Giving up Caravan for Motorhome

Firstly, forget the “dark side” business. It is an enlightened decision, not dark at all😄

Just pick what’s right for you. Just like caravans, there are good and bad in all brands and that includes continental manufactured vans.

It’s always useful to buy close to home so you don’t have too far to trek to take it back when work needs doing.

The golden rule for me, learned from experience, is to buy a van as small as you can comfortably live with. Most people try to replicate their caravan when they swap to a MH and end up with a large unwieldy vehicle. Big is not better.

Good luck with your hunt.

Thank you! Prompt welcomed response.

What is the layout you've selected?

some layouts are popular in uk vans, others in continental vans...do you need a garage for storing all the stuff you used to put in the tow car.

this will also affect the level of payload available at 3.5t...if you want to go bigger/heavier you'll need to retain your grandfather rights to upto 7.5t

do you want a a proper bed?....fixed singles or a double?...a drop down, these days this can be over a rear lounge, over an A class cab or over a mid placed lounge. 

where do you want your lounge....front or rear...

do you need a decent usable washroom?...

always use sites or to explore more?

ever any extra passengers (g'kids?) which require more seatbelts?

losing the tow car means the MH takes on all the tasks of the two car (travelling, storage etc) along with all the tasks of the caravan (sleeping, eating, lounging, washing etc)....

do you fancy a panel van conversion (PVC) or coachbuilt?

some coachbuilts are slim and can mimic the footprint of a 6m PVC but provide far more internal space, storage, insulation etc.

the answers to a few of the above questions will help narrow down the choice.

good luck.

Good advice above but don't forget at 70 if you buy something over 3.5 tons you will need to have a medical to retain your C1 lincense and every three years thereafter. No big deal if you are fit for your age and healthy.

peedee

I echo the comments above. View as many vans as you can, new and second hand, to get a feel for layout, storage etc. Perhaps go to the NEC show in Birmingham next month.

You don’t say why you have decided to change but it is important to try and understand how you will use the van. Having changed from caravan to coach built Motorhome, and now PVC, initially about five years ago, it took us about a year to work out how we wanted to tour. Motorhomes lend themselves to moving on from site to site more frequently than a caravan. We recently toured SW Scotland for instance and didn’t stay more than two nights on any site, visiting attractions as we went. We used a mixture of full blown sites, CLs, and aires.

Size has already been mentioned up thread by tw. If your touring will largely be on the European mainland then you will be able to cope with a longer van than over here. England is not well geared up for motorhomes, especially parking up during the day. That sounds negative. We do all our touring in the UK, we are 71 and 72. Whilst there are things we miss from the caravan we do not regret moving to motorhomes.

If you haven’t found it, you might take a look at the forum Motorhome Fun. Lots of information there. Free to browse, subscription to post more than 5 times.

There are numerous motorhomes forums out there as well as the one mentioned. They all contain useful info. There are also brand specific forums which are a useful read once you’ve narrowed your choice down. 

We made the change about 10 years ago having caravanned for 30 years prior to that. We like the convenience and relative simplicity of the motorhome. A few years ago you could have purchased new at the top end of your price range but since Covid prices have gone up a lot. Its always difficult to give advice as we all have different requirements. Size is not so important if you will always be staying on site and either walking, biking or public transport. However if you want to visit during your stay using the motorhome then, as previously mentioned, a more compact model has its advantages. As to layouts and beds in particular make sure they suit your requirements. Motorhomes with a garage (very convenient) tend to mean beds are quite high. Likewise drop down beds, check you are happy that the level is easy for both of you to comfortably and safely get in and out of. When we are young mountains are no problems but as we get older hills can be an issue Good luck with your choice. If you find that you are leaning towards a particular brand of motorhome see if there is a Facebook group for that brand as they can a lot of detailed information and concentrated on that brand, that is not always the case with general forums.

David

As David alludes, 'getting about' (without a tow car) is often one of the biggest concerns for folk moving to a MH.

obviously, the size of van makes a huge difference to parking etc but also to how you feel with it on site. This is the biggest compromise (advantage) to motorhoming.

our own van has the same foot print as a PVC which means we can park easily enough in a supermarket but also on the street if need be.

being a coachbuilt it has straight sides which mean far more internal space than a PVC.

Being an A classs, it also has roomier cab and an extra double bed in the cab.

Having a transverse permanent bed means no making up sofas etc each day, it also gives us a large bike garage underneath. this is the same for a twin single bedded layout but would add half a metre to the length.

For bike lovers, non garage vans will need a rack of some sort and this will also add a metre or more to the length.

despite being 'of a certain age' a simple step allows us easy access to the bed, even though it's 'high'...No problem at all.

we have e-bikes which gives us a daily 'range' of say 15 comfortable miles out and back for a visit or shopping or...just exercise!

we also walk a lot.

we have used Public Transport occasionally but we wouldn't rely on it and to base our site/location decisions on the availability of this would severely compromise choices.

getting about for longer distances (NT places etc) is ok too, the van is packed up in a jiffy as we don't leave kit strewn all over a pitch...no awnings, no barrels, no waste containers no stuff....just a couple of recliners and foot rests, stored in an instant.

However, the great thing about the MH is that if you really want to visit B after a few days at A....then go and pitch at/near B. The hassle level is so low it's just like driving a tow car to visit....except you don't have to go back to get the caravan, you have it with you.

linear touring is an expression sometimes used for MH touring, hopping from place to place without having to keep going out and back each day.

motorhoming is still touring but with different options.

While size can make a difference, particularly to your living space and parking, I do think there are cut off points where parking becomes a problem either due to height barriers or available space principly for the length. Ideally you need to be not much more than 5 meters in length and a couple of meters high. That said, I would think the cut off point is what you feel comfortable with. Beyond that, I do not think size matters as long as you do not exceed 8 meters. If you exceed the 8 meter limit than even parking on sites can become a problem.

peedee

It's worth hiring the sort of van / layout that appeals to  test your decisions.