Fancy a caravan…..don’t laugh!

Looked at a few but drawn towards a few brands.

Eriba look very ‘distinctive’.

Looking for a quality ‘van which I might avoid significant depreciation.

Seasoned caravaners please respond.

Thanks.

With eriba you lose some of the advantages of a caravan worth the canvas on the pop top. They often don’t have proper washrooms either as most European caravanners use sites worn facilities.

If you have the latter two people might think your a traveller (sorry!). Plus they’re often technically too wide for UK roads.

What he said.

Bailey, Elddis, swift for me.

Lately they make them with no wood (except for furniture) which means no rot. To me this is huge because rot is the killer of caravans. Bailey were the first to come out with it so should be some cheaper used ones.

I do have a chipped Transit custom to pull it with…..

Eriba is the fav so far.

i looked a while back – liked the hymer ones

And one for ma ma?

Hymer?

Seriously, our friends got an Elddis Avante 6 berth. It’s nice. However , fancy something a bit different and smaller.

Hi
Hobby is popular with the travelling community as apparently they are double insulated and this makes them better for “travelling” throughout the year rather than just the warmer months.
I’m told they therefore can command a higher price.
I’ve also heard of sites not allowing Hobby’s on because of the links to Travellers.
I have no idea whether any of this is true but my work brings me into contact with the community and this is what I’ve been told by them and others.
Cheers
Steve

Lots of European vans have the door on the wring side, meaning you’ll have to pitch them the wrong way round, which might not always be possible.

Hobby is popular with the travelling community as apparently they are double insulated and this makes them better for “travelling” throughout the year rather than just the warmer months.

Not true any more. Most modern vans are class 3 insulation or whatever it’s called, and are comfortable in minus double digits according to testimony.

Also, lots of the main manufacturers now have smaller vans. Go on their websites. How many people is it for? I think Elddis now do a 10ft 2 berth van.

Elddis xplore 304 is a 14ft 4 berth van, fully laden weight of 1050kg ish. Won’t get smaller than that! Looks great too.

Play the anal game and pick your favourite.

Lately they make them with no wood (except for furniture) which means no rot. To me this is huge because rot is the killer of caravans. Bailey were the first to come out with it so should be some cheaper used ones.

Yeah, we were told that – recently had cause to crawl under my new Bailwy to find the whole floor is made of wood painted black…

Eriba is generally seen as high quality.

Importing an Airstream would be pretty cool, they are heavy though.

Eriba is generally seen as high quality.

Importing an Airstream would be pretty cool, they are heavy though.

Wife’s sister has an eriba gt something or other. Nice wee van but very expensive for what it is. There’s only two of them but is very cramped. Fine for a couple of nights but I wouldn’t want to spend a week in one. Pop up roof also leaks in heavy rain.

We have a Sterling Continental 570, sitting in bed in it at the moment. We bought it in march this year and have it on a seasonal pitch that we can use all year. We absolutely love it, best thing we’ve ever done.

If you’re buying new then generally you’ll need to wait if you’re buying the newest van. We ordered in October last year for delivery in march, some models had delivery dates of June.

You can generally knock 10% off list price as you’re not doing a trade in.

I think Elddis now do a 10ft 2 berth van.

my parents have just bought one of these to replace their aging Swift. I’m no caravaner as I have a self build panel van conversion, but had a look round yesterday and it seems very nice for the money and well appointed.

They specifically bought the smallest one the could due to weight and the fact there’s only 2 of them using it, that and my dad can barely drive in a straight line at the best of times 😉

If the door is on the “wrong” side then some insurance companies won’t touch you. Not sure why?

Over in Europe it’s the Tabbert vans that are popular with travellers and the interiors of them look like it, too. Hobby are very popular with the Dutch and as you know they know a thing or two about camping. Personally I like the finishing and layout of the Dethleffs (part of the Hymer group) but a lot of the European brands are generally much wider than the UK ones (something I have noticed whilst camping in France).

They also have longer A frames which helps stability, but makes it harder to negotiate some of the lanes and entrances you get on the out of the way sites I like to go to.

Whatever brand you look at check the front and especially the back panels as hairline cracks can appear which won’t help with the water proofing. This is a common problem.

Hmm not sure about hairline cracks. The fibreglass on the front of ours is full of cracks and is water tight. Rest of it isn’t mind.

I’ve got a 2007 hobby 6 berth sited in Pembrokeshire, had it about 5 years . Great van, some sites won’t take them but lots do.
Very popular with travelers as they’re spacious & good quality. Lmc worth looking at too if you do go for a Euro van.

Remember I mentioned Airstream earlier? I’ve just stumbled across this on Youtube…looks amazing and as an import I suspect it would hold its value well.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw9PSLSmrQs[/video]

Its even got the ‘garage’ door feature that one of the much more basic UK ‘sport’ caravans has…

Elddis xplore 304 is a 14ft 4 berth van, fully laden weight of 1050kg ish. Won’t get smaller than that! Looks great too.

Ive got one of these. Love it. The top bunk is a bit small and dont expect to actually be able to use the shower but its a lovely little caravan you could probably tow with a Fiesta. Ive got a motor move on mine but rarely use it – it’s so light I just unhitch it and shove it around.

Hmm not sure about hairline cracks

That’s why bailey and eldiss replaced panels on both my dad and brothers van under warranty when they found cracks.
I don’t say these things for fun you know. Honest 🙂

What I meant was that hairline cracks don’t necessarily always produce leaks, since I have plenty of cracks and no leaks (in that area at least!).

Also forget Airstream. They look cool, but oh so trendy pretend hippies pay ridiculous sums for them and they are incredibly heavy.