Hymer Aktiv... our first RV!

[Navanod]

We made it!
We decided to drive down the 101 on the Oregon Coast then over to the 1 in California down to Carmel.

DAY 1
About a mile away from our home our kitchen drawers would not stay secured. The locking latches did not grab the locking plate enough. We drove back home and I added longer screws with washers so the latches could securely lock. The fixed worked!

We made it down to Gold Beach! Had issues with the power, but I think it was error on my part or the power source at the campground. Batteries would reset... too much power being drawn at once? The inverter/charger was switched off. (I think).

DAY 2 & 3
We hit this nice patch of Redwoods by accident. We pulled over to Eel River Fork Park to let our dogs take a break and on our way back to the highway, I decided to explore a different road which led us directly into a patch of huge redwoods.

While driving our Camper was making a loud squeaky sound every bump on the road. I just assumed it was the shower curtain. After my wife inspecting the source while driving, we discovered it was coming from the microwave. Mike Thompson replaced it per our request. It came with a black one, but all the other Aktivs had stainless steel which we preferred. They must have attached it wrong. I ended up removing it and discovering the casing of the microwave was the culprit. I ended up disassembling it and realigning the it which solved the problem. No more squeak!

We then went to Gold Bluffs park and checked out the area. It was a six mile muddy/pot hole, small bolder road from the highway to the beach. The camper handled it like a champ. She came out looking like a mud wrestler though.

We stopped at the drive through Redwood Tree... At this point our Inverter/Charger was making a strong odor. We opened up the van to let it vent out. Our Inverter was making a strong electrical smell, figured it was because it was new? This new smell almost had a sulfur like smell. It went away and we haven't smelled it since.

That night we made it to Manchester and stayed at a KOA campground. Place was great. Had a great dog park for our dogs. Which was good considering the local beach banned them due to a nature preserve.

During our stay our kitchen sink hot water line burst. Hymer used clear soft hoses for both lines to the faucet. Not sure why they would use this type of hose for hot water. Luckily there was a hardware store in Manchester that had materials to fix the problem. I replaced the hose with a house grade PEX Hose. During the incident I noticed when the hose burst that it drained to the exterior of the van. When it happened I thought a water line under the van broke because of all the water outside. Upon inspection I noticed that under the kitchen sink cabinet there is a drain to the exterior for emergency drainage. After some drying up and repair everything was good. Hope the bathroom hoses don't have this issue.

This was our first night showering in the camper. We noticed that the corners on each side of the sliding door leak. It's by the base of the shower. I can see where it is leaking. I think I'm going to buy some caulking and seal in the area.

DAY 4 & 5
Next stop was the Saddle Mountain Ranch in Carmel. We stayed here two nights as we wanted to hit the Aquarium in Monterey and check out Carmel... Great little town. Loved the houses on the Beach Scenic Drive.

DAY 6
We drove up to Yountville, to go wine tasting and have dinner. My wife had been there last year for a wedding and joined Hope & Grace Vineyards wine club. I wanted to check out the area as I have never been before.

Later we hit the road back home, but this time using major freeways versus the coastal highways. There was considerable wind driving back (20+mph). That with 70mph driving made for some loud wind noise from the skylight. It freaked our dogs out as they were quite nervous.
We think buying some foam and cutting it to the shape of the opening will help a bit with that.

We drove until midnight, when I started to get tired. Made it to the rest area just north of Yreka in the mountains off the Klamath River. This was our first night with no hookups. Everything worked great. I started the Voltstart, but my Lithiums never got low enough to restart my engine to recharge. We used gas for heat this night as the others were full electric. It's nice having the option to decide between Gas/Electric or both for the heater and hot water.

DAY 7
Our last stretch home. It was a I-5 all the way up. We stopped at Albany for lunch and I had issues with the drivers seat not rotating back to the driving position. The release lever was not working. After inspection I noticed that the release cable was disengaged at both ends. I reattached them and the sensor came loose as well. This sensor is critical. If it senses you are in the dining position, it will not disengage the parking brake. I realigned the sensor and all is good. We made it home and pressure washed the bugs, dirt and sand. Today I need to wash the remainder.

RECAP
So we had some issues, but we seriously love our Aktiv! It is the perfect size inside and out. It offers the perfect amount of storage and the Van is small enough to virtually take it anywhere. Love the fact that it fits in a normal parking spot. Love the Truma system... Heater works great as well as the water heater. We knew we bought one of the first ones and were aware there were going to be issues. I hope they address each one so others don't have the issues we have. I consider myself pretty handy person knowing how to fix things. Not sure how someone that isn't too handy would have done in our situations above.

We are learning as we go as well... For instance. Hot water is only drawn from your freshwater tank, not the city water hookup. Not a issue, but we didn't know this and we went dry in the middle of the night not knowing why our hot water and water pump wasn't working.

Next, I recommend using a iPhone and HBO Go/Amazon Prime Video/Netflix via the HDMI adapter. Picture quality is better and you get more access than using the Sony I dash DVD head unit. You can then use the Bluetooth Audio through the Sony HU to get your surround sound. Next project is to hook up a Apple TV via our Crane Wifi repeater/extender so we can connect the iPhone wirelessly.

For others buying one. I recommend you downloading the Truma Manual as well as the CP Plus Controller manual. The Hymer Aktiv manual is worthless... You can tell they copy and pasted a lot from the Roadtrek manuals as some items aren't relevant and some are completely missing (Voltstart and Ecotrek). I downloaded those manuals from the Roadtrek website.

If anyone has any further questions let me know and I will do my best to answer them.

We are already planning our next trip. Excited to take the Aktiv out for our next weekend getaway!

[Navanod]

[Navanod]

[Navanod]

[Navanod]

[Billyboy46]

Congratulations on your first trip. Your review of real life is invaluable for people like me thinking of buying.

Is the construction of the drawers and cupboards ok? There's another recent thread about a newer RT210 drawers that are poor. I hope the RT cost cutting isn't carried over to the Aktiv.

[Navanod]

Hi Billy,
The quality of the drawers are better than the Roadtrek ones. They are solid/strong. It's one thing we really liked about the Hymer vs. Roadtrek ones. Only issue is the one I stated above with the locking latch... which is a easy fix. Heck they might have fixed them already from the factory.

[cruisefx]

Wow....some stunning photos. I am glad that you and your wife have begun to enjoy the Aktiv. With regards to some of the van issues, do you know if your van was built
by Roadtrek or was it one of the originals built by Spartan before the buyout? I thought that there were some that were initially assembled by Spartan and then Roadtrek added their electronics (Ecotrek, Voltstart etc) to them.

I would think that your hot water should work whether you are using city water or not. You may need to follow up on that one.

[GeorgeRa]

Originally Posted by Navanod

....................
During our stay our kitchen sink hot water line burst. Hymer used clear soft hoses for both lines to the faucet. Not sure why they would use this type of hose for hot water. Luckily there was a hardware store in Manchester that had materials to fix the problem. I replaced the hose with a house grade PEX Hose. During the incident I noticed when the hose burst that it drained to the exterior of the van. When it happened I thought a water line under the van broke because of all the water outside. Upon inspection I noticed that under the kitchen sink cabinet there is a drain to the exterior for emergency drainage. After some drying up and repair everything was good. Hope the bathroom hoses don't have this issue.

Originally Posted by Navanod

Is this the hose which burst?

I use high temperature tygon reinforced tubing, soft, with OET stepless hose clamps with no problem but this one is a mistake.It seems as it burst because it soften due to high temperature.

George.

[4DMTNS]

Thanks for sharing, I agree it is invaluable to have this reporr. I'll do the same as well for our first trip. I'm thinking now a short trip to one of the state parks might be just the ticket! I agree on have ALL the manuals with you. I have the Truma already on my iPhone but perhaps a hard copy too if it doesn't come in the rig. See ya out there!

[booster]

I think I would be a bit concerned about the sulpher smell, as that would often indicate a venting battery. I think you have an AGM to make the lithiums work right, so that would be the only possiblity. AGM batteries gassing is definitely not a good thing.

[Navanod]

Originally Posted by cruisefx

I would think that your hot water should work whether you are using city water or not. You may need to follow up on that one.

I think I wrote my description wrong. Cold water can either drawn from the fresh water tank or city water. The Hot water on the other hand is drawn from the fresh water tank only. So if you use a lot of hot water over a few days while hooked up, you will deplete your fresh water tank. That is what happened to us.

[Navanod]

Originally Posted by GeorgeRa

Is this the hose which burst?

I use high temperature tygon reinforced tubing, soft, with OET stepless hose clamps with no problem but this one is a mistake.It seems as it burst because it soften due to high temperature.

George.

Yup... that was the hose that bursted. Kind of shocked they even considered that type of hose for Hot water. I am considering swapping out my cold water hose as well.

[Navanod]

Originally Posted by 4DMTNS

Thanks for sharing, I agree it is invaluable to have this reporr. I'll do the same as well for our first trip. I'm thinking now a short trip to one of the state parks might be just the ticket! I agree on have ALL the manuals with you. I have the Truma already on my iPhone but perhaps a hard copy too if it doesn't come in the rig. See ya out there!

Make sure you download the Truma CP Plus Controller manual as well. It has instructions on how to use it and a glossary for codes.

https://www.truma.com/downloadcenter...llation_us.pdf

[ClassB4Me]

Make sure you let Hymer know about the problems your experienced especially the hose. This sort of thing should not happen unless it is a manufacturing defect.

Thanks for the view into one of your first trips. Can you speak to the feel behind the wheel, noise, and fuel economy?

Did you use the shower and was there enough room for you?

[Navanod]

Originally Posted by booster

I think I would be a bit concerned about the sulpher smell, as that would often indicate a venting battery. I think you have an AGM to make the lithiums work right, so that would be the only possiblity. AGM batteries gassing is definitely not a good thing.

The smell came from the inverter itself. It didn't last long. It happened at the beginning of our trip and has since gone away. If I smell it again, I will have it inspected.

[Navanod]

Originally Posted by ClassB4Me

Make sure you let Hymer know about the problems your experienced especially the hose. This sort of thing should not happen unless it is a manufacturing defect.

Thanks for the view into one of your first trips. Can you speak to the feel behind the wheel, noise, and fuel economy?

Did you use the shower and was there enough room for you?

I will notify Hymer on the issues.

The Ram Promaster drives great. Really enjoyed how it felt. Didn't really keep track of mileage. At full tank it would have roughly 345 mile range (if I remember correctly).

Noise was good at lower speeds (below 60 mph) with no wind. As described, at higher speeds (70+ mph) with high wind (20+mph), the sunroof makes some noise, but I think a piece of foam can insulate a lot of that noise.

We both used the shower. I quite enjoy it. The Truma heats the water tank then switches to the heater. The bathroom has a heater vent on the wall of the sink at the lower right. So when you rinse, then turn off the water and soap up you don't get cold at all. Another added bonus, is that the shower curtain is directly above it, so it dries it at the same time. Then when you are done, open the ceiling vent exhaust all the moisture. Dry off everything with a towel and you are good to go. I was initially worried about the shower, but after using it, I like it a lot. It is tight, but that is expected.

[JohnMFlores]

Thanks for the detailed report and the great photos @Navanod!

Does anyone know if Hymer or anyone else takes their just-completed RV on a shakedown run to identify and fix QA problems before delivery to the dealer? Or if the dealer does something similar before delivery to the customer?

Seems like many of the problems could be quickly identified on a short loop around the factory on a mix of local roads, bumpy roads, and highway and really improve initial quality and the time and hassle of post-delivery warranty repairs for all parties involved.

[mumkin]

I'd say that it is pretty obvious that this doesn't happen...

[Davydd]

Originally Posted by mumkin

I'd say that it is pretty obvious that this doesn't happen...

It happens at Advanced RV. They shuttle the van to their remote cabinet shop at least once which is about 20 miles away. Then at the end they give the van a shakedown run and when the owner picks up the van they take a ride with you for another shakedown. In our case we drove into downtown Cleveland and combined the trip with a lunch. So we had highway and congested city driving. Orientation is usually a two day event and then they encourage you to camp independently nearby before leaving the area.

As you may gather, Advanced RV is dealerless custom Class B sales where customers interact with the employees involved with building the van at all levels. Before we were finished I knew the entire team well and had access to their entire facility.