Viewing 34 posts - 81 through 114 (of 114 total)
  • Anyone have a caravan?
  • Tango-Man
    Free Member

    work out the cost over ten years, include depreciation, storage, etc.

    then consider the alternative holiday options u could have for the same cash and how much less hassle it would be

    We have a caravan, Bailey Series 7, Pageant Provence, sleep 5, anyway, in answer to a few comments from above, last year we spent £3k on the caravan and holidays, this covered the equivalent of 6 weeks away, all the diesel, insurance etc, the lot, food, servicing, you know everything, this was for a family of 4, so, for this 3k what could I get, 2 weeks abroad with a load of nob heads that I usually try to avoid. I prefer the caravan.

    OMG Caravans FFS

    Anyone considering a caravan without very good excuse really has given up on excitement in their lives and settled for beige

    This from a man that has a tandem as he is to feeble to pedal a bike on his own… 😆

    Tango-Man
    Free Member

    dammit, more duplicates

    Tango-Man
    Free Member

    duplicate, bugger

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
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    SamCooke
    Free Member

    Who rattled your cage? Where did I get narky? Just having a laugh. Now back to school young man.[/quote]

    1) You rattled my cage
    2) YOu got narky in your two posts above and in fact in the one where you ask who rattled my cage.
    3)Oh having a laugh! Yes, now i see the smileys and the Teehee cat, it’s clear. hahaha Very good! hilarious. The one about not being able to afford a decent hotel is best. I’m going to tell it at school today! Thanks! Have you considered sending that one in to Michael Macintyre? I bet he could use it in his routine.

    TooTall
    Free Member

    I bought it for 4000 pounds, it depreciates by about 500 pounds a year, it cost me £230 a year for storage.

    Maintenance free as well is it? Needs no cleaning? Fuel to cook? Extra fuel to tow? Water and waste disposal free? Hook-up if you have one for power? Insurance? Additional wear and tear on the car? Tow bar and electrics installation?

    Please – do the ‘fully burdened’ cost of ownership if you are going to throw figures around – not

    add on a few extra quid for pitch fees if you like

    Surf-Mat
    Free Member

    Sam – I see you’re new around here – except I suspect you are an old stalker geek with a new username, probably so you can “hide” when being “controversial.” And bizarrely using a famous blues/RnB singers name too – most odd.

    Oh well, another tragically sad muppet to politely ignore. STW seems to be a magnet for them.

    Tango-Man
    Free Member

    Maintenance free as well is it? Needs no cleaning? Fuel to cook? Extra fuel to tow? Water and waste disposal free? Hook-up if you have one for power? Insurance? Additional wear and tear on the car? Tow bar and electrics installation?

    Please – do the ‘fully burdened’ cost of ownership if you are going to throw figures around – not

    Christ TooTall, are you really that opposed to caravans, anyway did you miss my post, £3k a year all in for me, that is everything mate, for 6 weeks holidays, this is 2 full weeks away plus all the weekends we go away and a few long weekends, we kept a tab on it last year so the figure is correct, if I remember it came in just under the £3k mark

    So, next year for out 5 days at Eurodisney with the kids we have spent £2k so far…..

    IanMunro
    Free Member

    Then i started to think, maybe its not such a bad idea, sling the bikes in it, 2 dogs in the boot and away we go, scotland for the weekend, Cornwall the next, the worlds my oyster!

    So to précis –
    You want to spend your weekend driving 6 hours to reach a field full of people who really like caravans.

    Apologies if this has already been pointed out 🙂

    Surf-Mat
    Free Member

    So to précis –
    You want to spend your weekend driving 6 hours to reach a field full of people who really like caravans.

    Apologies if this has already been pointed out
    😆 😆 😆

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Anyone considering a caravan without very good excuse really has given up on excitement in their lives and settled for beige

    Trolling for sure. I mean – you could drive to the Alps and spend a few weeks mountaineering.. if you stay in a tent then you are cool, if you stay in a caravan then you are boring? That right?

    You want to spend your weekend driving 6 hours to reach a field full of people who really like caravans.

    Maybe he wants to spend half a day driving to stay somewhere remote with hardly anyone around in comfort?

    I don’t understand why people are perfectly happy with the idea of camping but think caravanning is something worthy of total ridicule. It’s basically the same thing, isn’t it? Except one is more expensive but more comfortable.

    Surf-Mat
    Free Member

    Mol – I think it’s the way you get there and back with a caravan. Slowly.

    Then there are the names for them – Marauder, Bucaneer, Pageant. They don’t help.

    Then it’s being stuck behind them on country lanes – most cannot reverse a caravan to save their lives so that annoys people.

    And finally it’s the way many of them look – like overgrown appliances with beige and orange interiors.

    I guess like camping, some just don’t get it. Camping is true freedom – you really can go almost anyhwere. Caravans need a level site, a bog emptying facility, electric hook up, etc – hardly “proper” outdooring.

    I can see the appeal – I’ve probably spent more nights in them than anyone here – but that doesn’t mean we all want one.

    IanMunro
    Free Member

    I don’t understand why people are perfectly happy with the idea of camping but think caravanning is something worthy of total ridicule. It’s basically the same thing, isn’t it? Except one is more expensive but more comfortable.

    In the same way that the daily express the telegraph are both newspapers 🙂
    The names of the caravans don’t help matters either, I can’t help but snigger a little when there’s a big beige box called something like ‘Swift Conqueror’ or ‘Crusader Extreme Super Cyclone’ wobbling around in front.

    /Edit
    Ooh scary coincidence with surf_mat on the name thing 🙂

    molgrips
    Free Member

    A 3 hour motorway trip only takes 20 minutes longer in a caravan. Hardly going to impact your holiday is it?

    Yes, some names are stupid (from years ago) but WGAF, honestly?

    Caravans need a level site, a bog emptying facility, electric hook up, etc – hardly “proper” outdooring.

    Wrong, wrong, and ummmm.. wrong.

    Tents need a level site – I can’t stand sleeping on a slope. Carvans have legs that you can use to level it up.

    You don’t need bog emptying – you do it at home or in a normal bog anywhere.

    You also don’t need leccy. We have these amazing inventions called batteries.

    Caravaning is vastly more comfortable, although less convenient with the driving. Definitely worth it for me.

    Btw, this is the kind of site I am thinking of:

    Surf-Mat
    Free Member

    Being pretty near to the A1(M) and Ripon isn’t what I’d call “the Wilderness” 😉

    One advantage over a camper though: when you do finally get there, you have a separate car to use. It’s a right faff packing up campers every time you want to go anywhere.

    Same applies for a tent though.

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Wgaf about wilderness? If I want wilderness I’ll pack a tent in my backpack. Since when did this become about wilderness?

    This is your argument:

    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    Campsites? Some of the best I have used this year. No way of getting a caravan to them 🙂


    molgrips
    Free Member

    And what’s that prove TJ? I camp in places like that too.

    This argument is getting ridiculous.

    TheBrick
    Free Member

    The only way to truly camp in anything approaching wilderness is to use your feet.

    On wilderness scale I’d say

    feet > canoe > bike > motor bike > 4×4 > car = camper-van > caravan.

    Surf-Mat
    Free Member

    In which case Mol, I suggest you visit this lovely caravan site. One minute you want remote countryside, the next you are muttering on about “wilderness.”

    Best site I know is not accessible by caravan…

    And before posting some drivel about clutching at straws, look at what you wrote:

    Maybe he wants to spend half a day driving to stay somewhere remote with hardly anyone around in comfort?

    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    The middle one is on a big campsite – but in your caravan you would have been stuck in a row of similar vehicles.

    IanMunro
    Free Member

    This is the future –

    molgrips
    Free Member

    One minute you want remote countryside, the next you are muttering on about “wilderness.”

    What does that mean?

    What I am saying is that I like staying in small caravan sites out in the countryside. They are known as Certified Locations and have a maximum of 5 caravans.

    I ALSO like wilderness camping, but clearly I’m not trying to say a caravan is ideal for that..!

    The middle one is on a big campsite – but in your caravan you would have been stuck in a row of similar vehicles.

    See above TJ – 5 van limit on those sites.

    feet > canoe > bike > motor bike > 4×4 > car = camper-van > caravan.

    I’d put canoe before feet for real wilderness. Some places are so wild that they are impenetrable or inaccessible on foot, and you need a canoe Voyageur style 🙂

    TheBrick
    Free Member

    I’d put canoe before feet for real wilderness. Some places are so wild that they are impenetrable or inaccessible on foot, and you need a canoe Voyageur style

    I was toying with which one goes on top. My rational was that you can walk up a mountain and you can usually walk roughly following the path of a river but you can never canoe up a mountain. Maybe put them equal but for different uses.

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Fair point.

    But again it depends on the wilderness, since the middle of the Sahara say would be really hard on foot (and even harder by canoe) but accessible with a 4×4…

    I think though that this thread has officially strayed off-topic now 🙂

    TheBrick
    Free Member

    I thin Ian Hibell crossed the Sahara on his bike and nearly died. Jermany Cleakson drove to the North Pole and unfortunately didn’t nearly die. Exceptions to prove the rule.

    takisawa2
    Full Member

    What an ace thread.:-)
    We’ve a caravan. 5-berth Swift Challenger. Not a huge one, think its the biggest they do on a single axle. Weighs 1500kg IIRC. Bought after we’d had a smaller, older one for a few years.
    Much prefer tent camping though. Yet to have as good a time in the caravan as we have had tent camping. In terms of setting up etc, the caravan wins obviously; especially if its a big tent with lots of kit. Cheap holidays are a myth. Ok, so the site fees can look cheap but factor in 24mpg towing, cost of running a bigger car (Galxay in our case, only two kids but wanted something heavy without being a 4×4), storage, insurance, servicing, & cheap it isnt. But tenting with decent kit isnt exactly cheap to start off with, £300 for a decent tent, say another £200 for the other kit, but the stuff can be stored at home & will pack into a normal car. It is true that the spend on the caravan would pay for some decent B&B accomodation, but we hate B&B’s. The idea of lashing £700 for a week in a static caravan on some overcrowded site is almost laughable.
    Advantage of the caravan is when the weather is crap. Central heating, double glazing, proper shower, comy beds.
    Our caravan will probably go next year. While the kids are young its been great, but we’re tent campers at heart. And if you’ve young kids (& decent weather!!!) then a nice campsite takes some beating.

    This thread makes some good reading though. Quite funny the impression some folk have of caravanning.

    IanMunro
    Free Member

    Have trailer tents been covered yet as a compromise? Or are they the bastard offspring that never get mentioned in polite company.

    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    molgrips – come on – talk about your caravans on here you have to expect some teasing FFS!

    IIRC youuse yours a lot for going to races – there they must have a real advantage I would have thought.

    The trouble with a caravan is it also ties you in – you always have to take the caravan. sometimes I go by train, sometimes I fly, sometimes I walk, sometimes I cycle. I like to tour. Caravans are no good for that.

    And you course you end up buying beige trousers, tartan flasks and take up sitting in laybys spotting eddie stobart trucks as a hobby

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Yet to have as good a time in the caravan as we have had tent camping

    Interesting.. about 10 seconds after shutting the door on a drizzly BBB and getting a brew on I started to have a much better time than if I were in a tent. Really loved that 🙂

    The trouble with a caravan is it also ties you in – you always have to take the caravan

    Oh I dunno. We still have a lightweight camping setup. We ditched the big tents before getting a ‘van, in favour of a small 3 man backpacking job and a tarp for seating. This goes with us when we fly. I can still use that (or the 2 man) if I want to backpack etc.

    IIRC youuse yours a lot for going to races – there they must have a real advantage I would have thought.

    Yeah true – seeing people in their caravans at a wet mayhem at 12am, I felt like some character from a Christmas Carol gazing in on folk having a great time by a roaring log fire as I trudged through the freezing snow. At SITS I finished my night laps, came in, had a shower and went to a comfy bed with crisp clean sheets and a warm duvet. Ace 🙂

    petrieboy
    Full Member

    You can get caravans with bike garages in them! That’s it I’m definitely getting one now!
    http://www.derbycaravancentre.com/new-sprite-caravan-specifications.php?VanID=2007-Sprite-Major6

    shoei
    Free Member

    We were a week away from swapping our Lunar for a new Bailey Pegasus 534, then the damn DVLA revoked/refused my license due to my medication.
    Kids love it in the van. They have fixed bunkbeds with lights and windows.
    Site we stayed on this summer for 2 weeks was great. they could ride their bikes round and generally be kids. Big field for football, 2 pools, night time entertainment, it was great.

    Have to see how things go regards getting my license back as to wether we keep the van or not.
    Wife doesnt mind towing esp. with the freelender, lot better than the CRV was.

    TijuanaTaxi
    Free Member

    Had some great times in caravans when my daughter was young, she remembers the times fondly to this day

    Bought secondhand caravans for a few hundred quid, stayed on certified sites in some lovely places for a few pounds a night and met some great people on our numerous trips

    All very old tech, could get a week from a large leisure battery for the lighting and water pump with the fridge, cooker and heater running on bottled gas.Had a black and white 12in portable telly we watched the news and weather on occasionally, listened to the radio, played games and read books.

    Daresay people would hate that sort of thing now with no computers, mobiles or digital television, but makes me very nostalgic thinking how much fun we had and feel very tempted to do the same all over again

    nwilko
    Free Member

    spent £6k on a caravan 5years ago.. £6.5k if you count the load intrest.
    costs £400 a year to store inside a secure facility.
    £140 to insure
    £100 – £50 to service and on running repairs each year.
    £40 cc membership.
    have had 30-40nights away for a family of 4 each year.
    pitch fees normally £20-£25 per night.
    if i tow to cornwall it adds <1hr to journey from midlands.
    has space for 4 with heating etc and we all get to take bikes & toys.
    not better than camping / hotels just different.
    van should last another 5+ years (till kids dont want to holiday with us anymore)
    dosent get used at weekends as its not worth the hassle, weekends we camp easier for a short break (for us)..
    as for hassle towing, try it.. your driving will improve no end, braking distances, lane position reading the road like youve not done before.. also get an insight into how annoying us car drivers are to HGV’s..
    if you find yourself wound up by caravanners try reading some of the self help tips on the depression thread it may help.. 😆

    CharlieMungus
    Free Member

    +1 for the improving driving skills

Viewing 34 posts - 81 through 114 (of 114 total)

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