Our UK motorhome is available for hire.
Each hire period is 90 days @ £35 per day (£3,150)
Consecutive 90 day hire periods can be booked subject to availability.
Bond £3,000
Storage Location
The motorhome is stored at a caravan park near Bournemouth, England.
It is a £30 taxi fare from Bournemouth Railway Station/National Express bus stop to the site.
We chose the location for the easy transport (Nat Express bus) from Heathrow/Gatwick airports.
Note this storage is only for the motorhome, people can not live in it there.
Insurance
Comprehensive insurance is included in the daily hire rate (Value is approx. £4 per day).
The vehicle may be driven in the UK and European Union Countries.
Registration and MOT
UK Vehicle tax is paid by us as is the MOT.
Timing for the MOT test, which must be done in the UK to be determined according to hiring schedule.
Travelling to continental Europe
You will require a letter from us, suitably notarised, proving to border officials that you are allowed to use the vehicle. This is because the registration papers are in our name, not yours.
Breakdown Service.
We have never taken out break-down service as it is a very standard diesel engine with little to go wrong.
There are mechanics everywhere in Europe who could service anything on this vehicle.
However, if you are more comfortable with roadside assistance then we can arrange for such a policy which costs £300 for 12 months breakdown cover (RAC). Pro rata refunds will be made once payments has been received back from the RAC.
Condition of motorhome
It was a 1999 Ford Transit flat bed truck, diesel with manual transmission. It was converted to a ‘Herald Squire’ motorhome and first registered after conversion in 2001. It has travelled just under 70,000 miles.
We deliberately disabled the engine management system 7 years ago as it was ‘GEN1’ and quite flaky, and had a new fuel pump built for it. Now it is a straight, simple diesel engine with another 150,000 miles left in it at least. It achieves 6.2 miles per litre of diesel fuel under almost all driving conditions, motorways, towns, up and down mountains. It has a top speed of 70 mph, is right-hand drive, and cruises comfortably on motorways at 60-65mph.
It is an aluminium skin built over a timber frame. Over the years, when in storage, water has got in and rotted some of the timber frame. We have fixed up the leaks, used wood hardener and filler to fix the timber and as of 2024 when we parked her up, she has been fully sealed with no leaks or issues for 3 years. A sure sign of that has been no smell of mold. One of our motivations for hiring out the motorhome is that if it is used, then issues like leaks are spotted immediately and action can be taken.
Not so, when it is just sitting in storage.
Rear damage. We were clipped in Turkey in June 2024 and sustained some superficial damage to the rear driver’s side. You will see the white Gorilla tape in the pictures holding things together. We have a quote to get this repaired for £1,500 and will do it after we return to the UK in 2026. It is not illegal, it is not unsafe, it is simply unattractive.
Dimensions and Facilities
5.5m long inc bike rack, 2.9m high inc TV antenna (which we have never used).
Bathroom has cabinet, light, shower tray and sink where the faucet pulls out to become a handheld shower. Hot water tank heats 9 litres from gas in 10 min or 15min if you are hooked up to the mains.
The fresh water tank holds 60L. One time on the amazingly pot-holed roads of Romania’s North the bracket holding the tank snapped and it started dragging on the ground. A genius local used a simple strap to fix it and it’s been that way, held up perfectly by a strap, ever since. We don’t use the fresh water tank for cooking, drinking, tooth brushing, dish washing. It all looks perfectly fine coming out the faucets, but we just use it for washing hands and showers. We also fill the tank to only about 50% to reduce weight, using supermarket bottled water and a funnel as we don’t trust hose pipes. Up to you what you do.
The kitchen has a three burner gas hob, a gas grill and gas oven. All work really well. There’s a sink and drainer and hot and cold taps. Above the hob are two cabinets for cutlery, crockery, food and below a cabinet for pots and pans, dishwashing liquid, foil, paper etc.
There’s a gas heater opposite the kitchen that works very well if you know the trick. (I can explain)
The original three way GAS/DC/AC fridge is still there and it works, but we don’t use it anymore…just for storage. We bought an all electric fridge which works off DC or AC and it’s MUCH better at staying cold than the old one and it runs 24×7 from our rooftop solar panels and third battery. There’s a backup supply to run from the 2nd battery under the bonnet but never had to use it. The old fridge used up quite a lot of gas, which is very expensive these days (£40 pounds for a 7kg Calor Butane bottle exchange is normal in the UK).
The gas bottle storage locker holds 1 x 7kg Butane bottle and we also have a 6kg Propane bottle in there as well. In addition there are 2 x spare 7kg Butane bottles strapped to the sides of the top storage area (intended as a child’s bed but too small for anything really except bedding etc and the gas bottles).
Can’t get Calor gas exchanges outside of the UK so we have to take everything we need to the continent. Euro gas bottles don’t fit the cabinet either…too large. Worst case would be to get a little camping bottle on the continent and hook that up. Each 7kg gas bottle lasts us 3 months now that we use the electric fridge…but we almost never use the gas heater. If you are going somewhere cold for a long time, and use the heater a LOT, then you might run out of gas. The 6kg red propane bottle is there if you are going somewhere below -2 deg C which is the coldest Butane can work at.
The sitting area is behind the driver/passenger seat. Two padded bench seats. There’s a fold out table in the wardrobe that sits between the two benches for meals/work.
When it’s time to make up the bed there are two sturdy wooden planks that fit between the seats (pictured in the montage below). We also have 2 x memory foam pieces that roll out to cover the entire bed. This makes it much softer. Then it’s just bedding. It takes one of us 90 seconds to fully make up the bed and 60 seconds to put it away.
There are further head high storage lockers around the motorhome and the wardrobe which can hang about 20 garments with a storage box for socks etc. Under the storage box is a cavity where the some of motorhome DC electrics are (charge controller). We use this area for bulky light storage like toilet rolls, kitchen paper towel.
Heating the van is easy with the cabin heater when the engine is running, the gas heater, even the oven and hob. There is no AC in the van at all so cooling is about finding shade, ventilation and fans (and on occasion wearing soaking wet T shirts and hats ha ha).
All windows and the roof vent have light block out blinds and fly screens. There are curtains too but we never use them.
We use the Park4Nite app to find free and safe parking places. With three batteries on board and solar we never need to ‘hook-up’ or stay in a campsite, although now and again we have done that for the luxury of long hot showers, hairdryers, swimming pools, washing machines etc.
The toilet is a standard cassette type which we use for No.1s only and solve the No.2 problem in the usual ways…I can explain. We use bio washing liquid in the cassette and flush, which does the same job as expensive chemicals. There is a large bag in the gas cabinet for discreetly carrying the cassette for emptying in public toilets…which is legal. We empty the cassette typically every three days.
How to get in touch with us….
WhatsApp – +61420533283
Email – agmackeith@gmail.com
Photo gallery
and finally….the damage we got in Turkey that’s covered by white Gorilla tape.
