american caravan
our lunar will be our last english caravan we are thinking of a american rv but we have come across american caravan with uk spec does anyone have first hand knowledge of them they cant be as badley built as uk caravans
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The ones I have seen selling burgers do seem to be well made and equiped.
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A friend of mine imported a US caravan. He had to have all the electrics and gas changed, which was expensive. Due to its size he has a semi permanent site locally and takes it to Europe for 2 weeks a year. Yes it's well equipped and you have all the
comfort but it isn't very practical as a UK touring van. He's had it just over a year and hasn't mentioned any damp problems0 -
They are also incredibly heavy for their size. Besides, as caravans are nowadays subject to whole vehicle type approval, importing one yourself can lead to unforeseen administrative hassle in order to make them legal over here. If at all, stick to ones coming
into the country through an official channels via an importer.0 -
our lunar will be our last english caravan we are thinking of a american rv but we have come across american caravan with uk spec does anyone have first hand knowledge of them they cant be as badley built as uk caravans
Do you mean the 5th wheel caravans I posted about on one of your other threads? or the US travel trailers? I don't have first hand experience of either.....
But, I suspect that the travel trailers will be too long for a UK car (most are over 7m I thiink). I believe there are other forums that would probably have more details on specifics... there is certainly one for 5th wheels!
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no not a fith wheel these are proper caravans with uk spec they say they are light weight fibre glass we have a range rover l322 so weight should not be a issue
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There are a couple of dealers importing them but I would be very careful to make sure the spec allows them to be towed by a car and gas and electrics meet UK spec. Some appear to be oversize and you need a towing vehicle over 3.5 tonnes and the CE licence.
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If you are thinking of Airstream, which have an aluminium body and look rather like an aircraft, there are importers who sort out any UK conversions. There is a dealer at Tebay in Cumbria who has a range of models and ages. They are very well made and last for decades apparently and not cheap. I have seen both caravans and RVs but the latter are harder to come by.
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Airstreams look as if they are stuck in a fifties time-warp.
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There are two very distintly different flavours of Airstreams, the American market product, and the one(s) built specifically for Europe. The latter had until recently been a bit narrower, and have always been outfitted with lighter chassis, floor structure and internal outfitting to get the weights more suitable for our market. I looked at US versions some 10 years back when over there, the weight and the noseweight of even a modest size one was by our standards huge. NW was I recall about 160 kgs.
The outer top body of the European version would be durable as were the US versions, I saw no reason to share that view about the chassis, floor and internals which were close to what we know.
I looked at the European version when it was introduced, but "we" felt we liked it because it was "iconic" rather than for us practical, and on reflection thought that was not the right grounds to base a buying decision. Plus with the money involved we could buy nearly two Hymers so we would need to love the Airstream for about 20 years to match buying two consecutive Hymers.
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