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Flame me, go on.
Caravan owners have been annoying the Cornish for years.
For that I salute them.
I just sold one. Our needs had changed but loved it while we had it.
Towing always felt like a proper challenge too - my caravan was over 7m long.
pikey! 😀
Caravan owners should only be allowed to tow between the hours of 12:00am and 5:00am any other time if they are caught their caravan should be blown up on the spot.
I am a considerate driver, I'll still be considerate with a van on the back 🙂
Let's see a pic then.
Wise words Kuco, anyone holding the traffic up shouldn't be allowed on the road. Don't even get me started on cyclists.
Top tip: overtaking people in convertible sports cars whilst towing a caravan is one of the most entertaining activities within the (non towing) speed limit.
This is one of them:
Bargain!! If i had somewhere to keep it i'd buy one of those just to take to Mayhem every year!
My mates arrived at the head of Glen Clova yesterday after being unable to overtake a Sunday driver for 12 miles who was diving at 30mph, unaware that anything was behind him.
'Are you a visitor to this country?' asks mate.'Because in this country its customary to pull over and let cars which are obviously moving faster than you to pass'
Sunday driver replies, 'The speed limit is 30mph' in a Weegie accent
'No its not, I think you'll find its 60mph'
It decended into a farcical argument with us looking for dog sh*t to smear in his door handles.
MrTall - that's basically what I am thinking. Keep it stocked with dishes etc, so just lob food, clothes and bikes in it and you're ready to go. Then when everyone else is shivering away in tents with damp and mud everywhere, you are clean, warm, cosy and dry 🙂
Kuco - MemberCaravan owners should only be allowed to tow between the hours of 12:00am and 5:00am any other time if they are caught their caravan should be blown up on the spot.
what nonsense. i think 3.00am and 3.15am is more than adequate?
edit add - to be fair i use one when me and the bro go motorbike racing and it is a life saver when it rains, which is mostly. There should be a law requiring a minimum of 150bhp for the towing vehicle though!
Caravan owners have been annoying the Cornish for years.For that I salute them.
I'm sure if they clogged up your counties roads & make it a made it a much scarier proposition to ride a bike out on the roads you'd share a similar Top Gearesque hatred for them & their owners..
I hate top gear and the idiots who believe the pap. I'd love a caravan.
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edit add - to be fair i use one when me and the bro go motorbike racing and it is a life saver when it rains, which is mostly. There should be a law requiring a minimum of 150bhp for the towing vehicle though!
Would ye not be better with a motorbike 😈
Would ye not be better with a motorbike
well, it has two wheels...
shed dragger!
[i]I hate top gear and the idiots who believe the pap. I'd love a caravan. [/i]
I certainly got quite cross when I watched them trashing a number of perfectly servicable campervans in a race. I'd love one of them but they all seem to be incredibly pricey.
i have a van and i love it , i do not do tarmackin and i dont have any dags.i dont like pikeys.
One of my most amusing memories of caravaning was when I overtook 5 cars at once going up the hill out of Kincardine (on Forth).
As advised above my car, an Alfa GTV6, had adequate power for embarrassing the non towing fraternity.
Samurai - define pricey.
I just looked at a great 2 berth one, shower, hot water, blown air heating, motor mover, no damp, two awnings, £1k.
Oh and the towing car is 140bhp diesel so should be sufficient 🙂
I just looked at a great 2 berth one, shower, hot water, blown air heating, motor mover, no damp, two awnings, £1k.
£1k is a great price for that spec, Dad sold his for twice that last year and could have got more for it.
Once your at your destingation caravans are great. No hassle of erecting a tent. Just remember to put the legs down before you go in! made that mistake a couple of times.. 🙂
We took a caravan to clic 24 last year it pissed with rain and we had lots of people looking for an excuse to pop round for tea
Feeling a little weird about it cos it's basically like someone else's house that was cheaply decorated 20 years ago.
I reckon though, a bit of work, a bit of living and it'll be alright. Guy was a smoker though - the van smelt really strongly of cleaning products, so I dunno if it'll stink of fag smoke when that wears off.
Although I couldn't detect a trace when I went in.
hmmm, that does sound better than a really expensive van that I have to drive down the shops in.....
I might start looking myself now, if I can get a decent one for a grand of thereabouts.
You know, I used to look forward to fights kicking off in pubs so I could get stuck in, I used to get blind drunk and have sex with proper boilers in the backs of cars and look at me now....considering buying a caravan.
2 berth ones are way cheaper than 4-5 berth. Also (I've found) there are a lot of dodgy geezers about dealing caravans, so go for private sales.
We were in a caravan place the other day that also had campervans. They had an H reg small VW van thing for NINE FRIGGING GRAND! H reg! Camper vans are an absolute ripoff.
Are you going to tow it with a Toyota Pious?
I would, but they can't tow 🙂
And it's Prius, not pious. Pious is what people call them when they feel the need to imagine people driving around in them feeling like they are better than everyone, when in fact people just want to save a bit of fuel.
[i]Also (I've found) there are a lot of dodgy geezers about dealing caravans[/i]
Uhuh.
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The reality was far far stranger...
I got completely sick and tired of it raining at races and the fact that my wife and kids had to 'shelter' in a poxy tent for the entire weekend. So I bought a cheap caravan. Nowt wrong with it, I've spent some money on it though and got an awning too.
It's great at 24 hour races, especially when I can get a good night's sleep the night before and I'm not worried about the kids spending the weekend in that bloody tent. I CAN STAND UP TO GET CHANGED, HAVE A SLASH IN A PROPER BOG AND COOK FOOD ON A REAL COOKER AND KEEP MY BEER IN THE FRIDGE FFS.
We go on loads of little holidays in it now as well, which our 2 girls love.
Get one. They're ****in brilliant, caravans.
🙂
That basically our reasoning too. Along with being able to leave it stocked with dishes and pans and stuff, to slash packing time to a minimum.
that's quite a nice caravan you've linked to, molgrips, and pretty cheap, too. what does it do to fuel economy?
'course, you need somewhere to park it...
Horses for courses I guess. Nine grand for an impractical, iconic, cult classic, or a grand for a very practical pig ugly plastic box on wheels that will pretty much p1ss off everyone on the road before ending it's days flipped on its side across all three lanes of the motorway! 🙂
I followed one down the M/A23 just like the one in that ebay ad. You'll be glad to know it tows perfectly well at 70mph behind a Renault Scenic...the guy must just have been crossing his fingers that he wouldn't need to make any sudden lane changes... Scary!
Caravans are great if you have somewhere to store them, my parents spent 10 years paying £5 a week storage, yet only used the van once a year and hated towing it. I eventually managed to prise it away from them and flogged it on ebay for just under a grand. It was a 6 berth but a basic model and did have a bit of damp.
A caravan would be an upgrade for me, I tow a horsebox and rarely get over 55mph even on motorways 🙂 I do pull over for people though, unless they are driving right up my backside and then they can sit there all day.
Had one for about 3 years now, we are on our dream van at the moment, bought cheap and cheerful to see if we would like it, then upgraded to a 24ft 5 berth van with all the trimmings, then bought the Volvo XC70 awd to tow it, myself, wife and 2 young kids love it, we have seen a lot of this country and have had great times, even when the weather is bad there is always a decent set of waterproofs and wellies.
Towing, take your time and get used to it, manoeuvring is easy, again, take your time and get used to it.
Dickhead drivers that watch Top Gear and believe all that is said on there, accept them for what they are, I have had them try to overtake me whilst towing only to get alongside and spot the 3 cars in front holding me up. As a cyclist you will always give them a very wide berth so the odd comment on here needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. I do pull over if i am holding up traffic, although the last few times I have done this i have found myself being held up!!
Get out there and explore, the is a site in Kendal we go to, I live in Bolton, in 2 hours we can be at the site, fully set up with the awning up and a cold beer in hand with the kids off Gruffalo hunting.
If you want any more advice aldredchris at googlemail dot com
Chris
We've just changed our first caravan after 3 years and love going. We did the same as Tango Man, had a cheap one and then upgraded (sounds similar to mountain biking!)
The kids love going away for the weekend as often as possible. We store it at a local farm and all we have to take is the gas bottle, fresh food and clothes and we're off. Last year we spent 40 nights and this year we are up to about 25 so far.
I used to be anxious about towing it as I'd never towed before, but I read up about loading it properly, weight limits etc etc, now I'm not too bothered. I tow a 1460kg caravan with a Freelander 2 with no problems and before that we had a 1200kg caravan with an A4 avant. I still can't get the hang of reversing it onto a pitch, so this one has got a motor mover on it.
what does it do to fuel economy?
I'm not looking forward to finding out, but I reckon it's better than a crappy old camper 🙂
Nine grand for an impractical, iconic, cult classic
This is it. Cult classic I think not!
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They did have a restored old style camper, NINETEEN THOUSAND POUNDS! 😯
PS I've never seen a caravan on its side on the motorway. I've seen lots of crashed cars though. What does that tell you? Muppets are muppets, caravan or no.
Re Top Gear, they seem under the impression that caravanning is some kind of pastime in itself, whereas it is in fact just accommodation.
The feul economy depends on the car using to tow, where you are towing etc. On a long journey of about 100miles including motorway and A roads the A4 I had on solo driving was about 45mpg, towing the caravan was 25mpg. Freelander on the same journey towing the same caravan was 29mpg, solo driving is around 35mpg.
Regarding fuel economy and holidays, we kept track last year, I think we spent £3500 for the year, this covered fuel, site fees, food, eating out, storage, odds and sods, in fact everything we needed to cover our caravanning for the year, we managed about 6-8 weeks away in total (a few weekends and long weekends in there).
I think that may just cover a fortnight for a family of 4 somewhere in Europe.
solo driving was about 45mpg, towing the caravan was 25mpg
😯