Thinking of going to the dark side (1 Viewer)

[gasman2008]

Hi folks we have a Duetto by Auto Sleeper, it's great but it is the smallest motorhome. We are very happy with it for weekends, days out and a couple of weeks, but (had to be a but didn't there?) we are thinking about longer trips when we retire. We are considering tugging a small caravan as an extra room. Has anyone tried it? and if so what are the downsides? I've thought about towing speed and extra fuel / ferry cost. Do sites charge more with an extra?

Any advice welcome, please try not to be too hard on me,:Sad: it's only a thought at the moment.

 

[Merle]

Hi, I read on one thread where a mohome arrived with a caravan in tow they were charged double rate....not sure how many 'bodies' they had though. I guess if you had 6 kids then it's a different story to 2 adults

 

[Wildman]

Of course they were charged double rate, 2 units 2 charges or where would it end.
No more wild camping or stopping on aires and some sites might even think you were undesirables and not let you in at all. If you are going to tug you may as well get a decent caravan and tow car.

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[Vlad The Impaler]

If it was me I'd go for a bigger van,doesn't have to be too big!
If your going down the towing route you may as well just convert and become a Tugger.
I think there are plenty of mid sized vans that are just as useable every day,without selling your soul




Vlad

 

[Merle]

Selling his soul!!!! The OP is thinking about a caravan, not doing a pact with The Devil

 

[daisy mae]

Actually no, not with C &CC club I am a member, asked this same question to the camp site warden, at a site earlier this year, towing with a caravan with a camper/motorhome, is no different in charges than towing with a car, we asked, as we have a caravan and I have a motorhome in place of my car, so it is my everyday vehicle, I cannot speak for other sites though, seems ideal really, caravan as a base, and motorhome for the days out, mind you left to me I would go for a big motorhome in place of the caravan, cannot see the point in faffing about, with aqua rolls large awnings and hour spent in putting it up, and then packing it all up when leaving site, especially when wet, give me the simple life everytime, have been tugging for decades, yes I took my turn with a 23ft caravan, know which I would sooner drive, but everyone to whats suits them, wouldn`t do for us to be all the same.

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[peter marshall]

Hi Gasman
I see you live in Southampton, but is your avatar photo Blackpool North Prom ?. Pete

Ps I cant help on your post has I have no experience in towing a Caravan.

 

[wasp]

I used to tow a caravan with a Bedford campervan it were quite handy, cos if you went away you pitch up wi the cara an then go out for as long as you want in the camper, you got all the onboard essentials so you got the best of both, I would stick a tow bar on your camper, you are half way there. The handy thing is that if you go out an it rains you just sit an watch.:Cool::Cool::Cool:

 

[Allanm]

...... We are considering tugging a small caravan as an extra room. .........what are the downsides?..............

Well, towing a caravan for one! Not something I personally would want to do again.
If I were you, I would seriously think about buying a bigger motorhome rather than getting a caravan. Everything will be doubled up. Two bathrooms, 2 kitchens, 2 sets of seats but in different rooms, great if you have teenagers and need some quiet, but to my mind, too inconvenient to make it worthwhile. Then theres the increase in fuel consumption, slower acceleration and more wear and tear on the van.
Allan

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[brynric]

I agree with Wildman here. They're different worlds. If you want to tow, get a tow car with suitable caravan, otherwise a right sized motorhome is more convenient.
We've done both, the caravan was brilliant with the kids for 20 years. Now it's just the two ( and dog) in retirement and a Motorhome gives us much more freedom to tour.
Bryn

 

[TheBig1]

having done the whole caravan----pvc-----caravan/pvc------coacbuilt+caravan on site-----bigger coachbuilt, i can say with the certainty of hindsight that a small/mid size coachbuilt is the best of both worlds. not too cramped and not so big it worries you getting stuck on country lanes

many sites will want to charge double fees, but some charge only for the unit/s you sleep and cook in. having a dayvan that has a hob and a toilet in is great for sightseeing and a pitched caravan is still set up as you left it when you went out. however we found that towing the caravan behind a pvc, people assumed you were Itinerants and it was near double the work. maintenance and insurance costs for 2 units aside, you need double the storage and money to own both.

even getting fuel gets complicated when towing a caravan behind a van. you will get moved on from laybys and forget just pulling into a supermarket carpark to shop en route. if you can cope with the hassles, and would like the extra space on site, go for it. worst case, you can always sell the caravan on and the towbar will allow you to tow a bike trailer etc

 

[ourcampersbeentrashed]

if you decide to sell, let me know, as we are looking for a little motorhome to use as a dayvan.

Personally I would upgrade to a larger motorhome. Buying a caravan is risky and we have seen families turfed out of theirs when the police have come along with their magic stick just to tell the owners that the caravan was a stolen one.

You would need to be careful what sites you used so that no one just entered and towed yours away.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do and remember if you change to a caravan it doesnt mean you have to leave motorhome fun. All are welcome here

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[Bailey58]

Thinking of going to the dark side

Phew, is that all, a caravan? For a minute there I thought the worst. :Blush:

 

[PenelopePitstop]

We have a small camper conversion - a Wildax Aurora on a LWB Citroen Relay.
We also have a caravan!
We have a towbar to connect the two!

We had an A class motorhome for 5 years - a Knaus Sunliner 658LG - wonderful van.

We spend our winters in Spain and over the 5 years realised that the people with caravans and awnings had a better living area than we had - plus they had easy transport for shopping.

Last year we changed our big van ( 7m) for the Wildax ( 6m ) and also bought a 7m caravan.

We lived in the caravan all summer then towed it down to Cornwall then Portsmouth then Andalucia.

We stayed on sites in Glossop, St Austell and Salamanca on the way down - no extra charges.

It was very very easy to tow. If we hadn't had the reversing camera on constantly we wouldn't have known we were towing ( except for going up steep hills )

The caravan now stays on site in Zahora - we don't pay any more for having this combination and we had a great time last winter.

The Aurora is great to use as a car ( just don't go into multi-story car parks!)

Wouldn't go back to having a big van again. Love the caravan for the winter!

Over the summer we have toured a lot of UK with ease - no worrying about narrow roads or parking.

LOVE THE COMBINATION !

 

[gasman2008]

Hi Gasman
I see you live in Southampton, but is your avatar photo Blackpool North Prom ?. Pete

Ps I cant help on your post has I have no experience in towing a Caravan.

Hi Peter, pic is from Cuba.

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