So many options - and decisions to make! (1 Viewer)

[Zacshoomans]

Hello all

We love touring - but so far it’s been in a car, and staying under canvas - or in gites, hotels etc. But now Zac is in our lives - and we want to take him on holiday with us. So a Motorhome sounds like a great option......

I’ve done a lot of research in the past couple of weeks - only to realise that there are ‘a lot’ of options - and a huge amount that I/we don’t know!!

Because we are first timers - I’m worried about how much we would lose if we ended up selling after a year, so pre-loved is obviously the sensible way to go.

I’ve done lots of reading online, and visited a couple of nearby dealers, and took zac to get his pet passport yesterday.... just need to get the right van!

 

[Carol]

Hello that's the secret do as much research as you can, decide what you need to be comfortable check your payload check for damp make sure you have the appropriate driving licence, and enjoy.

 

[funflair]

And it doesn’t matter what we all think it’s your decision ? so for sure research research research, pre-loved is a good start though.

Martin

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[138go]

The first one is never right because you haven't a clue what is going to work for you.
The second one is better as you have learned a lot from owning the first one.
By the time you get to the third one you know what works and what you are happy to compromise on.

So ..

Have fun ..

 

[Stealaway]

If you like touring so don't buy a van that's too big. Smaller vans ,(less than 7 mts ) enable you to wild camp and fit into Aires much more.

 

[Hollyberry]

You have to sit in quite a few vans to get the feel for what is right for you. Fixed bed, over-cab bed, drop down bed, rear lounge and so on.... You’ll know when you find the right one. Have you downloaded Jim’s excellent book? It’s free with your membership.
Took me a while to find it ! You can download it here https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/resources/the-motorhome-buyers-guide.181/. Highly recommended.

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[The Dudess]

You're on the right track!

and to Zac

 

[Reallyretired]

Photo of Zac please.

 

[Grianan]

Hello and welcome to you and Zac ?.

I’m not sure that a agree with the often q
quoted 3rd time right philosophy.

There’s a lot of info out there so you can do loads of research and ask questions. Decide size of van - we like to tour on small roads and live in Scotland. For us the largest PVC made sense. Only the largest because hubby is 6’3” and needed longest single beds, Then you need to sit in as many vans as you can and think about practicalities - bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, dog.

Some things are less obvious. In our PVC the glass covers for the sink and job are separate - works well as water doesn’t splash on hob and you can use job as drainer. But in a dealers yesterday to get bike rack fitted and saw some of the range had a single lid for both. It would never have occurred to me before so bought, but it would be a deal breaker now.

If you can, hire what you think works to try it out.

Good luck!

Liz

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[davidbaldam]

Hi and welcome to FUN.

 

[138go]

The one thing that turned out to be very important to us is, comfortable beds! Getting a good night’s sleep cannot be underestimated. We also favour fixed beds. The palaver involved in making and unmaking beds every day is a massive pain.

Mrs QFour

 

[Rosemary1]

The one thing that turned out to be very important to us is, comfortable beds! Getting a good night’s sleep cannot be underestimated. We also favour fixed beds. The palaver involved in making and unmaking beds every day is a massive pain.

Mrs QFour

Same here. We had a Autotrail Scout for our first motorhome with U shaped lounge at back. Made up the beds at night for the first trip. We then set it up as a permanent king size with a comfortable mattress and used the dinning area / outside as our day lounging area. Suited us and next van we bought had permanent beds built in.

However SIL has bench seats which she is happy to set up each night to have the more room in the day - it’s whatever your priorities are (or in my case what really annoyed me)

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[Zacshoomans]

Thanks all for the lovely welcome!

Spent last night reading the guide, and OH has read it this morning. Now to take Zac out for a walk (once the rain has stopped) then thinking of heading to the Malvern show - although am thinking it will be vans that are too expensive for us!!

Thoughts so far:
comfy bed is a must!
Floor space behind front seats for a med dog cage when travelling
Max 7m to fit on drive
Licence ok but 3500 limit seems sensible - esp as limit for Eurotunnel?
I want a fixed bed - but OH wants a light lounge area...... (funny how he hates making the bed at home but it’ll be ok every night on hol....)
Not so concerned about oven & shower - most cooking is on the hob at home so why would hols be different, and can survive with a site visit every 3 days ;-)
Outdoor shower would be good though for muddy dog walks/bike rides!

Want to go to France for a month before end October ?
But ‘normal’ use would be long weekend trips to the beach (West Country/Wales) - Oct to May, plus 2 week touring trips to Europe, Scotland, Ireland in June/sept. Wouldn’t plan to use the van in summer due to temps for Zak (and avoiding school hols!).

Once I can persuade OH to stop work then would love to tour for 3 months..... but that’s a few years away.

Final thought - every salesman we’ve come across so far drives a flash car!

 

[GPW]

You may be able to hire a Euro-layout PVC van like a Weinsberg to see if that would work for you.

In that layout you could allow space for the dog under the bed and leave the van/garage access open a bit to allow the dog back and forth.

 

[Zacshoomans]

Photo of Zac please.

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[Zacshoomans]

that’ll teach me to upload from my phone!

 

[Paddywack]

You'll find there is even more opinions than options as well, especially on here!

 

[MisterB]

Make up a spreadsheet of the must haves, the would be nice to haves and the would be a bonus to haves.


Then scour the interweb and online sale sites inc auction sites for vans that meet your list of must haves and go from there. Its a bit tedious and labourious but it will help when you finally narrow your choice down and then can look at budget restraints

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[Mark and Mindy]

We got it right with our second van, both are 5.4m as that's what works for us best to keep on our drive. First was beds made up every night from the front lounge and it became a PITA for me, dogs sleeping on the floor in the small gangway which included fridge, kitchen area and bathroom which meant having to move them to go to the loo in the night! The bed was uncomfortable and needed a topper to make it more like a bed and less like a firm seat, but in settee form was also uncomfortable as it was too hard and wasn't right for lounging.

Second van suits us to a T, fixed transverse bed, dogs sleep down the other end, one on the floor and one on the dinette seat, and if one of us fancies a nap in the daytime or going to bed earlier the other can still sit up the other end and read or w/e. Dogs travel on the dinette seat with harnesses and seatbelt tether, breaking suddenly wouldn't cause them to fall off as the tether is too short. Only compromise is no oven, but there are ways round that as I've been learning this week.

If you're thinking of going away for more than a couple of days you will rethink whether you have a shower or not, wild camping is nice and we did a couple of nights on our trip to Scotland in June plus campsites with/without facilities.

Smaller is easier parking in supermarkets and other parking spots, larger is more room to move around, its all about what suits you best.

I'd suggest going to lots of dealers, the Motorhome and Caravan Show at the NEC in October is also another place to look, try everything out as if it was yours, even sit on the toilet!

 

[Potty]

Bed making doesn’t have to be too much of a chore. We have long side sofas. To make single beds we just pull out the slats until the back rests drop down, take bedding out of locker, roll out, job done. Takes less than a minute.

A couple of points for Zac: did you get the titre test done after his rabies jab? If you didn’t, I would get it done now and then you will be covered whatever happens over B. Do shop around for cost, some vets are charging a fortune. The lab charge is about £66, so allowing for vets charge for taking the blood, etc, anything over £100 is too much!

There other ways to secure dogs without using a cage, depends on the layout and some might need a bit of ingenuity.

Don’t think that you are restricted to a PVC to tour out of the way places. We have toured all over the Scotland and a lot of Europe in a 6.3 long, 2.3 wide coach built, including the Vrsic pass in Slovenia which has 49 hairpins.

 

[ambulancekidd]

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[OwnedbyCollies]

Licence ok but 3500 limit seems sensible - esp as limit for Eurotunnel?

No limits for Eurotunnel - all MHs are booked as 'campervans' regardless of weight, height or length

 

[HandyAndy]

If I was serious about buying something expensive I'd want to make sure I had the right layout..
What you think might suit you may well not turn out to be the right choice.
It would probably do you well to hire a few different layouts of van over the next season and see how you get on with each type. You can then assess things from an actual usage standpoint, rather than what you think you like

 

[138go]

I want a fixed bed - but OH wants a light lounge area...... (funny how he hates making the bed at home but it’ll be ok every night on holiday....)

It's not just about making the bed every day, and unmaking it, if your bed is made out of sofa cushions it's not like lying on a proper mattress.

Personally, I can't see why people want a rear lounge area. You have a lounge using your front seats, turned around.



Mrs QFour

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[HandyAndy]

I want a fixed bed - but OH wants a light lounge area...... (funny how he hates making the bed at home but it’ll be ok every night on holiday....)

It's not just about making the bed every day, and unmaking it, if your bed is made out of sofa cushions it's not like lying on a proper mattress.

Personally, I can't see why people want a rear lounge area. You have a lounge using your front seats, turned around.



Mrs QFour

Just imagine going for a long coastal walk to the pub, coming back and wanting to just fall into bed but have to re arrange half the bloody van before you can lie down...
This is why I bought a fixed bed with a front lounge.
Making (and sleeping on) the lounge bed on the seat cushions is also uncomfortable as FFFFFF when the old dear is with me (I let her have the proper bed being as she is 80 odd)
But everyone has their reasons...
Testing all the layouts in real world holiday scenarios is where you'll find the shape and layout that fits you best..
Try before you buy as they say about any good woman

 

[Mark and Mindy]

I want a fixed bed - but OH wants a light lounge area...... (funny how he hates making the bed at home but it’ll be ok every night on holiday....)

It's not just about making the bed every day, and unmaking it, if your bed is made out of sofa cushions it's not like lying on a proper mattress.

Personally, I can't see why people want a rear lounge area. You have a lounge using your front seats, turned around.



Mrs QFour

This!

Just imagine going for a long coastal walk to the pub, coming back and wanting to just fall into bed but have to re arrange half the bloody van before you can lie down...
This is why I bought a fixed bed with a front lounge.
Making (and sleeping on) the lounge bed on the seat cushions is also uncomfortable as FFFFFF when the old dear is with me (I let her have the proper bed being as she is 80 odd)
But everyone has their reasons...
Testing all the layouts in real world holiday scenarios is where you'll find the shape and layout that fits you best..
Try before you buy as they say about any good woman

And this!

Seat cushions aren't a bed mattress and a bed mattress isn't seat cushions, you would need to factor in having a decent topper or going the Duvalay route of the built in cushion/duvet combo.

I was fine with bed making every night or so I thought, but in reality it was a total PITA and Mark ended up doing it every night, he didn't mind, but the bed wasn't properly comfortable and in the time we owned that van I didn't get a good night's sleep EVER!

 

[Zacshoomans]

No limits for Eurotunnel - all MHs are booked as 'campervans' regardless of weight, height or length

Ahha - I think this is where I got the 3500 limit from. Good to know that campervans are different!

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[Zacshoomans]

Good morning all. What a busy day it was at Malvern yesterday! Zac met so many dogs - as well as investigating lots of vans ?

End result of the day was that we’ve started thinking about a PV.

We were coming to the conclusion that a rear bed plus half dinette at front was a great fit for us. (Although did like the drop down bed in the Chausson)

And then we saw the knaus & Weinsberg area - so (after GPW suggestion above) we took a look, and was impressed. So then started looking at the Ducato PV rather than the coach build. We found Swift, autocruise, autotrail as well the weinsberg - and they appeared almost identical, all in the layout that we like - although a bit tight in the middle, and less room/storage than the coach built equivalents.

What are downsides to the Ducato PV’s? They appear to be a x-over between MH & Camper?

A day of research ahead!

 

[mitzimad]

We had a ducato panel van and now have a 7m coach built driving wise there is little difference obviously the coach built is wider but not many places we cant get to and park we changed to get a third bed for grandchild and a bit more space to lounge

 

[Mark and Mindy]

Good morning all. What a busy day it was at Malvern yesterday! Zac met so many dogs - as well as investigating lots of vans ?

End result of the day was that we’ve started thinking about a PV.

We were coming to the conclusion that a rear bed plus half dinette at front was a great fit for us. (Although did like the drop down bed in the Chausson)

And then we saw the knaus & Weinsberg area - so (after GPW suggestion above) we took a look, and was impressed. So then started looking at the Ducato PV rather than the coach build. We found Swift, autocruise, autotrail as well the weinsberg - and they appeared almost identical, all in the layout that we like - although a bit tight in the middle, and less room/storage than the coach built equivalents.

What are downsides to the Ducato PV’s? They appear to be a x-over between MH & Camper?

A day of research ahead!

Ours is a 5.4m Ducato PVC and yes, its small, but it has everything we need, even after just a few weeks we've settled down into our "places". Opening the bathroom door gives more space when cooking with the bonus of being able to sit sideways on the dinette seat and not needing to stand all the time.

We turn the driver and passenger seats round and they're very comfortable for just sitting in and we can put our feet up on the dinette seat opposite. Our dogs have found their places too, Poppy (Border Terrier) likes to be in a bed on the floor and Harry (Schnoodle) likes to curl up in the corner of the dinette next to the window.

Having come from a front lounge same size van where the main storage was in the overcab, under the single sofa and single 3rd belted seat plus half size wardrobe, for everything including bed topper, bedding etc, we now have a made up bed so no bedding to store, the dog beds travel on our bed. The overcab storage is now full of coats and sweatshirts (no wardrobe), there is lots of storage in the kitchen area, and a big garage down the middle at the back with access from both the double doors at the back and also inside.

The main reason for having a PVC and this length is our drive, we can accommodate it even with the rear doors open without folding back to the sides, any wider and it would have made getting the car next to it on and off not to mention dangerous with insufficient visibility.

We spent the best part of 2 years thinking vans, motorhomes and everything else; we went to shows at the NEC and trawled round dealers; yes we got the first one wrong but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I would summarise the essentials for us as being good to drive, somewhere comfortable to sit when not driving, a good night's sleep, full facilities in the bathroom (I prefer site facilities while Mark is happy with van or site), able to accommodate the dogs, there were a few others things but not essential and we have them as well.

It might be worth you going to the NEC in October and checking out all the different variations on a theme, but only you know what your must haves are and what you can compromise on.

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