply folded a microfiber cloth and wedged it up behind it. Crude but no noise now and out of all of them it was the hardest to find.  From the drivers seat it sounded like it was coming from up by the micowave oven. 

This meant of course the MW oven was stripped out when I was looking for the ruddy noise. The cables behind the oven were not tied down or secured. In addition to this the cabinet bottom the oven sits on is rather poorly fixed. So I checked all the joints in there clipped the cables properly and when I refixed the bottom panel I installed two modesty blocks each side to ensure the weight of the oven does not break the panel as without them it absolutely definitely would in time I guarantee it ! 

Decent materials used no doubt about it but sorry AS poorly put together ! 

Once these and a few other odds and ends are sorted its a wonderfully quiet van ! 

Dont be put off by this cos this machine as it came from the factory is amazingly well put together and shames most others. If you are fussy like me then its worth the effort to sort these things out .

I can try and find the links to the tapes clips and odds and ends if anyone wants them.

It is hard to describe things here but if anyone is unsure I will happily chat on the phone to try and explain better .. 

Thanks Charlie. Quite a task, but probably worth it in the end.

Frank.

opatija wrote:Thanks Charlie. Quite a task, but probably worth it in the end.

Frank.

It was Frank... Well to me at least ! 

This is the door glazing tape I used quite a lot of 

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I used this on every draw and door so none of those can rattle when on the move. On the draws I put the tape on the back of the draw front where it meets the cabinet fronts. So when a draw is opened its out of sight. Same on doors put it on the door not the frame so its neatly out of sight. Stuff is pennies and brilliant for the job as its a soft sort of corrugated strip which easily compresses ..

Haven't been on the forum for quite some time Golly, so I'm sorry for the very long delay in replying to you. We are still extremely happy with our van and I must say, we don't seem to have had any problems with noises or rattles. Our only problem was the fridge and that was sorted out no problem. We have been using it fo

day trips during the winter and are looking forward to getting away for longer periods when the weather improves. Our heater that we put on at night when we are away just stands in front of the cupboard below the sink and that doesn't restrict movement to the toilet. During the day, when not in use it stands at the back door. I see Charlie is thinking of changing to a broadway. It is a super van. We loved ours but downsized for the convenience of using our van on a daily basis as well as trips away as it is so much easier for parking and i didn't like driving the bigger van. Hope you're still enjoying yours.

I'm so happy I came on the forum - CharlieFarlie you are amazing.

The double bed was putting me off as I have a large dog and when he sleeps with me its a nightmare so the single bed option is a must for me.

I now need too find someone to make me some boards!

I think I may buy it - very exciting.