The 7m length rule, is this the overall length? So if caravan is 7.52m I can’t tow with a car? Or do I subtract the drawbar from this figure?

Can you recommend a suitable first-timers van, with 6 berths? There are only 4 of us but would like to drag friends along.

some advice heere

more here

and here

Not only length to think about but weight of van and overall towing weight of car, `van and equipment.
Have seen some seriously overloaded cars over the weekend what with bikes, topboxes and boots jammed full of gear ❗

Tons of 6 berth vans that are single axle and not too heavy. They are all similar – most important thing is to get a layout you like I reckon.

What’s your budget?

Cheers, not really thought of budget to be honest. I haven’t got a tow bar fitted to the current car yet either. Ideally something with a separate room for the kids to have their toys and sleep without us disturbing them with a radio etc.

Ideally something with a separate room for the kids

think you’ll struggle to achieve that – most will just have curtains to separate areas of the ‘van off from others.

look at Bailey Rangers.

any van where the ‘side dinette’ converts into bunk beds is probably only ok for the top bunk to be used by kids upto 8 or 9 years old. fixed rear bunks are great for kids.

if you have freinds might be worth suggesting they bring a separate tent to sleep in – there’s not much room in even large caravans.

Just stick the kid in an awning or a small tent outside. My fokes did that to me as a kid from a young age and I loved it. Unless you are moving on every night a awning is much better investment for extra space than a huge caravan.

I’d disagree with the Brick – our kids hated sleeping outside – it’s much noiseier during the evening/at night and they wake up earlier as it’s so light compared with the van (ours all had blackout blinds).

We had an awnign but mostly used it as an outide eating area/storage/somewhere to sit in the evenings when the kids were going to sleep.

I’ve always slept with the curtains open so it’s all the same to me TBH. Still do even when I lived in London, opened them after I switch the lights off.

You still can’t beat the space offered by one though. The adults can always sleep in the awning (in a proper inner tent of course.)

Thanks for the comments, a lot of thinking to do. Likely that we would be buying for next year rather than this. Have to go and get the eye-watering quote for tow bar fitting sorted yet too….

Ideally something with a separate room for the kids to have their toys and sleep without us disturbing them with a radio etc

If you have a decent amount of money to spend then look around lots. Layout is number 1 factor I reckon, after ensuring it’s towable by your car of course.

The fact you are asking for a separate kids’ room suggests you haven’t seen many…

If you are looking to buy new then Bailey Pegasus, Olympus or Orion get my vote due to the way they are made. Also Sterling have good layouts, and Swift are cheaper.

Just go to a dealer and mooch about. Then you can see what’s what, and shop second hand.

For towbars, http://www.towbarexpress.co.uk are ace.

Autobars came out to site and fitted me a Witter bar, with twin electrics and a 3.5t ball & hitch to my pick-up for £359 inc vat.

“Cheap holidays my arse” best describes caravanning. 🙂

We came back yeasterday, from a 3-night stay on the biggest shithole I’ve ever stayed on. Thank god we have a proper shower in our van. Made the whole experience just about bearable. Caravan club sites only from now on for me. 🙂

Get one, you’ll love it. But cheap its not.

Cheaper than hotels I reckon. Given you can cook for yourself too.

Cheaper than hotels I reckon

it depends – we ‘lost’ £8k on the 2 caravans we owned from new over abotu 5 years which works out at £1600/year plus £300 for storage plus £200 for a service + £200 for insurance + site fees (say £20-£40/night) when you’re using it…

£1600 doesn’t go far when you are staying in hotels.

I think it works out cheaper the more you use it – we ended up using ours for probably 20 nights a year so >£100/night just to own the van plus the site fees.

We’ve gone back to tent camping now, much the same experience but not the same ‘need’ to use it as often as possible to justify the fixed costs.

tent camping now, much the same experience

😯

well, kindof, for a night or two 😉

Second time out in our battered old thing. Pull up at Big Bike Bash in the dark and rain at 12am. Legs down, lights on, heater on, brew on.. warmth, cosy shelter and the smell of matches and propane… felt like the Ritz! 🙂

Well, we’ve gone and done it. Bought one at the weekend, just getting all the essentials done before sorting out the first trip.

not cheap holidays damned expensive then add in the cost of towing the thing
we share what was a new van 8 years ago in the family, its used 50% of the time we get free storage at the folks house in the lakes we use only caravan club and sites we have visited on spec previously usually on anglesey ( even saw hrh once) kids love it mrs does not the beds arent comfy they should bin the showers ( we use ours to store bedding) bin the oven ( who bakes on hoilday?) and awnings should be roll out and fitted as std ( we have a fiamma on both the van and caravan.) and get soemone in who can use modern fabric designs rather than 1950 s chic..

Well done spud hope you love it as much as we do.
What caravan did you go for?

Don’t do it . bloody caravans roads are jammed up enough as it is !!!Clarkson for PM !!!

Roads are already jammed with tourists, caravans won’t make any difference 🙂

Spud – pics please.

Totalshell – in modern vans the showers can be really really nice, just a mini version of the ones at home. But even so they are only really meant for when you are on a site that doesn’t have showers. No matter how pokey they are it’s better than a facecloth. Or queueing up for half an hour on a busy site 🙂

And they can be cheaper holidays than hotels, although more expenisve than camping. When was a lad we used to tour the South of France for 5 weeks, it cost the same as a colleague’s 2 weeks in Torquay.

It’s a Bailey Olympus 546. No pics yet, well not that I can post. We haven’t collected it yet, and will be stored at the dealer’s compound anyway. Amazing how quick you’ll sort the tow bar on the car when you need to! Wanted one we could shut the kids door at night and give them a dark room with little disturbance, we didn’t find many that we could do that at the right price. All of use can’t wait, taken a year to make the decision.

Ah you bugger, that’s the exact van we wanted, for the exact same reasons… Cept now there’s the Pegasus Ancona which is also nice. New?

I’m uber tempted to get one in time for SITS as we just finished paying for the car.. reckless I know.. have seen sense so far…

Yes, new. Friends of ours bought a Pegasus Ancona, the down side for us is that the bunks are separated by a curtain across them rather than a room. If I can get fit (had to pull out of MM) I’d like to do SITS.

Well done Spud for joining the club. You’ll love it. It gives you all the freedom of camping with the warmth of a hotel. I’m taking mine to SITS…..see you there

Nice one Spud. Post some pics when you can…

Ideally something with a separate room for the kids to have their toys and sleep without us disturbing them with a radio etc

Car keys jingling in a bowl? 😉

(im just jealous)

I want one of these bad boys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPBf5pczzpM

like a massive orgy

Just got back from a few days in the Lakes – went Sunday morning.

Cost us £90 to pitch and about the same in diesel (from Matlock in Derbyshire).

The point being, we just booked this and went – a month ago we were on the Gower in South Wales – in a few weeks we will either be in Cornwall, or maybe the Norfolk coast. Normally we would do one of these a year and in a B&B, or static. The three holidays/breaks will probably come in at around the cost of a week in a B&B, or static.

Takes us about an hour each end to get going/unpack.

Caravans are great.

been to Keswick, Silloth, Ambleside and just down the road to Sandyhills with mine so far this year. Has taken us years to decide whether to get a motorhome or van but our current car is the first one capable of towing so we went for avan. Bought 2nd hand on a budget to see if we(MrsT)liked it. Have a growing number og grand kids to accomodate and so far they love it. Off to Osmotherly for July 😆

Would agree that it may not be the cheapest way to go about holidaying but there is a certain amount of freedom that you do not get on a “normal” holiday. There are certainly a lot of “hidden” costs such as all the water/waste carriers, awning, security etc

We are already looking to upgrade and the Bailey looks a contender. There are some nice Hobbies but the door tends to be on the wrong side and some sites do not accept them!!

Jesus! I’ve been mountain biking since 1988, I bought every one of the first thirty or so editions of ST, been on and off their forums since they started but I have NEVER seen caravanners posting on here. WTF is this world coming to? I thought mountain bikers were ruffy-tuffy types who relished freedom, the outdoors, camping, carrying their bikes up mountains, drinking from streams, skinny dipping….

……next they’ll be building their own protected trails in nice safe forests where you can’t get lost….. what? Already done it? **** me, where?

I thought mountain bikers were ruffy-tuffy types who relished freedom, the outdoors, camping, carrying their bikes up mountains, drinking from streams, skinny dipping..

Where’s the money to be made out of that?

Yes, new. Friends of ours bought a Pegasus Ancona, the down side for us is that the bunks are separated by a curtain across them rather than a room

Yeah that’s a shame, but otoh the bathroom is not as good in the 546. We do quite want a decent shower.

Thing that bothers me about the Ancona is the fact that there are three bunks that aren’t very tall. Two taller ones would be better, can accommodate bigger kids. There’s a Sterling with a layout like that but I really like the Bailey construction.

globalti – caravanning is just like camping but easier and more comfortable 🙂

The Sterling was the other we looked at, last year’s has three bunks this as two and then two non-fixed on the other side. Our two are 3 and 5 so will do us for a goof few years till they’re bigger. The bathroom was the compromise for us, ideally would like a separate shower, but can’t have it all.

The essential paraphernalia is a minefield… currently on ‘water and waste’….

Our kids are 2 and -3mo so the three bunker should be good for a long time.. until they are sleeping outside and we can get a fixed bed 🙂

Does it not come with the watery junk?

Good choice Spud, I’ve got an Olympus 525, which I got last June.

You only get the inlet hose, you’ve got to get all the containers. We use the 40ltr aquaroll and similar sized waste container.