Has anyone seen the Boondock trailers in the flesh? They look like they could be either great or pointless, I can't decide.
Mobile sheds tend to have gas heaters
Most are dual fuel nowadays.
Also note that we get similar mpg with the caravan regardless of bikes being on the roof of the car or not. Our mid 50s mpg goes down to mid 40s even with bikes on the back, and low 40s with them on the roof. So if we're comparing caravan to trailer camping then the bikes are going to be on the roof anyway, so the 'extra' fuel consumption for bike trips with caravan vs trailer is less.
Mobile sheds tend to have gas heaters
Blown air electric heating throughout the van with gas option. Increasingly some now have proper wet central heating with radiators and heated towel rails.
Our MPG drops from high 40’s to low 30’s when towing.
Ours is so small that cooking in winter means opening the door or it gets too hot. Have a small fan heater that gets a blast a couple of times in the evening and for 5 mins before getting up but only from Oct onwards.
Given the transporter has a 50 limit on a roads I don't hold anyone up any more than I would driving a tent to a site.
Caravan bit is ace! Loved ours, went loads of places for 5 years. Treated like a base camp. Big improvement over a tent.
Towing it is a PITA, not difficult but just not relaxing or fun.
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/i-want-a-caravan-thats-not-a-caravan/
Just sold it, both gutted and a bit relieved.
The kids loved it and were in tears when it went
Saw a discovery towing one of the north American caravans (normal hitch not fith wheel). Massive pretty sure not legal too as it looked so wide and maybe over length too but.
Increasingly some now have proper wet central heating with radiators and heated towel rails.
Yep and underfloor heating in mine
Towing it is a PITA, not difficult but just not relaxing or fun.
I don't mind towing on motorways and good roads at all. It's quite nice going slowly sometimes because things happen more slowly, it's quite good. The only issues are when the roads are narrow, or when you want to stop off on the way as said above. And it takes longer, but not so much that it's a huge issue. I mean it still takes all day to get to Scotland either way.
Saw a discovery towing one of the north American caravans (normal hitch not fith wheel). Massive pretty sure not legal too as it looked so wide and maybe over length too but.
Yes and they are also extremely heavy.
Our MPG drops from high 40’s to low 30’s when towing.
Same here (Xtrail) whereas my mate is lucky to get 30 mpg all the time with his (titchy) MH.
The wet heating has It's pros & cons.
Pros, quieter than blown air.
Cons, heavier than a blown air system & I read somewhere that it takes longer to reach the same temp as a blown air system (?) Our 1st caravan had Alde heating but the current one is air, the noise is about the only difference that I notice.
Same with wet Vs forced air in houses. Forced air is instant heat wet has a lag but more stable less cutting in and out, more efficient (in houses at least). These advantages are less important in a small caravan except the cutting in and out one as it will be noisy. Oil fill in rad will have the same effect.
If I could offer our experience. We went from a SWB Vivaro pop top campervan to a caravan after 7 years (and tents before that). Entirely due to having two young kids and getting fed up the lack of space and playing human Tetris. In life before kids (first 4 years of ownership) the camper was perfect for us but life changes. It took a lot of convincing for me to make the change but I'm entirely happy with the change after two years. With two kids and dogs it suits our lifestyle and holiday wants perfectly.
I could say so much on this subject. I think it's a case of all options (tent Vs camper Vs motorhome Vs caravan) have their comprises so its good to make an honest assessment of what you want and need. The 'obvious' downsides aren't too big a deal for us, I don't mind towing and we can store at home. Don't believe the hype about ownership costs, buy old and cheap, £110pa to insure and I DIY service and maintain, there isn't a lot to go wrong.
Having the campervan and knowing why we were making the change meant thay we had a strong list of needs/wants from the van and spent a long time looking and confirming our desired spec. The process of looking also changed our wants/needs quite a bit until we found our perfect van. Buy a damp meter and use your judgement
We got a 2003 Hymer Nova 5 berth from eBay private sale. It's larger than we originally anticipated but a perfect spec for us, it is heavy (1700kg mtplm). Thankfully this wasn't really an issue as we already had a Tourneo (Transit) Custom which will tow pretty much anything.
I wouldn't restrict yourself to the standard licence weights. I had to do the test (B&E) but this was sorted in a 2 day course (2x4hrs) at £350. This will give you more flexibility of choice.
there isn’t a lot to go wrong
Yes. As long as it's not damp everything is an absolute piece of piss to work on. All the sundry items like hinges, handles, poppers and whatnot are readily available for peanuts; larger items like pumps and taps are irritatingly expensive but not prohibitively so and also widely available - we had to spend £50 on a submersible pump on this year's holiday, but we found one, and it wasn't a big dent in the holiday budget overall.
On the previous van the hot water outlet from the boiler had become brittle and it snapped. We couldn't get to a spares shop for whatever reason (might've been a saturday afternoon or something) so I drained the boiler, popped to a local hardware shop for some jubilee clips and re-plumbed the system as cold only so we could still have water until I got the part, only took 5 mins.