A question for some Motorhome owners
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No problems at all with anyone towing a car, that’s a personal choice and compromise. We occasionally take our Jeep with us. 😁
My point was more about not finding a MH inconvenient in this country, simply because our choice was based on understanding what we wanted to do, where we like to go, and still being comfortable, not having to rely on buses, bikes or our legs. Hence we don’t tend to lobby hard for all Club Sites to be hardstandings, to provide Aire type facilities or for more Club Sites in urban areas.
The biggest differences having a motorhome means to us, is that our day vehicle now doubles as our mobile cafe, loo and shower, is easy to set up and pack up, and sits on our drive ready to roll every single day within minutes.As I said earlier, we used to ponder on why some folks tow a car. We also ponder on why some folks buy huge caravans with huge awnings, but the simple answer is because they have the choice and it fits their needs, you simply go with what suits at the time, no right or wrong 😁
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Surely they realise the limitations of a large MH before they buy rather than "find" they can’t go to some places with it🤷🏻♂️.
If it suits some folk to have a big MH and tow a car, that’s a good choice for them but buying big without giving it due thought is a tad silly.
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We wouldn’t go much bigger, even for touring overseas. It’s not about being in the MH for us, more about the ease of getting from one place to another, being able to park up virtually anywhere, use our onboard facilities. Our storage/ carrying capacity is flexible as well. Sometimes bikes on back, sometimes more storage space in shape of a Fiamma box. We only carry what we might need for whatever kind of trip we are doing. The whole thing has to pack up in 10 minutes or it’s time wasted for us. This is our current choice.😁
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That is what some we have spoken to have realised that the MC they now own, has much reduced living area compared size for size with the caravan they have traded in for the MC ,but anything bigger would not fit on their drive. In front of house, or it would be to big for us to drive
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Choice of size might be about a lot of different things to be honest. It could be what suits in terms of touring about. It might be that someone who intends spending months at a time might prefer something larger and more of a home from home. It might be required for physical or mobility reasons. It might be about driving it around, or indeed as you point out JV, being able to store it at home. Some aspects apply to both MH and caravan choice. Our cab seats rotate, so the inside seating area of our small MH replicates the size of our caravan, but we don’t tend to use the bench seats for single sleeping, use the benches transverse to make a large double. Five minutes more faff to get bed ready, but not something that bothers us, as all parts of benches make up the bed, no extra cushions to store.
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If your MC is based on a boxer/fiat without air bag ,I have the ultimate theft deterent from our autocruise, a detachable steering wheel, which also when removed makes the drivers.side seat easy to swivel
not expensive either cost me over £200 easy to fit as well
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"We also considered how we would visit all the sorts of places we like once we got to site."
and here, in a nutshell, is one of the key differences in 'caravan thinking' as opposed to 'MH thinking'...
I think that is too simplistic and narrow. I have seen MHs, a good number on club sites, who do exactly as in the first quotation. They arrive on site, go off for the day then return at night and do the same thing for a good few days. I can't believe this is only on club sites?
Equally I have know and talked to a few caravaners who arrive for early at midday, go off to see whatever, back at night then go off to another site about 10 and repeat .
There is no MH or caravan 'thinking' just how I like to tour or holiday 'thinking'.
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No, it’s a VW. With airbags as well. We don’t beat ourselves up about theft to be honest, the things of real value we take out with us, namely the dog and our mobile phones. Everything else, while inconvenient should it go, is covered under insurance and we don’t fret about clothes and other bits and bobs. We have lots of security on vehicle, and tend to park up next to big expensive motors, much more worth thieving. 😂
Might be different overseas if we had passports and travellers cheques, but most things are quite portable. We have photos of bikes, odd bit of jewellery I might wear. We are just not worth thieving from to be honest. Only time we have ever lost anything (touches wood🙏) we were on a Site in caravan and some so and so pinched one of our water carriers. Without the lid.🤷♀️
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+1 Steve, from both of us😁
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Don't tell BB you didn't move on each day
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+ 1
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We were originally when we bought our MH. I could only manage three days at a time away, as I was caring for my elderly father.
We gave the caravan a few tries, but it was half a day to get to a Site, drop off and then go out, same to come home. Having owned a camper van previously (and therefore having practical, rather than speculative insight) we knew how much easier it is to keep something ready to roll instantly, drive to what we want to see, only arriving on a Site for our easy 10 minute pitch up in the evening, so three full days out and about doing things, rather than a half, a full day, and then a day towing home. We have kept our caravan, but in truth, it’s been little used in the last seven years, as the MH gives us so much more in terms of time away. We are back to touring as we used to in our young days, every day is packed with things to do, places to see, and we have probably seen more places in the last seven years, than we did in the previous twenty with the caravan. Don’t get me wrong, the caravan was and still is lovely, but for us an entirely different holiday. Drive to Site, pitch up for a month, then use car to explore area. Pack up, move to another area, and repeat. Great if you have a few months away, but not for fast weekend type breaks. And, whilst we did tour all year round in our van, that’s a whole lot easier in MH in Winter as well. It doesn’t sit on drive for a few months doing nothing.
OH drove Fire Engines, which he loved. Towing caravan, even with a proper 4x4 Landy or Jeep, he’s never really enjoyed. Necessary, but boring.
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Yes quite different. 🙂 We always travelled light in caravan, even for a month at a time, certainly compared to most folks, half hour at most saw us set up with van. Mind, we had two vans, one kept on Cornwall Site that always had a few extras in it. I did and do prefer van for Cornwall, but mainly because we didn’t go far from Site down there, forty mile radius most of time, all about nipping to various beaches, walking favourite paths, etc....
We enjoy a month at a time in MH as well though, not just short breaks now.
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We once took our (rather heavy) breadmaker away with us. Set it up in awning, fresh bread every morning. We drove rest of Marazion Site into a drooling frenzy, folks stopped by to see what loaf of the day was😂😂
All part of being away having things that make you comfortable. OH wasn’t too chuffed when I found the hat of my dreams though, one time in Penzance. We had to live with a huge hatbox taking up space for a couple of weeks.🤣
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Good to see you’re not letting standards slip David 😉
One of the fun things on sites is checking out what stuff people bring. Recently we had neighbours with a meat slicer, not a domestic model, but one of those full on types you see in the butchers! That was in addition to a commercial type electric fly killer and bird cage!
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