Crossing to ‘The Dark Side’
Hi there! We’re new to this type of discussion forum although we’ve been caravannin with the club, mostly in large and comfortable outfits, for some 14 yrs now. As we’re now entering the Autumn of our touring lives we’ve decided, with some trepidation, to move to a motorhome and we have a lovely and, for us, much more manageable Wildax van conversion on order. The trouble is the more we think about it the more we realise how different our touring lives will be from now on. It’s like starting again and that in itself is exciting although too much excitement at our age could be a problem!! Any thoughts or tips from seasoned motorhomers who have done the same would be appreciated, especially about what to take from the caravan and what to dump, good sleeping bags, storage, necessary/essential equipment etc.
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Welcome to CT but let’s right away dispell any myth of 'the dark side'. Motorhoming is as light and bright as caravanning and there's nothing evil about it.👍🏻😀
Well done on choosing a nice small PVC. We have done the same, albeit we went from caravan to coachbuilt MH and then to PVC. In my opinion you need to dump anything you are unlikely to use. That is, spare crockery and cooking pans, water containers (other than perhaps a small one just for drinking water), all those just in case items that never see the light of day. Pare it back to the bone and see how you get on before disposing of items.
Investigate collapsible buckets, bowls and utensils and see what your cupboards could benefit from by way of extra shelves or plastic storage crates. Non-slip rubber matting in cupboards not only helps stabilise items but cuts down on rattles.
Your ingenuity will come into play both with finding nooks and crannies to store items, and with silencing the numerous rattles.
Good luck and enjoy your van.
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It’s a quite different experience, and (whisper it quietly) oh so much easier, especially as you have gone for a nice size MH. We bought a MH a few years ago, and have seen so very much more of the UK as we tour properly, choosing a mix of sites to make up a touring area.
Take what’s necessary for warmth and comfort, and literally ditch all the clutter. Life is just so much easier, if you want to make the most of touring.
We kept our old caravan, that’s still there for long stays on a single site!
Hope you have a lovely time.
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exactly what would you class as "easier" I am intrigued.?
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Thanks so much for your very helpful and friendly replies. What else would we expect from fellow Club members. Sorry for ‘The Dark Side’ comment it really was made tongue in cheek. We loved caravanning and we are looking forward with eager anticipation to a whole new way of touring both at home and abroad and the increased flexibility we hope our MH will give us. More walking and electric bikes are on the list as is anything collapsible and foldable. I have become increasingly envious of the ease with which Motorhomers arrive and set up wthin a short space of time, especially when it’s chucking it down and we’re looking forward to that aspect of the change, probably more so as we get a little older. Like everything else there will be ups and downs but we learned to live with that as caravanners for the last 14 years and that won’t change. Thanks again for your helpful, supportive replies and best wishes. They’re appreciated
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I think many people, me included, when they change from a caravan to a motorhome tend to go for something that replicates what they had in their caravan. Whilst there is nothing wrong in that I suspect most people come to the conclusion that something smaller is more flexible. We decided last year, after six years, to downsize. We did look at van conversions but decided to stay with a coachbuilt albeit of a more compact size. Wildax seem to have a good reputation and I hope you enjoy the change. Come back and tell us how you are getting on.
David
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I’m sure you’ll love it once you’ve got things sussed out, 2m.
One thing I still find a great joy is being able to take the scenic route between sites rather than sticking to major roads, and stopping off for lunch in an attractive spot with all the comforts of home on board. You can even have a nap before moving on if the fancy takes. We do nearly all our site seeing and shopping whilst en route to the next site.
Don’t worry, I was pulling your leg about the dark side comment, hence the😀.
Ask away if you have any questions.
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I swapped from an Abbey Vogue 470 to a 6M coach built about 18 months ago. Still trying to get out of the habit of carting 'come in handy' stuff that doesn't get used. Flexibility is the name of the game. So much less hassle.
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I’m sure you’ll enjoy the change-over. Bear in mind Electric Bikes are heavy wherever you decide to carry them. Just an idea once you have your outfit in touring mode it might be an idea to get it weighed to ensure you are legal. Good Luck & happy travelling.
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The lessons we learned were as follows:
Dont take too much extra equipment. Two flexible buckets is all we need.
Look for sites close to towns or shops so you don’t have to go off pitch to reprovision.
Be more adventurous. A motorhome is much easier to drive so mountain passes and narrow roads around Italian lakes are much easier.
Dont worry too much about being perfectly level. You can sleep on an incline!
It’s given our touring a new lease of life.
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One thing that stands out amongst a very large it seems membership that the UK motor caravanners tend to use their engine powered caravan just as they did in the past when useing their more versatile car on front combo ,by stopping at sites where there is not a need to move the M/C to leave site once set up ,
I think in the UK a PVC is more user friendly,
where as "over there" as we found in the past a motor caravan can be at times worth the initial high cost
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Us too, Husky, along with many others.
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We have both a smallish MH and a small caravan. We don’t keep both at home, MH is alongside house, caravan on my Mum’s drive.
MH: all preparation done at home. We travel full water tank, empty waste tank. Food for at least three days is stored. Clothes and all personal requirements on board, either bikes or storage box is on back, depending what we want to do. Dog requirements all onboard. Set off, travel to first site, stopping off enroute to take in something of interest, maybe have a meal if it’s a long travel day. Next bit is oh so easy.....Arrive, choose a pitch, brake on, hook up cable plugged in, sit down and enjoy a cuppa. We might take 30 seconds to roll out canopy.
Caravan (assume at home) careful storage of all requirement mainly in van as car is full of dog. Travel, being careful of where we stop off to see something or take a break. Clamber over stuff in caravan (awning, spare tyre, bikes etc....)to sort out a meal, or we might pack a picnic and flask. Arrive, pick a pitch, start set up. Water, waste, hook up. Put things in caravan into proper places.Depending on arrival time and weather, put awning up (small one takes 20 minutes, large one half an hour) might be deferred until next day.
We love the MH for its capacity to tour around from place to place, and travel days are “doing days”. We use it for days out as well.
We love the caravan for more space and longer stays at sites. Makes the extra set up time worth it. We do sometimes do two or three sites in a holiday, but we are very light travellers, don’t cart around the kitchen sink.
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might I suggest no backwards and forwards with Aquarolls and Wastemaster, ( although i admit fully serviced pitches can cure that one.) being able to just pull into a layby and have a break without having to exit the vehicle, same goes for parking at beauty spots with a view. We have gone from caravans to Coachbuilt M/H to Panel van conversion at 6m but wouldnt go any smaller. Yes, easier. Especially if you dont put up a fixed awning, our roll out does everything we need, and is rolled away in 5 minutes.
just different.
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+ 1 to that. No longer needing to fetch and carry water is a huge bonus.
Also no hitching/unhitching, no jockey wheel winding, no cornersteady winding (on most MHs), no difficulty levelling as the van can simply be moved a few inches if necessary.
Easier travelling without a big white wind resistant box on the back, the ability to do 70mph and use all lanes of a m/way, passing HGVs even going downhill, parking in conventional car parks (as long as there’s no height barrier). Yep, they’re all easier.
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It is as you say we have done both except we have not the room to keep even a small M/C at home so actually it is easier to tow as we just load car on the road outside the house at home then pick up the caravan from storage ,off to site then off load what is needed from car,we only ever fill aquaroll once on arrival then keep it topped up with watering cans ,as noted a lot of M/Cs do when pitched up,
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I don't think the OP was asking for a comparison JVB, I'm sure there are as many with "small" caravans as there are those who have small motorhomes. Equally some choose to stay on site and some to move on or go out for the day, that's entirely up to them and what suits them.
Storage on some motorhomes sometimes means a re-think as not all have outside storage or easy to reach areas. Finding a good place for all the stuff that's needed at set up, levelling blocks etc is one consideration, make sure you have adequate ramps, take the biggest you can store.
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I think the best advice I could give anyone looking to move from caravan to MH, is sit down, think about where you plan to holiday the most, and how you want to holiday.
If it’s on the continent, you might get away with a larger MH, as it’s a huge area with the MH culture embedded, or certainly it reads to be the case from those who do it on a regular basis. Small cheap sites, sites in towns, big open roads with less traffic.
If you want to tour primarily in UK, then it’s a trade off between comfort and convenience. Smaller means you don’t have to rely upon public transport or your own walking/cycling capabilities. We have never failed to find somewhere to park up our MH in town anywhere. We use it for days out, pulling in at some gorgeous spots with ease. We don’t need to tow a car or rely on public transport. We have less space than in van, but still have a comfy bed, a great little kitchen, room to sit and read etc..... our compromise is bathroom, but we only spend 10 minutes per day showering in there if we are on a CL etc.....It’s still a great little bathroom, we stay on no facility sites usually.😃
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Choosing the overall size of MH/campervan is critical, as is layout. It’s a very individual thing. Coming at it from a small caravan, we didn’t make a mistake luckily.
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I'm now using the largest PVC I've ever had !! 5:41m ( aka 17ft 10 ) so they are 'livable' at that size or even less.
As for turning to the "Dark Side", I would -- but a full head and beard of pure white does take some dyeing
Merciful 'Evans == MORE internal Server Errors
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Returning to the on/off site discourse.... Mostly we seldom stay more than three or four days and there is generally sufficient to occupy us on foot/bike in that time. We do, however, also go 'out for the day' which also gives us the opportunity to replenish/empty tanks at the same time. We do use the MH for 'picnic days' when not actually on our travels. The other difference between the MH and when we had the caravan is the tendency to visit places 'en route'.
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Spot on CY. Every day, including the travel ones are now “doing days”. We have done similar in caravan but usually phone re car parking situation ahead. Our MH has the same layout as our caravan, purely coincidental. But no bay window of course. Plenty of storage space though. 13ft caravan, 5.5 metre MH.
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