Hymer Aktiv... our first RV!

[DCHitt]

Originally Posted by Davydd

Next weekend we are going up to Mike Wendland's Michigan UP Tahquamenon Falls SP Winter Freezeout with about 30 other Class Bs. Hardy souls and mostly Roadtreks of all years and makes will be there along with a few other brands.

We are looking forward to hearing about the Freezeout. I suspect you get to plug in to electric power?

[Davydd]

Originally Posted by DCHitt

We are looking forward to hearing about the Freezeout. I suspect you get to plug in to electric power?

Yes, definitely electrical hookups. The camp sites are reserved and the DNR will plow them out just before we arrive. Their may be continuous lake effect snow the whole weekend. We could survive without the electric hookup but I doubt most of the others could except for the newer EcoTreks. This is the third year for the Freezeout. We missed the first one in that we did not get our ARV until a week after.

Most of the Class Bs will be older Roadtreks similar to last year I assume. They have nothing special in regard to winter and most all will be in winterized condition as will we. We will carry the water we need for drinking and coffee in gallon jugs. We won't cook much if at all in our B. We will flush and dilute our tanks with pink anti-freeze. The dump station won't be open so we will have to be very conservative. We will be out for three to four nights. One night maybe at a Walmart to get there, two nights at the campground and maybe one night on the way home again. For us it is about a 10 hour trip one way.

Last year's Walmart stay on the way in Ironwood, Michigan.


Our barely plowed out Tahquameon Falls camp site.

[BBQ]

Originally Posted by Davydd

Last year's Walmart stay on the way in Ironwood, Michigan.

You do not have an awning?

[wincrasher]

Oh, boy, here we go!

[booster]

If I were to tell DW that we were going to camp in the snow, I would be doing it alone in a tent with no heat!

A winter trip for us would be a nice beach on the Texas gulf coast with shorts and beach walks, not snowshoes.

[Davydd]

Originally Posted by BBQ

You do not have an awning?

No awning. That was a deliberate decision to scare people away thinking I am a government surveillance van.

Losing the awning adds stealth and I don't look that much different from an airport shuttle van.

I've never liked the hiked up in the air look of the awnings on the NCV3 Sprinter models.

Or I can say I have one cheap-ass Advanced RV without an awning or wheel covers.

Or I can say I have logged most all my stays and realized putting out an awning was less than 5% of the time. I plan with the percentages. In the winter, early spring, and late fall which is the most of our time on the road the sun angle is so low the van body is the awning itself. In the summer we mostly camp in tree shaded north woods. That 5% time would be rainy days and few of those are sit outside under an awning drizzle days. I admit I miss those few times.

What other reason did leaving the awning off? There are 420 watts of solar panels on that roof. Do you see them? Barely if you are looking for them. They are flex panels tight to the roof instead of being hiked up on carriers to clear the awning that would shade them especially in the low sun angle winter, fall, spring.

Then in the fall living in the woods I got tired of the awning becoming a leaf trap.

In the winter I can broom or leaf blow snow off the roof without the awning stopping that.

So there are lots of reasons for following my 5% rule.

[BBQ]

Originally Posted by Davydd

No awning. That was a deliberate decision to scare people away thinking I am a government surveillance van.

::

LOL

[BBQ]

Originally Posted by Davydd

::

Our barely plowed out Tahquameon Falls camp site.

What kind of insulation do you have in your ARV?

Did you specify the material? or did ARV designed it for you?





ps. Sorry the discussion has drifted from the original the thread.

[Davydd]

Originally Posted by BBQ

What kind of insulation do you have in your ARV?

Did you specify the material? or did ARV designed it for you?





ps. Sorry the discussion has drifted from the original the thread.

Probably should continue in another thread. Maybe this one. I just described the insulation I believe in this thread yesterday and I am sure I had mentioned it here. I haven't kept up a lot on this thread recently because my ARV is becoming fast out of date to what they are doing today.

Advancing Alvar

[BBQ]

Originally Posted by Davydd

Probably should continue in another thread. Maybe this one. I just described the insulation I believe in this thread yesterday and I am sure I had mentioned it here. I haven't kept up a lot on this thread recently because my ARV is becoming fast out of date to what they are doing today.

Advancing Alvar

Sorry... I figured you have posted it somewhere; you have a very special RV, many people must have asked the question before me. Thanks for the pointer, I checked your posts again and yes you have described it in detail a couple of days ago. I just wasn't paying attention; I read the first paragraph and moved on. Thanks again for sharing.


ps. maybe you should add the link to your signature line

[MobileCabin]

I have never used the awning on our Agile or our luggable. If I am given an option on our next RV I won't have one.

[mumkin]

I've never used the awning... didn't have one on my first two rigs (ordered without... never missed) and my 170 came with one... but as I said, I have never even tested it.

[Mikayla]

Originally Posted by Navanod

It was delivered yesterday ...Super busy at the moment with work stuff. We are suppose to get snow today, so I'll try to write a recap soon.

Thank you for sharing your experience, I learned a LOT from this thread.
I hope you will enjoy your new RV and make wonderful memories!

[Scottbaldassari]

As always, different strokes for different folks (in regards to the awning). Though I haven't "logged" the percentage of time we used our awning, we do find our awning invaluable on certain occasions, such as when the sun is beating down on that side of the van at a hot campsite, or as a general outdoor shelter at a treeless site, or in the rain (as a shelter to get in and out of the van). We often leave our sliding door open at the campsite and just a foot or two of awning extended, can completely alleviate the hot sun from getting inside.
Then again, I will admit that Davydds Van screams "RV" much less than one with a conventional awning.

Reminds me of other options such as 4WD, a 3 way fridge, or even a shower in many cases... You don't need them till you need them, but when you DO need them, you're really thankful to have them, and not sure how you could "do" without them!

[Navanod]

First, my apologies for going MIA.
As most of you know, we purchased one of the first Hymer Aktivs available. We were early adopters.

I wanted to step away from the forum until our Aktiv was 100% before I returned.

When we purchased our RV from Mike Thompson there were multiple minor cosmetic blemishes on the interior and exterior. For some reason they had to replace the sink and it took for ever for them to finish it.

Mike Thompson never completed our full list which was frustrating but we were happy to get our RV to address the remainder.

Mike Thompson reimbursed us $1000 and Hymer contributed another $1000. It was a nice they acknowledged their delay and how frustrating it was for us.

Once delivered we discovered a few other items that needed to be addressed. First was the regulator which was one of my last post here. I wrote a message to the CEO of Hymer and they assigned me a Escalation Coordinator who addressed every issue I had.

Here is a complete list of things wrong:
Pre Delivery:
-Snag/tear on the headliner: Replaced
-Propane Access Panel hinge rusted: Replaced
-Several Scratches on woodwork: Repaired/Replaced
-Wrong Microwave Color: Swapped for Stainless Steel version
-Dining Table support arms not assembled: No Completed, Did myself after finding all the parts randomly placed in the RV cabinets
-Bath Door Handle half attached: Repaired
-Several Wall Plugs missing: Not addressed
-Sink/Stove Glass Bumpers missing: Not addressed
-Sink damaged: Replaced
-Skylight Frame Cracked: Not addressed
-Rear Door Interior Shade clip missing: They removed the side window and just replaced that back door one.

Post Delivery:
-When replacing the sink they never replaced the shower curtain track, or cabinets security rods. They also forgot the shower curtain clips. They also never reinstalled the bedroom privacy curtain which was now missing.
-Propane was not working.

Hymer had a technician in the area and they had them address all of the above issues with the exception of the Propane regulator... which he wanted my local dealer to address as he thought it was the regulator. Scheduled an appointment which was late January.

We decided to go on a short trip to the coast to test everything prior to our appointment. Figured we could do without propane.

After our trip we found out the following:

-Our Time and Odometer flashed and we couldn't figure out how to stop it.
-The Voltstart wasn't functioning
-Hymer installed the wrong radio surround for the Sony XAV 602BT Headunit. They used a modified Promaster City version not the Pro Master version.
-One of the hoses was leaking behind the wall where the sink was.
-Toilet flap door to cassette was not opening: Fixed myself by realigning the gear teeth to the door handle via the cassette opening from the exterior.

I told Hymer the above and they Sent me all the parts needed (except the radio surround) and got me connected with Johnson RV (a non-Hymer, Roadtrek Dealer) who addressed every issue. Was super happy with their service. They even delivered our RV to our house the same day it was completed... which is nice considering they are a hour drive away.

Over the weekend I had the correct Radio Headunit installed.

I am happy to say every single thing is 100% functional and repaired. It has been a long, long journey to where we are now.

We cleaned and detailed the Aktiv today in preparation for our Spring Break trip down the Oregon/California coastline.

We are ecstatic to finally have the RV we have patiently waited for.

Had I known everything, I still would buy a Hymer Aktiv. It is an awesome rig and we love the euro design/finishes. I just wouldn't have bought from a dealer out of state or a show display RV. Oh well lesson learned. Rough start for our first RV, but heck, makes us appreciate it even more.

Once the RV was delivered and we were assigned someone from Hymer they were super prompt and great to deal addressing all my issues. Big difference compared to prior to delivery, when we were primarily dealing with Mike Thompson.

[Navanod]

More pics:

[cruisefx]

Originally Posted by Navanod

First, my apologies for going MIA.
As most of you know, we purchased one of the first Hymer Aktivs available. We were early adopters.

I wanted to step away from the forum until our Aktiv was 100% before I returned.

......

Thank you for giving us an update. It was probably much easier for you to handle these issues without updating and responding to the forum.

But congratulations on getting the motorhome that you ordered. As you mentioned, some lessons learned. It was probably more difficult as you were a first time buyer.

Looking forward to reading about how your motorhome handles on the first trip.

FYI - there is a closed Facebook group for Hymer owners.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/aktivowners/

[debra]

Thank you for sharing. You probably know your new rv pretty well after all that. Happy trails!

[mumkin]

Thanks for the complete update on your purchase. Glad to hear the Hymer (and the dealer) made everything right and I certainly hope that they will use all these issues to start fixing their quality control issues inherited from Roadtrek... and seemingly still with us. Sounds like the VAST majority of them should have been fixed before it was loaded on the truck at the factory to head to California.

Your complete report would be very welcome in the Activ Facebook group on Facebook (linked above) and also the Roadtrek/Hymer closed group.

[Ron J. Moore]

Thanks for the update. It is really good to see Hymer working with you in resolving the problems encountered. It will be great to see your future post on how this fine looking machine performs, both on the road, in a camp ground and while dry camping. Ron