The ‘firm bed’ problem was addressed by replacing the very thin liner under the mattress with a Froli Star system.  It’s all very clever made of lots of small base pieces that click together like a double bed sized Lego model.  Into each base piece fits a plastic spring which can move independently with a lot more ‘give’ than the previous liner – with the mattress sitting on top of these springs you end up with much more comfortable bed! I’d certainly recommend it.

The only (slight) disadvantage it that the system adds about 4 cm to the height of the bed.  This means when the bed is in the raised position you lose a few cms of headroom around the dining table – we don’t think this is a major problem and the benefits of a good night’s sleep far outweigh the loss of a very  small amount of headroom.

One other change to the bed had to the made. when I (Peter) broke it! – but more on that later….

A busy couple of weeks followed the van was booked into Vanbitz to get an Alarm and a Gaslow refillable gas system fitted.  Immediately afterwards it was booked in to the dealers to get a few teething problems fixed.  After that Peter was off on a diving trip to the Red Sea.

It was agreed that Peter would embark on a solo road trip and on Saturday 12 June he set off to Gosport to visit his parents.  On Sunday afternoon he drove from Gosport to the Cornish Farm campsite owned by Vanbitz just outside Taunton in Somerset.

Cornish Farm is a small, very well run campsite not far from from the M4 and adjacent to the Vanbitz workshops. On the Monday morning I moved the van the short distance to the workshops and had a lengthy discussion with the staff about my requirements and exactly what work would be required. Vanbitz have a deservedly good reputation with Motorhome owners and they certainly fit the best quality alarm – the Strikeback – on the market.

I met a couple also leaving their van for some work.  Gerri and Ron turned out to be keen members of the MotorhomeFun forum that I had been following for advice and guidance. Vanbitz gave us all a lift into Taunton while the work was being done and we also shared a taxi back at the end of the day.  It was good to talk to more experienced motorhome owners to pick up as many hints and tips as possible!

Taunton is an interesting town with plenty of history. Gerri and Ron also introduced me to an excellent old fashioned cafe that served excellent breakfasts.  In addition, I managed to find a St Austell pub serving my favourite beers – another good reason for future trips to the west country!

Back at Cornish Farm with all work completed on the van I tried to settle in for a second night.  I was experimenting with the bed lifting mechanism, raising it to it’s highest position when it stopped working!  The electric motor was trying to lift the bed into it’s top position where a microswitch normally hits a small plate on the wall which switched off the motor.  The extra height of the Froli springs, however, was just preventing the switch from reaching the plate – the motor did its best but in the end gave up and blew the fuse!

So next challenge – where was I going to sleep that night?  The bed had a small handle that could manually move it in an emergency.  I gave this a go but it was clear it would a long, long time to lower it significantly so this was an ideal opportunity to try out the second bed which is formed by lowering the table and arranging cushions across it and the settee base.  Fortunately this turned out to be very comfortable!

The following morning I set off for the dealers, Cranhams in deepest Essex. As well the existing list of minor fixes required – broken LEDs, loose door handle etc. – We now had a fuse that needed replacing.  In addition, Cranhams lowered the wall plate a few cms which will now stop the bed a few cms lower and prevent more fuse burnout.

Sue picked me up from Cranhams on the Tuesday afternoon and we returned to collect the van after my Red Sea trip on the 26th June.