Grand California roof bed

[Azteccamper]

How many people do you know at 6.7” !!!

I was just thinking the same!!
Being over 6’7” is a rarity in Wales that’s for sure. Wouldn’t you struggle finding a domestic bed?

 

[Soton Campers]

We have the Grand California 600 with the over cab bed. I'm 5 9 and could sleep up there if I had to. Only on my own though!

 

[BeatrixKiddo]

@Wondering Star ...can you tell me who you got insurance with? We are having slight issues as have to park on road (our driveway is just 6 metres long) and this is pushing price up. Sounds like we have same spec of van. We didn't have any choice in the matter but are pleased with the spec. Looking forward hopefully to collecting it this coming week and setting off beginning of October (hopefully!)

 

[TripleBee]

How many people do you know at 6.7” !!!

Well, I am 6.4" and I don't fit in a GC bed. I can manage in the normal California bed and a normal bed, but just.
I should need a bed of at least 220cm in length.
And I know some people that are over 6 foot, so it is not abnormal these days.
The time of being tall when you reached 5.9" is gone.
Unluckily, no single standard catches up with the people.
Try to find a wide range of shoes in size 13 (47 - 48).
When I go into a shoe store, there is too much choice in the range 42 - 46. In the range of 47 - 48, you can count the shoes on your 2 hands.

 

[Wondering Star]

My insurance is with Comfort £405, i think its underwritten by Arriva.
Thatcham alarm/immobiliser plus Scorpion tracker.
I am however lucky to have enough room to park on the drive.

 

[Steven Dodds]

Hi Steve
We purchased our Hymer Grand Canyon S a few weeks ago.
Much like you the Hymer buying experience was underwhelming to say the least.
We purchased a 2wd with a number of additions.
With two kids the pop top is great, due to its design all bedding and even the stair ladder can be left in place in the roof.
We are camping now, so easy just stock up the 90l fridge/freezer and off you go, no faff with packing or setting up at the other end.
For us the camping experience is far better.
Driveability is very pleasant, however dont expect the silky smooth drive of the 150 dsg. It feels more van like compared to the car like feel of the Transporter.(we have the upgraded 163 bhp).
It is however very comfortable, great seats and the 10.25 information system is brilliant.
Rear bed is much more comfortable than the VW, shower/ toilet works well.
All interior fittings are great quality, with one exception, the sink tap feels a little low rent.
We had solar fitted to the roof, heating is diesel, with the gas supplying the cooker only.
We love it and can't wait to explore far and wide when good times return.
Stay safe everyone.

Hey thanks for the response it’s much appreciated. I’m glad your enjoying van they look great. I have actually decided to go high spec grand California 600 this is for a few reason, it’s slightly cheaper, you have local dealer support, reduced cost With discount offered and far shorter delivery time 3 month versus 12 month offered by Hymer. I appreciate that the van is not as pleasing on the eye and top bed is not as good as the pop top however just had to way up the options. There is only 3 off us so the top bed doesn’t cause to much an issue my son is only 5 so he loves the area. On a number of occasions when away in the Cali we have had to lower the roof due to wind so I guess with everything there pros and cons .. Hopefully we’ve made the rite choice!! Stay safe and enjoy your next adventure

 

[Wondering Star]

Totally understand your reasons, it was only the bed size that didn't work for us, 13 and 11yr old.
Pop top has plus's and minus's, off to the coast today 40kph winds expected tonight, dont think the roof will be going up!
My experiences in the past with Motorhome dealers has been average at best , the VW network is far superior and a good local dealer is a massive plus.
Enjoy you new van, next year Freedom

 

[BeatrixKiddo]

@Wondering Star Picked up ours on Thursday and it's sitting on the roadway (can't go away yet). So much to learn about all the bits and bobs!

 

[Jester]

Hey thanks for the response it’s much appreciated. I’m glad your enjoying van they look great. I have actually decided to go high spec grand California 600 this is for a few reason, it’s slightly cheaper, you have local dealer support, reduced cost With discount offered and far shorter delivery time 3 month versus 12 month offered by Hymer. I appreciate that the van is not as pleasing on the eye and top bed is not as good as the pop top however just had to way up the options. There is only 3 off us so the top bed doesn’t cause to much an issue my son is only 5 so he loves the area. On a number of occasions when away in the Cali we have had to lower the roof due to wind so I guess with everything there pros and cons .. Hopefully we’ve made the rite choice!! Stay safe and enjoy your next adventure

You will not regret it I promise you silky smooth to drive just like driving a car. Can confirm the heating works like a dream either on gas or electric as I have just completed the NC 500 was pretty chilly towards the end of the week. Also great on very narrow roads. There was a lot of wing mirror debris and tapped up wing mirrors mainly from Fiat based camper vans.

enjoy.

 

[BeatrixKiddo]

@Wondering Star How's it going? I wonder if you 've managed to find an option for hairdrying on your van (vanity question I know!). Also did you manage to get mats for the drivers & passengers footwells? Thanks a lot.

 

[Wondering Star]

Hi
The Grand Canyon going well thanks, no problems at all. Now named 'Nora the Explorer '
Had a few local weekends away, all year round camping is now possible.
Kids happy upstairs, had thought about buying the insulated poptop inner but purchased two single wool filled duvets instead (Devon Duvets).
Engine getting better all the time, averaging 25mpg.
Not purchased a hair driver but did fit rubber mats.
Ordered mine through Mercedes, driver and passenger plus connector to link together ( does not cover walk through area) £60, excellent quality, thick heavy rubber.
Solar panels working well so far, off to the lake district at half term no electric and not expecting much sun so we will see how that goes.
Hows your van going?

 

[BeatrixKiddo]

We are hoping to go out this weekend for our maiden voyage, so won't be too far. Those look good mats. I'm leaving it to Mr BK to check website as it's so confusing about what model etc we are. We do have the insulation (by mistake). We spoke about having it with the dealer then decided against it however it turned up! Might need it though as plan going to NE Scotland soon. Do you mind checking something for me. The manual implies that if you close some of the hot air vents (say 2) then extra heat will come out from the one left open. In our van the only one that seems to have the ability to close is the one under the bed downstairs. PS I have managed to source the manual in English if you would like a copy.

 

[Wondering Star]

Hi
Can confirm as with yours the only closeable heating vent is in the under bed area, presumably to stop items packed in to that space getting hot.
With regards to heating, we have the diesel option presumably the same if using gas but if you leave the dinette window open, even on trickle the heating will shut down and a fault code will display on control panel. This is to make sure no gasses from the truma vent feed back in to the vehicle, presumably that's why the N/S poptop window is a clear plastic rather than mesh.
Mats came from Eastern Western Motor Company in West Lorhian
Ebay purchase www.stores.ebay.co.uk/C-V-P-Edinburgh
Jsmith@easternholdings.co.uk
You can order via ebay but you will have to supplya chassis number as there's so many variants.
Cost £58.01 delivered which I thought was good value.
Is the manual a Hymer manual? I have a Mercedes Sprinter and a number of individual manuals for heating etc.
The only thing we havn't tried is the shower, we did use it externally (hose through window and attach to body with adapter which was good to have after the kids fell in a river paddleboarding!
Not sure how practical it is in such a small space.
I did see on an American website one owner had fitted a velcro fixed cargo net to the headlinning above the cab which I thought was a good idea for additional storage.
You can never have enough cupboards!

 

[BeatrixKiddo]

Hi
Can confirm as with yours the only closeable heating vent is in the under bed area, presumably to stop items packed in to that space getting hot.
With regards to heating, we have the diesel option presumably the same if using gas but if you leave the dinette window open, even on trickle the heating will shut down and a fault code will display on control panel. This is to make sure no gasses from the truma vent feed back in to the vehicle, presumably that's why the N/S poptop window is a clear plastic rather than mesh.
Mats came from Eastern Western Motor Company in West Lorhian
Ebay purchase www.stores.ebay.co.uk/C-V-P-Edinburgh
Jsmith@easternholdings.co.uk
You can order via ebay but you will have to supplya chassis number as there's so many variants.
Cost £58.01 delivered which I thought was good value.
Is the manual a Hymer manual? I have a Mercedes Sprinter and a number of individual manuals for heating etc.
The only thing we havn't tried is the shower, we did use it externally (hose through window and attach to body with adapter which was good to have after the kids fell in a river paddleboarding!
Not sure how practical it is in such a small space.
I did see on an American website one owner had fitted a velcro fixed cargo net to the headlinning above the cab which I thought was a good idea for additional storage.
You can never have enough cupboards!

Hello! I didn't get notification that you had replied and I've spent days trawling the internet. Both sitting here this morning and doing the same and I said to Mr BK that I'll send you another message! Thanks so much for this information and now we will be able to order too. Yes we have the Hymer manual. How do I send it to you? We went off for our first night last weekend. Spent the night opposite Hampstead Heath so were exploring there at 7am last Sunday. I haven't seen the velcro fixed cargo net...sounds interesting.
Disappointing that after spending so much on a vehicle we are having to hunt for information (and buy rubber mats!). We slept downstairs last weekend but see we have a safety net in the pop top (which might be good for your children). It's white nylon kind of material however ours will only fit in one side of the holder for it. The insulation....we can't work out how that fixes as it indicates there should be magnets in the roof. I can see another visit to our dealer soon Thanks for all the information ...away to order parts now as Mr BK has found chassis number as I've been typing

 

[Wondering Star]

Hi
Ok for manual, found I had info in all the various book packs.
The safety net you mentioned will fit in both sides it just requires a little force to locate. When located in place the net tention is ment to be tight.
There also seams to be a knack to release, I just push on one side and it pops out. The more i use it the easier it seams to get. It also means the kids can't release themselves, good and bad especially when one of them wants the loo at 2am !
Off to the Lake district for a few days, Eskdale NT site which I can recommend if you into walking and isolation.
With regards to the pop top insulation, can you tell me what it's made of, my son has a dustmite allergy and I want to check materials used are suitable.

 

[Wondering Star]

Beatrixkiddo
Forgot to mention that as I'm no longer a Cali owner, I've also joined the Motorhomefun forum £15 per year gives full access and a monthly mag/prevoius back issues which is rather good.
Tend to flit between the two, both are worth keeping an eye on.
Also about to uplate our van to 4000kg from 3500kg, more info on motorhomefun site.

 

[BeatrixKiddo]

I checked the pop top insulation and there's no description of the material however on the Hymer brochure it says Polyester. Were the children cold upstairs? One our one night away (downstairs) we were absolutely warm under a good duvet but realised it was a bit chilly when we got up as we didn't have heating on.
What a palaver yesterday. We have an Autowatch Canbus 695 alarm system and it started going off (after I went up to pop top to look at insulation Anyway took pop up down and alarm kept going off for hours. We were unable to close the door without switching on alarm and the key within the Merc hob didn't work! At one point Mr K was going to have to sleep inside all night. In the end managed to lock doors and had to leave key nearby (!!) so that alarm wouldn't automatically set. Our dealer is closed today so we will have to contact tomorrow. Sometimes things are just a bit too "smart".
We upgraded to 4000kg when we ordered ours and that was very easy (we didn't have to do anything apart from pay £100+...can't remember how much)

Do you have to be a NT member to stay at one of their sites. Like the look of the one you mentioned. We hope to head north Nov/Dec (getting later and later isn't it)

 

[Wondering Star]

Hi Beatrixkiddo
Just back from a very wet Lake District, NT phoned on route to cancel booking due to flooded site at Boot (no hardstanding) offered an alternative at Great Langdale which turned out to be great.
Only had 8 small hardstanding pitches all booked but plenty of parking that would normally be used for tent parking. This site is mainly geared up for tents and walkers but does have waste disposal. Excellent facilities as you would expect from NT.
Very rural, at the end of the valley, three pubs within walking distance and in normal times would be fantastic.
Didnt stop raining when we were there, sheets of horizontal hail/rain, Wednesday night particularly rough, hail, rain and gusting wind.
Poptop stood up to it well, unbelievably the kids sleeped through the lot.
With regards to your alarm, we have a Autowatch system and also had problems, turned out the alarm was programmed for a normal Sprinter van and not a Sprinter/motorhome programme.
Once reprogrammed all good.
One thing I'm not sure of, does your electric handbrake light on the dash intermittently come on when ignition off.
Not sure if this is normal or not?

 

[BeatrixKiddo]

@Wondering Star
Apologies for delay in responding. We haven't been out at all in the van due to the current circumstances - plus Mr BK's contract has been extended. We had to move it this week so checked re the electric handbrake light. It doesn't dash on ours when ignition off.
We tried to fix the insulation to the pop top and can't do it! We need to go back to the garage with it and see what they say.
Autowatch were great...sent someone round to fix the situation for us and we've also ended up getting their Ghost immobiliser fitted. (We have the Merc one but haven't a clue how it works) There has also been a spate of vehicle thefts round here so we thought we should be extra cautious.
I used to be a member of that forum. Very active and lots of interesting and knowledgeable, friendly people however the moderator had an issue with me (too long to go in to but apparently he has "previous" according to some private emails I received). Anyhow he deleted my account and sent me back my £15!

 

[BeatrixKiddo]

@Wondering Star, just wondering about our battery situation. Van been stationary for a couple of weeks and today found our battery completely dead. Doing a bit of research seems to indicate that Autowatch alarms certainly USED to drain batteries (!!) Have you had any issues?

 

[Wondering Star]

Hi
I have had something similar when the dash warning light indicated a low battery, this was confirmed on the campervan control panel.
My solar panel app indicates a drain of 0.10 - 0.30 amps which I suspect is the alarm as it's a fluctuating reading that seems to mimic the alarm flashing light.
Personally I think the flashing strobe light effect is a bit excessive , it's certainly ultra bright and if a could turn it off or change it to a simple blip every 10 seconds I would.
Unfortunately I think this alarm is better suited to a vehicle which is used every day, at this time of year with vehicle standing idle it's going to be a problem.
My solar is keeping the leisure batteries charged but I don't think much is going into the engine battery.
I'm supplementing the solar with a mains charge and a 20 mile run once a month.

 

[BeatrixKiddo]

Thanks for confirming that. Disappointing. Even more disappointing if the sound system doesn't work as it's quite good quality and we had hoped to take our music with us. That's will use up the battery. If I find out anything interesting I'll let you know. We're away for a couple of days from tomorrow hopefully.

 

[Wondering Star]

Are you talking about the vehicle sound system quality?
Not sure if your aware but it can be improved by disconnecting the centre dash speaker in the Mercedes.
The dash grille is massive and suggests a quality speaker, in reality a small speaker that manages to bounce it's sound off the windscreen totally over powering the door speakers which are at a lower level.
Not done it yet but it's a common fix to improve stereo sound quality.
How to do videos available on Youtube.
Not sure why speakers are so poor, but I have the feeling that if your really in to music upgrading the speakers is the only answer.

 

[Jester]

Are you talking about the vehicle sound system quality?
Not sure if your aware but it can be improved by disconnecting the centre dash speaker in the Mercedes.
The dash grille is massive and suggests a quality speaker, in reality a small speaker that manages to bounce it's sound off the windscreen totally over powering the door speakers which are at a lower level.
Not done it yet but it's a common fix to improve stereo sound quality.
How to do videos available on Youtube.
Not sure why speakers are so poor, but I have the feeling that if your really in to music upgrading the speakers is the only answer.

Sorry to butt in, normally that dash board speaker emphasis the dialog for the phone.

 

[BeatrixKiddo]

@Wondering Star

the sound system is going to be run off the starter battery isn't it. That means more pressure on it. Just concerned as our battery has run out within less than 14 days. Just wondering how much wild camping we can do at this time of the year now. Just away to do some research and see if a portable generator would have enough power to jump start vehicle if we needed to.