How many people regret buying a MH and then go back to a caravan? (1 Viewer)

[Clangers]

Having owned a MH for 3 years and covering 700 miles we have sold it and thinking about going back to a caravan.
Is this common?

 

[David and Sally]

We have done it. Five years with the MH and loved it. But, they are expensive animals to keep.
As we have a permanent pitch by a lake we have gone back to a caravan but one we can detach from our drive away awning and get on the roared with.

Who knows? Maybe motorhoming will happen in the future again.

 

[dna]

depends how you go on trips.

I arrived on site yesterday, backed onto the pitch in line with the white post, put the screen cover on, tv aerial on roof and plugged in the electrics. Thats me set up. On the pitch next to me a caravan arrived a few minutes after me. They then over an hour getting set up with their awning, water etc. Today the weather here is awful and the caravanners have driven off for the day. I'll be going for a walk from the site this afternoon to the lake / village etc

When I had a trailer tent (Skipped the caravan stage), i dreamt of set up only taking an hour, the trailer bit was easy but then you had to assemble a frame tent that zipped onto the side of the trailer to get the living area / kitchen / toilet under cover. This gave us acres of space but didn't feel worth the effort for a weekend.

My perspective is a motorhome is for short stays, one or two nights then you move on even if only a few miles to the next place. Caravans are pitched up and left for longer periods whilst you use the towing vehicle to travel further afield.

Have you changed how you plan trips or are you staying in one place for a week or more as you did in a caravan?

 

[PxJ]

We did the opposite, M/h for 20 years & then bought a new caravan in 2020, beautiful van but just not a M/h too much messing about for us, only my opinion. We reverted back to a M/h & although one of the big discussions people seem to say that once you’ve set up your caravan you have the car to tour around, agreed but you don’t have Tea making facilities & toilet at your disposal. We take a tow-car with us but only tend to use that to either visit large cities or at night to go out for a meal / pub etc. I think it’s all a personal thing but for us the vote is you can’t beat a M/h

 

[Clangers]

(My perspective is a motorhome is for short stays, one or two nights then you move on even if only a few miles to the next place. Caravans are pitched up and left for longer periods whilst you use the towing vehicle to travel further afield.)

Totally agree with that.
We should never have bought a MH as we used to pitch up and then go and explore the area. The caravan was just a base to stay in the chosen area and then off we went in the car.

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[JJ]

Covering 700 miles in three years suggests to me that motorhoming might not bring you the same happiness as it does me!

Indeed, if this was the case for me, I might give up on a caravan as well and stay in hotels.


JJ

 

[Langtoftlad]

Having owned a MH for 3 years and covering 700 miles we have sold it and thinking about going back to a caravan.
Is this common?

700 miles in three years ?
Doesn't sound as if you've done much "touring"
Have you just gone to a nearby site & stayed?

 

[Just smiffy]

Well if you sell it to get another caravan you will probably get all your money back and more….

 

[Just smiffy]

I did over 10k in the first year with my first motorhome…

 

[Clangers]

700 miles in three years ?
Doesn't sound as if you've done much "touring"
Have you just gone to a nearby site & stayed?

Never did any" touring" and went to a few close sites and didn't go anywhere because of the hassle driving a MH round as opposed to a car. I was shocked when I added up the miles as I thought it would have been a lot less!

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[jumartoo]

We started in 1994 with a campervan. We then towed a caravan behind it. By 2003 we were motorhomers and have been ever since.

Our preferred overnighting is in out of the way, mountain or forest, spots. We couldn't do that with a caravan.

 

[Langtoftlad]

Your avatar suggests 30 years as a caravanner - why did you swap to a Motorhome?
Perhaps caravanning style of holidays suit you better.

Before I started, the difference was explained to me as:
Caravanners are a "starburst" holidaymaker - they go to a site, set up, but stay put, and visit the surrounding attractions.
Motorhomers tend to be "zigzaggers", going from point to point to various places of interest, just 'stopping' locally.

 

[Odd job]

We started with a campervan, Fiat Amigo, then stopped for a few years went back to camping when our daughter grew up, we had a tent for a while then got another campervan, Mazda Bongo, swapped up to a pvc, Autosleeper, had that for many years, now moved to a caravan. The future? We will see

 

[steve69]

Short stays, motorhome. Long stays, caravan.

 

[TheAleMan]

Short stays, motorhome. Long stays, caravan.

That’s why we would never own a caravan.

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[Verteuil Man]

We onow a couple who did that and I asked why. Andy said it was because the toilet area was too small and he had to leave the door open.
I told him that is a layout issue not because it was a MH. You can have the same layout in a caravan and the same issue.
Many caravaners choice a caravan layout in a MH. That layout is fine for a caravan but does not suit they way a MH is used.

 

[Rogerwyn]

We tugged for over 35y when I was working as could‘t warrant the outlay for a Motorhome and have it parked on drive for most of the year, as soon as I retired we bought our first Motorhome and are really enjoying it, what we have found is that we need to do a bit more research with shorter stays and more flexibility when touring, if you tend to stay in one place and use it as a base to investigate your surroundings then a caravan is better, if like us enjoy moving around every day or two then a Motorhome is the way forward,

 

[carthorse]

We are in a similar position but not through choice, after 10 years caravanning we got ourselves a motorhome four years ago, now
unfortunately due to Mrs Cs health issues (she can no longer walk very far) we are thinking of going back to caravanning so we would
have a car to to be able to move around.
Have considered a toad but that means considerable expense, tow bar fitting to moho ,buying a car to tow and having an A frame fitted.
Selling the Moho would give us enough funds to buy a caravan and we already have a car big enough to tow a decent size van .
It`s a difficult decision to make we love the life style being able to move every couple of days without the messing about a caravan brings
but due to circumstances it looks like we will be tugging again in the near future.

 

[Odd job]

We like to stay in a place for days even when we had the pvc we would stay for a week or so and always envied people with a car on site. When we first had the camper and then with the pvc we used to tow a Harley on a trailer but we can't do that now with 2 dogs

 

[robnchris]

We are in a similar position but not through choice, after 10 years caravanning we got ourselves a motorhome four years ago, now
unfortunately due to Mrs Cs health issues (she can no longer walk very far) we are thinking of going back to caravanning so we would
have a car to to be able to move around.
Have considered a toad but that means considerable expense, tow bar fitting to moho ,buying a car to tow and having an A frame fitted.
Selling the Moho would give us enough funds to buy a caravan and we already have a car big enough to tow a decent size van .
It`s a difficult decision to make we love the life style being able to move every couple of days without the messing about a caravan brings
but due to circumstances it looks like we will be tugging again in the near future.

Just hire a car when you want one, that's what we do, lovely people drop it off and then pick it back up again when you have finished with it, eliminates all that worry and costs of towing etc etc.

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[carthorse]

Thanks robnchris
Now thats a option we've not considered will look into that.

 

[coroner]

Started with backpack tents then frame tents then 2 caravans towed down to Spain 20 years 2 motorhomes coach builts since 2010 daughters just bought a camper Renault master base vehicle may give it a try for a weekend but seems too small to me for extended multi continent touring I do like a proper shower .

 

[reckless]

Having owned a MH for 3 years and covering 700 miles we have sold it and thinking about going back to a caravan.
Is this common?

We've had 3 motorhomes over the past 10 or so years but never really fell in love with the lifestyle, although we had some good trips. Earlier this year we bought a caravan, a new experience for me but hubby has owned them in a previous life. So far, so good
We're all different plus what seems right today won't necessarily feel right forever. We won't be buying another motorhome though, stage of life and lack of funds!

 

[Norfolk Nige]

We like to stay in a place for days even when we had the pvc we would stay for a week or so and always envied people with a car on site. When we first had the camper and then with the pvc we used to tow a Harley on a trailer but we can't do that now with 2 dogs

I would have thought if you got two big dogs they could tow it

 

[TinaLes]

We bought a new caravan, towed it down to North Devon to a small indie caravan Farm site, with great indoor/outdoor storage Cassoa Gold registered. Fantastic place to use as a base camp, we toured all over Devon & Cornwall, thinking most of the time "Glad we didnt bring the caravan down this road etc".
Well after only 220 towing miles, &12/13 visits to site over 15/16 months, we decided that towing a caravan arround Europe would be a pain, as much site planning would be needed, and that would spoil any spontaneous deviations to the original plan would be difficult..so we sold the van as new for our 1st MH with all the mod cons that the caravan had, albeit at 7.4mtrs long.
Having been on Fun for 6 years now, read all your conversations about MH's, layouts, size etc, then that some were reverting back to a caravan to get the ability to park up on sites to visit towns and tour an area more easily than with a large MH, which I fully understand, its a difficult choice for many.

I think in future, considering wife's health & lack of mobility for her youngish age, that we may have to join The Whoosh Bang Club! We have thought about getting another Carthago, a smaller leaner one like the Compact Line, but even though they are narrower, they are still over 6.5 mtrs long, so not exactly car park friendly in most towns.
We tend not to use sites, if we do its for 1 night maybe 2 to empty & refill, Aires are the answer to this, we like to tour & enjoy the journey, with a general course to steer, but no fixed destination.

Decisions, Decisions, its a tough one, but you only learn through your own experiences, and life/health changing events, however Fixed bed, WC/ Shower is a must for us, but smaller would be much easier, so a tough decision in the future.
LES

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[Hoovie]

depends how you go on trips.

I arrived on site yesterday, backed onto the pitch in line with the white post, put the screen cover on, tv aerial on roof and plugged in the electrics. Thats me set up. On the pitch next to me a caravan arrived a few minutes after me. They then over an hour getting set up with their awning, water etc. Today the weather here is awful and the caravanners have driven off for the day. I'll be going for a walk from the site this afternoon to the lake / village etc

They could have gone for a walk to the lake/village etc if they wanted, just like you. But they CHOOSE to drive off for the day as they had a car available to do so. If you fancied a drive like they did, you would have to remove the screen cover, lower the TV aerial, secure all the loose bits and pieces, etc.

Pros and Cons to both options.

 

[Lenny HB]

We changed from tugging 14½ years ago I don't ever want to tow anything again. We tour and rarely stop for more than a couple of nights.
I think overall a Motorhome works out cheaper than a caravan deprecation is low & running cost not much more than a big car you need for towing. Also you save a fortune as you don't need to stay on sites, we rarely use sites.
We do 8000 - 9000 miles a year with at least 2 often 3 trips abroad every year 120 to 150 nights in the van.

 

[Larrynwin]

We last had a caravan in 1997, then went to boats and following an RV trip in the US in 2004 have had RVs and motorhomes since we like different places for different periods of time both here and across the water and find four wheels far more convenient than Caravanning.

 

[Rapido925M]

We backpacked, had a decent tent, two trailer tents and a caravan. Following our second night in the MH I drove down a long narrow road to the shops and suddenly realised that we didn’t need to go back to the same site! ROAD TO DAMASCUS!

In the following 16y I think we have only stayed for 2 nights on the same site less than 40 times. Half of those would be visiting relatives and most of the rest would be rallying.

Sometimes I think about having a car and caravan but then I realise that I’m a nomad at heart.

Gordon

 

[reckless]

We changed from tugging 14½ years ago I don't ever want to tow anything again. We tour and rarely stop for more than a couple of nights.

Everybody tours/holidays in their own way my husband gets stressed if he doesn't have a plan, he's not at all spontaneous. If he's stressed, I'm stressed. It's probably fair to say I would prefer to bimble around more but happy to compromise.