In 2005 my wife and I bought a Rimor motorhome. We’d been looking for one for a while and this model seemed to tick all the boxes. The base vehicle was a 2002 Mercedes Sprinter 316CDI, and it was left-hand drive, which suited us because we live just outside Dover and expected that most of our touring would be on the Continent. It also had a big garage, allowing me to transport a motorcycle.
For a family with two young children, the layout – two fixed king-size double beds (one over the cab, the other above the garage) and a third smaller double when the table is dropped – was perfect, and over the years, the ’van provided the ideal base for many family adventures.
To say all of those years were trouble-free would be to exaggerate, but it did well for an old ’van. The only problem that caused any concern was the tendency for the sealant used beneath the aluminium capping strips that held the body together to ooze out on a hot sunny day. These strips run almost the entire way around the joint between the sides, roof and rear panel, and are crucial in maintaining the integrity of the structure.
MIXED MATERIALS
Our Rimor is basically a polystyrene box, with an aluminium skin on the outside and hardboard panels on the inside. There are softwood frames around each panel, the windows and doors, and thicker plywood panels giving structural strength around the garage and where box meets cab.
It’s held together with screws passing through the aluminium capping strips, then through the aluminium skin
