To bring home or not? (1 Viewer)

[oakeyfamily]

Hi there folks!

We have been in the USA for 4 months now and have 2 months left to do. We have done it with your help and thank you all for that, especially Rory! We now have a dilemma. Do we spend the money to ship it home?
We bought a 35'8" Gulf Stream A Class (100" wide) which has been perfect for here in the USA but will it be too big to get into most sights in UK and Europe? Can anyone advise if they have MH this long/wide and how have your fared in finding sites to take you. The MH is longer than we originally planned to buy but fell in love with it and bought it. We have researched everything we need to bring it home, that is not a problem now. It is just - will we regret the size of the thing in Europe? Any comments welcome.
(Loving the site, by the way, especially today as it is raining cats and dogs in Knoxville, TN).

 

[scotjimland]

Hi

I think much depends on how you plan to use it.. whether you are planning to do extensive European tours or stay in the UK and only use for shows and holidays .. If the former I would sell it ..

On top of shipping don't forget conversion to UK spec costs.. this will be between £2 - 3k unless you DIY.

We toured and lived full time in our 36footer , there is no shortage of sites, look at my map (link in signature), over 200 sites . aires and CLs ..with careful planning and research you can go almost anywhere .. within reason.. eg.. you won't tour the far flung places of the Scottish highlands and islands.. and if you want to wander and explore then a large RV is not a good tool.

If I were buying another RV I would keep below the 30ft , 28 ft seems to be the maximum that many UK sites now set and it will get into the majority of EU sites and aires.

So.. if it were me I would sell and purchase a smaller RV or Eurovan in the UK, but that's me, others will disagree .. only you can decide..

 

[oakeyfamily]

Many thanks, Jim, that site was very useful and I have saved it to my desktop! We do intend to use it quite extensively to travel France, Spain and Italy. It looks like you managed it OK and in a 36 footer but see what you mean by the benefits of a smaller one.

Re the conversion. We realise the costs as we researched all this before we came out. We also knew that we should buy under 32' but that went by the wayside when we found this one. If we had stuck to our plans we would not have a dilemma but the MH has been perfect for what we need here.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Terry]

I do not know much about RVs but I would agree with what Jim says :thumb: with an added thought that a smaller one may well be easier to sell on :thumb:
terry
edit You could do with researching what price they bring over here - actually sell for, not what they are advertised at - this may well sway your decision if it is worth doing

 

[cornishaich]

I can only say horses for courses.

 

[slobadoberbob]

fully agree with Jim

Hi

I think much depends on how you plan to use it.. whether you are planning to do extensive European tours or stay in the UK and only use for shows and holidays .. If the former I would sell it ..

On top of shipping don't forget conversion to UK spec costs.. this will be between £2 - 3k unless you DIY.

We toured and lived full time in our 36footer , there is no shortage of sites, look at my map (link in signature), over 200 sites . aires and CLs ..with careful planning and research you can go almost anywhere .. within reason.. eg.. you won't tour the far flung places of the Scottish highlands and islands.. and if you want to wander and explore then a large RV is not a good tool.

If I were buying another RV I would keep below the 30ft , 28 ft seems to be the maximum that many UK sites now set and it will get into the majority of EU sites and aires.

So.. if it were me I would sell and purchase a smaller RV or Eurovan in the UK, but that's me, others will disagree .. only you can decide..

Jim well covers the issues, but I think the light and power converstion can cost a lot less than the £2 - £3k he quotes.. just depends on who does it.

Bob:thumb:

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Forestboy]

Hi Guys:thumb:

Glad you've enjoyed your trip is'nt it an amazing country to tour, thanks for your kind comments.

Personally I'd sell it, we sold ours in the USA and the one over here and are in the process of buying a Hymer.

Reason they are just too big to use as intended here and in my opinion even harder to use in Europe. Jan and I have Rv'd all over Europe including Morocco, which was actually one of the easier countires to RV in but once you've done it the USA you realise just how frustrating it is here as everything and every trip has to be pre planned which I hate. Fuel is getting ridiculously expensive and more and more sites are imposing 28ft max and even excluding RV's all together for me its just not worth the hassle anymore which is a terrible shame because I absolutely love RVs.

If you decide to sell try PPl in Houston Texas we sold ours through them and they were brilliant. Did everything they said they would, achieved the full asking price and transferred the money within 24 hours. Because of the exchange rate we did really well bought at $1.98 sold at $1.54.

Whatever you do enjoy the rest of your trip:thumb::thumb:

 

[madbluemad]

Hi Guys:thumb:

Glad you've enjoyed your trip is'nt it an amazing country to tour, thanks for your kind comments.

Personally I'd sell it, we sold ours in the USA and the one over here and are in the process of buying a Hymer.

Reason they are just too big to use as intended here and in my opinion even harder to use in Europe. Jan and I have Rv'd all over Europe including Morocco, which was actually one of the easier countires to RV in but once you've done it the USA you realise just how frustrating it is here as everything and every trip has to be pre planned which I hate. Fuel is getting ridiculously expensive and more and more sites are imposing 28ft max and even excluding RV's all together for me its just not worth the hassle anymore which is a terrible shame because I absolutely love RVs.

If you decide to sell try PPl in Houston Texas we sold ours through them and they were brilliant. Did everything they said they would, achieved the full asking price and transferred the money within 24 hours. Because of the exchange rate we did really well bought at $1.98 sold at $1.54.

Whatever you do enjoy the rest of your trip:thumb::thumb:

We bought ours over tinternet from PPL. They were very good.
Jim

 

[oakeyfamily]

Many thanks for all your replies. We bought it from PPL in Houston but are flying home from Fort Lauderdale so we are looking at consignment companies there. Or perhaps we could change our fight? More research........

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[slobadoberbob]

we had a lot of contact with PPL

We bought ours over tinternet from PPL. They were very good.
Jim

Although we did not buy from them as the £ dived against the $ we had lots of contact with them and looked at there site for a year. They seemed to sell a lot of RV's - all on consignment. Found them very helpful.

Bob:thumb:

 

[Forestboy]

Many thanks for all your replies. We bought it from PPL in Houston but are flying home from Fort Lauderdale so we are looking at consignment companies there. Or perhaps we could change our fight? More research........

We changed our flights cost £100, extra gained selling through PPl £3000 compared to all the others we tried.

 

[oakeyfamily]

Well we have bought a Keystone 30' Fifth wheel today from Lazy Days. They gave us a good price on ours and a good discount on the new one so we are really pleased. We bought the original one from PPL, Houston and agree they were very good, but we are here in Florida now and didnt want to go back and do 2000 miles to Houston! Just need to find a truck now then good to ship.
Thanks guys.

Stella and James

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[slobadoberbob]

shipping out of Florida

Hi again

A lot of campers are shipped out of New Brunswick Georgia... or up at Jacksonville in the North of Florida. If I recall Jacksonville has a roro every 14 days.. but is normally booked out (full) about a month ahead. New Brunswick has a few less departures.

Bob:thumb: