Motorhomes dominate

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  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
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    edited May 2019 #92

    No idea David where that post was or which thread but you seemed to be saying that the previous choice was because you were mimicking your previous caravan layouts and that you had moved away from doing so.. But, as I said your layout looked the same as many UK caravans. 

    Alan

  • allanandjean
    allanandjean Forum Participant Posts: 2,401
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    edited May 2019 #93

    SteveL, is this the one?!

    The SKYLINE DOMINATOR

      ‘The World’s First 2 Storey Motorhome…’


    Ready to go and will impress where ever it arrives with its presence and style

  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
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    edited May 2019 #94

    Well it would certainly dominate the skyline A&J laughing

  • Unknown
    Unknown Forum Participant
    edited May 2019 #95
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  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
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    edited May 2019 #96

    David If the 'Bad Taste Post' that you refer to was mine I apologise. It was not my intent to belittle your wife's injury.

    Alan

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,303 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2019 #97

    As I put earlier, I was only referring to numbers, I don't think the one in A&J's photo would even get through the gate at BW.😂

    As to the reasons, who knows. We changed because we wanted to more easily move on and set up. We researched what we wanted over several years and rapidly realised that our caravan on four wheels, would be just too big. Although we would have liked to go smaller than we did, we decided we just couldn't live with them. In the smaller Hymer version of what we have, I couldn't even get the seat back to a comfortable driving position. What we have is a good compromise for us. We have a large rear garage with beds above. Which with the steps between them are easy to get into now and as we age. We also have sufficient room for the two of us and even the granddaughter when she gets big enough. Plus space for bikes. However, replace our Cadiz, it certainly doesn't.

  • JayOutdoors
    JayOutdoors Forum Participant Posts: 572
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    edited May 2019 #98

    Not read all the pages . 

    Bearing in mind that the OP was about a CAMC site my comments also refer to UK sites.

    I agree with Wherenext's post (page9)   If you look back say 10 years then you definitely see more Motorhomes now than then. 

    Am also seeing more smaller VW van type conversions (angled lift up roof type) on sites

    IMHO what outfits one sees on sites often relates to the time you are there - Term-time, week-ends, weekdays, school holidays etc.

  • JVB66
    JVB66 Forum Participant Posts: 22,892
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    edited May 2019 #99

    VW campervan  is now sold at their dealerships (at a price)there were two at Black Knowl one with also a roof bunk and there is one on here this weekend also wth a child

  • young thomas
    young thomas Forum Participant Posts: 11,356
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    edited May 2019 #100

    but as you've discovered, Steve, MH don't 'replace' caravans...the two are different beasts....

    one might say that the MH has a metre and a half of wasted space at the cab, but a MHer might easily think there's a wasted five metres with a towcar...an outfit of 12m that can't be parked except on a site?... not what we want.

    as your experience of the Hymer increases, so might the way you tour change, so that the new vehicle becomes more than just an easier set up and pack up...

    while we happily spend a reasonable time at several stops on a long tour, if we had a caravan we would miss the impromptu stopovers (for the other parts) which became the most interesting bit of our last tour...

    spotting a nice coastline and pulling in for an explore, which may be only the day, or a week, isn't going to work if we have to go and park the caravan somewhere before we can 'explore' in the car.....and then we might not like it and have to hitch up again.....

    whereas we are there, a quick recce as we park up, get the feel of the place, then stay (or not).

    I think if you are a 'planner' and have specific things to see in an area, over a time period, then parking up the caravan and doing the place to death might suit.....but we generally don't do that.

    yes, we do it sometimes.....a few times in a very long trip....and our touring in the uk is more like this.....but to have a large trailer behind us which we have to dump and collect is too much of a handicap for us....

     

     

     

  • JayOutdoors
    JayOutdoors Forum Participant Posts: 572
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    edited May 2019 #101

    In March this year saw a non VW van conversion with a 'Roof Tent' being used by a couple with a very small child.  No idea what the sleeping arrangements were but they seemed very happy with their outfit and climbing the ladder did not cause them a problem.  Have only ever seen 1 other similar to this on a L'Rover Defender (UK plates) in Holland some years back but that was an angled one with ladder to the rear to access their sleeping quarters.

  • Cornersteady
    Cornersteady Club Member Posts: 14,427 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2019 #102

    an outfit of 12m that can't be parked except on a site?... not what we want.

    BB you do know that only the caravan is parked on site, the car can leave? So you can't park a towcar + caravan anywhere apart from a site, no laybys? service stations?

    is the word you are looking for is pitch by any chance? Even then you can pitch a towed outfit many places apart from a site

    (See I took your advice: why not try and understand what posters 'mean' rather than what they actually write)

     

  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
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    edited May 2019 #103

    but as you've discovered, Steve, MH don't 'replace' caravans...the two are different beasts....

    I think that for Steve the motorhome has most definitely replaced the caravan. And why not if it feels that it better suits his needs?

     

  • young thomas
    young thomas Forum Participant Posts: 11,356
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    edited May 2019 #104

    Corners, why, why, why do you insist on the repeated post dissection...

    what does it acheive, other than to make it look like you can't understand anything that's posted, perhaps that's the issue? perhaps you can't help yourself, who actually knows?

    ill help a little ...

    if we are passing through a place and I fancy stopping and looking around, if I had a caravan on the back I'd have to park it somehwere to enable exploring in the car....you say pitch it.....on a site....no thanks.

    i don't want to go near a site just to do this...

    and would you leave the caravan in a layby or service station (where, middle of nowhere) so as to go out in the car and do said recce? no, of course not.

    so we park up, perhaps walk, perhaps get the bikes out, weigh up what we've uncovered and then decide if we are going to spend more time or just have a bite to eat then move on...

    if there's plenty to do, we might stay....I just don't want to have to consider what I would need to do with a caravan first in order to do this.

    as I said, it's a handicap to much of the way we tour....

    i realise you do it differently, but we couldn't do the touring style we do with a caravan in tow.

  • young thomas
    young thomas Forum Participant Posts: 11,356
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    edited May 2019 #105

    "However, replace our Cadiz, it certainly doesn't."

    Alan, I thought this was pretty clear....though perhaps Corners can dissect it to give Steve's real meaningwink

  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
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    edited May 2019 #106

    Don't you start being pedantic!!

  • Cornersteady
    Cornersteady Club Member Posts: 14,427 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2019 #107

    BB, I've noticed (and you do it a lot) that when you don't like one of my posts as I dare to challenge your writing you accuse me of using a microscope, or minutiae, or as you have done here insist on repeated posts (which I don't understand btw), all these are usually, as here, laced with a few whys or pharses like I'll help a little or your best to date be insulting with:

    what does it acheive, other than to make it look like you can't understand anything that's posted, perhaps that's the issue? perhaps you can't help yourself, who actually knows

    Why do that and play the man rather than just answer my questions? is it to ridicule my posts and myself rather than use some logical arguments? anyway, so moving on.

    I think the problem is that while others (myself included) like Steve accept that everyone can tour their own way, you do not.

    You think that MH are superior in every way and that is the only way to tour and everyone else is not savvy to know that and as you put it needs help in understanding that .

    I am not playing you here, as I am taking that from from you have posted before. We should remove car parks and other spare space and make them cheaper MH in essence pitches, when we post how this will inconvenience others not only in terms of cost you accuse of of squealing. btw the words in italics are your own. Your post upthread is a case in point, my way is better, just as over there sites are in your words better.

    Why not accept that others can think and act differently to you and let them tour their way?

     

  • Cornersteady
    Cornersteady Club Member Posts: 14,427 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2019 #108

    see what I mean BB, if you can't reply in a reasoned logical way... Bring in someone else to ridicule as well as telling Alan it was pretty clear, just in case he had missed that?

    QEDundecided

  • young thomas
    young thomas Forum Participant Posts: 11,356
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    edited May 2019 #109

    Pedantic, moi? just quoting what was plainly written....

    yes it 'replaces' his Cadiz in an absolute sense...out with the caravan in with the Hymer....you being pedantic here?....but it's not a replacement in space or in the touring style....isn't that the point...

    but when it comes to being pedanticc, we both pale into insignificance when......hang on a minute or twoundecidedwink

  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
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    edited May 2019 #110

    yes it 'replaces' his Cadiz in an absolute sense...out with the caravan in with the Hymer.

    but it's not a replacement in space or in the touring style....isn't that the point.

    I think I shall give up BB and tidy my study. It does replace - absolutely and it does replace in touring style judging by the way that you say motorhomers use their vehicles as opposed to caravanners. I don't intend going round in ever diminishing circles as I fear for a messy ending. laughing

  • Takethedogalong
    Takethedogalong Forum Participant Posts: 17,046 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2019 #111

    We have both a caravan and a motorhome. Our MH is 5.5 metres, our van including tow a frame is 5.5 metres. The inside layout is identical, with of course the exception that we don’t have swivel seats at the front of the van. Hence the van is more spacious, we can both sleep on the lounge seats in comfort lengthwise, more floor space for dogs. In MH, lounge seats are too short for beds unless we use drop down panels on back of cab seats. We don’t but choose to sleep with transverse bed made up. We didn’t choose the MH layout to mimic the van layout, it just happened. So although the layouts are nearly identical, holidaying in one is very different to holidaying in the other. One is about ease of travelling, ease of set up, touring around. The other lends itself to staying longer in one place, perhaps sticking an awning on one side, having a bit more room. And of course we just jump in car to visit places, but do have to come back to van each night. 

    Personally, and I criticise no one for their choice, we find having a MH and sticking it on a pitch a bit strange. Yes the set up is easier, getting from site to site is better than towing a box, but after that it just seems counter productive to rely on public transport or cycling/walking, and returning each night to same site. It doesn’t seem to do them a deal of good either being stood, we have witnessed a few MHs being recovered after not starting. And of course sites away from towns are less desirable. So is swopping to a MH the best thing to do?

    Setting up a caravan is actually easier nowadays then it has ever been, if one chooses to use serviced pitches. Much of the hard work can be eliminated by simply not hauling so much around to have to unpack and then repack. I don’t think in our predominantly caravanning days it ever took us more than half an hour to get set up, and that includes putting an awning up. We have seen folks wrestling for hours with their set up, and for a month it might be worth it, but for a week or so, we wonder. MH set up is down to no more than five minutes nowadays, which is brilliant for touring. And tour we do, as well as occasionally staying put for a few days. 

    I reiterate that I criticise no one for their choices, we all have individual preferences, but offer these thoughts as a representation of why we find owning two touring outfits very different in use, ease of doing one thing, difficulties in doing another. I add that we come from a small camper van background, so the compromise on space has been all our touring lives. We are just posh campers nowadays, our static holiday choice is a cottage every now and then.😁

  • Oneputt
    Oneputt Club Member Posts: 9,144 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2019 #112

    Been on a cl this weekend, 4 x caravans and one MH towing a car.  Just got home after roughly 200 miles drive and definitely more caravans than MH on the road.  Except to say that the CL was very rural with no public transport I can draw no conclusions as it was just a snapshot in time  

  • Cornersteady
    Cornersteady Club Member Posts: 14,427 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2019 #113

    I don't think anyone can draw any conclusions from any personal observations, as been said many times in this thread, site and date and a whole range of other factors play a part in what you see.

    Statistically there are more caravans out there than motor homes and certainly motor homes usage is increasing. But sales of both have been increasing yearly with MH having a higher % increase.

    As long as the club gives equal treatment everyone wins

  • Unknown
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    edited May 2019 #114
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  • Tammygirl
    Tammygirl Club Member Posts: 7,957 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2019 #115

    We are on a site which has more mh's than caravans but then again we are 'over there'.  Most sites we've been on this trip have been the same.  

    We've owned both types of LV's. Our current caravan is 6.2m including the A frame, our mh was 6.4m including the cab. They both have parallel seating which makes up to beds, they are both 6ft 1in long and both vould be made up to kingsized across the vehicle. The bathrooms are of equal size. The only diffrrence is in the caravan there is an additional worktop space, in the mh i used the cab space. 

    We have spent 1 night stopovers with both vehicles and as much as 2 weeks in one place, also with both vehicles. 

    With the caravan we can use pitches that would not be suitable for a mh, soft grass is not so much a problem. We can do things with the caravan that we couldn't do with the mh, however we could do things with the mh that we wouldn't do with the caravan. 

    There are mh's on site that have sun rooms attached to them,  some have full awnings like caravans, 2 have tents next to their mh's. We have a caravan with none of these as if its nice we sit out in the sun, if its not we sit in the van, no different to when we had a mh.

    Does it matter what folk choose to have, its their choice surely. One day we may choose to go back to a mh, just like last year we chose to go back to a caravan. smile

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
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    edited May 2019 #116

    One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the improved view whilst driving when travelling in a MH. The elevated position (I look down on him. wink ) enables one to see over hedges, other vehicles etc.

  • JVB66
    JVB66 Forum Participant Posts: 22,892
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    edited May 2019 #117

    Not all have higher harder ride cabswink

  • allanandjean
    allanandjean Forum Participant Posts: 2,401
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    edited May 2019 #118

    Hi cyber, one thing that hasn’t been mentioned-can you spot a theme here-is noise.

    For many years I had a dread of hearing a noise in my car as it usually meant something was wrong and require money spending that I did not have.

    Having travelled, albeit a short distance, in our friends MH the noise was of the contents moving around was very noticeable to me so I asked if it was always like that.

    Our friends hadn’t a clue what I was on about and, as always, we had a lovely few weeks together us in the van and they in their MH.

    This thread is giving me a mental image of being in a pub and most of us gradually moving down the bar as the ones who can’t bear to not have the last word argue amongst themselves.

  • Unknown
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    edited May 2019 #119
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  • moulesy
    moulesy Forum Participant Posts: 9,402 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited May 2019 #120

    "Does it matter what folk choose to have, its their choice surely."

    Of course it doesn't matter TG and I can never really understand why anyone would think their particular choice superior to another. But it happens! Maybe unintentionally but it certainly comes over that way. We've always been happy with a van, probably because it's more practical from the point of view of travelling with dogs. Can't see us changing now! smile

  • young thomas
    young thomas Forum Participant Posts: 11,356
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    edited May 2019 #121

    @JVB...but the great majority dowink

    Renault, Mercedes, PSA, Iveco, VW (and more) all ride at the White Van Man height...ie, significantly higher than the average car.

    we, like CY and myriad others, have a commercial base which (without modification) gives the advantages he suggests.

    its especially beneficial with a RHD van on the Continent (or a left hooker, here) to be able to see over traffic when looking around it is difficult with the wheel on the 'wrong' side.

    IMHO, it really makes life a lot easier.