Teardrop caravan are they worth it?

[dixiebloom]

Looking at teardrop as can use on car licence & DH won't tent camp! Family will store it as smaller then caravan. But they are pricey... so advice appreciated.

I feel its just a tin tent, no bog usually no cooking facilities, no heating, small caravan is much better. Might be worth doing the trailer test to tow one

Go for a freedom caravan. Lightweight and much more practical. (Dh 6ft and we managed!)

Thanks will look at freedom caravan

We have had a teardrop for years. It's a different type of camping to a tent or a caravan.

Smaller to store because most of the time it's actually in storage, less to get damp, go wrong, become a chore to look after.

We think of it as a trailer for camping - it's easy to tow, easy to push around by hand, reverse, etc.
Ours is big enough to sleep two adults plus the dog, along with a cooker connected to the onboard gas cylinder along with all the crockery, etc. You can be lazy packing, between our smallish car and the teardrop there's enough room for gazebo, additional kid tents, coolboxes, chairs, tables, wet suits, etc.

And then we store a lot of our stuff inside the teardrop when not camping.

We used to have a campervan but when we weren't going away as much it was awful as a normal drive and then wouldn't start, it got damp etc. And we went for the teardrop because we couldn't justify dropping thousands on a caravan thinking about cost per night and after backpacking a lot, wanted more comfort than ultralight but hated the multiple top box, mammoth Tetris packing challenge that four person family camping ends up as.

It worked for us, but we are always amazed at how much vans, caravans and teardrops have started to cost. Ours was deliberately designed as an affordable answer for holidays and weekends away.

I’d recommend a folding camper - we started with a 1998 Pennine Sterling and only recently upgraded to a newer Pathfinder - well looked after, they last for decades. If you’ve not seen them, they’re like the lower half of a caravan with the top half of a tent. I find them roomy and comfortable and to be honest, pretty luxurious! Ours has three double beds, an air heater, an onboard toilet cubicle, fridge, hob and oven, hot and cold running water. But very light, easy to tow, and easy to store as, folded down, they’re like a big trailer (ours is in the garage).

thanks for the replys . we are thinking of getting a campervan.

@BloodiedButUnbowed Ive just looked at the folding campers and they look great. Do you need any special towing licence for these? And are the difficult to position?

@cataclysmiclife You need to look at how much the camper weighs.

You can tow a trailer up to 750 Kg on any car licence, heavier if the combined car/trailer weight is less than 3500 Kg.

You can put you licence details into this tool to see your towing limits…

www.gov.uk/towing-rules

[quote cataclysmiclife]@BloodiedButUnbowed Ive just looked at the folding campers and they look great. Do you need any special towing licence for these? And are the difficult to position? [/quote]
DH and I got our licenses before 1997 so we didn’t have to do an extra test. Our camper is 1000kg so as per Etulosba’s post, you might not have to get the extra license if your car’s not too heavy!

As for positioning, no, not it’s not bad - DH and I just shove it around by pushing, but we’re reasonably strong and able bodied. Getting on a bit mind so I will probably get a motor mover when funds allow, then I will be able to position it by remote control and it will help us park it nicely in the garage and position it more easily when we’re on sites that aren’t completely flat.

We've got a folding camper too, an older Pathfinder. Love it! Much better than tent camping - comfy beds, kitchen, washroom, heating, hot water and pretty easy to tow etc. There are some useful FB groups if you want more info.