We’re planning on downsizing the custom to a Berlingo or similar which can still tow. This way we won’t need to sell the camper too and then buy another (second car) for the limited times I need it.

I wouldn’t. Berlingo is not a tow car for an average caravan. Our 2010 xtr is only rated for a 50kg nose weight on the towbar and our fully laden 1313 kg caravan (1050 empty) is also over its 1300 towing weight limit where as our Mondeo can take 95kg and pull 1800kg .

Sad mind as the bingo would be ideal for us as a family to take on holiday .

Ah, 50kg is very stingy. You’d need a sub 1000kg van with that and load it pretty carefully.

Do people get their towing licence taken away if they manage to flip a caravan on a dead straight road…

That depends on if they required one in the first place. But that aside, you can certainly be prosecuted for road traffic offences and have points/fines awarded as appropriate.

Most of the German brands look quite stylish from inside. This is an example from an Eriba part of the Hymer group.

That looks a lot like the current crop of top of the range UK vans.  Elddis Buccaneer:

Getting closer to making the purchase now.

Can anyone tell me what the deal is with insurance. Obviously I will make sure my car insurer cover me for towing, but do I need separate insurance for the van? ie. if I have an accident and then caravan is damaged, will my car insurance cover it, or do I need separate policy for the van?

Yes, you’ll need a regular “fire, theft and getting a new one back when you flip it on the motorway” policy for the caravan, separate to your car insurance which will typically only cover you for third-party cover for trailers. Expect to answer a lot of questions about security and rapidly become an expert on wheelclamps and hitchlocks as, tbh, most of the value of the insurance is targetting the theft cover. Check your house insurance as the chances are your belongings may well be covered there, so the caravan insurance will only need to cover the caravan itself and any accessories you may have (awnings, aquarolls that sort of thing). I think I pay around £200/yr for mine.

Also, consider breakdown cover too – you need to be sure that if your car packs up, whoever comes to bail you out is capable of handling the caravan. Usually, this will be written in the breakdown smallprint somewhere, but it’s well worth checking.

Caravan insurance is a thing, have to google it for the details.  Mine’s cheap.

Are the german vans  like American caravans with the Axel’s relatively further back

Not that I know of. To do so would massively increase the noseweight requirements and european cars generally couldn’t tow them

Not unless they simply extended the draw bar – this would put the axle further back behind the pivot point between the car and caravan, but actually reduce the nose weight slightly.

Not unless they simply extended the draw bar – this would put the axle further back behind the pivot point between the car and caravan, but actually reduce the nose weight slightly

That’s basically ours described.

The wheel is in the middle of the box but the draw bar is another 1.3m on the end

jam bo: did you see the story about the tourists in Fowey last weekend? :O

Coming round to thinking a static is gonna be my best bet, I’d only end up taking a caravan to the same place all the time tbh…

And I like the idea of a wee bolthole I can piss off to at 2pm every Friday, with minimal faff.

Statics tend to be packed in like some sort of prison camp though with thousands of old people. Never seen a static site and thought ”oh that looks like a lovely place to holiday”. If you have though then crack on 🙂

You can rent a permanent site for a tourer though, to provide your bolt-hole, then you could tow it eslewhere if the opportunity arises. I reckon about half the pitches at the Braemar site were permanent, or long term.

We store our van on a farm which has a 5 pitch CL site up on the South Downs. It’s a 1/2 hour drive from home & we love the site & area so in the summer probably 90% of our usage of the van is there. Can finish work & just head up there, 5 min to move the van into position on pitch.

Means short 1-2 night stays are much less faffy.

In the winter we use a seasonal pitch in Wareham forest. My work gives me much more time off over Oct-Feb so we get to use it loads more over winter (even spent last Christmas there) but without having to tow on crappy wet winter roads.

And I like the idea of a wee bolthole I can piss off to at 2pm every Friday, with minimal faff.

It is nice. I can have a weekend away and the only thing I need to “pack” is  a single key. Everything else is already there.

Never seen a static site and thought ”oh that looks like a lovely place to holiday”. If you have though then crack on

Crackin’ on. 😉

I have now found a caravan and had an offer accepted. I will be picking up this Saturday. Only just found out that my towing electrics aren’t perfect (I have single 7 pin). Now I need to find somewhere to put it, and sort out some insurance!

What did you go for trailwagger?

If you need work done on your towbar electrics, might I suggest upgrading to 13 pin if it’s available rather than two 7 pin?  The 7 pin connectors are crap, and the 13 pin ones much better.

What did you go for trailwagger?
If you need work done on your towbar electrics, might I suggest upgrading to 13 pin if it’s available rather than two 7 pin? The 7 pin connectors are crap, and the 13 pin ones much better.

A 2007 Avondale Dart. Not the most modern looking van, but Its been well looked after and serviced regularly.

How would a 13pin work with my 7 pin bike carrier? I assume there is some sort of adaptor?

Yes, or if you are handy with a screwdriver it’s a piece of cake to rewire a single 7 pin.  Just unscrew the wires and screw the into the right places on the new plug.

It gets slightly more complicated with the second 7 pin because the wiring is a bit different depending on how old the van is so you have to make some decisions.

What layout did you get?

Standard 6 birth, twin bunks at back…

jam bo: did you see the story about the tourists in Fowey last weekend? :O

bit of a squeeze….

Standard 6 birth, twin bunks at back…

It’s not standard but it’s a pretty good layout, I’d go for that.  Loads of kitchen worktop too.

It’s not standard but it’s a pretty good layout, I’d go for that. Loads of kitchen worktop too.

When I say standard, what I really mean is common.

That’s part of the reason for the compromise of getting an Avondale (other than the prices seem good due to them going out of business). The sink size and worktop space is much bigger than the likes of a Swift or an Elddis. I also like the way position the gas bottle in the middle of the van and not in the awkward to get to front cupboard thingy.

Is there space for two bottles?

Putting two bottles in our van really buggers up the nose weight.

Just one I believe…

Nobeer & Perchy – having learned from the experience of others statics are a bloody minefield. Expensive to buy (even second hand) and you may have to renew if it’s a certain age. As in, get rid of the old one and buy a whole new unit. Then there are site fees (including council tax) that they know fine and well you are going to pay because a low loader move isn’t cheap.

Tourers can be pitched seasonally and just moved whenever you like, sites tend to be less arsey and know you can just bugger off if you don’t like it.

Not saying this is the norm but once bitten twice shy.

Statics tend to be packed in like some sort of prison camp though with thousands of old people. Never seen a static site and thought ”oh that looks like a lovely place to holiday”. If you have though then crack on 

Two nice sites to choose from. We dont all suffer from living in the overpopulated south…

Squirrelking, IIRC Perchy has a static already, and I’m fairly sorted with all the costs. I’ll get my money’s worth.

Oh, we get our moneys worth all right. 😉

We occasionally get weegie riff-raff like iainc trapping up on the site with tents and such like but it’s a small price to pay. 😉

Trailwagger, Nice.

Also a happy, but recent, Avondale Dart owner, the 5 birth in our case. All good so far, our is a bit older (2000)

But was dirt cheap!

Two nice sites to choose from. We dont all suffer from living in the overpopulated south…

Me neither.  You live in Glasgow, don’t you?  We stayed at a static site in an actual suburb of the city when we were up in May visiting friends.  Why on Earth would you go to the suburbs for a holiday?

Where are you planning on staying then?

Not so much moneys worth as making sure the site owners aren’t dickbags. As I said YMMV.

We stayed at a static site in an actual suburb of the city when we were up in May visiting friends. Why on Earth would you go to the suburbs for a holiday?

You weren’t staying with show folk in Dalmarnock were you?

Me neither.  You live in Glasgow

Wash your mouth out! 😂

Whoa, missed that one. Shots fired!

@Molgrips

After viewing on Saturday I can confirm the locker will hold two bottles

So after viewing a van at the weekend it has become very apparent that sat navs (both my car and phone ones) will always take the most direct route and there doesn’t seem to be any settings to force them to stick to major roads as much as possible.

Whats the solution? I don’t want to be the guy who gets stuck in the middle of a sleepy village on a tight bend.

Whats the solution? I don’t want to be the guy who gets stuck in the middle of a sleepy village on a tight bend.

These and some prior planning work well.

Agreed, but not so easy when you are travelling solo…. there is a reason why sat navs are so popular these days 😉

So after viewing a van at the weekend it has become very apparent that sat navs (both my car and phone ones) will always take the most direct route and there doesn’t seem to be any settings to force them to stick to major roads as much as possible.

I pick sites carefully based on how far they are from decent roads.  I look on Streetview to see how decent they are.  You can usually get a pretty good idea.  And they tend not to put caravan sites in in accessible places, for obvious reasons.

When you ring to book you can ask the owners what the best way to get there is – they’ll know.  Also, on the Caravan Club site if there are any access issues it says on the listing, e.g. ‘Do NOT come down the road from X, you’ll get stuck, instead go to Y first’ etc.  Then when you know the route, you can force your satnav to take you there.

Not had a problem so far – the only issue I’ve had was on the entrances to actual sites, where I didn’t swing wide enough.  That’s CLs though which are just gates into fields.

Agreed, but not so easy when you are travelling solo…. there is a reason why sat navs are so popular these days

Plan at home before you leave, then program the satnav with the route you’ve decided…

how long is this van that it cant handle a corner ?

it articulates in the middle where it connects to the car surely ?