Help me decide - tow or not?
We recently bought a Bailey 765 and live it to bits, however, cannot decide on whether to tow my hyundai i10 behind on an A frame.
We have two labradors and want to travel the length and breadth of the UK, but think we will be very restricted without a car for 'away days'.
I am really looking for reassurance I guess before blowing the best part of a grand! We already have the towbar fitted and a good local company lined up to fit the A frame, but would love to hear your experiences before I commit.
Thanks for any help and advice
Comments
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only you can decide how badly you want the additional transport.
if you do, my own view is that an A fram in the uk is as good as any method of having a car with you.
to me, a trailer is additional hassle.. car/trailer/mh/awning/chairs/table all on a single pitch.....tricky.
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We are in the sare situation. We love the idea of using the MH On its own and we have done for while. But sometimes a car would be useful. We are booked in to get an A Frame fitted it April to tow are Aygo behind us. We have no intention of using it outside
of the U.K.I like the idea of not having to store a trailer when we take the car. We are going to Uni-Brake. Expensive at £1950. But we expect to keep the MH and car for a long time yet.
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I agree with BB but if I was buying new I would go down the same route as Reevsie. You don't always have to take a car with you but having it available gives you the opportunity to use the motorhome as intended for solo touring or take the car and remain on one site for sometime. A car is especially useful where to tour an area might involve using roads unsuited to a motorhome. Towing a car is fine in the UK but don't expect to be able to freely use an A-Frame on the Continent. It isn't really necessary there anyway where parking and stopping at places of interest is so much easier than in the UK.
peedee
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We tow our Peugeot 107 on an A-Frame and wouldnt be without it now. We got our frame from Armitage Trailers near Leeds who were great £900 all in for thr conversion. The frame takes 10 mins to set up and when driving you hardly notice its there
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Thank you all for responding!
Francis, your comment about not even noticing it is there has reassured me, as has the set up time
Will be booking it into Hedleys in Durham, who have quoted £895 - Reevsie, are you having something super special?
My intention at the moment is to tow fro home down main roads, motorways, A roads etc., then unhitch to complete the journey (no intention of trying to reverse with a car in tow)!
Oh, just noticed I am down as a caravanner, must get that changed??
Thank you all for replying, has really helped to reassure me.
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We are in the sare situation. We love the idea of using the MH On its own and we have done for while. But sometimes a car would be useful. We are booked in to get an A Frame fitted it April to tow are Aygo behind us. We have no intention of using it outside
of the U.K.I like the idea of not having to store a trailer when we take the car. We are going to Uni-Brake. Expensive at £1950. But we expect to keep the MH and car for a long time yet.
Write your comments here...Wow £1950 plus the extra diesel towing the car yo ucan rent an awful lot of cars for a day for that?
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We are the same as Francis, we tow my Kia Picanto on an A frame from Armitages under £900 for everything, they even lent us a car while they were doing the convertion. We have had it for 3 1/2 years now and in the UK it is great to have. Gives you much
more freedom and you don't know its there.0 -
We have a mini cabriolet that we tow. Its a heavier vehicle so required a heavier car-a-tow frame. Its a heavy cumbersome piece of kit. You need a heavy pair of gloves and if you have a cycle rack this comes in handy to stow temporarily otherwise takes a
lot of room in that garage. Get a bag and a pair of decent small ratchet straps.I can't hook up at the house as cant risk not getting it around the estates parked cars as it sharpens the turning capability.
Not tried the reversing trick yet as not had chance (the trick is to bungy the steering wheel as you reverse so the wheels dont lock in opposite direction). I don't think you can leave this in place moving forward. Find a big car park and have a practice
early one morning.My best advice? Plan ahead, using google earth, work out where to hitch/unhitch in advance as we did cause chaos in the lakes driving upto the site hitched up!! Best to unhitch calmly on a layby 1/2 mile away than block an entrance!! You won't be popular
not matter what people say :-) and having said that if the site is large and has plenty of arrival space you should be fine.Towing is the easy bit. You'll have the rear camera on for a while then forget about it. Just remember it pulling into services and if you are venturing down to Devon, again, think ahead and have a "plan" for meeting a coach or a HGV on a narrow lane!!
Is it worth it? For me the jury is still out. Will let you know after a trip to Croatia in the summer!
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We have a mini cabriolet that we tow. Its a heavier vehicle so required a heavier car-a-tow frame. Its a heavy cumbersome piece of kit. You need a heavy pair of gloves and if you have a cycle rack this comes in handy to stow temporarily otherwise takes a
lot of room in that garage. Get a bag and a pair of decent small ratchet straps.I can't hook up at the house as cant risk not getting it around the estates parked cars as it sharpens the turning capability.
Not tried the reversing trick yet as not had chance (the trick is to bungy the steering wheel as you reverse so the wheels dont lock in opposite direction). I don't think you can leave this in place moving forward. Find a big car park and have a practice
early one morning.My best advice? Plan ahead, using google earth, work out where to hitch/unhitch in advance as we did cause chaos in the lakes driving upto the site hitched up!! Best to unhitch calmly on a layby 1/2 mile away than block an entrance!! You won't be popular
not matter what people say :-) and having said that if the site is large and has plenty of arrival space you should be fine.Towing is the easy bit. You'll have the rear camera on for a while then forget about it. Just remember it pulling into services and if you are venturing down to Devon, again, think ahead and have a "plan" for meeting a coach or a HGV on a narrow lane!!
Is it worth it? For me the jury is still out. Will let you know after a trip to Croatia in the summer!
What way are you traveling to Croatia, you do know that 'A' frames are illegal abroad. I think you would also require 2 vignettes for Austria.
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I would encourage you to tow if you feel you have the need for a car. I have been towing cars for the last 12 years. Initially on trailers then moved to A Frames. The A Frame is so much easier than a trailer. We do not tow a car in Europe we love the freedom
of Aires and Stellplatz so we are almost in the town centres so have no need for a car.I guess the big question is around the type of A Frame you will hve noticed the difference in price others have metioned in their replies. This is due to some opting for Electronic Systems and others buying the cheaper mechanical type systems. The electronic
in my opinion is much easier to fit, use and store. they are much much smaller and lighter as they are only a means of attaching and phyisically pulling the car. the actual braking of the car is done by a seperate electronic device permanantly installed in
the vehicle.I currently tow a Mercedes SLK on my A Frame, its a heavy car but I have no issues what so ever. The system was fitted by Towbars 2 Towcars in Grimsby. This is the second car they have converted for me. They are a very proffessional company with what I would
view as the best knoweldge and understanding of the market and current legislation associated ith the use of A Frames.I can install my A Frame from scratch in less than 10 minutes. I remove the light weight a frame from the boot of the car. Screw in the two removable eye bolts onto the front. Inset each leg of the A Frame and secure with metal clips. Attach the break way
cable to the eye permamnatly attached to the car and hook the electric cable onto both vehicles which gives me lights on my tow car to work, change the registration plate on the car by using the clever holder Towbars to Towcars provide. Attach my red triangles
(magnetic) and thats me set to go.It is just so so simple and i can also monitor the brakes in my car as they operate. A red LED in my motorhome shows when the brakes are being applied and more importantly lets me see they are removed. i have heard of a number of cars destroyed using the
overrun system and the brakes do not release. I can tell at a glance when the brakes are on or off.Hope this helps
Stewart
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We have a mini cabriolet that we tow. Its a heavier vehicle so required a heavier car-a-tow frame. Its a heavy cumbersome piece of kit. You need a heavy pair of gloves and if you have a cycle rack this comes in handy to stow temporarily otherwise takes a
lot of room in that garage. Get a bag and a pair of decent small ratchet straps.I can't hook up at the house as cant risk not getting it around the estates parked cars as it sharpens the turning capability.
Not tried the reversing trick yet as not had chance (the trick is to bungy the steering wheel as you reverse so the wheels dont lock in opposite direction). I don't think you can leave this in place moving forward. Find a big car park and have a practice
early one morning.My best advice? Plan ahead, using google earth, work out where to hitch/unhitch in advance as we did cause chaos in the lakes driving upto the site hitched up!! Best to unhitch calmly on a layby 1/2 mile away than block an entrance!! You won't be popular
not matter what people say :-) and having said that if the site is large and has plenty of arrival space you should be fine.Towing is the easy bit. You'll have the rear camera on for a while then forget about it. Just remember it pulling into services and if you are venturing down to Devon, again, think ahead and have a "plan" for meeting a coach or a HGV on a narrow lane!!
Is it worth it? For me the jury is still out. Will let you know after a trip to Croatia in the summer!
What way are you traveling to Croatia, you do know that 'A' frames are illegal abroad. I think you would also require 2 vignettes for Austria.
We have a mini cabriolet that we tow. Its a heavier vehicle so required a heavier car-a-tow frame. Its a heavy cumbersome piece of kit. You need a heavy pair of gloves and if you have a cycle rack this comes in handy to stow temporarily otherwise takes a
lot of room in that garage. Get a bag and a pair of decent small ratchet straps.I can't hook up at the house as cant risk not getting it around the estates parked cars as it sharpens the turning capability.
Not tried the reversing trick yet as not had chance (the trick is to bungy the steering wheel as you reverse so the wheels dont lock in opposite direction). I don't think you can leave this in place moving forward. Find a big car park and have a practice
early one morning.My best advice? Plan ahead, using google earth, work out where to hitch/unhitch in advance as we did cause chaos in the lakes driving upto the site hitched up!! Best to unhitch calmly on a layby 1/2 mile away than block an entrance!! You won't be popular
not matter what people say :-) and having said that if the site is large and has plenty of arrival space you should be fine.Towing is the easy bit. You'll have the rear camera on for a while then forget about it. Just remember it pulling into services and if you are venturing down to Devon, again, think ahead and have a "plan" for meeting a coach or a HGV on a narrow lane!!
Is it worth it? For me the jury is still out. Will let you know after a trip to Croatia in the summer!
What way are you traveling to Croatia, you do know that 'A' frames are illegal abroad. I think you would also require 2 vignettes for Austria.
Have heard of issues in Spain but not elsewhere..
Belguim-Germany-Austria-Slovenia-Croatia-Italy-Switzerland-France
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