Motorhomes dominate
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We were at BW over the Easter weekend as we are tied to school holidays now and for the next few years.
There were more caravans than Motorhomes over the time we were there. Also the caravans were there for the full weekend, whereas over 50% of MH left after 1 or 2 nights.
We use BW a fair bit. To generalise, which is always subjective, in the winter months there appear more MH than caravans. In peak summer like the balloon festival there appear more caravans than MH and caravans appear to stay longer.
At our favourite CL we are yet to see a MH.
We started with a MH when we had our daughter, started off when she was 4 months old. We went all over the UK and Europe including to Poland after the last stage of the Tour de France in Paris one year. We did lots of long weekends all year round for the first 4 years due to no ties to school holidays. We did nearly 100k miles in 9 years.
As our daughter got taller, now 5'10" at 12 years old, we changed to the caravan and tend to have longer stays on one site than we did with the MH and are tied to school holidays.
But we also take cruise holidays as our daughter has taken to it. We do mega long haul trips for a month to Oz, New Zealand, Malaysia as well.
Before our daughter arrived we wouldn't have thought of a MH or caravan, or cruise holiday.
When she flies the nest we may revert to a MH as we will have more time to travel, or we may do something totally different.
An idea forming is to tow to Iceland via Denmark / Scandinavia if its possible. Currently the only 'ferries' go once a week to the Pharaoh Islands, then one a week to Iceland. We will be cruising to Iceland in August to get an idea if a 6 week trip in the next couple of years is viable. We did look at going to Shetland this summer, but the ferry cost and limited timings were almost as much as our cruise, where we go to Lerwick as a port of call anyway.
This caravan / MH lark opens up all sorts of possibilities.
Be interesting to see the ratio of c/MH this BH / Half Term at Black Knowl. Last year it was more C than MH.
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yes, the location and occupant demographic has much to do with which might work best.
im pretty sure if we only toured the uk and had kids with us, we would be using a car and caravan...and our holiday 'style' would change to something more like the 'stay longer and explore by car' method.
kids usually means touring around their commitments and getting site places in school hols requires booking....bookings requires planning, planning means knowing where you're staying and this places a 'pressure' on us to be in a particular place at a perticular time
we don't always know our route, nor how long we might stay at a spot once we've 'arrived'....in fact we rarely 'arrive' anywhere. stopping places are merely that, but of differing durations determined by a place's appeal.
...and as we don't have the restriction that kids puts on our timetable or our accommodation arrangements, a MH suits our stop/start style better.
similarly, with location, our non planned journeys, pulling in where the mood takes us are supported best by a vehicle that's self contained and allows many days without access to services and the continent serves us very well in this which is one of the reasons we tour there.
we often comment on the number of vans on the road and, especially on the M5 and A303 (two arteries of the south and southwest, we are seeing plenty of MHs.....we feel we've spotted more than caravans of late.
either way, touring (for the moment) still seems to be in rude health, which is great as we have loads more miles to do
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As has been posted several times by some ,it seems very evident that it is location and/or transport that attracts the ammount of motor caravans to sites ( in the UK
) as in our numerous travels as been noted, and also very noticeable is that it seems only the small campers that tend to move off pitch,once here,
ps watering cans seem essential pieces of kit for top ups,and buckets for waste ,if not on a service pitch
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this looks like a great caravan but the kit stored in the 'garage' has to come out when on site as this is the Bed area...
the payload is 180kg....so pretty small for a caravan without the extra 'capacity' of a garage...
load anything substantial in the rear and, not only will it be overloaded but it'll be a pig (dangerous?) to tow?
MH garages accommodate upto 450kg (payload permitting) and things like motor scooters are very popular..consider a motor scooter in the back of a caravan? M.O.I.?
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The Knaus C'van reminds me of M'home Swift brought to the market a few years back.
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Very good until they fail, then you have a very unwieldy boot lid.
Cant see 'ordinary' electric only cars being able to tow 'todays all mod cons' caravans of 1500-1600 plus kg. Can see there still being a market for older diesel 4x4s well into the future, to tow them.
And Electric cars need to come WELL down in price before average folk will buy them.
Good for cities, but in poorer rural areas internal combustion engines will be the norm, until they are forced off of the road. Even then heavy policing will be required.....no banks, no post offices....NO 4G signal.
Yes, electric based Motorhomes and Campers will sell, but at what price ? beyond normal pockets for quite a while.
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precisely my point.
whilst it's true to say that some caravans have 'garages' as in the knaus and the Caravelair, and they may have extra volume over a traditional caravan, they can't manage any significant extra weight.
if you had a payload of 180 kg as in the Knaus, using all that at the rear would be a nightmare for stability...and a wildly wrong noseweight.
attempt to balance the van (maintain noseweight etc) and that 'garage' can now accommodate 90kg....hardly a full water tank for most MHs....
so the design looks great but the paracticalities are a mile away from that of even a small PVC, let alone some of the larger vans.
the earlier photo of the Knaus shows two hefty motorbikes in the rear (at least 200-300kg) yet the payload is only 180kg and it would need a similar weight at the front to balance the van....as the bikes can't be loaded directly over the axle...
so hardly a representative scenario.
even if the payload was uplifted, it would still need careful (extra) loading to maintain noseweight/balance etc...
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Also, not only does the 'Toe' car not use fuel, the mileometer does not increment whilst being towed either. We used to tow our everyday car, a Yaris on an A frame. Still driving the Yaris now (very low mileage). Now have a 6metre 3500kg Van based Motorhome.So no need to A frame any longer ,Perfect( for us 2 plus the dog). Skye and Uists soon. Cant wait.
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Hitchglitch
Your second paragraph interested me. There is certainly a difference in attitude when you mention the two sides of the same hobby! In the past when I have mentioned we had a caravan, and perhaps even mentioned we had been all over Europe, that was usually the end of the conversation. However once we started telling people we had a motorhome people suddenly started to become a lot more animated some even saying that they would love to do that! So after 30 years I have suddenly become fashionable
David
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Am I missing the point here? Are we not all caravanners?
The motorised versions have an engine and move under their propulsion and others have to be towed. Having tried the motorised version our personal preference is for the towed variety.
Just enjoy the hobby in the way you prefer.
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Have moved on to Camping Indigo at Strasbourg. About 80% MH's here. Mind you, if this rain keeps up it may switch to 80% Motor Cruisers.
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+1
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Perhaps, like us, caravanners grew up with the hobby as children. We used to camp six weeks with our parents every year and then moved from camping to caravans. It must be difficult for the younger generation to imagine owning a caravan with non previous experience of camping whereas they can probably see the appeal of driving a van which is like a car but bigger. A panel van in particular can be parked at home and used as an everyday vehicle.
As I said earlier, we owned caravans for 30 years and loved it so I have no axe to grind but I am just feeding back what I have heard over many, many, years of caravan ownership and just 3 years with a motorhome.
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Some of our family went camping and then progressed to campervans. When we first got into this mode of travel we had intended to get a motorhome but somehow got sidestepped into a series of caravans by persuasive friends who on reflection felt happier in a caravan and wanted us to be the same. I think I might have a bit more resolve now and stick to the plan! But I do think that campervans and well designed smaller motorhomes appeal to younger people more, especially if you can park it at home or on the street and use it every day too. I'm also noticing a lot more hired M/Hs on the road so this is an industry that might be expanding?
However at present I suspect there are more caravan owners than motorhome owners. I'm sure CAMC will know the correct figures amongst it's membership.
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yes, of course we are all caravanners but I guess the comment(s) are from folk who aren't? and it's their perspective that might be different?
I'm not sure we are fashionable either, David, but I can sort of see where you (and they) are coming from...
a caravanner would tow the van to site (in a car) and then 'explore' (in a car)....just as a non caravanner could do....
whereas MHers 'tour' to site in their MH.....a high up vehicle with large panoramic windows, looking out over traffic and surrounding scenery... perhaps a bit like a train journey or on a large coach?
it may also be that the MHer touring 'style' of short stays and plenty of travel is seen more akin to a 'cruise on land' than a long stay in one place type of style?
it may even be that comparing the travelling (in style) feeling we get every time we set off anywhere is 'more fashionable' (glamorous, even) than doing it (the same hobby) in a (mundane?) car?
however, I'm sure car/caravan owners feel just the same.
i don't know, perhaps David can delve deeper next time he's told he's fashionable
I realise some have large and/or glamourous cars.......but.....(to the 'fashionistas') they aren't MHs
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Fashion has nothing to do with anything sensible!!!!Motor caravan people need,in my opinion,a large rear window so that they can see the traffic following patiently behind whilst they trot along at 40 mph admiring the scenery !!!followed a motor van today for nearly 10 miles at 30/35 mph until there was room for my car/caravan outfit to pass safely at 45/50 mph (ish). on the A75!!
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I was going to quote some remarks and comment on them but, truly, this is laughable😂😂😂😂
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I remember your issues with the A75!
Actually a large rear window is no help at all. 😋
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I don't know, perhaps David can delve deeper next time he's told he's fashionable
It's not so much a question of being told but more about the reaction differences between a caravan and camper van as most outside the hobby tend to call motorhomes. I could be well off the mark but I always got the impression, like Hitchglitch, that I was being humour for being a caravan owner whereas there seems to be genuine interest if you mention you have a motorhome/camper van even if people don't understand the subtle differences. It's of no matter to me particularly what people think just more of an observation.
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I think you need to use sites in the UK a l to see the amount of motor caravans that "tour?"as it seems the majority do the same as most caravan owners do, head for the site of their choice then stay put until time to move on or return home, the big diference seems to be where tuggers gain is they have the support go out vehicle with them when on sites that are not "suitable?"for what seems to be a big proportion of the motor caravanners who need public transport and other facilities close by, by tuggers can access via the "support vehicle " and with our long time tours ,is very noticeable,
Ps and not like some who comment we have been there and done it in two motor caravans
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A possible counter example to BB's touring style has just been posted
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I guess there is a difference for MHers between touring "over here" and "over there ". (I say guess because I've never owned a MH or toured abroad with the van, although when we camped we did many European countries).
Certainly from what I've observed on all sorts of UK sites there's no significant difference in what the two "teams" do! MHs appear to stay every bit as long as vans.
The main thing, I'd have thought, is that they're enjoying what they do, however they choose to do it!
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+1
and no 'right or wrong' way of doing it
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what holds a caravan door in any specific position between closed and fully open, on the 'door retainer'?
do they use any sort of retainer other than in the fully opened position?
what stops the door flip/flopping about in the wind?
in answer to that question re MHs, I and DD have given the same answer....MH doors have gas struts to hold the door where required...
it's really as simple as that...the two systems are different...
apparently, we have an 'anti caravan' gas strut.
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