Storage Question

It looks as though we may be going down the Warwick Duo Route

Has any of you downsized from say a Sigma,Inca,Windsor,Ascot Broadway etc ?

Where do you store stuff like levelling blocks, wheel pads etc as management is bound to ask

We hang ours on the bike rack in a bracket made from a pair of ladder hangers.

A bit fiddly, but it works and they are out of the way.

Dave

I'd be interested too as our PVC from 8 years ago had most of such stuff stored either side of the dog crate which doesn't exist on A/S vans. Stuff like EHU cables, hoses, levelling ramps etc.

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We downsized to a van conversion - AS Sussex Duo.  Never looked back.  Anything that is likely to be muddy/wet is hung or mounted on the bike rack,  ramps, outside carpet, foot mat etc.  Much use is made of the toilet/washroom as storage when on the move - mainly for 2 Duvelays in bags. Two sun loungers are strapped behind the passengers seat.  For long periods away we have towball mounted bike rack and put storage boxes on the door mounted Fiamma rack.
John

We downsized from a Broadway to a Warwick Duo last year, and I love it especially for the ease of driving,
management is slowly coming around to the reduced storage, no more 10 pairs of shoes!

We have two Really Useful 50 litre Boxes, which hold the levelling blocks, clothes drier, shoes etc. stored behind the passenger seat when travelling and under the van on site.
Chairs and water bottles go into the toilet while travelling.
You just have to be realistic on what to carry.

John

Today I went to an Adria dealership near us and was totally bowled over by their Adria Twin 500S model That 500S stands for 5 metres and the van is actually 4.963m long (16ft 3ins). It has two single seats behind those in the cab and very easily they become beds, combined with the twizzled front seats, measuring 6ft 4ins plus by 2ft 3ins plus which is big for such beds and there are inserts to make a double, of sorts. One rear seat has the Truma heater/boiler underneath it and the other seat base is storage. The 'lounge' flooring is raised and the table and pole fits underneath and there are two cubbys in the floor as well. On the raised floor I found my head was in the Heki but when I stepped down towards the back I had just enough headroom.

The UK spec. vans have twin sliding doors which is great for access but means you lose two left hand roof lockers compared to the Continental version that only opens on our offside.

Behind the seats is a kitchen on the nearside with excellent worktop hob and sink. Underneath are three drawers and a 65 litre compressor fridge. On the offside is a slim wardrobe with good size gas locker underneath and at the rear is a brilliant bathroom which consist of a C200 swivel toilet, a modern flip up basin above and mirrored double door cupboard above that. If you want to shower then you use the basin tap and position the door across the gangway to the kitchen. Remove a floor cut-out and slide the two shower curtains around and there you have a usable shower space.

An innovative and practical little van as long as you can manage in a small space.

Comparing it to our old Innovation, I guess it is more like it's sibling, the Cavarno, which was 15ft 11ins with a proper washroom on board. The Cavarno had a 3 way fridge rather than compressor and an oven/grill which the Adria doesn't feature. The Cavarno's washroom was an almost identical layout to the Symbol/Duetto etc and didn't make dual use of the gangway floor as in the Adria.

Having said all that the Adria has 4 roof lockers the same as the Cavarno, but maybe not as tall and the three kitchen drawers which are probably bigger than the older van's kitchen storage.

Compared to a Warwick Duo of course it's a metre (3ft 4ins) shorter, which in motorhome terms, especially small ones, is a big difference. Certainly, from experience, the little Adria has plenty of storage for clothing, food and kitchen gear, and with the 50 litre boxes John describes the other big stuff could be accommodated. You'd certainly have to limit what you take and be ever mindful of the lack of space, especially as there's no shower floorspace in the washroom to use for alternative purposes.

Sometimes I think that people with large motorhomes should be forced to use a small van like the Adria 500 for a few days so they realise they don't have to use such large vehicles.

Thanks for the advice

Re the Adria, there is no way management would look at a PVC with the standard large side opening door.   There are 2 vans on the market that avoid this,  The Warwick as the bathroom back wall blocks half of it and one of the IH Motorhomes which as a standard caravan/mh door
hence the decision on the Warwick

That's interesting Roger. 

Far be it from me to query any decision by a member of the opposite sex but what is the objection to the sliding door, which, if memory serves have a halfway stop anyway? When we had our Transit one of the pleasures was to sit with the side door wide open of a balmy evening.

Door open = heat loss (to her) Half the wall open = all heat loss !!!!!

It's funny, but in two years with our Transit, pitching during some pretty cold weather and driving through two winters heat loss never entered my head, though obviously I wouldn't sit around with the side door open for any length of time.in such conditions. When pitched the diesel heating was easily able to bring things to temperature v quickly and quickly boosted up to overcome any door opening

steamdrivenandy wrote:
Sometimes I think that people with large motorhomes should be forced to use a small van like the Adria 500 for a few days so they realise they don't have to use such large vehicles.

I've been biting my tongue for a few hours but the inclusion of the words 'should be forced to' in the above upsets me (and that is the nice version of my thought).

Gromit wrote:We hang ours [levelling blocks] on the bike rack in a bracket made from a pair of ladder hangers.

A bit fiddly, but it works and they are out of the way.

Dave

 
Now that's yet another good idea from the Gromit Innovation Centre.

We carry blocks but rarely need them because we prefer hard-standing pitches - which are usually tolerably level. I use levelling blocks made from very old timber (about 3" high, with a slope on one end; they are of the width of tyre and of adequate length. I prefer the idea of resting a wheel on a level piece of timber, rather than on a small shelf on a plastic block. But the wooden blocks weigh quite a bit; indeed, prompted by another thread about possible distortion of a skirt locker by excess weight, I've just swapped things around and moved heavier stuff (including chocks) into the N/S under-bed locker. So to be able to store the blocks on the bike rack would be sensible.

Can you store yours on the bike rack without lowering the rails (i.e. when not carrying bikes) as well as when carrying bikes?

Any chance of a photo or description, please (register the design first!)?

And if plastic blocks are in fact OK and easier to hang securely than wooden ones, what make is the one to buy?

Many thanks,

Cymro

Peter Brown wrote:

steamdrivenandy wrote:
Sometimes I think that people with large motorhomes should be forced to use a small van like the Adria 500 for a few days so they realise they don't have to use such large vehicles.

I've been biting my tongue for a few hours but the inclusion of the words 'should be forced to' in the above upsets me (and that is the nice version of my thought).

What a comment to make, this is a friendly forum with respect for others,   what suits one doesn`t suit another, but I also take exception to this remark, and this is from a recent newbie. It beggars  belief we have someone on this happy forum with these views. this attitude it  is not welcome or wanted thank you. Even if you think it is  your prerogative, but  think before you post it. why should anyone be forced to do anything  by someone who thinks they know better, , I have had my share of control freaks will not tolerate them .     
 
Also what message does it send out to new members or those that are thinking of joining.?

I feel so sorry for admin and others who help with this forum for our benefit, Sorry if speaking my mind upsets anyone, this is unacceptable.

Peter Brown wrote:

steamdrivenandy wrote:
Sometimes I think that people with large motorhomes should be forced to use a small van like the Adria 500 for a few days so they realise they don't have to use such large vehicles.

I've been biting my tongue for a few hours but the inclusion of the words 'should be forced to' in the above upsets me (and that is the nice version of my thought).

Sorry, my use of 'forced' was injudicious and not meant in the way that some have interpreted. What I meant was that people often lose out by not considering using a small van. By viewing them, with an open mind, they might enjoy a different experience and appreciate the ingenuity and innovation that go into such vehicles.

Thanks for the clarification - we started small, increased to medium and then went large. Circumstances may lead us smaller again sometime in the future and will be happy with that but at the moment the 'flat' that we spend a third of the year living in is what we want.

We too started small and the moved to a bigger motorhome (but still just under 6m), then on to caravans, again gradually getting bigger. I'm not sure I like the seeming inexorability of getting larger and larger.

At the back of my mind though is a feeling that what we do shouldn't be about having a mobile Grand Design but about something more basic, more of its own, rather than emulating a fixed dwelling with wheels and an engine.

steamdrivenandy wrote:

Peter Brown wrote:

steamdrivenandy wrote:
Sometimes I think that people with large motorhomes should be forced to use a small van like the Adria 500 for a few days so they realise they don't have to use such large vehicles.

I've been biting my tongue for a few hours but the inclusion of the words 'should be forced to' in the above upsets me (and that is the nice version of my thought).

Sorry, my use of 'forced' was injudicious and not meant in the way that some have interpreted. using a small van. By viewing them, with an open mind, they might enjoy a different experience and appreciate the ingenuity and innovation that go into such vehicles.What I meant was that people often lose out by not considering a small van

Most have started with a small van including me and wasn`t suitable for me ,  not much room in bad weather nice if you can get outside, and the bed was abysmal, so  no think you,  been there got the T shirt. you assumed, and we all know what that means.

daisy mae wrote:

steamdrivenandy wrote:

Peter Brown wrote:

steamdrivenandy wrote:
Sometimes I think that people with large motorhomes should be forced to use a small van like the Adria 500 for a few days so they realise they don't have to use such large vehicles.

I've been biting my tongue for a few hours but the inclusion of the words 'should be forced to' in the above upsets me (and that is the nice version of my thought).

Sorry, my use of 'forced' was injudicious and not meant in the way that some have interpreted. using a small van. By viewing them, with an open mind, they might enjoy a different experience and appreciate the ingenuity and innovation that go into such vehicles.What I meant was that people often lose out by not considering a small van

Most have started with a small van including me and wasn`t suitable for me ,  not much room in bad weather nice if you can get outside, and the bed was abysmal, so  no think you,  been there got the T shirt. you assumed, and we all know what that means.

I'm sorry, I didn't 'assume' anything, the post didn't refer to you as an individual, but said that 'people often lose out' and plenty of folk do buy large vans from the off and don't try anything smaller first.

steamdrivenandy wrote:

daisy mae wrote:

steamdrivenandy wrote:

Peter Brown wrote:

steamdrivenandy wrote:
Sometimes I think that people with large motorhomes should be forced to use a small van like the Adria 500 for a few days so they realise they don't have to use such large vehicles.

I've been biting my tongue for a few hours but the inclusion of the words 'should be forced to' in the above upsets me (and that is the nice version of my thought).

Sorry, my use of 'forced' was injudicious and not meant in the way that some have interpreted. using a small van. By viewing them, with an open mind, they might enjoy a different experience and appreciate the ingenuity and innovation that go into such vehicles.What I meant was that people often lose out by not considering a small van

Most have started with a small van including me and wasn`t suitable for me ,  not much room in bad weather nice if you can get outside, and the bed was abysmal, so  no think you,  been there got the T shirt. you assumed, and we all know what that means.

I'm sorry, I didn't 'assume' anything, the post didn't refer to you as an individual, but said that 'people often lose out' and plenty of folk do buy large vans from the off and don't try anything smaller first.

I didn`t say you were referring to me, as I was speaking collectively, are you a member of that "other forum"  just asking ?

I was reading SDA's interesting Adria post until the last bit, but while I agree no one should be forced to do anything in the world of motorhoming, I don't really think SDA meant to offend anyone with his remark. Many's the time we've parked up in our little Nuevo and had a massive MH draw up alongside us, and although we've expected at least a family of 6 to step out, invariably it's only a couple. Equally, we've seen a family of five climb out of a VW poptop!
But as Margaret says, each to their own, we travel with a minimum of stuff which comes from the limitations of years of touring on a motorcycle when everything had to fit into a pair of panniers.. A Nuevo is luxury!
Al.

daisy mae wrote:

steamdrivenandy wrote:

daisy mae wrote:

steamdrivenandy wrote:

Peter Brown wrote:

steamdrivenandy wrote:
Sometimes I think that people with large motorhomes should be forced to use a small van like the Adria 500 for a few days so they realise they don't have to use such large vehicles.

I've been biting my tongue for a few hours but the inclusion of the words 'should be forced to' in the above upsets me (and that is the nice version of my thought).

Sorry, my use of 'forced' was injudicious and not meant in the way that some have interpreted. using a small van. By viewing them, with an open mind, they might enjoy a different experience and appreciate the ingenuity and innovation that go into such vehicles.What I meant was that people often lose out by not considering a small van

Most have started with a small van including me and wasn`t suitable for me ,  not much room in bad weather nice if you can get outside, and the bed was abysmal, so  no think you,  been there got the T shirt. you assumed, and we all know what that means.

I'm sorry, I didn't 'assume' anything, the post didn't refer to you as an individual, but said that 'people often lose out' and plenty of folk do buy large vans from the off and don't try anything smaller first.

I didn`t say you were referring to me, as I was speaking collectively, are you a member of that "other forum"  just asking ?

Again I'm sorry but your response was based around your personal experiences which suggested that a van you had used wasn't suitable for you, didn't have enough room for you in bad weather and the bed of your particular van was abysmal and that you had the Tshirt, that didn't sound like a 'collective' response to me, they were all things you personally felt or had experienced. And again I'm sorry but I don't understand what your reference to 'we all know what that means' and an 'other forum' means?

steamdrivenandy has again apologised, I now wish I had kept biting my tongue as several members are now concerned at the way this thread has developed.  I would appreciate it if future posts could be limited to responses to Rolis' OP asking about storage specifics.

Back to business!  I'll post a photo later Cymro - it may be of interest to Roli and others. I'm tidying the shed at the moment, and it hasn't been done for a couple of years so you know what I'm up against!!!!

Dave



How did that Happen??? I just tried to edit a spelling error, and managed to delete most of my post!!

Dave made further comment at the beginning of his post; I have deleted them to terminate that part of the debate.

Although I've never downsized, only having previously owned small campervans, my Nuevo is lacking any exterior locker and I do find I miss a place to store wet/dirty items such as levelling blocks, exterior screen etc. We just pop these things in a waterproof stuffsack and put it in the washroom when travelling, but I guess a rear rack and box is the way to go.
Al.