Towing 8ft wide caravans
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Obesity ain't just affecting the population, even caravans are getting fatter.
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We now have a new 8’ wide Adria, and yes, one does need extra care. We’re currently in Cornwall/Devon and there have been some tight meetings in small roads, sometimes A roads. But all doable with care. The extended mirrors on the car give a good indication of positioning and capability.
Another factor we have found with our van is that, (as is the case on many continental vans) with a longer than normal A frame (overall unit length is 8.24m) the pivot relationship between Towbar and caravan axle/wheels, is slightly different, as the distance is longer than on previous 7.5m long caravan - even though body length is very similar. This does make a difference when turning, particularly sharply, and of course when reversing.
Having tried an 8’ wide caravan, I think it may be difficult to go back to 7’6”, simply because it feel so spacious inside.
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agreed...we are currently on a site in Devon, been here 3 weeks so done quite a bit of touring without the caravan in and around Devon & Cornwall.
Even with just the car had some quite scary moments, a lot of the Hedgerows have not been cut so difficult to see over them to judge oncoming traffic and difficult to see what is lurking beneath them, on a number of occasions have had to wind in the mirrors to save them from being bashed, we have a 7.4 ft caravan, and although the journey down was reasonably ok, i can honestly say that with another 8 inches things could have been a little different and i have an HGV and PSV licence. meeting a tractor with hay bales on a trailer is good to get the heart pumping.
An additional 8 inches is not for me even if it does make the inside nice and spacious, be even more spacious if you arrive on site with the side peeled back
Yes Tinny, done Kit hill, maybe take another look today with the dog once we have done the domestics, great place but could not see the Eddystone Lighthouse, a little bit too misty, needles to say we left the caravan on site.
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We now have a new 8’ wide Adria, and yes, one does need extra care. We’re currently in Cornwall/Devon and there have been some tight meetings in small roads, sometimes A roads. But all doable with care. The extended mirrors on the car give a good indication of positioning and capability.
You must be in a different area of Devon/Cornwall to me, i have a few scratches on my car driving solo that were not there before we arrived.
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The cafe at the foot of the hill is good. 👍
Yes, just the thought of an 8' wide cvan on our lanes with the granite boulders in the hedges is nerve wracking. It's because his van is 8' that I recommended the route I did for Ian the other day. Our roads just aren't built for it.
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Just looking at our present pitch , which i consider to be big, space down side for water butt, caravan, 7.4 ft, awning, Kampa 390 air ,car, and then grass area for sitting on, not parking your car, would struggle to get an 8 footer on, and dont fancy leaving car in car park .
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It depends a lot on the type of touring you do. We favour a lot of CL's in rural areas which often have narrow roads. For years we towed the usual 7'-6" vans and 2 years ago changed to a 7'-10 wide unit. However despite the fact I have one of the widest 4wd tow cars it needs great care on both narrow roads and even some entrances to Club sites. In my opinion the extra internal space is not really necessary and certainly not worth the the problems of towing than can arise. I would not consider an 8 ft wide van and next time will probably return to 7'-6" which seems the ideal width.
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Not saying it is a piece of cake, and we do plan carefully on road usage. As far as Club sites go, we’ve been to Hillhead and Looe (and commercial sites near Salcombe and Ladram Bay. TBH, when on the last approaches to a site,I think timing makes a huge difference. Trying to arrive dead on first check-in time means your less likely to meet a caravan coming in the opposite direction (as they hopefully would have all left) but I continue to see people arriving early by up to 90 mins or so. A different topic methinks.
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I’ve been meaning to get round to measuring the width of towcar with Extended mirrors. I’ve only just changed to an X5, and the saga of getting mirrors to fit is the subject of other threads on here. Now the EMUK mirrors I have (ordered to fit X5 specifically) are the most solid mirrors I’ve encountered, with zero vibration and never work loose.
But, now measured, they make the car some 9’ 4” wide, which means (subject to angles) if the car will go through, so will the 8’ wide van.
Makes me wonder how many drivers have measured their extended mirror width? What results have you got?
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Especially interested to hear from those with 8ft wide c'van's as it could be something we might look at in the future.... They appear to make a fixed double bed more realistic to use..... practical access from both sides of a transverse bed... and you can get around the bottom of the bed to go to the loo at night without disturbing your OH... 😀
I noticed that in the Alicante and Pegasus Grande models, Bailey are not producing a fixed double 'against the caravan wall (like in the Valencia). I've also noted that the user payload in the Pegasus Grande is more generous than in the Alicante, especially with the weight upgrade plate/certificate.....
David
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I find the Suck-it-and-See mirrors better. Absolutely no 'shake' and so easy to adjust. As they fit to the centre of the wing mirror, you adjust by using the electric wing mirror adjustment..... none of this 'up a bit, down a bit, back a bit, now you've gone too far' conversation I used to have with my wife.... Also, as they fit to the middle of the mirror, you can move the towing mirror to either extreme of the wing mirror, giving a little leeway in how far the towing mirrors come out from the car.
Suck-it-and-see mirrors do cut out some of the view from the existing wing mirror, but I don't find it at all bad to be honest.....
David
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There used to be a plant hire depot in the village and I got recruited quite a lot on my days off to deliver and collect towable site cabins, even more brick shaped than caravans and twice as heavy. Don't remember any difficulties related to width or length going to sites in rural parts of Scotland and north England even though some of the units were larger than allowed for caravans in those days as they were classed a engineering plant.
What I don't understand, and some you people who have 8' caravans might be able to answer, is why if there is so much space inside the transverse bed has to be a fold-up design . . . ?
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What I don't understand, and some you people who have 8' caravans might be able to answer, is why if there is so much space inside the transverse bed has to be a fold-up design . . . ?
I can only speak for our Adria, and the answer is, it’s not a fold up design. The transverse bed is different to our previous Swift (7’6” but same layout) in that there is no fold up section, and once can walk easily around the bottom of the bed. In fact, the mattress is effectively two linked singles, as the whole lot folds lengthways down the centre. This also makes it easier accessing under bed storage space. Also, the bed has individual prop-up ‘Pillow’ sections to enable easy reading/TV watching in bed.
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am on a commercial site just now just outside Tavistock. site has a beautiful, perhaps 1/4 mile long drive down to site from mainroad, which is kept immaculate with shrubs, cut grass verges, overhanging trees, and some big white bolders to stop you encroaching onto the grass verges, so all the annoying little things one needs to be wary of. There are some passing places, some bigger than others and there is a very sharp blind right hand bend into the site. I did some rough measurements and 8 footer would be doable, but you would have to remove those mirrors or loose them if you should be unfortunate enough to meet another RV.
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Hi all, this is my 1st post ever and I don't even own a caravan yet. But one of the reasons for that is about space and the extra internal width is quite noticeable to me in the lounge particularly and it has me interested. However, when I actually stop to think about 6" from an external point of view I can't imagine that you go from shall we say 'Normal' towing precautions and stress levels to more noticeably elevated issues due to the extra width very often at all. Of course I understand it depends on just how much clearance there is in the first place but is it that common to be just under the ceiling of comfortable towing by owning a 7'6" caravan?
I'm guessing its a bit of an 80%-20% rule at most? and I'm sure that my first attempts would feel the same regardless of whether its a 7' or 8' dangly lump thats following me?
Any further thoughts ? any changes of heart from those posted already?
Thanks!!
T
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Of course I understand it depends on just how much clearance there is in the first place but is it that common to be just under the ceiling of comfortable towing by owning a 7'6" caravan?
It only has to be once. I managed to rip the awning rail from a 7'6" caravan on the approach to a French Farm campsite, that I couldn't check on streetview. If it had been 8 ft wide, I think we would still have been there.
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If you cannot tow a 8' wide caravan safely then maybe you should be looking for another hobby?
We have had an 8' wide caravan since 2016 and have never encoutered any issues in the UK, France or Spain or have had any concerns where the roadway is narrow.
In addition, if a roadway is narrower than 8' normally there are signs indicating width however we use a TomTom Camping and Caravan satnav that allows me to inout the dimensions fo the combination outfit.
If you want an 8' wide caravan there is no logical reason why you should be concerned!
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I don't think it has anything to do with that. When all said and done, most people aren't going to notice whether one twin axle is marginally larger than another.
One reason we chose the Knaus was, unashamedly, for the large twin beds which are almost 3' wide. Ros has an artificial knee and had great difficulty getting in and out of the fixed double in the Barcelona to the extent that it was spoiling our time away in the van. That problem has now been solved.
Yes, it is necessary to take care when towing - but then I assume we all do that, whatever the size of the van. If, when I am researching new routes (particularly to CLs) I don't like the look of the approach road, I look for somewhere else - but I would have adopted the same approach with the Barcelona, so nothing's really changed.
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Another not looking for a different hobby after approaching 50 years into it, not without extensive towing experience.
The only bit about "cannot tow an 8' wide caravan" that applies, is for a high percentage of the locations where we go, I would not be that stupid doing so.
The only way some rural lanes get their hedging "trimmed" is the attrition from commercial traffic knocking it off. I could also contribute to this by taking an even wider van, but we prefer to minimise the damage to our paintwork and the windows in particular, bad enough now.
I don't see any challenges if your caravanning is using the more formal sites, and routing via mainly "A" & "B" roads. Not requiring squeezing down narrow and usually overgrown lanes together with some difficult field entries. However, if the remote off the beaten track 5 van sites, often located down that type of lane is your thing, then an 8' wide caravan must inevitably suffer that bit more.
Each to their own.
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I would say "Go for it" as it is only 6" wider than other caravan and not 6' wider. There is zero difference between towing a 7'6" caravan and an 8' wide caravan!
If you cannot manage a 7'6" wide caravan then maybe you should not be towing. We have travelled with our 8' wide caravan through the Uk using mainly CLs and also travelled in France and Spain and have never encountered any issues.
The bed is over 6' long and plenty of room to pass by the bottom of the bed when it is fuly extended. However folding it over at the top a person in a wheelchair can easily get past the bottom of the bed it is that wide.
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Actually even better for a newbie as they will not notice any difference. When we came to Britain in 1993 it was like taking a step back in time as virtually no decimalisation and using miles, pounds etc.
Our car is switched so that everything is decimalised i.e miles to km, mpg to kpl, F to centigrade. Easier tio understand as lived with it for nearly 40 years.
Not sure why Britain does not go the whole hog and decimalise everything for simplicity? BTW our caravan is 2.5m wide. LOL!
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The modern Buccaneers are specified as:
Overall Width: 2450mm / 8'0" [ not that 8 foot is 2450 mm but close at 12 mm short of it]
https://elddis.co.uk/models/bermuda
It should be noted that since we aligned with Europe, our caravans can be 2550 mm wide, nearly 4.5" wider than 8 feet.
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