RV owners wisdom required. (1 Viewer)

rainbow chasers

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Quick bit of research, if you RVers don't mind parting with your wisdom please?

Regarding pitching your RV: What is most important.

Ease of access?

Size of pitch and ease of parking?

Waste disposal on the pitch?

Water on the pitch or within easy reach?

seperate dedicated area?

Also, how much would you be charged normally, per night for a pitch that is fully serviced and part serviced?

Sorry for the long questions - and thanks in advance.::bigsmile:
 

NEV3

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Quick bit of research, if you RVers don't mind parting with your wisdom please?

Regarding pitching your RV: What is most important.

Ease of access?

Size of pitch and ease of parking?

Waste disposal on the pitch?

Water on the pitch or within easy reach?

seperate dedicated area?

Also, how much would you be charged normally, per night for a pitch that is fully serviced and part serviced?

Sorry for the long questions - and thanks in advance.::bigsmile:

Ease of access.......... If a car and caravan can get in, a RV can get in!

Size of pitch and ease of parking........self explanetory!

Waste disposal on pitch........not important; a matter of personal choice.

Water on pitch or within easy reach..............very handy but not important. You are a motorhome afterall (ie mobile)

seperate dedicated area............. definitely not. (Some caravaners might disagree however!)

Charges for fully serviced pitches vary considerably from site to site. If you plan to stay some time and can afford it, then it is worthwhile. Mostly I don't bother.

NEV3
 

ehuplad

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Quick bit of research, if you RVers don't mind parting with your wisdom please?

Regarding pitching your RV: What is most important.

Ease of access?

Size of pitch and ease of parking?

Waste disposal on the pitch?

Water on the pitch or within easy reach?

seperate dedicated area?

Also, how much would you be charged normally, per night for a pitch that is fully serviced and part serviced?

Sorry for the long questions - and thanks in advance.::bigsmile:

Can get onto most most pitches that a euorpean can the wheel base is not as big as the vehicle and the overhang can go over the grass.

Being in lots of supermarket car parks to do the shopping, just takes a bit more time to find 3 or 4 spaces together.
Not bothered about waste disposal, water or serviced as we have 50gallon of fresh water 40 gallon of waste and the toilet can last well over 2 weeks

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Feb 22, 2008
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I agree with Nev3 , our RV is only 32ft and does not put much restriction on us other than the few sites with a 28ft length limit, an RV is a motor home with the advantage over smaller EU models of having larger holding tanks for black, grey and water, which means for the two of us anyway we can last a week using toilet fully, without having to move to empty or top up so fully serviced pitches are a luxury not a necessity.
 
Jan 13, 2008
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It all depends on how long you intend to stay and for us how many there are of us.

Normally we are only away for long weekends and it's only the two of us plus dog so a fully serviced pitch is a luxury (like having an upgrade in a hotel room).:winky:

When all three children join us it would be fantastic to have a fully serviced pitch as they can quickly empty our fresh water tank and fill up the black/grey tanks. :cry:

How much you charge will be set by the price of pitches locally. A fully serviced pitch for £30 is extortionate if a standard pitch is £16, but good value if the standard pitch is £26 IMHO :Smile:
 

MicknPat

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We are currently on a site with hard standing, the black tank disposal point in on grass on the opposite side of the site, so about every two weeks we have to move the RV to empty the black tank,we keep on the sites roadway using our 30ft x 3" sewer pipe.

The actual dump point has a foot high plastic collar around the 'hole' which is no problem when emptying from the RV with the 3" pipe, however we bought an 18 gallon Smart Tote (similar to a waste master) that you fill and wheel to the dump point if you cannot reach.

When we first arrived back in Sept last year we drive on the grass but now the grass area has softened and we leave deep ruts . (Not the best way at making friends with the site owner:Smile:)

One other problem I have found with the majority of chemical or black waste dump stations is you have to lift your container to empty it, normally its an outside toilet with no seat, no problem if you only have a Thetford 17 ltr cassette to empty but a 38 ltr Waste Master, its content weighs 38kg, our Smart tote, 68Kg :Eeek: so I may have to also ask if there is any man hole access to the sewage system.

Easy access to and into the site is of great importance, when you are towing a car behind a 39ft RV you must get it right the first time as you cannot reverse.

When we move I shall research the next and EVERY site we hope to stay on and have invested in such items as The Big Pitch Guide, I will also telephoning the next site to ask about any problems we may incur on route and if they have a pitch and access to that pitch for our RV, low trees spring to mind, great for shade, nightmare for RV owners, unless you like gouge marks down the side of your £££££££££ RV.

Now the above is easy in the UK as we obviously speak the same language, France and Spain may be a problem.

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rainbow chasers

rainbow chasers

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Thanks for your replies - glad I asked, as it wasn't the answers I had thought! lol! Nice to see people that can drive!

The reason I ask, I am looking at buying a site. Access is fantastic, really. No lanes, obstructions etc. The area I was looking to put RV's is just begging for it. It is more sheltered than the rest of the site, and has a very close waste disposal and direct drop at ground level.

Keep em coming, my brains is ticking! lol! Thanks again.:thumb:
 

moandick

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As MicknPat says - Recconnaisance is never wasted - in producing the Big Pitch Guide, Mo and I have travelled to many thousands of sites and the one thing that stands out like a sore thumb is that very, very few site owners know what an RV is - or needs - although the situation is improving quite quickly.

Our first objective is to get to the main gate safely - no low lying tree branches, low bridge heights, bridge weight limits, road weight limits.

Next is entry into the site - gates wide enough, enough room to get under the overhead barriers, enough room to pull up and unhitch the A Frame, enough room to book in without blocking the entrance/exit.

Site roads must be wide enough to be able you to reverse onto the pitch without causing too much havoc on the pitch opposite yours. Pitches should preferably have rounded corners to allow the back wheels to 'cut' the corner without digging 'ditches'. If the pitch opposite is empty when you reverse onto your pitch - is there enough room for you to get off when the opposite pitch fills up?

Services are nice but only really necessary if you are staying longer than a few days with a big family. Mo and I can last about a week on our tanks but then it is quite helpful to be able to just connect and dump rather than having to 'trolley' waste to another point - or even move the RV to the service point. However in many cases that is necessary - and should be reflected in the price of the pitch.

Pitch prices really do depend upon which style of pitch you want - and WHICH STYLE OF CAMPSITE you go to - if you go to a Butlins or Haven style Holiday Camp you can expect to pay prices in excess of £80 to £150 per night with at least a three night minimum on a Bank Holiday.

If you go to an upmarket Site such as Carvynick - you can expect to pay about £30 - £40 per night

An average Caravan Club Site will cost you around £20 - £30 per night whereas as Caravan Club CL will cahrge you about £10 - £20 per night.

The prices that I have quoted are generally for two people on electric hook-up.

The longer you stay on some sites, the cheaper it becomes - i.e. you can get a year long Seasonal Pitch at Tregoad Park in Cornwall for £1800 with electric included (come and go as you please) - or you could pay that much for a four month stay at many other sites.

Finally - and above most of your other questions - I rank security! When I park my RV I want to know that I can sleep safe at nights - which is NOT the case on some sites that I can quote.

want to know that footballs are not going to bounce off my side walls day and night and that I am far enough away from the awning next door to stay safe in the event if the awning catching fire - or the Barbeque smoking like an industrial chimney stack!
 

MicknPat

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Rainbow Chasers,

Our biggest problem was that we went to the USA to buy our RV then we spent nearly two years touring the US & Canada where we were spoilt on 30 or 50 amp fully serviced pitches so the UK's attempt is a bit of a shock, well not that much as we were previously tuggers for 9 years.

The site we are on is an ex Caravan CL and we pay £8 per night which includes 16amp EHU, the site also has a toilet and shower both included but the washing machine,dryer and microwave is coin operated.......we also have a shop and tea rooms and the farm is well know for making excellent Jersey milk ice cream. :thumb:

Also had Dick & Mo from The BPG not posted I would have said reading your last posting that they would be a great source of knowledge for your intended site as well as visiting Carvynick which we have yet to visit but which I'm informed was built purely for RV's.

Good luck on your site, where are you hoping to buy UK or Europe...........I would think Spain would be a good location with sites closing and been built on :Sad:

Mick

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scotjimland

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Thanks for your replies - glad I asked, as it wasn't the answers I had thought! lol! Nice to see people that can drive!

The reason I ask, I am looking at buying a site. Access is fantastic, really. No lanes, obstructions etc. The area I was looking to put RV's is just begging for it. It is more sheltered than the rest of the site, and has a very close waste disposal and direct drop at ground level.

Keep em coming, my brains is ticking! lol! Thanks again.:thumb:

Lots of good information.. no one has mentioned EHU costs

If I were the site owner I would meter the leccy, this IMO is the only fair way to charge for the EHU .. an RV can max out a 16 amp supply quite easily and during the winter this equates to a lot of units..

A 16A EHU can supply 3.6 kw per hour x 24 hours = 86 kw at say 15p per unit = £12.90

ok, so no one uses it 24 / 7 on max power ( do they ? ) but even at half that use it still a lot of money..

In summer they won't use heating but they all have Air Cons, ours has two , total 5kw..

A fair price for the pitch, + Pay as you use leccy is the fairest for the camper and the site owner.


jim
 
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rainbow chasers

rainbow chasers

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What I was thinking of, was putting in serviced pitches. There will only be around 5 dedicated, but better than nothing! These would be easy access, both onto the site and parking. They would have nearby disposal points and water points as well as the hook up. RV points are rare in the area, with most sites charging double rate if not more - which puts things into the £50 plus bracket - this is quite a bit for what you get, and I don't see why you should pay that much more! Yes, there are weight issues, but you are just a big motorhome after all, and why penalise you?

What I am thinking of doing is charging a reasonable rate of around £30 a night for a serviced pitch. There will be showers and toilets a short walk away - current facilities are er.....a little too rustic shall we say for my liking! Will be keeping the 'Rustic' image, but with a modicum of civility! It is an area of outsanding natural beauty, so want to keep that essense there.
 

Sundowners

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The problem you may have is trying to please ALL the people---------------
We only need a bit of ground (grass is nice !) a water supply , a dump point of some sort and a bit of leccy is handy.
We live on sites all the time and soon we will have virtually no income, this means that we will not be prepared to pay , all the time, for what we don't need. We have a budget to last us out---when it's gone----it's gone!!
To us the price is, maybe the first issue ,then the facilities as stated before, then, maybe not in this order, the layout of the site----------we love virgin bush that is just made 'comfortable'.
We prefer not to stay on sites that have had too much done to them !!
Everyone who has stayed at the Foord Farm CL will know that, at the moment we are VERY close to Heaven :thumb::thumb::thumb:
Nigel

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rainbow chasers

rainbow chasers

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The problem you may have is trying to please ALL the people---------------
We only need a bit of ground (grass is nice !) a water supply , a dump point of some sort and a bit of leccy is handy.
We live on sites all the time and soon we will have virtually no income, this means that we will not be prepared to pay , all the time, for what we don't need. We have a budget to last us out---when it's gone----it's gone!!
To us the price is, maybe the first issue ,then the facilities as stated before, then, maybe not in this order, the layout of the site----------we love virgin bush that is just made 'comfortable'.
We prefer not to stay on sites that have had too much done to them !!
Everyone who has stayed at the Foord Farm CL will know that, at the moment we are VERY close to Heaven :thumb::thumb::thumb:
Nigel


Oh! There is plenty of 'virgin bush' about......200 square miles or so! The site needs a little more civility - i am by no means going too far, as i want to keep the essense of the place, but by the same token it does need some facilities that would be more civilised. If you could imagine showering in a stable with the horse watching - it's THAT 'rustic' lol!::bigsmile:

I think proper shower blocks, even if they are modular, would be much better along with proper toilets. Creature comforts without going overboard!
 

ehuplad

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£30 per night in my opionion is to high, we would not pay that amount as we have a vehicle that is fully self sufficiant we would only need somewhere to park and some water, maybe electric in the winter. A premier inn only charges £19 per night :Eeek::Eeek:
 
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rainbow chasers

rainbow chasers

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£30 per night in my opionion is to high, we would not pay that amount as we have a vehicle that is fully self sufficiant we would only need somewhere to park and some water, maybe electric in the winter. A premier inn only charges £19 per night :Eeek::Eeek:

Premier Inn -£19 a night??? I always had to pay £65, or £55 for pauper inn.

In this area, height of the season, RV's can be charged £80 a night, average is £55 per night.

I think £5 more than a caravan pitch in high season is fair, it will float alongside caravan pitch fees, and be inclusive and that is purely to pay the costs of fitting and maintaining as they cost vastly more than a caravan pitch. I could buy an RV for the price the engineers want for building one serviced pitch! lol! This is why we are only having 5 built - and mine will be parked up on one as it won't fit in the barn!

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Jan Pendreigh

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The site we are using presently and the previous site both boast rv length pitches BUT neither of them have considered width. Had two rvs with slide outs on both sides parked side by side on the last site there would have been less than 5' between us. Hardly safe I feel. Also, most of us tow a car either on an A frame or trailer and the car/trailer have to be parked somewhere.

We always drive in the car to look at sites to check access, possible problems etc - we think that, after an argument with a steep bank on entering one place three years ago, it's the only way!
 

Forestboy

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In this area, height of the season, RV's can be charged £80 a night, average is £55 per night.:Eeek::Eeek::Eeek:

£80 per night anybody who pays that must be ravin mad, I've never paid that or £55 or anywhere near it in 4 years and 40000 miles in a RV. The most I've ever paid is £30 per night on the outskirts of London and I didn't stay there long at that price might as well stay in a B&B.

Makes the CC look cheap I recently stayed 8 nights just outside London in a RV beautiful well kept CC site £48.00 for the 8 nights makes £35 annual membership good value.

Personally I find a lot of the privately owned sites far too expensive, some seem to think because you've got an expensive vehicle you can afford to pay more, I always vote with my feet doesn't bother me if their pitches are empty always someone else happy to have my money.
 

MicknPat

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We always drive in the car to look at sites to check access, possible problems etc - we think that, after an argument with a steep bank on entering one place three years ago, it's the only way!

Jan,

How far is the next site?

mick

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Landy lover

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I think Sundowners answer gives the main reason why we use RV's they are fully self sufficient - we can survive very happily with nowt but water nearby - a dump point and with a bit of luck EHU - we can easily survive on 5 amp but would prefer 10 or 16 - we have a genny if we need it - our average cost per night is £10 - the cheapest ever was £4 inc 5amp EHU sometimes when we cannot get a CL we have gone to £20 on a larger site occasionally we find in more popular areas we have to pay £12 or £15 on a CL . The quiet of a hideaway site or a farm site cannot be beaten as far as we are concerned - so much depends on what you are looking for:thumb:
 

Geo

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£80 a night:Eeek:
I take it you supply the RV as well:Doh:
 
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rainbow chasers

rainbow chasers

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My thoughts entirely - I couldn't beleive people actually pay that, but there you go! There are always rip-off merchants out there!

As £30 is too much for high season for RV owners, I have scratched the idea - shame as the location was perfect for RV's! As these pitches were seven or eight times the costs of a caravan pitch, and RV owners were not happy with a five pound fee, there is no way I could commit to it.

Thanks for your replies everyone - you prbnably saved me quite a bit of money! No point have empty pitches for the sake of a fiver!:thumb:

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ehuplad

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My thoughts entirely - I couldn't beleive people actually pay that, but there you go! There are always rip-off merchants out there!

As £30 is too much for high season for RV owners, I have scratched the idea - shame as the location was perfect for RV's! As these pitches were seven or eight times the costs of a caravan pitch, and RV owners were not happy with a five pound fee, there is no way I could commit to it.

Thanks for your replies everyone - you prbnably saved me quite a bit of money! No point have empty pitches for the sake of a fiver!:thumb:

The caravaners would make more use of the service pitch than a rv, we have all the water on board toilet lasts for at least a couple of weeks and the waste can last for 4 days if you have a mac do not even have to move to empty.

In the past i have been asked to pay more because i have a rv when i asked why the answer was that i used more electric, how can this be when my heating can only run on gas and this also is the same for my hot water,
 
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rainbow chasers

rainbow chasers

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Use more electricity? Thats' pathetic!

Only reason I wanted to charge a surcharge of £5 for RV's was to help cover the costs of putting RV bays in. Due to the weight, the planners want some serious engineering to go on!

They deem the current roadway not sufficient, as it was built for cars and caravans etc, and want it all ripped out and replaced with reinforced concrete at some depth. The size of the area and parking bays involved comes to s staggering amount, just for 5 RV spots!

Even fully booked it would take well before I am gone to return the investment! lol! What I may do, is allow the odd overnighter on the quiet! lol!
 

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