[Closed] Caravan as home/office - feasible?

I had the same thought, but counted it out as the caravan would have to be craned in to where I want it and that's not a good thing.

Here in Sweden, there are caravans that are insulted and caravans that are properly insulated. For normal UK weather in winter, normal insulataion should be fine if you have a hook-up and a small heater running. Taking out the couch/bed and replacing it with a normal desk is certainly possible, but might trash the look of the place.

I did look at rest wagons too, the mobile kitchen things that appear on building sites. Might be an option too.

You can hire a Portacabin , or other similar cabins, and see how it goes.

"...an office type swivel chair!"

is sitting in a chair the same as working?

https://www.nhshighland.scot.nhs.uk/News/Pages/BewareoftheChair!.aspx

Thanks for the advice @willard. I have off street parking so no issues about that. However I want it to be fairly presentable, as I don't know what the neighbours will think of the unit parked permanently on the drive (having said that, my current next door neighbour has a large caravan on his drive and it's only taken on trips maybe 3 times a year)! I haven't moved in as yet, so don't want to be labelled as the "neighbour from hell"! I'm almost tempted by a "European" version as I would ideally like the door to be on the "drivers" side of the van for the proposed location. It also needs to be relatively small i.e. two wheeled 3 berth, to fit in the space available.

@paton, I'll be sat in front of two screens and a laptop, so a comfortable office type chair is preferable to the usual caravan foam couches which I would imagine like most couches are not very ergonomically friendly. Sorry your link above doesn't seem to connect.

Here in Sweden, there are caravans that are insulted

I thought the Swedes were quite a tolerant bunch

We had a discussion about a WFH van the other week, which much of the discussion would apply here though you have more scope on a sensible desk and chair.

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/wfh-van/

get a 10ft portakabin and clad it in pine, then tell everyone its part of a grand design build.

the usual caravan foam couches which I would imagine like most couches are not very ergonomically friendly.

They are extra-ordinarily comfortable for long periods of time 🙂 My worry would be not dozing off!

Apparently people have been doing this through COVID. Also, kids absolutely love them for some reason.

I have a top of the range 8ft wide tourer - Buccaneer Cruiser.

It's perfectly fine for living in for long periods - I quite often use it for work, so away 4/5 nights a week.

However, it's not great as an office. Maybe something with a dedicated dining area/table would be better, but sitting at the pull out centre unit isn't the best. A swivel chair probs wouldn't work either, but may do in some designs

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Stock photo

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Or buy a very old caravan and gut the interior.

When I was c15 a mate and I ripped the interior out of an old caravan on his parents farm and turned it into a radio studio. There was a second one next to it and the plan was for 3 of us to broadcast 24 hours a day in 8 hour shifts.

Unfortunately the only transmitter we managed to procure (from the back pages of exchange and mart) had a range of about 2km which, from the top of the hill above Govilon which gave us an audience consisting almost entirely of sheep.

this was a short lived idea but the studio was fun to build.

if you're not planning on moving it around, would you not be better to build a timber shed in its space? Still a temporary structure, but potentially cheaper or easier to DIY. You could buy a reasonable sized "home office" from a timber merchant and have it up in a weekend. Then go to town on the inside with cellotex and even plasterboard if you wanted? i suppose the samething but sat on wheels and a chassis makes it easier to sell or take away should your circumstances change.

Buccaneer Cruiser.

Just came on to say I love caravan names. Tell me your caravan name.

I used the caravan for the First couple of weeks of lockdown last March before moving in to the summer house. It is easy to keep warm, you can make coffee etc. The sofa was comfortable with cushions in the right places but I would definitely want an office chair if long term. The insulated sandwich floor might not like the wheel pressure so you might want to put some laminate flooring down. Seating will come out fine as it is fitted after walls and floor are finished.

Security is poor however and everyone can see what you have if you are leaving monitors etc. in there.

a two birth like the link below will have a big seating area to convert. Adria's of this age are rot free and well insulated.

https://www.caravansuk.co.uk/model/less-than-10k/2008-adria-altea-360-10465/?contact=yes

Buccaneer Cruiser.

Just came on to say I love caravan names. Tell me your caravan name.

What age are the kids? Turn spare room into office and let them have the caravan, kids love an adventure and then you still have a useable caravan too.

I've been heavily exposed to shitty caravans (for some reason, skydiving attracts people that live in shitty caravans) and that Adria is the sort of thing that I would want on a dropzone, but would be too expensive for me to justify.

This ( https://www.blocket.se/annons/stockholm/solifer_550_dl__dl_overslaf_fortalt_vinter_dack_dubb_nybes/93005407) on the other hand, would fit in perfectly once it has been covered in a couple of badly secured tarps and put up on bricks.

Just had a quick check on breakwagons. For sure a lot lfewer on the market and the cheap ones are, well, cheap for a reason ( https://www.blocket.se/annons/stockholm/rast_och_personalvagn___bovagn/93949755). The focus is more on complete daily life and you wouldn't need half the stuff in them for an office unless you felt like role-playing as a highways inspector.

To be honest, working in one of those would be soul destroying. The interior looks like a cross between a tramp steamer's crew room and a Danish prison cell and I can only assume the designers wanted that look to encourage people to stay in there for the least amount of time possible.

@badgerbater. I looked at using a site cabin as a garden building, but they are just too tall and you would need planning permission.

Its a shame as they are v secure and would make an ideal workshop space for me

Ian

what's your budget? if you're looking anything north of £5K and you've got some garden space, i'd of thought a small garden / summer house build would be far more preferable. i work in our 2 berth tourer if sofagirl needs the office for her uni work, but i wouldn't want to do it every day. it's also a space not deigned for the job you are looking for it to do, so it will always be compromised and as suggested above, i'm not sure rolling around on an office chair would do it much good. any major adaption you do will then also impact any resale value of it as a caravan (eg stripping out half the sleeping arrangements), where as sticking in garden office will at least keep it's value

sitting at the pull out centre unit isn’t the best.

No, I'd use the foldaway table.

But as above, much as I like caravans I'd get a summerhouse type thing.

Mate uses his caravan for home working. Says it's fine except when it rains and he's on a call - bloody noisy!

Or, if you have road hiab access, go big and buy a small shipping container. Couple of hundred quid for a used one, and they should be secure and dry. get the inside spray foamed as job one, for insulation.
You can cut windows in the, though personally i like the ones where people just install a secondary glazed door around 1m inside the main metal doors, giving you a small porch, and you dont have to fight with the metal doors every time you lock it up.

Very secure, could be built to be very long lasting, and if you move house you can pay to have it picked up and moved.

^^^^ patio doors on the side and some decking in front.
Perhaps some cladding on the outside.

I think a caravan would be grim tbh as they are pretty narrow unless they have the slide out side action.

Couple of hundred quid for a used one

Where are you seeing them for a few hundred quid? Delivery alone will be that.

There's a place near Huntingdon that does ISO containers for living and stuff... Might be worth a google.

Thanks for all the replies. The problem I have, is there is no garden, only a two car parking space. So a caravan seemed like the obvious answer. Anyway, I'm going to see one tomorrow, to get a feel for what the space would be like as a working setup. I'll let you know how I get on. As others have said, the other benefit, is that I would be able to work from anywhere and have the benefit/possibility of beach and bike rides from my office door! Not sure I'd be able to benefit from the C2W scheme anymore!!