# Le Voyageur vans?



## coppo (May 27, 2009)

Any thoughts on quality by owners? Maybe off to view a 10 year old one.

Winteristion? Is it good?

Insulation? Is it closed cell foam?

Is there room for further batteries and is it a dedicated battery box inside or an external locker.

Any known issues? Damp etc?

Paul.


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## Jamsieboy (Jan 14, 2011)

Just being nosey Paul but why change the Murvi after such a short time?
Jamsie


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## coppo (May 27, 2009)

I don't want to change it, its a great versatile vehicle, I love it, Caroline is not so keen, she says it is not big enough, you know women, size is everything.

I have extolled the virtues of a small van, we have been to Devon and Cornwall this year, we have the lake district planned, places where a small van are great, narrow country lanes, tracks.

Fuel consumption great compared with our last hymer 6 tonner.

We went to the Lincoln show this year and a few people we know have large vans, there she was again, drooling all over them.

Ban shows I say.

Paul.


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## cabby (May 14, 2005)

There is an owner on here, Soloman I believe.
We nearly bought one ourselves but negotiations fell through over the value of the part ex.
But I will say that they tick all my boxes and I would buy one if it was within my price range.
They really are up at the top of the market.The Fleurette is also very good as well. But they are pricey. 

cabby


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## Patrick_Phillips (Aug 17, 2006)

Ours is a 2005 Lx10. We are very happy with the build quality and their direct customer care in Angers.
Bear in mind that they are a wholly owned subsiduary of Pilote. Their main claim to fame is that they are the only van (AFAIK) who build the body first and then fit it out. This does tell significantly when you do any major work like fitting equipment - you can actually disassemble stuff without endangering the structure!
The UK importer is ***less. Work on the basis of dealing with Angers yourself.
By the way, don't take any notice of the model designations. When you chose to have one of the 150 vans a year that they build, they offer you a choice of all the features of all their vans on a pick and mix basis. Ours has bits of 8, 9. 10 11 and there may be others so how it came to have 10 painted on it is a mystery.
Ours is based on a Sprinter 2.7td. There are three battery compartments on the engine bay - 2 for leisure and 1 for the motor. In our case, we have an onboard tank that was fitted after construction so the twin 13Kg bottle locker was redundant and we used that for a third leisure battery for a while. The leisure batts are 125Ah each. Could possibly take longer at a push. Let me know if you want exact sizes.
Hope that helps but let me know if you want more...

Patrick


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## Patrick_Phillips (Aug 17, 2006)

Sorry, forgot to answer the questions...! Senility...
Winterisation is very good. We lived in it in Leeds last year till mid-Jan and then went to snowy Italy en route to Greece. We were never cold and used very little gas or electric during those cold months.
Not at all sure if the foam is open or closed cell. But it is a sandwich and has enough silver foil to play havoc with WiFi!
It has a double floor, filled with foam rather than a cavity.
Ours is 7.3m inc tow bar.

Patrick


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## coppo (May 27, 2009)

Patrick_Phillips said:


> Ours is a 2005 Lx10. We are very happy with the build quality and their direct customer care in Angers.
> Bear in mind that they are a wholly owned subsiduary of Pilote. Their main claim to fame is that they are the only van (AFAIK) who build the body first and then fit it out. This does tell significantly when you do any major work like fitting equipment - you can actually disassemble stuff without endangering the structure!
> The UK importer is ***less. Work on the basis of dealing with Angers yourself.
> By the way, don't take any notice of the model designations. When you chose to have one of the 150 vans a year that they build, they offer you a choice of all the features of all their vans on a pick and mix basis. Ours has bits of 8, 9. 10 11 and there may be others so how it came to have 10 painted on it is a mystery.
> ...


Thanks Patrick I was hoping you would come along.

Battery compartments in the engine bay, great idea as you can have flooded lead acid with no venting. I wonder if they are all like that.

Paul.


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## salomon (Apr 20, 2011)

Love ours.
2011 RX Platinum.
We mainly use in winter for winter sports. Zero issues, never even bothered with silver screens.
Build quality is great...we had ours built to order so we everything we need. No issues with batteries ( we have an extra one fitted due to 110l freezer ). 
I have no idea what the insulation is made of but it works ( sorry, I am a girl after all :roll: ) i remember the fella pointing stuff out and saying how different it was etc etc, . Anyway, from experience it has performed very well.
We bought directly in France . We have one issue that the front side windows have " blown ". They are proper double glazed glass. LV have accepted the issue and will change them, ( when we get round to it) even though we are outside the warantee period . The warantee will go 5 years if you have a certain test every year ( maybe like UK habitation ? ) but here is Andorra we dont have such a thing.

Not cheap but have never seen another that I would rather have.


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## gaspode (May 9, 2005)

Hi Paul

I'm no expert on these vans but I was parked next to one for a few days in September.

I chatted at some length with the (French) owner and had a good look around his van.
I thought it was newish but in fact he told me it was six years old - it still looked new.  
I was most impressed with the attention to detail, finish quality and general build standard. The owner was very enthusiastic about it, said it was the best van he'd ever owned and swore he would never buy another make ever again.

Does that help? I was certainly impressed and wouldn't hesitate to buy one (if I could afford it).


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## coppo (May 27, 2009)

Yes they are expensive Ken, the one we are looking at is 11 years old, 2003, couldn't afford a recent one.

I see on googling they are built around an aluminium frame so should be strong. Could the frame rust after 11 years or so?

Salomon, thanks for the reply, wish we could afford t[ have one built to order.

There is one for sale by GMC motorhomes, they had it at the Lincoln show this year, I have never seen such a disgraceful motorhome for sale with a dealer, it was filthy and in terrible condition, accident damaged too so it just goes to show you a motorhome is only as good as the previous owners, no matter what the marque. 

Paul.


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## eurajohn (May 9, 2005)

Paul, lots for sale in France quite a few here Le Voyageur Camping Cars
They are very well made vans


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## coppo (May 27, 2009)

Many thanks John, good selection there.

This has not got the double glazed side windows which is a plus point, don't know if they have been replaced as I thought it was standard with LV. Motorhomes with glass double glazing should be banned.

Paul.


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## nicholsong (May 26, 2009)

Thanks to Paul and other contributors on this thread.

I was starting to get interested in the LV marque, but on researching their current models it seems that they do not offer a double bed with garage. Is this also true of models about 5-6 years old?

Also even on the Merc base vehicle the nominal payload is just under 1000kg so realistically is probably more like 800kg. Was it the same for the older models?

Geoff


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## salomon (Apr 20, 2011)

Hmm. I just looked at their current range and it looks like only lit jumelle have a garage. Certainly wasnt the case when we got ours. Saying that, we have the LJ model and always have the beds together as it has a much bigger bed. We chose it for this reason.
Also, our van is a little shorter (7.39m) which gives a little extra payload vs current model I think. Our official payload is just over 1100 kg from memory.


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## nicholsong (May 26, 2009)

salomon said:


> Hmm. I just looked at their current range and it looks like only lit jumelle have a garage. Certainly wasnt the case when we got ours. Saying that, we have the LJ model and always have the beds together as it has a much bigger bed. We chose it for this reason.
> Also, our van is a little shorter (7.39m) which gives a little extra payload vs current model I think. Our official payload is just over 1100 kg from memory.


Are you saying that

a) you have a garage

b) the twin beds can be moved together to make a double? If so, how?

Geoff


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## cabby (May 14, 2005)

Have you not looked at the A class Fleurette's then Geoff.
www.fleurette.fr

cabby


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## salomon (Apr 20, 2011)

Geoff
Yes on both questions.
The beds move together electrically to form one large double. Garage is underneath.

Hope that clarifies


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## stewartwebr (May 27, 2005)

I had a look at a new one recently at Pullinger Motorhomes. Really nice solid van with excellent build quality. They were offering a really good deal on it with if my memory serves me correct a discount of £35K. Unfortunately this particular one only had a half height garage which was not what we were looking for. It was loaded with toys. 

Only comment would be the graphics on it did not suite that of an upmarket van, you could see its links to Pilote who in my opinion let there vans down with not very stylish graphics.


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## coppo (May 27, 2009)

Just to recap on these vans.

They are built around an aluminimum frame with fibre glass/GRP. Is there any difference between fibre glass and GRP? Is it thick stuff that can withstand scratces well?

I am used to Hymers pual construction and thats all.

Are the waste tanks inside or under the floor outside and if so are they heated?

Regards

Paul.


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## eurajohn (May 9, 2005)

Paul, can't help with the other bits but on the fibreglass question: 
GRP is Glass Reinforced Plastic, which is the industry name for what the general public normally call fibreglass.
It can be in almost any thickness depending on the lay up, the gel coat will also vary in thickness, sometimes clear or more often self coloured.


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## coppo (May 27, 2009)

Thanks John.

So a gel coat is put on top of the GRP then, to strengthen and protect? The gel coat can be clear or coloured, I get it better now.


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## eurajohn (May 9, 2005)

Paul, the gel coat is painted (brush or spray) into the mould before the lay up of mat (scrim, cloth) is applied


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## Patrick_Phillips (Aug 17, 2006)

For what it is worth, LeVoyageur make a a big thing about using polyester resin. Different people use different resins all to make GRP/fibreglass mouldings. Not sure if/why Polyester differs from polyurathane or any other pollies...
We had our bonnet polished by a retired expert in antique vehicle refurbishment and it came up "bootiful" - took him about 90 minutes, though!

Patrick


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## coppo (May 27, 2009)

Thanks Patrick, good info.

Paul.


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## Gazzer (May 1, 2005)

Patrick_Phillips said:


> For what it is worth, LeVoyageur make a a big thing about using polyester resin. Different people use different resins all to make GRP/fibreglass mouldings. Not sure if/why Polyester differs from polyurathane or any other pollies...
> We had our bonnet polished by a retired expert in antique vehicle refurbishment and it came up "bootiful" - took him about 90 minutes, though!
> 
> Patrick


Mine could do with some TLC too. What part of the country does he reside in Patrick?


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## Patrick_Phillips (Aug 17, 2006)

Gazzer said:


> Mine could do with some TLC too. What part of the country does he reside in Patrick?


I am sorry to say that you have no chance. He used to look after Glenfield Caravan Park between Leeds and Wetherby. He hates people, he says! He doesn't want anything to do with cars any more, he says. We have gotten to know him quite well over a 6 year period and been able to help him with some stuff so when he wanted a sheet sewn together to make an inner he knew we had a sewing machine. The swap sort of happened out of that!!!
Sorry not to be much help there...

Patrick


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## Gazzer (May 1, 2005)

Thanks. To far to go anyway.


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## VanFlair (Nov 21, 2009)

Hi Guys

Polyester is just the standard resin that most fibreglass things are made out of, kit cars, canoes, motorhome fronts etc etc. It is used widely because its cheap.

As has been pointed out already the Gelcoat is applied to the mould surface and after it has cured the polyester resin and glass matts are layed into the mould.

Sometimes the Gelcoat is actually painted which puts a good seal on it otherwise the Gel coat can oxidise which is when it goes a bit white and chalky, you can bring it back to life with a proprietary Gelcoat restorer.

http://www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk/p-208-farecla-gel-coat-restorer-wax-500-ml.aspx

Martin


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