Thinking of tow a 'van with my 'van !

[Padders]

I need some honest feedback and thought this might be the place to get it !

We have an Adria Twin camper based on the Ducato panel van, 6.4m long with the 150bhp engine. It is great as a day van and short trips but we'd like to tour Scotland and think that once loaded with bikes and dogs the camper would be a bit cosy for a full on Scottish road trip. One solution would be to hire a bigger MH but that might be a bit big to do daily driving once we get to Scotland so I wondered about hiring a caravan to tow behind us and give the accommodation space we need. I've towed before, but but that was a while a go and a much smaller rig so if I did decide to go ahead would want to do a towing course before hitting the road.

I've looked up the techy bits: my licence includes the B&E category, the max laden towing weight of the camper is 2,500kg, the towbar fitted is rated well above this and the caravan I was looking at is a twin axle van around 7m long weighing in at under 2,000kg so theory that all looks ok. But what I'd like to have is feedback and thoughts on how sensible this might be in reality - any one got any experience of doing this or thoughts about why it might be the worst idea ever ?! Cheers - Padders

 

[Gaston aires]

I’ve only towed a “toad” Smart car, you hardly notice it unless you want to reverse. A caravan wouldn’t hurt your twin at all.
Maybe lose 25% mpg.
Phil

 

[TheBig1]

I have towed many caravans behind a panel van conversion. Makes a nice stable towing outfit, far better than the average car and caravan. The only thing is that some folks see a van towing a caravan and instantly think it must be travellers

 

[pappajohn]

I've never towed a caravan behind a motorhome but I have towed a 1700kg twin axle caravan behind my 3ltr V6 diesel auto Chrysler weighing 2250kg.
Didnt know it was there unless you looked in the mirrors.

 

[glenn2926]

I’ve towed a twin axle caravan behind a Ducato ambulance. Now that does get some strange looks. We do it when working events. If asked whilst stopped for a brew. I say it’s NHS cut backs we have to take our station with us.
The Ducato pulls a twin axle caravan very easily. You’ll have no trouble.

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[timetochill]

We toured and travelled on ferry to skye with 6.3 M panel can conversion and a bailey unicorn caravan towed great and plenty of room worked good for us

 

[Nanniemate]

Not sure about wilding with a caravan in tow but ideal to drop and visit.
If you don't try it how do you know ....... I wouldn't fancy it but swings and roundabouts if it was not working you could always leave the caravan somewhere but then you would be restricting your return route as I assume you would like to take it home..

 

[PeteH]

Not really a lot of difference to towing a twin axle 2 tonne rated trailer loaded with a car? and a shed load of car parts. That was behind a Ducato Based Rapido. Went all the way to Spain with a similar unit behind 1st R-V?. Total unit mass just short of 7tonne.

 

[Manic]

What about hiring a trailer.

 

[Padders]

I’ve only towed a “toad” Smart car, you hardly notice it unless you want to reverse. A caravan wouldn’t hurt your twin at all.
Maybe lose 25% mpg.
Phil

many thanks for the feedback.

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[Padders]

I have towed many caravans behind a panel van conversion. Makes a nice stable towing outfit, far better than the average car and caravan. The only thing is that some folks see a van towing a caravan and instantly think it must be travellers

many thanks great to know this sort of outfit works well.

 

[Padders]

I’ve towed a twin axle caravan behind a Ducato ambulance. Now that does get some strange looks. We do it when working events. If asked whilst stopped for a brew. I say it’s NHS cut backs we have to take our station with us.
The Ducato pulls a twin axle caravan very easily. You’ll have no trouble.

many thanks for the feedback - love the idea of a caravan on an ambulance !

 

[Padders]

We toured and travelled on ferry to skye with 6.3 M panel can conversion and a bailey unicorn caravan towed great and plenty of room worked good for us

Many thanks for the feedback, great to know the ferries worked well too. We were thinking upto Skye and across to the Hebridies

 

[Padders]

Not really a lot of difference to towing a twin axle 2 tonne rated trailer loaded with a car? and a shed load of car parts. That was behind a Ducato Based Rapido. Went all the way to Spain with a similar unit behind 1st R-V?. Total unit mass just short of 7tonne.

many thanks, great to know.

 

[Padders]

What about hiring a trailer.
View attachment 402734

interesting idea, will look into that.

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[tacr2man]

many thanks for the feedback - love the idea of a caravan on an ambulance !

Towed a twin axle Bailey with a fire engine

 

[PeteH]

Towed a twin axle Bailey with a fire engine
View attachment 402820

Westland`s had one of those on their Yeovil, Airfield back when!.

 

[Cal54]

For a year I use to tow a 12’ caravan with my Autotrail coachbuilt Motorhome. May seem strange but the caravan was for my elderly mother - we like are own space!!!! Easy tow.

 

[DandG5515]

Hi my van is 7.5m 3.8ton, I agreed to tow a friends keelboat to Southampton 1.2ton 7.5m. It towed great with 140hp, towing a caravan with a van will be more stable than with a car, just check your total length against weight before its classed as a “long vehicle” cannot remember if there is a 14 and 16meter long restriction.

 

[irnbru]

I would say No. If you plan on going to Scotland and on single track roads, there’s some very ignorant folk who will make you reverse. Some of the passing places aren’t that big.Not a good idea IMO

If your going to do it anyway have a watch here.

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[Hollyberry]

My daughter has one of these

They tow their 6 berth caravan using it.

 

[bobandjanie]

We have towed various trailers and caravans with motorhomes, and to be honest it only works from A to B and staying in one place for a few days or more, touring it is more trouble than it's worth.

We live in a 6m panel van for 5 months with our small dog, the best thing is try a live with what you have, and see how you get on, this was the last time we towed a caravan going down to Spain and left it there. Bob.

 

[Lenny HB]

Much easier to tow with a van than a car but if you are not used to caravans twin axles can be a pig to maneuver on site although they are much more stable to tow than a single axle.

 

[chaser]

many thanks for the feedback - love the idea of a caravan on an ambulance !

My son pulls a trailer behind his fiat ex ambulance, no problems, even fetched tractors in with it, but one problem I can see is if you happen to use a site , you are going to get charged twice, for a caravan but probably not for a trailer.

 

[Rosemary1]

I would say No. If you plan on going to Scotland and on single track roads, there’s some very ignorant folk who will make you reverse. Some of the passing places aren’t that big.Not a good idea IMO

If your going to do it anyway have a watch here.

Must admit there are some roads in Scotland I wouldn’t want to tow our little tiny smart car. The one time we had to reverse we had to unhitched it first. Would plan route carefully

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[Minxy]

Think carefully about how you intend to 'holiday', if you like to move on every couple of days a caravan could seriously restrict where you can go and stop overnight, not to mention the cost to take it on the ferry across to the Hebrides. Perhaps it would be better to try staying in your camper for a couple of days at home to see how it feels with you all in there, it may also give you ideas as to how you can mitigate any issues you find before you go on holiday - just one condition ... no cheating by using the house for anything at all ... not even the loo!

 

[Nasher]

A lot of motorcycles racers use a van for their bikes & kit and tow a caravan for cooking & sleeping in at race meetings - works well

 

[TheCaller]

Must admit there are some roads in Scotland I wouldn’t want to tow our little tiny smart car. The one time we had to reverse we had to unhitched it first. Would plan route carefully

It's very much easier to reverse a large caravan than a small toad. As a general rule, the larger the trailer in relation to the towing vehicle, the easier it is to reverse. The other thing that makes for easier reversing is a short overhang behind the rear axle of the towing vehicle. If it had the power, a Smart car would make a wonderfully manoeuvrable towing vehicle. The only slight disadvantage of the 6.4m Ducato is that the towing hitch is about twice as far behind the rear axle in comparison to the 5.9m version, so you need to make smaller steering inputs & a use bit more anticipation when reversing.

 

[Wellington]

I hate towing. I’d rather stay in a hotel. You have to drive more slowly, with more attention and are restricted on where you can get lost. This will be better with a bigger tow vehicle, because it’s more stable, though.

I did it for almost ten years. I first took my daughter away in our caravan, on my own, when she was four weeks old (actually she‘s the reason I started. She couldn‘t feed lying down, and there was no practical way to do her night feeds in a tent) it’s alright to get somewhere and stay there for a couple of weeks, but I much prefer the wombling around we do in the motorhome. It’s SO much easier (alart from when we stay with relatives who are still tugging. They want to do a lot of day excursions, which are a pain)