I'm frightened (1 Viewer)

6pm Cowboy

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Well ok, perhaps not frightened, but concerned, about getting a motor home.

As you can see from the side bar I am technically blind so the wife does all the driving.

Now dont get me wrong, she is a good driver ( she must be coz she says so :Smile: ) sticks religeously to speed limits and all that....... but she has been known to take corners a bit to sharply and put the back wheels up on the curb, and on one occasion wiped out the side panel of a people carrier scraping a post while doing it. ( only the once )

Motorhomes are long, very long, and that presumably will be an even bigger problem in one of those.

Plus, we will almost certainly want to travel around europe on occasions..... we are getting older by the minute and I am not sure if she will cope with driving on the wrong side. Straight roads will be fine but coming off roundabouts ??????

Did any of you first timers get these problems ?
tell me I am worrying needlessly please :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
C

calypso

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get your wife to apply to the caravan club they do a course on how to handle a motorhome,
 

Landy lover

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To be honest we had similar misgivings when we first drove on the 'wrong side' but in fact it is very easy actually my wife prefers driving on the 'wrong side' as the roads are better the foriegn drivers are generally better mannered than UK and there is less of them to the square mile than UK - you just need to be aware some country's have different rules on roundabouts and the traffic lights have slightly different sequences / layouts - worth buying a book on it but its something to be enjoyed not worried about. We have driven many thousands of miles abroad solo and towing without worries. Go for it . Relax and enjoy.
 

old-mo

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Some years ago my wife liked to see how many cats eyes she could squash,,
Did not matter how wide the road was she always seemed to be to far away from the kerb,,,, "Until" I got an old left hand drive yank car, and she was able to keep an eye on the kerb,, and after awhile got over the problem of killing cats eye`s..

Might be worth giving a left hooker a try,, and after a time might over come this problem, other than that as in previous answer.. caravan club course. :thumb:
 

jomel

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I am sure she will be fine:Smile: The Caravan club course sounds good I might do that myself as the largest thing I have ever driven is a Ford Granada and in the 80's and if I remember rightly I couldnt see over the bonnet.:ROFLMAO:

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6pm Cowboy

6pm Cowboy

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Nice to see I am not the only one on line this early :Smile:

12 years ago, when we moved house, we hired a tail lift lorry that would be about the size of a motorhome and she did the 20 mile round trip to the new house three times in a day without incident so I am probably worrying about nothing..... but she does sometimes take corners sharper than I would like and if anything drives to close to the kerb rather than squashing cats eyes.

Against that, she reads the road a lot further ahead than anyone else I have ever driven with !!!
 

crazylazy

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Apr 24, 2009
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4 weeks.. twice out in it
Well ok, perhaps not frightened, but concerned, about getting a motor home.

As you can see from the side bar I am technically blind so the wife does all the driving.

Now dont get me wrong, she is a good driver ( she must be coz she says so :Smile: ) sticks religeously to speed limits and all that....... but she has been known to take corners a bit to sharply and put the back wheels up on the curb, and on one occasion wiped out the side panel of a people carrier scraping a post while doing it. ( only the once )

Motorhomes are long, very long, and that presumably will be an even bigger problem in one of those.

Plus, we will almost certainly want to travel around europe on occasions..... we are getting older by the minute and I am not sure if she will cope with driving on the wrong side. Straight roads will be fine but coming off roundabouts ??????

Did any of you first timers get these problems ?
tell me I am worrying needlessly please :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

Hello 6pm Cowboy I have sent you a reply and cannot find it anywhere...have you received it!! I may not be having a good day today:cry:
 
Oct 15, 2007
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Like above, courses, hire one?

Wife hoped in and drove our first RV, old 22ft C class, getting on 8 ft wide with no dramas. I've seen loads of women (wifes) driving MHs and never noticed the passenger looking worried:Eeek:

Like most (everyone) on here we're fans of MHs so encouraging others is a given:thumb:

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crazylazy

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I thought open forum ...I replied on the post Quote...but don't worry you are getting lots of good advice......Happy Travelling!!
 
Feb 18, 2009
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Hiring

I would second the advice to hire first.We hired a small basic van in New Zealand on the advice of one of the guys I worked with and loved it, then last year we hired in the UK from a company local to us and took the van to Norkapp in Norway returning through Germany,sweden,Finland, Denmark and Amsterdam we did over 3thousand miles in 3 weeks and we were hooked. But what that tought us was what syle of van we wanted.The hire van was great but no fixed table for our maps and the big thing no fixed bed so that is what we wanted.Had we not hired then I think we could of made a mistake, at least your wife will find out what she is comfortable with, and don,t worry about the cornering the van will throw every thing off the seats (including cushions) so it makes you slow down on bends,Bite the bullet we have never looked back we have had Vera 12months now and done 9 thousand miles -Sue
 
N

N Luyetund

Deleted User
.....
tell me I am worrying needlessly please

You are worrying needlessly! :thumb:

('cos it'll be insured:winky:)

...cure the sharp cornering by putting a glass of water on the dash (a sealed bottle, half full will do the same job without the mess....... It's a home-made inclinometer:winky:)

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Euromobil

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Go for it, roads excellent and empty compared to uk, only problem I can see is I rely on passenger for advise/help when overtaking or joining roads in France & Spain, if you have impaired vision may be worthwhile ensuring van you buy has good visibily to rear and side to enable wife to judge situation.
 
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6pm Cowboy

6pm Cowboy

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You are worrying needlessly! :thumb:

('cos it'll be insured:winky:)

...cure the sharp cornering by putting a glass of water on the dash (a sealed bottle, half full will do the same job without the mess....... It's a home-made inclinometer:winky:)

I think it is because she tends to be to close to the curb. Dont want to offend her though she is a damn good driver other than that.

Dont want to lose the no claims either :Smile:
 
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6pm Cowboy

6pm Cowboy

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Jun 26, 2009
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South Oxfordshire
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0 - but I live in hope
Go for it, roads excellent and empty compared to uk, only problem I can see is I rely on passenger for advise/help when overtaking or joining roads in France & Spain, if you have impaired vision may be worthwhile ensuring van you buy has good visibily to rear and side to enable wife to judge situation.

Mmmm, she tends to ignore me when I tell her the road is empty..... cant imagine why. :ROFLMAO:

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Oct 29, 2008
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Its like any vehicle, after a bit of practice you get used to it. We worried about narrow roads. Last year we did Cornwall Devon and Somerset and used some very narrow roads. This year we did the Western Isles of Scotland. I now have no worries about narrow roads, in fact I am considering changing to a larger van.
 

Venita

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Hi, As a "wifey", I was somewhat reluctant to drive our 23 foot MH but with a little gentle persuassion I bit the bullet! I remember it well - we had an evening meal just on the outskirts of Lyon on a service station. We had intended to stay overnight as there were a few MH and wagons parked up. When we came out, they had all gone and I bottled it. Needless to say, Mr P had had a few glasses of wine and I had no choice but to drive! Then came the babtism of fire - Rush hour traffic, darkness, no idea where to go. I did it though and I was very proud - driving anywhere is no probs now. Hope this helps.:Blush:
 

Peter JohnsCross MH

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Hi Cowboy,

Have a day out in Sussex and have a drive in one of ours, Andy or Lawrence will show her the things to watch out for driving a MotorHome.

Be carefull and dont get conned by salesmen offering VAT free disabled deals as it is extremely unlikely you would qualify and even if the deal went through, Vatman would be on your case.

Good luck.

Peter

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