Thinking of getting a motorhome (will hire one first for a couple of weeks to see how we get on with it) but not sure about the best size!

Obviously more space is nicer, but i’d like to be able to drive it reasonably easily aroud most places. Have been looking at 6m panel van conversions which we could probably manage in, and use a drive away awning if we have longer stops.

The other option is a 6m coachbuilt one with an overcab bed. Length is the same but they are about 30cm wider than the panel vans.

Having not really driven anything wider than a family car, do you think a panel van type is much easier than a coachbuilt to generally drive around in, or is 30cm is not a lot to worry about?

Panel van conversion about 2.05m wide, small coachbuilds about 2.35m wide.

we’ll probably end up booking two 1 week hols to see whats best just wondered what existing owners thought?

Family of four BTW, with kids 2.5 and 5, so with panel van might be a bit cramped in about 7-10 years time, but by then could always consider a bigger one. We’d use an awning though i think, so would have extra space in that.

Thanks

100% on the hire thing, the conversion probably makes most of the difference though. Coach built does seem to attract rattles more.
Hired a couple for 1 or 2 people and probably great in good weather, bit cramped and cold if it’s not.
What do you plan to take with you, how much outdoor gear? Happy with a bike rack?
Where are you planning to go with it and how does it compare to something good for shifting the gear but not sleeping in?
In 7-10 years time will your teenage kids want to share a camper van with mum and dad?

Just some thoughts,

Just in terms of driving it probably makes little difference after a while… obviously 30cm is 30cm so you can’t fit it in a space but having driven lots of different things (up to huge Kenworth trucks) though not regularly it’s just something you get used to like driving a car with the wheel on the other side etc.

95% you just adjust and 5% you have a bit of extra thinking .. (this coming from a guy who drove a roof mounted cycle carrier into a barrier though this was more to do with not being in a “different car”)

I’ve had a couple of times I’ve had to think twice about height limits etc. but to be honest this is usually in more car-like vans… the less car like the easier it is not to forget you’re not driving the family car.

My preference would really be for a panel van simply because it would get used year round carrying bikes

no reason it should be cold…….. they are insulated and have heaters. have used one at strathpuffer and been far from cold in it. we had 8 of us living out of the 8m transit based coachbuilt (with only a small garage at the back – which had to be empty for the rear bunks to be used so no good for bike storage ! )

i have hired a coachbuilt 8m job and i bought a 7.2 m panel van conversion with large garage at the rear as bikes on a rack is a no no for me.

the difference is night and day when it comes to scottish B roads….. I have no qualms about taking the iveco down the B roads – i did not like the coachbuilt on the B roads – it just felt that bit wider and it was quite a bit taller so it would hit trees.

Be very careful which base van you get. Im a fan of french vehicles in general BUT the french vans have woeful turning circles and when your in a 6m plus van it makes it very unwieldy in tight spots (think carparks) Iveco and ford have the best turning circles of all atm.

I have a partial bulkhead and it makes a huge difference to the noise from the living area – the coachbuilt rattled like an orange 5 falling down stairs. the iveco does not (in the cab – the rattlings still there if you go sit in the back)

and top tip is buy big enough(assuming you have space to park it). Fighting for space and moving stuff around to cook/sit/sleep/get changed will do your nut in if your doing more than a couple of nights at a time.

trail_rat – Member
no reason it should be cold…….. they are insulated and have heaters. have used one at strathpuffer and been far from cold in it.

Sorry cold was with respect to awnings if you have stuff and 4 growing people inside.

Also consider where it’s to be kept? Have you got space at home for it – one downside of this is that it’s a marker for when you’re away, when the van is gone (unless you can park it out of view of anyone). If you’ve not got space at home you’ll need storage, which will add to the cost of ownership.

Depending where you drive. If you spend a lot of time in the south west with very narrow roads with stone banks then. Panel van.
Otherwise it makes little difference to driving. Parking is another possible issue.

Kid can always go in own tent when older.

Couple of things, with kids what sort of bed layout do you want, are they happy sharing or will you want a couple of singles/bunks? One you have that sorted it hugely limits your choice, ie we wanted a rear lounge at the cheaper end or the market and I think there was only one brand at the time that had that. Once we had our daughter that was a problem as we couldn’t use the overhead bed for her in case she fell out.
Motorhomes don’t seem to depreciate in the same way as cars so buying new is less of “pain”.

Also really think about how often you are actually going to use it. For us renting had worked out way cheaper than owning.

Have you had a look at Quirky Campers?

Converted camper hire company that have privately owned campers all around the country. Really good experience, as you can hire a camper based on the location of the vehicle or type of vehicle and chat to the owners about the pro’s and cons.

We hired one last Autumn half term as, like you, we were thinking about buying or converting our own. It was illuminating, as the main pitfall of a camper is having to pack everything away for any travel, and then get it all out again that evening – it really eats into the time available during your day. On the basis of that experience we decided that we didn’t want a camper because of the expense and limitations as a day-to-day vehicle.

We bought a bell-tent, and haven’t looked back. 😀

Mate of mine has a Knaus (not sure of the exact model mind, think it’s a “Traveller”), which is small enough he can park it on the drive (just) but the use of space inside is really clever and it feels enormous. Four of them fit nicely, plenty of room.

The difference in drive between a converted panel van and coachbuilt camper is huge. It’s not just the 30cm width (although this is noticeable on any single carriageway roads and more so the smaller they get but more the total lack of stiffness they have which is very obvious around corners etc. MPG is also a fair chunk worse 22 vs 30 in ones I’ve had due to the width but mostly the height.
The flipside is coach built has lots more space and with 4 people it would be very noticeable.

note van height/width/weight – as it will dictate what roads(esp bridges 3.5 ) and car parks you can use, also if you’ll be using the ferry a lot look at ticket price/length differences. I find the height most irritating as it stops us using a lot of town car parks … width not so much but note above comments about cornwall/devon – we tend to route plan there as we have had some big reverses.

We went for a nuevo EK (5.7m coach[think ambulance size]- which also has an overcab version for 4 people) as it was the smallest with EVERYTHING’ motorhome we could find. You can get awnings(inc driveaway ones that yu leave there) and awning sleeping compartments now(hang inside tents). As above – ours is very scratched as we’ve been down as many Scottish small roads as we can find and trees etc drag…… It isn’t (imho) a daily driver.

I would have a think about what facilities you want and what you need and take it from there as that really dictates size.

Have a look at wildax (I think they do hire weekends) and also shire (van conversions). See also romahome.

Tips – buy folding bowl,pans etc etc.

We went down to the NEC Caravan and Motorhome show a couple of years ago and bought a camper on impulse. Thought is was a good idea and would be ideal for travelling to races when our daughter Abigale was competing. Took delivery of it a couple of days before a planned months Alps trip.
We had a few critera in that we wanted a garage that would take four fully built bikes, a bed that needed no messing about with, it needed to sleep four,ideally be below 3m for the French tolls and that it could be driven on a normal licence.
15000 miles later we have been all over in it, never without the bikes, we have riden in places we would never have visited without it.
Not had a chance to drive it yet as Im usually asleep.

Finished up with a 7.5m one, bit like this

Only regret is that we should have had one sooner when the girls were younger

reading this thread with interes as my wife keeps going on about hiring a motorhome.

I dont quite see how it works for families with young kids though eg:

-Go somewhere like dumfries and galloway so can have a bit of time at the seaside and also take kids (mine are 3 and 5.5) to some of the trailcentres so 5yr old can ride the greens and i can take older one on my weeride, then do a bit of riding myself.
-So we turn up at a site, then next morning have to pack up all the stuff that can roll around and drive to one of the trail places eg mabie / ae, then do a bit of riding, drive motrhome back to site, plug in electrics again and start doing tea.
-next day kids want to ride again so we have to unplug, pack up and drive big motorhome to trail centre agin then back to site etc at evening
-say it chucks it down for a couple of days and kids want to go swimming, or to a play centre / museum / other kids acivity, so its pack it all up again..

i can see it could be better once kids are older and can ride places themsleves from the campsite but dont see how its an easy holiday with young ones. However i was brought up on caravan / tent hols so we had a car to go places when i was a kid. Maybe i’m trying to compare the holidays in the wrong way. Dont get me wrong , i’d love a motorhome as i dont think i ‘d fancy towing a caravan, not for any image reason, just not sure i’d be any good at towing / manoeuvering a big white box, plus nowhere to store it at home (could manage a medium motorhome, but wouldnt be able to tow something up to my house). If it wasnt outside the house then we wouldnt use it for weekends as we’d then have to go pick it up from storage unlie a motorhome, but i just cant see how they work for holidays!

do you have to use the car for all your journeys away from site ? we manage well by parking up the car and using the bikes/shanks pony to and from town and attractions …. – and that was prior to having a camper. We used to go camping with the van and park it at the site and that was it pretty much for the whole week/2weeks

^ lakesrider makes some good points. trail_rat does as well.

YMMV but our experience was mixed with a 3 year old (now 4) to the extent we decided to flag it and sold it – it was a 2014 VW Cali owned from new. This was our second van, we had one in NZ as well pre and post baby.

I’m a massive campervan fan, as a couple we loved the flexibility. As a family it was a PITA. Getting a 3yo to sleep in a van has mixed success and let’s be honest, i’m not that keen on going to sleep at 7:30pm. If we lived in a lovely warm climate where you could be outside and rely on that it would be fine but we found, being in Scotland, that it was more likely wet or cold. Now the van was fully specced and lovely, but the simple practicality of it didn;t work (for us at that time). This was also our second car and we didn;t use it as much as we do with our actual second car we now have, possibly because it was too big (yes its the same size as a big car but it feels bigger for some people) and also because its not the best thing to drive (compared to a nice car). We had it for 2 years, 17,000 miles and it cost us basically nothing, with the sale we bought a newish luxury car and could go on 11k worth of holidays.
They are great, they have limitations – with a 2.5 and 5 yo a SWB size van is SMALL. But you may find it absolutely fine so go for it – we camp now for weekends in a couple of small tents with a tarp between. Works great.

Our experience so far. Our first van was a Bongo (small!) this worked OK for our first trip which was three weeks with a 6 month old. Second trip a year later was less successful, packing everything up was just too much of a pain.

We’ve recently bought a larger van (MWB, high roof Transit). Just about space for 4 to sleep (1 x 3 year old, 1 x 6 month old). Been away a couple of times in it now, and while packing up to go out for the day is still a pain, it really only takes 10-15 minutes. As it’s a fairly small van conversion it fits on the drive and is easy to drive in narrow lanes and does 30+MPG, it could be used as a second vehicle if required.

Any van is a compromise, you just have to choose what to compromise on.

We have one based on a transit. We were put off by the extra width which on the roads is ok, but gets a bit more interesting once you get onto lanes heading to trailheads or more rural parts. Following on from this in coachbuilt ones the windows are plastic, ours or glass because its a converted van. The drawback of glass is condensation in the morning, the drawback of plastic is they scratch easily especially from brambles and other verge plants that because it is wider you are more likely to rub against.