# Goodbye the brilliant 747/2



## BERTHA (May 21, 2005)

It has been over 9 Years since I joined Motorhome facts and more importantly we had purchased our first ever Motorhome a Burstner 747/2 from the NEC show earlier in 2005 

Yesterday we sold her after 36,500 miles and 9 wonderful years with the family and boy, looking back over the ups and downs of settling in to the van and in to touring we were really Newbies 

We purchased far to much "stuff" we never used. 
Almost from the day we picked her up fuel prices were heading up. 
We were a big beast for European build standards then but within a few years all vans seem to get bigger, I guess as more and more younger families joined the motorhome craze. 
We were locked down against theft with added locker security which by year 3 we often fogot to use. 
Gas alarm fitted which frequently went off in the first few years as our daughter's hairspray filled the van, we never used it much after that. 

36,500 miles does not sound a lot but boy we went where most respectful motorhomers should not. 

In was only in Year 3 did we start trying out the Aires by Year 5 we were only using Aires except on the rare occasions we needed to settle down for a few weeks. 
We had the odd mishap, arriving late at one Aires and waking up in the morning realising we were parked in a Gypsy camp was one. 
Or arriving late at another to wake up in beautiful surroundings with the river Siene no more than 12 feet in front of us. Or racing around Monaco (20mph) or parked next to the left rear leg of the Effiel Tower or parked up below Mount Eiger in a storm were all part of the unique experience of motorhoming 

We would have loved doing more in the UK but the freedom of Motorhome friendly Germans, French, Italians etc not only made you feel welcome hell, we were given access to park close to all the action where cars were not. And all the facilities you needed to top up and empty or just simply park seemed to be around every corner. 

As far as our van was concerned and now having gone over her with prospective buys she was and is a wonderful van and we did not fuss over her, sand, sea, dust, storms and kids all of it thrown at her and yet everyone said she was in great nick. 
The all Aluminium body and thick walls and that wonderful heating system and in-board tanks all worked brilliant. 

The only issue we had was the Reich Box which is basically two boxes in one, the front with all the wires and fuses to all the lights and stuff and the rear part with the charger. 
It stopped charging and a replacement was £800+ and from the forums it sounded like these boxes were not great. So i left all the front stuff in place disconnected the back charging bit from the front and installed a Sterling Marine Class 4 stage 30amp unit in the off-side locker and ran the wires through that was 3 year ago and working brilliant. 

The 4.5m Fiamma Awning (we had replacements) are crap for the price you pay, the pulling in or out was tricky and needed several adjustments although we were recently told that the Zip awning we had should not have been made anything over 4m. 
The new awning now have stronger arms etc. 

Best buy other than the motorhome was a 4m by 3m pop-up Gazebo and the mains Domestic Air Con and the Sat Nav even though it took us through peoples back gardens from time to time. 

Our 2 little children who could have you hooked up and leveled before you got out of the driving seat are now much older and much bigger and yet their passion for motorhome life I suspect will still see them latching on to us in the future 

The wonderful thing about the 747/2 is we could all go to sleep and the wife and I could wake up early, put kettle on, use loo get changed and be on the road heading South while the kids were still asleep. everything contained in massive storage underneath in the second floor and massive rear garage nothing impacted on the sleeping and living area 

So with kids older and bigger it is time for us, not to down size, hell, how can you after the space and storage we had , but now maybe a A class and although the 747/2 was not as big as the RV's my confidence in driving has grown and I now have no fear of driving something with a extra 6 or 10 feet longer than the bustner so I suspect the RV route will be our next adventure hopefully to start soon. 

So I think I can take myself out of the "Newbie" status at least for large European M/H's and will hopefully be posting soon a "Newbie RV'er" 

So expect lots of questions those with or have done the RV's stuff. 

Bye bye our little girl thank you for all the memories, we shall miss you but you have a nice new home now where we are sure you will be looked after. xx


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## p-c (Oct 27, 2007)

What a lovely post. Thank you.
p-c


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## dalspa (Jul 1, 2008)

Here, here. Thought it was going to be a sad ending with packing up motorhoming, but a happy ending after all. Onwards and upwards.

DavidL


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## Kev1 (Apr 4, 2011)

Go for it guys


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

> *dalspa wrote: *Here, here. Thought it was going to be a sad ending with packing up motorhoming, but a happy ending after all. Onwards and upwards.
> 
> DavidL


Blimey I saw it and thought it was going it be 747's (The Gnome) obituary! 8O

What a relief! He still owes me £50!


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## nicholsong (May 26, 2009)

BERTHA

Great post encapsulating 'Spirit of Motorhoming'(without campsites).

While I, now we, have only clocked up 5 years, we could already write something similar and would hope to write more after 9 years.

Our travel is not with kids, except G/children for day trips, but some of it with 93-year-old Great Grandmother, who we are taking again this w/e to Slovakia to her favourite outdoor thermal spa, then up into the mountains for a nice CP overlooking a meadow and next to an 'Auberge' with good views and food. We feel this is really using a MH to best advantage.

Like you, if we were changing the Arto, maybe for long/full timing, we could not envisage downsizing - more upsizing, mostly for a heavier chassis and more payload(generator, bigger water/LPG capacity etc., but not a lot bigger dimensions or space.

When do you expect to be travelling again?

Good luck with the search.

Geoff


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## Tezmcd (Aug 3, 2009)

http://motorhomes.autotrader.co.uk/...2daaa3b6f/makemodel/make/burstner/model/argos

yours by any chance?


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## Snunkie (Mar 21, 2011)

I really enjoyed your post. I felt really sad firstly reading it as we too have the Burstner 747-2 and I can't imagine parting with it, but I was so pleased to keep reading and find that you are not giving up motorhoming but possibly going even bigger! 

We've done about 11k in ours in the 2 years we've had it. It only had 4k on the clock when we bought it at 4 years old and we did another 4k in 4 months. We are a family of 6 and it's been a spectacular van for us. We too have ended up in places we should not have done and have some really hairy moments, usually when I'm at the wheel for some reason :lol: hubby has had to guide me through a little back street with overhanging buildings where all the occupants came out with arms folded to see what this crazy English woman driver was doing in their village square (another wrong turn instigated by the stupid TomTom which has been replaced by the far superior and far cheaper Sygic app on my iPad). 

There was also the episode on Denia beach last year when I insisted to my husband that it was perfectly ok for me to drive closer to the beach onto the soft sand and that it was a nice empty spot and it was too crowded on the harder sand part of the car park where all the cars had parked and that he was being ridiculous saying we'd never get back off the sand....hmmmm never lived that one down. 4 hours later, after approx 40 male and female Spaniards in speedos and bikinis had unsuccessfully tried to dig us out of the sand on their hands and knees, my dad had to come and tow us out in his discovery, at which we were astounded that it could pull out a 5 tonne motorhome stuck in the sand up to it's front wheel hubs


Anyway, it sounds like your time in your 747 was an amazing adventure for you and the children and I look forward to hearing what you end up with next!


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## drcotts (Feb 23, 2006)

Reminds me of our old van a glendale Delta which ios still going strong and was old E reg (E347 ELM)
We bought it in 93 and it was our weeding present to each other we did 100k miles in it.

So many happy memories in her so i know how you feel

Phill


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## fdhadi (May 9, 2005)

We also have a Burstner A747. It's almost 10yrs old but had the mot done last Saturday and passed with flying colours. 

We've had ours for 8yrs now, 2.5k on the clock when we bought it and 48k now and still looks like new and all in good working order. 

Also been to a lot of the places Bertha mentions, and been caught out a few times but can look back and laugh. Remember the temp being -20 in Denmark one christmas and 36 in Croatia the following summer but we managed no problem. 

Driven as far down as Rome, across to Berlin, up to Odense and South west to Barcelona (not all on the same trip) and the Burstner has never missed a beat. Lots of great memories. 

Good luck on finding a replacement Bertha.


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## Tony0851 (Apr 4, 2013)

What a lovely story


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## Landyman (Apr 3, 2010)

Being an aviation enthusiast I assumed the thread was about Jumbo Jets.  

Great story though.

Richard.


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## BERTHA (May 21, 2005)

*24 hours now*

thank you for all your comments and from reading others it seems that we are not alone in our feelings for our van

Anyway, just want to let you know it has now been just over 24 hours since she has gone, big empty spot down bottom of garden the constant white glow gone.

So, it does not look like we are going to give Motorhoming a miss for a couple of years,

We were love sick as soon as she went so we are now, including our 17 year old daughter, who was 8 when we first got our Burstner 747, busy searching the web for our first American.

I have never seen a RV built to the same standard as the Europeans but you just have to don't you and our daughter know's exactly what "she" is looking for!
And I thought she and her younger brother would now follow the same path has their older siblings who did not travel with us much.

Clearly not, they have had 24 hours to consider package holidays and hotels versus a motorhome and now they are complaining, "not for us dad, lets get that RV this Year"

Bloody fickle these women!


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