First year with a Nuevo II EK

by pompeymike Tue Dec 10, 2019 12:27 pm

In case it's of any interest, here’s a summary of the first year with our 2011 Neuvo II. The last time we had a camper was in 1986 when we spent 3 months touring Europe in an A/S Trident…. so it’s been a while. We chose the Nuevo for a number of reasons – primarily size (less than 6 metres to fit on our drive), build quality (after comparing with other makes), the van feeling light and airy in the front when compared to rear lounge models, bed size, etc.

This first year has been a bit of a learning curve but after nearly 2 months away in total and over 3,000 miles we’ve got quite familiar with using and driving the van. We prefer to stay on campsites with electric hook up and haven’t yet needed to use the on board shower so have used this space as extra storage.

Fitting out: As the van only had basic equipment (e.g. just the Autosleeper wine glasses, Whale pump, etc.) we needed to kit it out with quite a lot of stuff. A thank you here to this site for a great starter list: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. We bought some windscreen covers from Taylormade and found these easy to put on and useful in hot weather to reduce heat build-up when it’s sunny.

Satnav: As we had a Garmin satnav for our car and had found this very easy to use we bought the Garmin Camper 770. As this comes pre-loaded with ACSI campsites it’s been really useful for our trips to France this year.

Bedding & Sleeping: We have a 30mm memory foam topper (from The Range) with a duvet on top for a bit of breathability. On top of that a fitted double sheet, a top sheet and a duvet. The top duvet is Goose Down and Feather and is very warm and light and rolls up very small. We store all the bedding in the overcab locker, including pillows. The bed size in the Nuevo is only 10cm narrower than our bed at home and was one of the important factors when deciding which van to buy. It takes us around 5 minutes to make up the bed, the same to pack away, and have found it really comfortable. A few Velcro strips help when rolling up the memory foam topper.

Flooring: In order to lighten up the feel inside the van we replaced the dark brown fitted carpets in the back with 3 Plain Stone Hug Rugs. These are cotton with rubber backing and are machine washable. They feel nice to walk on with bare feet and stay in place without needing press studs. However they do shed a lot of fibres to start with.

Awning & Outside Table & Chairs: Part way through the year we bought a Vango Kela IV awning and groundsheet. As we stay on campsites, sometimes for over a week, it makes a big difference to have some outside space. Once I’d worked out a way to stop the 1 metre Kador strips sliding around (using 2 zip ties through holes at each end), the awning was pretty easy to put up. I store the pump, pegs, groundsheet, etc. in the skirt locker and the awning in its bag fits under the nearside sofa. We bought a folding table from Decathlon for £25 and used some folding garden chairs we already had for outdoor seating. We store these in the shower when we are travelling.

Storage: For storage we have used various sized plastic boxes. For example, in the wardrobe we use 2 x 35 litre and 1 x 18 litre Really Useful clip top boxes. You can get these at B&Q, Tesco, etc. I did need to trim off some of the side trim so these would clear the boss of the small table which lives on the wardrobe side wall. We use these to store most of our clothing. For the top cupboards we found the cream baskets by Curver (Wilko, Tesco, etc.) a great fit with no sliding around. We use these to store food, crockery, etc. We also bought a number of different plastic boxes from Ikea after measuring the various cupboards.

Cooking: As we’re normally on electric hook up we’ve found the microwave really useful. As well as cooking things it can reduce the time spent just heating up water for pasta for example. We’ve got a basic set of herbs, spices, dried pasta, sauces, etc. which we can use as a basis for a few meals.

Fuel Consumption: Over the year this has averaged out at 27 mpg (worked out using fuel receipts and mileage rather than vehicle computer). As the majority of our mileage has been on fast French dual carriageways I thought this was OK.

Problems: The only issues we’ve had are:

We needed to buy a couple of replacement feet for the bed legs as the plastic had split.
The Thule awning needed one of the hinge pins relocating as one of the arms dropped down a bit when it was wound out. This was fixed during a habitation service.
The fridge stopped working for a short while – the likely reason was having the habitation door fully open when we were using the awning. On the Nuevo II the hab door partially covers the fridge vents when fully open. The fridge worked fine once we left the door half open.

by Tigerbadge Tue Dec 10, 2019 3:58 pm

Sounds like your all sorted, the Nuevo is a great van.

by Jaime 007 Fri Dec 13, 2019 5:28 pm

Thank you so much for taking the trouble to inform us about your Nuevo. A very interesting article.

by Celtic Mon Dec 16, 2019 3:56 am

Thank you for this article, we have just bought a Nuevo EK 2006 an this will help us get started

by burlingtonboaby Mon Dec 16, 2019 6:10 am

Celtic wrote:Thank you for this article, we have just bought a Nuevo EK 2006 an this will help us get started

Hi Celtic
Welcome to the forum from chilly breezy Bridlington,see your another early bird. up!

Boaby

by pompeymike Wed Mar 11, 2020 3:48 pm

Just a very minor update on storage. While in France we found it difficult to easily store wine bottles so we switched to wine boxes. The supermarkets have a reasonable choice and they are a doddle to store, lighter than bottles plus no rattling.

by raymondo Wed Mar 11, 2020 4:45 pm

I have over the years seen several mentions of broken plastic bed feet on the Nuevo, when did they appear, ours doesnt have them - or legs on which to fit them!
I am a chunky sort of chap and have often worried about sitting on the bed (close to the join of the two halves) when getting dressed as the cantileved set up although well screwed in is inherently weak. I assume the legs were added by AS to address this weakness - bottom line am I right to be concerned?

by pompeymike Thu May 07, 2020 12:27 pm

A few more minor jobs done during lockdown:

I cleaned the filter on the Whale inlet and quite a few bits were flushed out. Afterwards the tank filling seemed to be markedly quicker - both using the hose or small bucket pump.

I took filter off the washroom tap and gave this a clean as it had never really worked, just gurgled. I discovered 5 (yes 5!) layers of metal gauze as well as the plastic filter. I flushed the filter out and put it back with just a single layer of gauze. The tap now works fine.

After a bit of research on this forum (I searched for 'struts') I have put some gas struts on the bed frames to hold them up when you need access. The previous owner had taken off the metal rods that I think came as standard so I was using a couple of wood battens instead. Now the bed bases go up easily after taking off the cushions and stay up nicely.

by pompeymike Mon Jan 11, 2021 10:38 am

Just a few minor jobs done last year:

. Replaced the fresh water tank drain valve as it had become very stiff to turn. I guess it was debris thrown up from the road. I did notice the new valve had some mouldings in the outlet pipe so it wasn't all open to the elements so it may not be affected like the old one.

. I replaced the toilet tank and lid using a Thetford Fresh Up kit. I did this as the original tank didn't have wheels and carrying a full tank upsets my shoulders (two frozen shoulders and three lots of surgery - don't ask!). Very simple to install - it took all of 5 minutes.

. Needed a new starter battery when the van wouldn't start when we away in Bude in July for a short break. Got it jump started and drove home without switching off. I put the battery on charge but the feed dropped right off soon after so it looked like the battery was dud. I used the RAC battery replacement service which was a doddle. The old battery was tested on the RAC guys computer and was confirmed as 'dead'. I think this was the original starter battery so had lasted about 10 years.

That's all for now. Stay safe everybody.

by inspiredron Tue Jan 12, 2021 12:22 am

Well done with your 2011 EK. We love our 2012 which I insisted had to be the 2011 body shell. When you do try the shower you will find it is amazingly good and roomy - but it's easier to finish drying off in the body of the van so we have a small bath mat that is kept in the shower. Do you have the drying lines in the bathroom? Although they sag a bit we leave those up all the time except when actually taking a shower. We had to put some plastic ferrule caps on the end of the oven handles which were marking the bathroom door - easy to find on eBay. I've also added some led lighting strip in the cab for when seats are turned round.

by pompeymike Wed Jan 13, 2021 5:17 pm

Thanks.
We do have the drying lines in the bathroom but as you say, they are a bit saggy so we haven't tended to use them much. I have tried the shower and it was fine but as we normally stay on sites with facilities for a few days at a time we've used those instead. Thanks also for the mention of ferrule caps and extra LED lights.

by inspiredron Wed Jan 13, 2021 9:47 pm

pompeymike wrote:Thanks.
We do have the drying lines in the bathroom but as you say, they are a bit saggy so we haven't tended to use them much. I have tried the shower and it was fine but as we normally stay on sites with facilities for a few days at a time we've used those instead. Thanks also for the mention of ferrule caps and extra LED lights.

You can actually even up the lines as it is one continuous line but it takes it of effort and soon you find that one of the lines says again.

First year with a Nuevo II EK

First year with a Nuevo II EK

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Nuevo II EK

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Re: First year with a Nuevo II EK

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Re: First year with a Nuevo II EK