Hi everyone- considering buying a motor home
Hi everybody. I’ve been in caravans and mobile homes owned by others for years in Scotland and France. Now retired and considering buying a motor home for my wife and I to tour Scotland, rest of the British Isles and Europe. I’m interested in finding out the reality of owning and getting best use out of a motor home.
Peter
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Hi Peter. It looks like your intro was subject to the delayed approval system but welcome now.
It's probably best if you post specific questions or points of interest in the appropriate sections of the forum. There’s a lot of info to be had here.
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Nearly a month🤷🏻♂️, I wonder if he thought he’d wasted his time☹️
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He won’t be alone. I see there were other month old posts approved today. It’s no wonder some newbies are never seen again 🤨
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As Deleted User User has said, mobility whilst on a site is probably the biggest issue with a motorhome. Using a motorhome is different to a caravan. Stays tend to be shorter with visits to places often become part of the journey. Might be worth renting, both to see whether it appeals and also to see if the type of motorhome is really the one you want. Many make the mistake of buying one that's too big for what they really need. https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk would be worth a read.
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Agree with David and CY....first thing to realise is that (unless you tow a small car) your MH will be your only vehicle which has to provide all the functions covered by a car and caravan.
getting you to site and further afield, contains your accommodation, has to carry all your kit that is often done by a large tow car.
assuming you don't want to tow, a good all round MH has to be large enough for you/partner to be comfortable in, small (crucially slim) enough to drive easily in more remote places, you mention Scotland....has to have decent bed(s) (possibly fixed if that's what you're used to) and decent storage like a garage for kit, ebikes etc...
where you tour may well influence the decision...touring in a MH in Europe is easy...every town has MH parking and probably overnighting, often free, giving easy access to places to visit and touring that is more linear than your current style with a caravan....park for a period and head out and back in a car.
turn to the uk and parking becomes more difficult placing more emphasis on the vehicle size, exacerbated by narrow roads.
many do manage in VW type vans but if touring is for longer periods, consider the lack of toilet/shower facilities and the dependence on sites..
no simple answer, far more compromises to consider...however, once across the water with pretty much total freedoms to head where you like and to stop almost anywhere without booking etc, the MH is king for a reason.
if most of your touring is in the uk then think very carefully about what you'd miss of you lost the car...and the size of your caravan...
Good luck.
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We gave serious thoughts about getting another motor caravan we had a pvc and then a coachbiult in 2004 through to 2014 when we found parking was getting more difficult for coachbiubilt motor caravans unless the site had public transport close or a town close
So we went back to tugging ,we have this year purchased an Old Autosleeper Sybol PVC fir various reasons but would not buy anything larger as we can still use it as a daily runaround as well so there is no restriction to the sites we use as parking is not a problem
Two friends of ours have coachbiults motor caravans one tows a car ,but both on swing the space we have are considering downsizing to PVCs
Larger motor caravans are fine if you have alternative transport in the UK or are going over the channel as it is much easier to use them over there
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You can get round this problem if you really feel you need a car by towing a snall one, at least in the UK. On the Continent we find the need for a car totally unnecessary it being much easier to park to visit places. Many do tow cars including myself and it gives you the best of both worlds, use it like a caravan or tour like CY says. This year I have managed perfectly well without towing a car while touring the Scotish Borders and visiting the Isle of Wight. Bus passes means it cost nothing to use public transport and I find it more relaxing to do so.
I switched from a caravan to a motorhome over twenty years ago and don't regret doing so.
peedee
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One point to remember re towing a car...
in the uk an A-frame is allowed which means you only have to store a MH and a small car on a pitch, which does leave the same amount of space there as for a car and caravan.
however, in (the majority of) Europe, A frames are not allowed and you would need a trailer, which considerably adds to the amount of faff on a site re unloading and loading.
also, the trailer has to be on the pitch alongside the car and the MH, which leads to not a lot of outside space for folk. Becomes even more trick if you like to deploy an awning or other outside 'kit'.
we do see long term eras in Spain with trailers and the site 'might' be able to provide parking for the trailer away from the pitch, but by no means guaranteed everywhere.
just another element to consider as part of the whole.
id say our van, at 6.4m by a slim 2.12m is a really good balance size wise, even for the uk. The slim width makes driving easy (and parking at NT or other places of interest) but there's enough space to be comfortable in the van of the weather isn't so good. We also have a large garage for all our kit, although apart from ebikes, we travel pretty light.
speaking of weight, what licence do you have...large MHs may well not have sufficient payload if running at 3500kg...anything over this requires different licence group. Age and health may also influence your options in this area.
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In short, what people are suggesting is that big is not necessarily best by any means.
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We changed from caravan to motorhome 4/5 years ago. Firstly an Autosleeper Broadway, coach built. 6.4m long. We found some difficulties with that and have swapped to a PVC, again 6.4m long. Some of the difficulties related to driving and parking, some were the internal arrangements. The PVC is much better, because it is narrower. We wanted that length so we could have fixed single beds (didnt want to be climbing over each other in the night). There is lots of space under the seats accessed from the reardoors which enables easy storage for our folding mobility scooters. We also needed useable shower/toilet facilities. Nothing like as grand as our last 2 berth caravan, but how much time do you spend in the bathroom? There will be compromise somewhere. We use lots of CLs and dont use site facilities even when available. We also cook (correction, I cook!) we dont often go out for meals, so food prep space was needed. We did think long and hard about not having the oven & grill we had always had. But we virtually never used the oven, and grill for toast only. So with the two burner hob and the remoska we have no problems at all.
Overall we are pleased we swapped from a caravan. The biggest down side is parking, but 80/90% of the time we have been ok. With a narrowish van you can park in kerbside parking, and you get good at reversing into parking bays so that your rear end overhangs a grass verge etc. Also our van will fit widthwide in between most carpark markings, although you may need to use side sliding door to get out.
You have to plan a bit more where you are going and what route you are taking, not just getting from home to site, or site to site but going out for the day. My OH tends to grab an OS map and "wander". If he is map reading, I will be driving and I will find myself going down narrow roads, or suddenly coming across a road with a width restriction. He gets very frustrated, because obviously we could do these outings in a car without much thought.
If all your holidays are of the sort where you go to one site, stay there for a week or so and go home again, I am not sure a motorhome is worth it. Depends how you feel about towing, hitching, unhitching. There is a different mindset with a motorhome that you have to grow into after a caravan. EG earlier this year we went to Pembrokeshire, from here in Lincs. Night one, a CL in Gloucestershire (would have done that in a caravan) Night 2 a one night CL stop near Laugharne (home of Dylan Thomas) in Camarthanshire. We were able to arrive in the afternoon, then the following morning drive to Laugharne, park, look round and then go off to our next stop. We wouldnt have done that in the caravan. We then spent 6 nights in Pembrokeshire on two CLs which minimised the travelling around. With the caravan we would probably have stayed on one site because the distances are not that great.
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My advice is go as small and compact as you comfortably can for long periods. If you are fit and healthy, this could include something with a quick fold out bed, or a drop down bed, so that it is easy to switch from day to night mode. Single long bed quality bench seats would be ideal if you prefer. A decent bit of storage, either inside, or as a separate container demountable if not required from a rear rack gives plenty of scope for carrying more items, but travelling light is a bonus. (We switch between bikes and a Fiamma storage box depending upon what we choose to do when away) This has given us eight years of easy UK motorhome usage, where we don’t need to consider public transport, towing a car, hiring a car or cycling /walking everywhere. With a tiny bit of research we have been able to park our MH in most cities, towns and villages with ease, always having our mobile cafe, loo and comfort close by at most times.
If you think you might be touring primarily overseas, then you could probably embrace something a little larger. Go too big in UK and you will be looking at Club Sites, bus timetables, and walking in the rain.
Best use of a motorhome is to actually use those four wheels, embracing all the wonderful scenery and sights in the comfort, warmth and safety of your own truly mobile holiday home. Good luck with your research👍😁
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We're probably the opposite with the way use our M/H as we don't want to drive around too much so choose places which are good for local visits on foot or local transport. Surprising what you see on local walks it's a nice way to enjoy different parts of the UK. However if you have limited mobility it's also a good way to see things too, so there are plenty of options.
I also think they are great for travel abroad, there's easy access to many free and very cheap stops in good places.
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Peter
This is a perennial question asked on forums, if only there was a simple answer
We can all give our personal stories of how we got into motorhoming and we all do it differently. It might seem a strange starting point but it might depend on how fit you both are. By this I mean can you cycle, be it pedal or electric? Can you walk reasonably long distances to get to where you want to be or will you be dependant on public transport or parking near to where you want to be?
Then there is the issue of size which has been well covered by other posts. One possible issue with someone changing from a caravan to a motorhome is that they might want to duplicate the space they have in a caravan in whatever motorhome they buy which almost certainly will lead them to a larger motorhome than perhaps they need. As mentioned by others the more compact the motorhome the easier it will be to have the choice of where you take it. If the intention is the leave it on site and use other means to get around size is not so important providing you select your routes carefully.
We are now on our second motorhome which is smaller than the original but still quite spacious. Because we like to use our own facilities we went for one with a rear bathroom. Having towed for 30 years before owning a motorhome I still think that driving a motorhome is far less stressful than towing a caravan with far fewer setting off and setting up checks. We now look for sites that are either within reasonably short walking distance of where we want to be or there are regular bus services within easy reach. We are both in our mid seventies and my mobility issues are not improving so we tend to stay in places where the above applies.
Best, if you can, is to get to one of the NEC shows where you can see a massive range of motorhomes of all shapes and sizes to inform (or confuse) your choice! Invest in a few copies of MMM (Motorhome Monthly Magazine) which always covers a wide range of topics as well as travel articles.
David
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One of the reasons we switched to a MH was to get away from towing, I really enjoyed the caravanning bit, just not so much the towing. Therefore when we switched I had no intention of towing a car, be it A frame or trailer and we were fully aware we would be adopting a different touring style. After much research we went for a 6.94 long Hymer with single fixed beds above a large rear storage area. These are easy to get into as we age, due to the steps ( which house storage) between them. The size was big enough to give us internal space, while still being manageable. Inside space I feel is more important in this country with its more variable weather, particularly if touring out of season.
I really enjoy our journeys between sites now, we are usually able to stop if we see something of interest, where as with the caravan we had to drive on by. Our Tours here or in France are about 6 weeks and include about 15 / 19 sites or Aires, stopping for 1 / 4 nights. Although we occasionally take the MH off site, (on our last tour of Scotland once to visit the castle of Mey,) generally it stays put. Food shopping is done on route at handy supermarkets and we favour sites with public transport and / or local safe walks from the site. This does rule a few out, which exit onto a main road with no pavement or adjacent track. It also requires a bit more planning to check those things, if intending to stop for more than a night.
After almost four years of having a Motorhome and using it for hundreds of site nights, we still really enjoy it. There is no way I would want to return to towing. I just wish we had gone for one earlier, instead of switching to a bigger caravan.
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We would have benefitted from owning a motorhome if we'd done it earlier as we towed vintage racing cars to circuits and we'd have had ready made accommodation. Motorhomes are versatile in that respect they can also tow boats and even caravans. They're also good as day vans depending on size. Much depends on what you like doing so as DK says it's a perennial conversation!
Hope the OP has gained some insight from our comments.
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I never found towing a caravan stressful. It was just as relaxed as using the motorhome. A motorhome also gives you a higher point of view on the journey.
The biggest thing is setup time. Removing all the security from the caravan, winding up corner steadies, shifting it across the road ready to hook up the car, fitting and adjusting mirrors, plugging in and checking lighting circuits. Undoing all of the above at the other end. Such things can be extremely tedious after a while and can dissuade one from the spontaneity of a spur of the moment short trip away.
Would I go back to a caravan? Extremely unlikely.
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We've never caravanned or tented, coming to this hobby through friends who motorhomed. As we were regular visitors to Continental Europe via plane, we quickly decided that we could do this in our MH and have all our home comforts with us as we travelled.
having more time as we retired and noting how easy the travelling and parking was there, the size of the vehicle was less important...many visitors there use liner sized vans...however, we did still want to use the van in the uk in the summer time and this lead is to have rethink on size when we last changed vans.
we had a 7.5m full width van which had lots of inside space, large twin single beds and huge garage but we were both conscious that it wasn't the easiest van to get about in nor to place on smaller pitches.
in the end we kept to the same brand (it did what we wanted) but a slimmer version and a metre shorter. in addition, the weight class dropped from 4.25t to 3.5t but we still have plenty of payload due to the smaller vans much lighter MIRO.
This has proved to be so much easier to use. Add in a shorter wheelbase (another consideration) and mini roundabouts are dispatched with ease and the small turning circle allows us to squeeze onto just about any pitch we choose.
I doubt we would go back to a larger van now.
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Travel iis undoubtedly easier without towing but the object of the exercise for us is to be able to go somewhere we actually want to go not somewhere dictated by the restrictions of lacking transport
I think that applies more in this country AD, or if you want to stay longer as you tend to. On our two trips to France with the MH we haven't found anywhere that we wanted to go out of bounds, there are just so many stopping places available, which can be utilised for the day or overnight. Of course when it comes to visiting something up a really narrow twisty / hilly road, the use of a car, or public transport is essential.
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It's such an individual choice regarding motorhomes v caravans there's even the popular choice of getting a vw type campervan plus a caravan. Out for the day in the van and back to the caravan in the evening.Or even a tent etc and a van. Every holiday style is unique so it's what suits those who are contemplating a change that's important.
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We now have no appetite for the frequent short stays and feel exhausted just looking back on our tours of 20+ years ago
I know what you mean 21 days, 3,500 miles to Italy with two young kids. 11 sites putting up 2 tents each time. It makes me feel tired just remembering.😂
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Our experience is overseas so that may not help.
We toured everywhere for half a lifetime with a small caravan with minimal kit - 5 or 6 days here and 5 or 6 days there. We came to know of lovely campsites - friendly family owners, swimming pools, room to sit out under trees in vital shade, food and drinks available , free wi fi, fresh croissants every morning, and so on. Typical low key French campsites.
But there were never any motorhomes there. Simply the locations and situations were quite wrong for them. The campsites were in the countryside. There were no buses. So the motorhomers were somewhere else altogether - often in grim situations just to get the location they needed - to be near the beach, near the shops and so on. Location seemed to be their vital factor
So we saw them in awful places like this - they seemed content but we decided not to join them .
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