# UK Road legal RVs



## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

I've just been having a chat with Paul Dudley at Peterborough and some interesting points emerged.

1) They are now mounting all awning rollers on the roof. (I had asked how slide-outs maintained weatherproofing without them - RVs tend not to use the more sophisticated inflated seal that Ben & Lizzie's MCL did).

2) Because RVs do not require Type Approval they are not subject to the 60% overhang rule (which IIRC is in the 86 modified C&U regs). I need to check the link between TA & C&U when back home with a big screen in front of me.

3) THE approved (white) list is that on the SMMT website; DVLA officials even use it at the time you put the paperwork in front of them.

4) Nothing once on the official approved list has ever been demoted to the red unapproved list.

5) If on the white list they don't want to inspect it (self-importers with side mounted awnings may appreciate this, at their own risk of remaining too wide). 

6) When I observed a number of the RVs around me still looked too wide to me, the answer was "well fortunately not to VOSA/DVLA tape measures".

7) Paul conceded this issue had been rumbling on for over a year and offered that it still had some mileage left to go.

Dave


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Rv*

Dave

Some very interesting reading, especially the bit about over hang.

Russell


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## 97993 (Mar 5, 2006)

Hi Dave we too noticed at Peterborough that most of the RVs for sale had the awnings removed including the over slide awnings, when questioned the dealers said they were not re fitting them for sale, you could however request that they be fitted after you had prchased the RV or they would put them inside for you to do with as you saw fit, firmly passing the buck on that then, also interesting was the fact that all the new ones offered for sale were clearly marked as 99" wide whatever the make, it would appear that US manufactures are now well aware of the UK constraints placed on thier products and are dealing with it acordingly, looking at some RVs it appeared that they may be quoting Manufacturers listed widths that do not realy tally with our tape measures, one in paticular had a 6" Gennie exhaust that was well outside the bodywork ,but DVLA would include that if checking, but that could be cut off ,the point is if they ignore that in thier calculations what else are they not including that they should be 8O 
Geo
Geo


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## MicknPat (Jul 18, 2005)

Okay,

Check out Itchy Feets latest web site and the Fleetwood models for sale where you will see two 2007 reg RVs a Discovery & Revolution advertised and sold. 8O 8O

Now visit the SMMT's latest list for March 2007 to see that BOTH these RVs are in the OVERSIZED list :? :?


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## 98452 (Apr 2, 2006)

MicknPat said:


> Okay,
> 
> Check out Itchy Feets latest web site and the Fleetwood models for sale where you will see two 2007 reg RVs a Discovery & Revolution advertised and sold. 8O 8O
> 
> Now visit the SMMT's latest list for March 2007 to see that BOTH these RVs are in the OVERSIZED list :? :?


I was waiting for you or Paul to come along Mick.

(Stealers want it all their own way :roll: )


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## MicknPat (Jul 18, 2005)

John,

If you recall Paul's (UK-RV) last posting on ARVM he said then that Eric was importing this Discovery which was the same size as his Expedition so looked forward to taking his to the same DVLA centre where either BOTH would pass or fail .

So is Paul home and dry?


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

This afternoon I checked out Travelworld.

They are getting their Monarchs customised quite heavily for the UK market. The slide-outs are all designed to slope the other way, so the water runs away from the seal of the slideout to the body. Daft to do it the other way if you ask me, but it probably saved a few cents.

Paul UK-RV said 29 nights of cruises from the end of March, so its there or thereabouts right now. 

Dave


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## 104302 (May 6, 2007)

*Is the official list wrong?*

Hi Chaps and Chapesses
I'm somewhat new to this lark, currently hunting an RV to purchase in the next few week when Hubby is over there, then import.

I was interested to read what you were saying about some data not tallying with the 'white list'

Thanks to a helpful member, I have before me the approved list, and, to my surprise it includes a Winne Outlook 27L. This is one of the models we were interested in, but had discounted when I found out about the 100.4" (and not a hair's breadth more!) rule.

According to the official list, L x W x H is 8534 x 2535 x 3404 mm
All lovely and legal  
According to the Winnie website it's 28' x 8'5.5" x 11'3"
which comes to round about 8534 x 2578 x 3429 mm

Both height and width differ, height by an inch, width by 1.7", and a crucial 1.7" at that. 

Now, two questions

1 How come?
2 Does it matter?

Could the data be from an older model? Or did it get measured without awnings? Or what? If this one is wrong (the Winne data is correct, I'm sure) could others be wrong? I'm perplexed

Slowly dissolving into a gooey pool of confusion
Fay


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## zaskar (Jun 6, 2005)

*Re: Is the official list wrong?*



FairyFay said:


> Slowly dissolving into a gooey pool of confusion
> Fay


join the club! :roll: So's the rest of the industry!
The problem is (or are) that
a/ manufaturers dimensions for RV's are historically notoriously inacurate and will ALWAYS differ from the SMMT/DVLA list especially if the laters list in now to be based on a physical measurement at the dockside. 
2 examples of an identicle RV can differ quite a lot on width depending on many factors such as temperature, quality control etc.

b/ manufacturers _usually_ quote sidewall to sidewall measurments and do NOT include awnings/projects.

c/ as far as I am aware, even after all the "hoohaa" so far, there is still nothing in black and white which specifically states that awnings WILL be allowed to exceed the sidewall to sidewall MAX of 2550mm. There is a lot of talk at the moment from dealers (ref www.arvm.uk.com) stating that there is about to be an anouncment from the office of the minister of transport stating that in future, awnings will NOT be included in the max width measurement but until I actually see it in writing, NO WAY would I buy another RV which exceeded 2550mm overall.
I'm stuck with the one I've got (not unhappily I must admit) but had I known all this hoohaa was gonna blow up, I'd have stuck with my 96"er (2438mm) whilst things were sorted out.

ps. Given the size of some of the artics and loads on our roads these days, personally speaking, i wouldn't have a problem with 102"ers coming accross, it's not like they're as common as Ford Mondeos for crying out loud.


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## asprn (Feb 10, 2006)

MicknPat said:


> Now visit the SMMT's latest list for March 2007 to see that BOTH these RVs are in the OVERSIZED list :? :?


I did, and noticed that Rexhall aren't on the list?

Dougie.


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