Your Motorhome. How Big is Too big?

What’s a metre some say and stretch their arms out to measure it, stick it on the back of what you already have and it makes a huge difference.

6.48 ours is and no way I would go bigger, probably finish up with 5.5 metres but this current van is pure quality.
 
Gromett said:
For those oldsters :p you know who you are.

A meter and a yard are pretty much the same if you are gauging a motorhomes length.

1 metre = 1.09361 yards.
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A metre is a yard and 3 inch I was always taught so your measurements seem about right 😄

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I think 7 metres is the golden size ...if you can get the right layout.

But ground clearance i think is the most important thing over length. Width makes little difference in most places but the longer the rear overhang the higher it needs to be off the ground or its gonna drag on any Ramo or steep incline.
 
CazPaul said:
A metre is a yard and 3 inch I was always taught so your measurements seem about right 😄
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You sneaked that response in. I deleted the post lol. i did it for 5 meters and 6 meters and it wasn't close enough for use for a vehicle lol.
 
Ours has a big overhang and perceived to be very low. To date i have not had any issues with grounding. Our truck is 7.95 mts.
When i had the scooter rack on it was 8.5 mts. The scooter rack DID ground out a couple of times.
Therefore my thinking is just below 8 mts is ideal. Loads of room inside with a completely seperate bedroom to living area. Nice.
 
7.6 metres here and really would not like to go any larger than that.

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Depends where you use it, ours is 8.5m tag, no issues in Europe, but for the UK, I would probably go pcv to be able to use whilst away, as UK sites tend to be located in the back end of beyond, so transport is necessary.
Length is not an issue when driving as just requires a wider swing on junctions, the biggest problem is width on our narrow overgrown country lanes.
 
Mine is 6.8m which just fits on my drive. My previous at 7.6m didn't. I don't keep it at home but it's very useful for it to be there sometimes if I want to do things on it and before and after going away.
 
There isnt a universal answer to this, it really depends what you want to do, in how much comfort and where you want to do it

If you want to do adhoc shortbreaks in Cornwall you need something small, even 7 metres is too big for some places. However if you re happy to pre-book and spend your time on sites then a 12 metre RV isnt an issue with a bit of planning.

If you want to go for 6 weeks or so on the continent then you probably don't want a VW, although people do it. Iveseen people in old VW's in Morocco struggling with the ablution facilities, but accepting that as the choice they make when they don't want a bigger vehicle. I ve also spoken to people who are first time out in their brand new Californian who have realised that it doesnt suit their needs at all and for the same money they could have bought something more suitable and bigger.

We get lots of comments about our vehicle 8.4 metres 3.5 high and 8.5 tonnes, but after16 years of motorhoming for about half the year we know what we want and accept the compromises.
 
prev was 7m, and this one is only half a metre longer but makes so much dfference, especically now the bedroom area can be split off.
anything over 7.5 would feel too big for me, I test drove an 8.5 burstener but felt it too big
 
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Our last RV was 9m and slideouts, brilliant for space, storage and payload but there were a few restrictions with 8m length limits on some sites.
Our present mhome is 6.5 m with a layout that suits us , limited payload but a go anywhere size.
 
Ours is just over 7m and seemed ridiculously huge the first time I drove it but now I don’t really notice. jongood makes a very good point about where you want to do it being a big factor in how big is too big and our 7m+ seems to fit everywhere and provides everything we want inside.

I spend a lot of downtime watching RV porn on YouTube but for me most are not practical for what we do but would I love one of those American monsters, yes you bet I would but not sure where I would go in it in uk and Europe, probably nowhere, just park up and live there forever.

For our normal holiday use we could probably go to 8.5m at a push before it gets impractical and starts limiting where we go too much.
 
We like a permanent bedroom. with that layout I think there is a limit to the minimum size. Ours is 7.5 metres and I think any less would be to compromised on internal space. We wanted something comfortable for months on the road. 7.5m can be difficult if needing to park up in town sometimes but we carry a scooter and cycles in the garage so parking just outside somewhere is easy enough.

We have a lengthy over hang but never had an issue of grounding. It seems to high for that - 16 inch wheels and reasonable ride height seem to solve that issue.

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We hired a 7.4m Sunlight before purchasing our 7m Benimar. We felt the Sunlight was a bit too big, particularly with the large overhang, whereas the 7m seems just about right and with a layout that works for us too. So far no issues getting to all the places we have wanted to go.
 
We have two car parks one designated for cars and one for campers.

The camper one, parked sensibly is wide enough and long enough to park five campers, the biggest campers, from a 30’ “tiddler” like my RV to a 40’ American Eagle (we know as we’ve done it) so four or five European campers of any size easily.

From my office I can’t quite see the car park, but I can see the end of one of the workshops, so when I hear ‘shouting’ and I see the workshop guys, peering out of the door, I flick to CCTV

Invariably there is a woman, we shall call her Karen standing at the back of a 5m PVC in the blind spot, gesticulating wildly, replicating the universal ‘come on plenty of space‘ movement she’s seen on telly to her nervous partner, the stress of it all is making his Rohan shirt and trousers ‘Moist’

We shall call him Dennis.

Karen is shouting “RIGHT, RIGHT RIGHT THAT’S LEFT YOU IDIOT” as of course for Dennis, who in life isn’t the most confident of characters, going backwards, looking in the rear view mirror, it is ‘right’ to him, and Karen is standing in the totally wrong place. Karen doesn’t know this of course, because despite being a feminist, Karen can’t drive the camper !!

However, having been shouted at by Karen all his life, after that first, all to brief, frankly unsatisfactory shag at her parents holiday home, Dennis has never been allowed an opinion on anything.

The house, working for Karen's Dad, the retirement, buying this bloody camper van, nothing, just follow instructions, never answer back is Dennis self defence mechanism.

As the camper van slowly rumbles backwards across the gravel, following the outline of a drunken ‘S’ the fencing at the end of the car park sometimes is towards the back of the van, but mainly to the side, dangerously close to the front of the van, all the while Karen is enthusiastically shouting out commands and waving her arms around like a windmill, which is increasingly confusing Dennis.

At this point, one of my kindly professional staff, will wander over, and stop the process smiling sweetly at Karen, suggesting that the workshop is ready for them, so where “You’ve parked it is fine” parked of course in the loosest of loose senses

Opening the cab door, reaching in and turning the engine off, and saying gently to Dennis, in the same voice you‘d use to approach a foal or a scared child “It’s OK Sir, I’ll take it from here, why not let go of the wheel, and pop out for me”

Now, in between the workshop ‘camper car park’ and reception is a courtyard where I keep my camper, and we usher Karen and Dennis down to reception to get them a Tea or Coffee organised and a chat about what their booked into Van Bitz to have done.

I 100% guarantee after 20 minutes of “calming down” forgetting the stress of the 500m drive from our campsite to our car park, Karen will start criticising the size of ‘that thing’ that thing, it doesn't even qualify to be called a motorhome in Karen’s eyes, just ‘that thing’ and will happily tell anyone who’s listening that ‘something that big is stupid’ ‘that’s too big to go anywhere’ and ‘We’d never consider anything that big, would we Dennis?”

Dennis of course sits there, saying nothing, trying not to be noticed, looking longingly at the drinks dispenser, wondering how he goes about getting another Hot Chocolate without Karen noticing and reminding him of his impending Diabetes problem, a problem he’ll never have, but Karen’s ‘Dad’ did So that’s that,

We really do find the absolute worse drivers are the most vocal and critical of what you can and can’t do with a bigger camper, when of course they really mean ‘They couldn’t’
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6m too small to live comfortably in and no easier to drive about and park than he current 7.5-8m van.
 
The criteria for our ’van layout was ‘must have a fixed bed and two side-facing seats to lounge on‘, and our Majestic fits the bill at 7m….! (y)
 
7.6 metres with a drop down over cab bed is perfect, although I still do sometimes fall asleep in the lounge area after a 10 mile hike (and a glass of cider!!) with my dog curled up beside me :snooze:

Gina

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dunnah01 said:
6m too small to live comfortably in and no easier to drive about and park than he current 7.5-8m van.
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Good point , if you "live" in your van then its a different ball game too.
 
Mine is 5.5m PVC and it’s fine for me but there is no way I would share it with anyone else!
 
Ours is 7.5m very short overhang but long wheelbase which makes the turning circle bigger but reversing easier, which is useful with the amount of times we get stuck. And the ground clearance is rubbish.

I want want to downsize to under 7m would make life a lot easier in mainland Europe. Lost count of the amount of times I've had to do a 20 point turn or spend ½ hour reversing out of Spanish/French/Portuguese villages.

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