Caravan Ownership

[DuckWillow]

Can anyone tell me about their experiences of caravan ownership.

We are thinking about a static caravan on an established site which we could use but also let out in summer to recoup some of the pitch costs.

We’d probably be looking at a second hand caravan rather than a brand new one.

So far the negatives I can see are...

It’s not a financial investment as the vans depreciate in value.
There is usually a limit of 10-15 yrs on pitches after which we may have to upgrade.
Pitch and other fees.

Positives are..

A bolt hole within 1-1.5hrs from home for rest and relaxation which for me might well outweigh the negatives.

Just interested in other people’s experiences.

We have had one in the family since late 1960s. We use it a lot.

It's off-site and off-grid, so perhaps not everybody's cup of tea. "Site fees" are cheap though at £100 a year. Depreciation works out at about the same, so not a lot to grumble about really.

We had one for 3 years. I look back on it fondly but it was a money pit. We didn’t let it out. Eventually the kids grew to teens who didn’t enjoy it any more and we got tired of going to the same place all the time. It was great to have somewhere we could take the dog, and leave all our stuff so packing wasn’t a big deal. Definitely not an investment though.

Stay away! The average depreciation rate of a static caravan is similar to that of a car. This works out at about 15% per year and that doesn't take running costs into consideration.

We are north of york

Wow..£100 a year..brilliant that.
Bet there’s isn’t a flushin loo for that price 😂
Or is there 🤞

We have a tourer which is kept on a farm about 30 mins drive away. They do the choice of either just storage, ie stuffed next to loads of other tourers on concrete, at £75 a quarter, or "in the field" - a proper, nice campsite with minimal facilities, really just bogs, electric sometimes and a standpipe, but stupendous views for £15 per week.

It's perfect, basically we take it out and go somewhere around Easter or may Bank Holiday, then bring it back to the field. After that we can pop down and stay in it, or get it as we like for the summer, putting it back in storage when the weather turns.

It's great if going away as we can pop down the evening before with all our stuff then get off early the next morning. We also go to the odd festival, and it's fantastic for that, having a proper bed and en suite toilet vastly improves the festival experience I think.

Have had damp which is a caravan killer and expensive, have just had some work done I hope will fix it but this may be its last year if not. If no damp, and I think it's worth researching the models most prone to this, tourers can last a surprisingly long time.

We tow with a very ordinary Honda Civic which does the job fine. Does probably double petrol consumption though.

Posters commenting about how much it costs to own a touring caravan, we never towed, the dealers we bought from always delivered the caravans to the site for us. We never bought brand new because you lose too much money, usually a couple of years old, they were like brand new in condition, the most we lost when selling a caravan was £1000, we had owned & used the caravan for 3 years almost every weekend, being able to go away for no more than £25 a night is great, if we stayed outside of bank holidays it was £21 & during the winter it was £17 a night, we paid £350 a year for storage & the pitch. Our caravans were our home from home, it was great with a small child who had been caravanning from birth.

@Nat6999

Surely the whole point of a tourer is that you DO tow it?

Posted too soon..

Why would you pay someone to move your van about all the time?

Lots of people put their tourers on seasonal pitches, it's a cheaper way than buying a static, you don't get tied in to contracts where the site owner effectively owns the caravan you paid for, you get fed up of the site, you hook up & move. We couldnt have afforded a static, but we could afford a tourer, we were on a site near a market town we loved, we both loved fishing, there were fishing lakes on the site, it had everything we wanted, there were lovely walks, somewhere for ds to play, there was a good social life, its personal choice, some people buy a caravan & only use it for two weeks a year, we didn't, it was our bolthole as my then husband was suffering from MS & it meant we could get away easily but not be too far from home & hospital if we needed it.

We have a tourer and I second what everyone says, much easier and less hassle than a static.

Sattherwaite. They only do long term touring pitches and I think they are currently waiting list.

Dowser do you have a pool on site? If so, it may be the same one!

No our tourer was on a site with two pools, inside and out ( white rose)
Lovely site but we never used the pools
Weay the same price for our static on our new site as a tourer on there. The statics on WR are a £1000 more and you have to come off wh n they reach a certain age

We are 6 miles nearer york. Nothing on the site. We can get back to van after a night in york in 30 minutes

Being retired , we are in a good position to go every week for 4-5 nights.
Love the area. So much to do down there.

I’d better get my skates on ...we are going today 😁😁😁

Talk about synchronicity. Just clicked on fb and a photo popped up of my lovely mum and my welsh auntie, when they visited us at the white rose for the day.

Both long gone now and sadly missed. I used some of mums inheritance to buy the static and I keep saying to dh ..mum would’ve loved it here and I feel closest to her there.
I think she would’ve approved.
Mum and dad never bought anything like that...they just used mine instead 😂

My MiL has a static on a smallish site in a beautiful location. She loves and so do we but it's an absolute money pit:
-site fees
-depreciation, basically to zero as the site only allows vans up to a certain age on site.
-maintenance. It all has to be done by the site owners who will charge a fortune to fix a loose plank on your decking.

It's not worth renting out as the only times that make money are the times family want to use it anyway. Plus the risk of damage and trouble finding people to clean it. It's only occasionally let to close friends etc.

It's not a cheap option at all but it does bring a lot of joy and gets used a lot.

Have you come to a conclusion duck willow?

If you aren’t retired I would go for
Option A.. Have a few holidays in a rental static. We attempted to do the sun holidays at Hafan y mor. I rang the site and it was cheaper going with them. It was October. End of season 4 nights in a luxury van, with bed linen and beds made up, centrally heated and you could use it as much as you liked and passes to onsite entertainment...£100

Was about 4 years ago. Weather was great. We did snowdonia, beddgelert, portmadoc, portmeirion etc.
Loved it, I said to dh.... I’m having one of these and two years later almost to the day we were sat in ours.

Option B..a secondhand tourer. We got a two berth , coachman for £1200. Excellent vans. Really solid and well made. Sold it 18 months later for £1500 after a bit of refurbishment as we wanted something bigger.
The previous owner delivered it to our chosen site. This was about 10 years ago.
He had no desire to tow it and neither did I. If we want to visit a new place we will book a hotel there or rent a static is another option.
Our fees were about £1400 and it was a very well run site.
Dh was working then, so it suited us fine to head down on a Friday and back on Sunday and as others point out, if you don’t like site or owner...you can move.
You’re in control

With a static, the owner is in control. You have very little comeback.

Option C ...a pop up caravan like my daughters. Very light to tow. She often goes away for the night for a break and meets up with friends who have small caravan or campervan
It cost her £1000 . Conway clubman I think irs called. Take her 20 minutes to put up. Fantastic piece of engineering. It all slots together like a Tetris puzzle. The two ends pill out and make double beds. The middle has sink, fridge, cooker, seats, she puts the wall and door in around the toilet. Lift the wardrobe from the floor and puts it on a unit and that’s her wardrobe/ cupboard
She lifted her front door from the ceiling ( it has a hard top) and slotted it in the doorway
The whole thing when packed up is probably about 3-4 feet high and she can see over the top when she drives. It sleeps six as there’s room in the main bit for two beds.
You’re off the ground, so when it rains you’re nice and dr and she bought a solar unit for her lights.

So, op, whatever you choose.lHappy camping

Here it is here

Bet there’s isn’t a flushin loo for that price 😂
Or is there 🤞

No, there isn't, but that isn't a problem.

For years we made do with the Porta Potti type chemical loos that need emptying every five minutes and stink the van out with the smell of the fluid.

Two years ago we fitted a Separett Villa composting loo. No smell at all (even when you are using it) and we have only needed to empty it twice since it was fitted. I can thoroughly recommend them if you have no mains water and/or don't want the cost of a sewerage connection or septic tank.

www.waterlesstoilets.co.uk/toilets/separett-villa-9000

Or you could buy an Airstream which are fabulous but rather expensive 😱

They have shower, loo, fridge, freezer, microwave and bags of style. Very easy to tow if you have a big enough car...

That’s the one I want Dowser. I’m worried the sides won’t take the weight of my husband through

Our caravans had a cassette toilet, just fill up with chemicals when you arrive, one to dissolve the waste, one that you add water to that rinses the bowl & stops smells, only empty when leaving if there 2-3 nights or a couple of times a week if there for longer, it's a 5 minute job, most sites have a disposal point where you empty your tank & rinse it out.

We had a tent, then a tiny folding camper (Dandy), then traded up to a six berth Dandy, then a mahoosive six berth, all season Hobby caravan, which was lovely on site but a bit hairy to tow, even with our Landrover. That was stolen so we went back to the folding camper, finally selling it for a little Adria Altea, which we seem to have bought just before caravan prices went crazy.

I love our little weekends away, mainly on tiny farm sites. And yes, we have rediscovered the joy of festivals with our caravan.

That’s the one I want Dowser. I’m worried the sides won’t take the weight of my husband through

You have cause to be worried. One of my well built colleagues fell through the bed in the middle of the night the first time he used his (brand new) folding camper.

I think I would dream I was a tuna fish if I owned an air steam!

My daughter and her husband are both tiny. He about 9 st and her about 8
Children are all slim
I think there’s a bed in the main body of it though