First touring caravan

LiamLoughney

Here to research my first touring caravan! What was your first? :-D

eurortraveller

Was one like this.

Wherenext

First one was a Swift Silhouette 2 berth, no toilet, second hand. Bought in 1990.

You're not going to get any ideas for choice of caravan from most on here as there are a lot of seasoned caravaners (and ex ones) whose first caravans are well gone but not forgotten. A few will have bought upgrades recently but our last one was a Coachman 460 VIP 2 berth. We loved it but circumstances change. Good luck with your first one. If you can take an experienced caravaner with you before buying anything.

Tinwheeler

My first van - see my avatar. You won’t find one of them around now. It was made in 1949.

Francis

our first caravan was a Wellton don’t think the have made them for many years it was an old van when we bought it in the early 80s porta potto no hot water etc and very heavy. Have had a succession of vans over the years different makes and models current one js a Lunar Cosmos 544 bought new in 2018 love it

Enjoy the research that’s part of the fun

agermich

We got our first caravan just recently. It is a 2012 Sprite Musketeer TD. I was looking for something that wasn’t too heavy (to suit our tow car), with a reasonable amount of space inside. Also, we didn’t want to spend a fortune on our first van.

2012 seemed to be a good age to go for to avoid some of the horrible (in my opinion) upholstery fabrics in the earlier 2000s vans!

So far it seems to fit the bill.

nelliethehooker

Our first caravan, over 50 hrs ago, was a Lissett, who were actually manufactures of Static caravans. I have tried to research their towing vans but without success.

richardandros

This is about the only picture I can find on the 'net of my first caravan - Swift Pirouette - bought new in the early 80's. Towed by a Talbot Solara if anyone remembers those!!

This one is looking very faded and tired and was the subject of conversion into a mobile cinema, I believe.

I remember that just after it was out of warranty (a year!), it developed damp. Since we lived about five miles from the factory, I rang them up and told them. They were most apologetic and took it back over the winter and re-built it and then delivered it back to me. Those were the days😀.

peedee

I agree with @agermich, don't spend too much on your first van, it is rarely exactly what you want. You learn so much from the first one, you realise what layout and facilities you really want. Ours was a 1988 Abbey Somerset which we had for 3 years before trading it in for what we really wanted. We kept this second caravan for 10 years and loved it. We only swapped it in 2001 for a motorhome because it was getting difficult to manage.

1988 Abbey Somerset and Citreon BX

peedee

CameronBurns

We’ve still got my family’s first caravan. My Grandparents bought their first caravan in 1972 - a 1966 Sprite 400 for the cost of £180. They kept it for over 20 years and sold it to someone that my Granddad worked with.

Fast-forward to 2020, and I was able to buy their exact caravan back. It was still pretty much how they’d left it all those years ago inside, but outside had been re-painted at some point. I restored it and now it continues to provide us with a cosy little home-from-home.

I’m sure we’ll have to do something to celebrate its 60th birthday next year!