[Closed] Caravans

Road signs tend to follow the main roads rather than taking the most direct/shortest route.

We occasionally get weegie riff-raff like iainc trapping up on the site with tents and such like but it’s a small price to pay

ah, indeed, must head down again soon, cheers for the reminder 🙂

how long is this van that it cant handle a corner ?
it articulates in the middle where it connects to the car surely ?

7 meters. On the way back, following the sat nav I had to negotiate a turning that almost doubled back on itself. I had to do a three point turn just to get the car around it.

You just need a bit of common sense beforehand - just study the map near the site.  DO NOT blindly follow a satnav if the journey involves lanes.

Caravans can handle pretty much anything on a B road without worry, I'd say.  And decent width lanes are alright.

Agreed, but not so easy when you are travelling solo

But that is what the back of a receipt, with handwritten key junctions, towns and road numbers is for, bluetacked to the dash....

I always do what Matt suggests if a new site, or even one not been to for a while. Check the site's recommended route, check the map and check it on Google Earth, obvious things like white lines down the road are a give away for better access. And don't panic!

If you want to make sure your caravan will fit a route it is possible to buy satnavs designed for/with a setting for trucks which work just as well for caravans.

Sygic phone nav app also has a caravan/rv setting i believe.

From what ive read the truck/caravan sat navs just adjust speed for the vehicle and dont actually suggest any different routing

Great first weekend away in the van. Managed to get all systems online without any problems and the kids had a blast. Was nice to sit in comfort on Saturday afternoon with a cold cider watching the footie with a view of the sea out the window.

Two questions for the seasoned caravaners......

1. Looking for a new awning (the one I got with the van will be too small. Whats the difference between lightweight, normal, and all weather awnings? I sort of get it, that the material is thicker, heavier etc. But if I got a lightweight one, would it fall apart after the first summer?

2. How do you know if the 12v system is charging/working whilst you are travelling?

Our satnav in the camper allows you to input the dimensions of the van into it. I assume it must do some sort of calculation as if you deviate off onto a route it thinks is too narrow or low to get through it starts giving visual and audio warnings.

Good to hear you had a great first time out OP. As for awnings we bought a cheap weekend one when we first had the van, then quickly upgraded to a full awning for longer holidays, just more space. The weekend one didn't survive that long as it wasn't robust, and we replaced it with a Vango Airbeam for shorter trips. So it depends what you go for, how much you pay etc. Some of the larger Airbeams look great and aren't far off a traditional full awning.

As for the 12v, I can only think of having a look at the 12v gauge in the van when not connected and turn the main power on, see what it reads then do the same when the electric is connected to the car. Others will no doubt have a far more sensible answer.

Spud, afaik, the van will need a power splitter from the car and will have two plugs on the van. One for the lights and one for the leisure battery. Not sure how to tell if it is charging Mind you.

A bit of a thread resurrection from me for an update. After a lot of viewings and research we have now bought a 5 berth 2002 Hymer Nova caravan (very nice but very heavy). The campervan is up for sale (see classifieds...) And I'm booked in for a B&E course and test at the start of September so I can use the Tourneo custom to tow. We're hoping we might get a couple of weekends in before the end of the year.

Here is our lighter option.

Good stuff

What's that anagallis_arvensis? Looks interesting (in a non sarcy way).

Its an Abi Adventurer. 3 birth weighs 650kg or something.

What’s that anagallis_arvensis? Looks interesting (in a non sarcy way).

It appears to be a child on top of a wobble box.

They were called nerve boxes during my childhood

That is lightweight, ours has a MRO of 1200kg and MTPLM of 1700kg, so good to know I could use it to transport building materials if we needed too...

Good resurrection, just packing the Avondale Dart 550-5 (classic y2k spec)  for a two week trip. Not going far and have managed to get away with taking the bikes. Shame the weather seems to have changed for the worse.😩

I like the look of those Hymer vans. Very nice. Nice prices too after a quick look online. We're looking to replace our knackered Fleetwood Garland 185 for next year and they are now on the list.

Bear in mind in 2002 MIRO was calculated differently, after a certain time MIRO includes much more kit.

We had 9 days in our van in West Wales, it pissed it down at some point on most of the days. Still, we were cost and warm in our van with plenty of space to play. Glad we weren't in a tent 🙂

We are in France visiting parents, we came by car, we saw a caravan for sale in a local town car park , it looked more interesting than the usual big fridge things, car has a detachable towbar that we use for bike rack , and I have a spare rear number plate in the car........

Pics?

Not able to do pics but it’s an Eriba 430 2010 classic touring van and the offer has been accepted so have some prep to do before the tunnel on Thursday..

Ah yes, one of those... Nice! 

Love the Eriba vans, pricey though!

Yes the price for this one made it attractive and somebody living in the small town near my parents so is a genuine sale, the compact size - especially width and likely resale ease seem to add up to a nice way to try it out .

I've been contemplating buying a caravan for the past few weeks.  I started off thinking an Eriba might be a good choice, but then I saw the prices being asked for even ancient and decrepit ones.  I've spent ages trawling caravan forums, and there are so many reports of poor build quality and damp that I'm rapidly going off the idea.  There aren't too many caravan dealers near me, and one I spoke to seem fairly honest, and didn't deny that the industry had its problems with damp, lack of quality control, and poor after sales service.  Some people make the argument that only a small percentage of vans will be affected, but I've read so many bad reports that I'm more skeptical than that.

I can't afford a new van, but even if I could, there aren't many that appeal to me.  I'm not that keen on the lighter builds, and I don't really need all the fancy systems.  My last caravan had a gas light! I'm weighing up the pros and cons, and although I have a Defender with tow bar, and I have some towing experience (and took a refresher trailer course a couple of weeks ago) I can't say that towing really appeals to me.  On the other hand, it would be quite nice to have some home comforts on holiday.  Having said that, I'd tend to use it only as a place to kip - I don't think I'd ever lounge around, or stay in on a caravan site.  I also much prefer the CL sites to the more commercial and busier ones.  Also, I don't have much time off, so I'm not sure how much use a caravan would get.  I currently use my wee mountain tent if I go away for a cycling weekend.  Alternatives I've been considering are a roof tent, and a larger cotton wigwammy type of tent in which I could stand up.

We love our caravan. Bailey Pegasus Genoa, 2 berth. I pull it with a 170 bhp Xtrail & don't hang about. Wev'e learned how to pack things for safe weight distribution & to avoid 'cupboard carnage'.

We got it from a local dealer, 2nd hand & got a good 2 yr warranty with it. For us It's a good compromise of size/weight/usable space.

Having said that, I’d tend to use it only as a place to kip – I don’t think I’d ever lounge around, or stay in on a caravan site.

We don't hang around all day in ours, but we don't spend all day out, so after we get back it's nice to chill out.

- it's far nicer to sit around in a caravan than a tent, especially if it's a bit chilly, windy, or damp, which it frequently is.  Because of this, it opens up trips all year round where you wouldn't necessarily camp

- cooking is much much easier

- so is washing up

- sleeping is far more comfortable too.  It's much quieter both in poor weather and also when there are other people around

there aren’t many that appeal to me

What doesn't appeal about most caravans?

Thanks, Molgrips - some good points.  I'm more often likely to go away in the winter, so having somewhere to while away the dark nights would be good, not to mention a recovery rest after a hard cycle ride.

I'm not sure why I'm not so keen on the newer vans.  I think it might be the lighter weight furniture and the current colour schemes.  There doesn't seem to be that much variation between the big brands, either.

I suppose I just need to keep looking.  Some of the caravans I've seen advertised which appeal to me are at the other end of the country, and I'm beginning to think that buying local would make much more sense, if I could find one.

Have you been around new ones?  To me, they're far more solid and better upholstered than ever they were.  They are mostly made of aluminium and composites instead of plywood, they don't wobble when you walk around inside either.  Fit and finish vary - Bailey not quite as nice as say Elddis, but they are all much more solid than they used to be.

Also newer ones are insulated to a higher standard - they have grades 1-3, and the newer are all 3.  Found this online:

grade 2 is required to maintain an internal temperature of 20 C with an external temperature of 0 C, grade 3 is required to hold 20o C internally with an external temperature of -15 C

Also you now get electric and gas dual fuel heaters, with blown air - even our 2000 van has it, and it's brilliant.  Gas heaters get through quite a bit of gas but if you are on a hookup you can whack the heating on and not worry about it.