Caravaning basics? Any good forums to join/ask questions?

[RedCardigan]

We were going to buy a motorhome but priced out. Thinking we could make do with a caravan.
how long does it take to set up once you’re on site with parking/levelling/water/waste/electric etc? As the point of the motorhome was we were going to stay on sites mainly for 1 night when travelling a lot, not go to a site and park up for a week.
any caravans have a fixed bed and seating for parking on a 6m space at home? Any have drop down beds like the new motorhomes do?
any forums that are good and active for lots of questions?
Or any websites that can give me a good place to start? I can tell you all about motorhomes but not caravans!
Can you tow on any licence/big SUV or do you need a new licence? Obviously doing a course would be a good start even if not compulsory

thanks!

Licence depends on when you passed your test, check your licence for the categories you're entitled to drive. You need to check the GTV of the tow vehicle against the MAM of the caravan to determine if one can legally tow the other.

What was your budget? our MH was <£10k and you can get something decent for <£20k, which could be less than changing car and buying a caravan.

I would recommend having a towing lesson as not every one likes it!
Set up, use a cordless drill to wind legs up and down, dont take loads of stuff with you and its 10 mins after practice

@DogInATent we were going to extend mortgage to get a new MH, but DH is uncomfortable with the risk so looking at a caravan.
maybe I need a longer one with a fixed bed so can keep it somewhere else. A lot of the newer ones I’ve seen still seem quite old fashioned inside?
do you store water on board or is it pumped in from the drum outside? So you have to set up water and waste to use? Have seen some people talk about loading up from the car when you get on site, can you not store clothes/kitchen stuff when towing??

I do tend to agree with your DH, money is tight with everyone at the moment
Firstly what will your present car tow? Consider fuel costs, our present Motor Home does 25MPG so Scotland would cost a lot, the car towing does 45MPG.
What you need is to have a good chat with some one locally who owns one.
We loaded all the stuff in to the caravan
Upon arrival one of us would put the legs down, plug hook up in turn gas on and the kettle on, other would explore with kids get milk etc
We set up the caravan waste but never used the water system as we found it too much faf and used the onsite showers. We used to fill a small water carrier on site or take a big bottle of water. Toilet is always left ready to use.
Personally I would look at the cheaper end of the market and see how you go before spending a lot of money, our first one was £100 we had a few great trips in it then bought a newer one with its own bathroom. We even once bought an accident damaged one taped a plastic sheet over the damage and went on holiday! We have had caravans or Motor homes / camper vans for over 20 years its always a compromise too big too small etc
Remember its a totally different sort of holiday great times you cant put a price on, we went away as much in the summer as we did in the winter the kids still talk about River Cottage the £100 leaky caravan with a bucket for Nocturnal emergencies.
If we had the money and storage space we would have a small motor home for touring and a bigger caravan for one place holidays.
You cant beat driving to the local beach and having your camper / motor home for the day to cook in toilet etc, if its bad weather just drive to a sunny place.

Look on YouTube for videos & bloggers to follow about caravaning, Here We Tow & The Trudgians are good, Here We Tow does lots of caravan reviews & The Trudgians does lots of videos showing how to do things in your caravan & product reviews.

Doginatent the towing restrictions were removed from licences during the pandemic, you can tow anything now as long as the outfit is no heavier than the maximum towing limit of your car.

Read this and make certain you fully understand it before you buy a caravan
www.gov.uk/guidance/new-rules-for-towing-a-trailer-or-caravan-with-a-car-from-autumn-2021#what-changed-on-16-december-2021
Its not difficult just a few facts to find out first weight of tow car etc

We’ve got a lightweight, fixed bed 4-berth that can be towed by pretty much anything. It’s a Bailey Discovery D4-4 and we absolutely love it. It’s got a very modern interior compared to most I looked at; it’s very minimalist though so it doesn’t suit everyone. The only caravan I can think of with a pull down bed is a Weinsberg CaraOne PUH. They are very rare though; you’d have to order now probably for delivery next March or April.

DH prefers fully serviced pitches, so you have your own tap to hook your water up to rather than having to fill your barrel up, and a drain to empty your grey water into. Obviously you will always have a walk to empty your loo cassette. Setting up depends on how much stuff you take with you. We don’t bother with an awning, even if we’re away for a week or two. The caravan is big enough if we want to be inside, and if the weather is nice we sit outside so there’s no need for one. We keep the ‘van fully stocked with everything; it’s literally like a second home. Enough clothes for a few days, phone chargers, pots pans and cutlery, beds made, towels and toiletries, medications. All we pack is food and extra clothes if we’re going for longer.

Forgot to say, Caravan Talk is a good, active forum.

Not sure if allowed to mention FB but "caravan newbies" on there is really useful for questions about when electrics don't work to what to put in your awning and towing weight

www.ukcampsite.co.uk/chatter/

Caravanning takes a bit of getting used to. We've done it for 20 years and can get set up in an hour. I love our huge fixed bed, 2 bunk beds for ds's, which are already made with lovely duvets. Fish and chips, bottle of wine, jump into bed. Perfect.

In covid lots of people bought, are now realising it's not for them and now trying to sell. So be careful.

Thanks for all the suggestions and forum links.
Im so researched in MHs about the water and waste load I have no idea how a caravan works! Does the hot water for showers etc work the same in a roughly 10L system?

so if no awning it’s possible to go somewhere for just one night and not lose too much time?

The showers you have to be quick wet your self turn off whilst washing then rinse as the heater only heats about 10l at a time in many some have constant hot water but you could then be limited by the size of your water container.
For a couple of nights we just use the site facilities and dont use an awning, but with practice you can have an awning up in 20 minutes, look at You Tube videos

If you're buying a caravan privately get a pre-sale inspection carried out by a service person if spending a lot of money

Or at least buy a damp meter from Amazon (about £20) and test caravans for damp. I didn't. Didn't even know it was an issue and luckily the one we bought seems fine but have read lots of stories of people thinking buying nice van but then discovering spongey walls and floors

We got an eco camel shower head for caravan - uses less water but same pressure so can get couple of showers out of tank at least. Mainly use site facilities (always take flip flops) and genuinely fine but will use van if at festivals

If you get a tourer then get a motor mover it's so much easier. I sold mine this year however my tips would be a blow up awning literally 2 minutes to put up. Rewire the caravan fir USB points depending on age.

While not a caravan owner we've just bought a MH.
One thing with a caravan is once set up at your destination you can unhook and use the car to visit places, not so easy with a 7 mtr MH.
While we have a shower and toilet on board we use the site facilities on offer.
Plenty of groups with good info and ideas of where to stay on FB.

@FlatWhiteExtraHot just re read the posts and the D4-4 is our current favourite, we just haven’t been able to see one yet so hoping to at the October show! A few questions, how do you find the missing corner bed and one person sleeping against the wall?
the kitchen space looks quite small, but is it okay and have you found a chopping board or something to fill in the sink?
Wondering if we can get some different cushions to make the ends of the sofas king of like sofas rather than the wooden shelf digging in to sit with feet up.

Thanks for the suggestions for watching here we tow on your tube, I really like her presenting style.

I preferred my caravan to my motorhome as you don't have to pack everything away when you want to drive just take your time towing. Its easy once you get it.

We've had many holidays in a vintage old and dated caravan. Some people seem to take huge amounts of time setting up and making their caravan and awning just like home (I am slightly in awe of the family on one site who had an entire living room style set up on their awning complete with fluffy cream coloured rugs, inflatable sofas, TV/TV stand and shelving with vases of flowers). We always prefer a quick set up so don't usually bother setting up the water/toilet and just use the site bathrooms and washing up/food prep areas. Doing it that way we can be fully set up (with awning and electricity etc) in less than an hour, but most of that is putting the awning up which is not a necessity and I probably wouldn't bother taking it if we are moving every day or so. The caravan needs to be carefully loaded to make sure it's balanced but we find we can transport all our clothes etc in the cupboards/wardrobe (so no need for unpacking).

We joined the caravan and camping club www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk as we found they had some good sites (even my mother will use their toilets!) and most can only be booked by members. One thing we found really useful about them is they offer loads of advice on technical stuff (like towing weights etc) and towing courses etc. I think at least some of that is available on their website for non-members too so might be worth a look.

I know some mention of the awnings.we have found our invaluable and a must.

Sorry, I’ve only just seen this.

The missing corner on the bed doesn’t bother us at all; DH sleeps on the outside as he tends to sleep quite “scrunched up” anyway. Being next to the wall is a bit of a pain but I just shuffle to the end and manoeuvre round DH’s feet. This would be considerably easier if we didn’t also have a bed full of dogs 😂.

The kitchen was a challenge at first but I’ve got the hang of it now after a few trips. We traded up from an Xplore 304 and although the D4-4 is a bigger ‘van, the kitchen seems smaller. The IKEA Lämplig chopping board fits exactly over the cooker top which is brilliant as it makes a worktop. There’s also a flip-up worktop extension. I also bought a cheap wooden board to cover the sink. There’s a little dresser opposite the sink where you’re supposed to put your TV; I use that for the microwave and coffee machine because we don’t bother with a telly.

The van comes with 4 decent scatter cushions which we use to pad the wooden shelf end of the sofas. There’s also a flip up table at that end, which almost every owner has managed to break on the first outing. It’s very badly designed! We’re taking it off and covering the holes, which exposes a useful shelf underneath.

There are quite a few nearly new ones for sale at the moment; bought at the height of covid and now people can go abroad again they are being offloaded like there’s no tomorrow. It’s worth looking at them, especially as the balance of warranty is fully and easily transferable for about £40, and you could save £2-3k. Even better if it comes fully loaded with all the gear you’ll need.

One thing to mention; I don’t know if you’ve seen the industry-unique wrap around awnings that the D4 range use? They are no longer being made so if you’re buying the ‘van because you like the look of that awning just be aware. There’s usually the odd second hand one for sale, so if you’ve got your heart set on it and you see one, grab it. Same with the A-frame storage box and the bike rack; they are no longer being produced so people are having to use alternative brands.

Sorry for the novel 😊. Anything else you want to know, just ask.

@FlatWhiteExtraHot thanks, that’s good to know about the awning and crazy as that seemed to be its USP. We were thinking about the bike rack on the front, as long as someone makes an alternative that would be good.
good tips about the chopping boards thanks.
do you need motor movers or is it manageable?
have seen a few with bigger kitchen areas but then it has that tiny shower over toilet and the sink outside the door and we want to use the bathroom on the caravan not site facilities.

I have a caravan and have to say the pitching up and setting off can be a bit of a faff, not sure I’d be enjoying myself if moving on every day. Saying that I do it all by myself, with two of you it’s probably quicker.

for both setting up and leaving it probably takes 30 mins. So not terrible, it’s stuff like going to the tap and filling the water barrel up and emptying the waste master and the toilet which takes time.