Motoring Discussion > Caravan thoughts Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Bobby Replies: 58

 Caravan thoughts - Bromptonaut
The 'van Bobby linked to is 15years old. May be a good deal if it's been well looked after but damp is the Achilles Heel of 'vans that age. I'd certainly want it checked. It does however look well equipped and well looked after and may have another few years in it.

The fixed bed arrangement looks like the bedroom is like a cupboard. The person sleeping on the far side is going to have to clamber over their partner every time they get out. Even when I was younger I usually needed a pee at lest once in the night....

Our Xplore 304 has a bed at the front so same issue. It's the one reason we might want to upgrade. Also, with that layout making the bed will be a royal PITA.

Although your car may have a 2 tonne braked towing limit there's a rule of thumb about 85% of kerbweight for newbies and no more than 100% as an absolute limit. Pat, formerly of this parish, was on record as not going over 85% and both she and her husband were artic drivers!!. Loading needs care, to much weight at the back and it can quickly become very unstable indeed. Passing, or being passed by, an LGV can trigger a snake. Personally I've never had more than a brief buffet and that's going at over 60 on a French Autoroute. Our 'van however is well under 80% and being very small has less scope to act like a pendulum.

One other issue on weight is Gross Train Weight - the combined mass of car and 'van. Check your car's GTW limit as in some models it's less than the sum of the 'van's max weight and the car's - you loose payload from the car. Mostly a French thing I think.

We bought ours new in 2014, shortly after I left the Civil Service. Cost around £12k. Quite a bit of other capital outlay for towbar fitting, leisure battery for the 'van, gas cylinders etc. We had a load of camping stuff so unbreakable crockery, glasses etc were ready to go.

It's about £300/pa to insure and we pay £400/pa to store it. Annual Service is a couple of hundred and the PITA of completely emptying it. Say £1k/pa in fixed costs.

We normally get away around half a dozen times for weekends plus a fortnight in France. In the last 12 months we've only been out twice plus the French trip last July. Lost a weekend pre-pandemic as a named storm deterred us. We mostly use Caravan and Motorhome club sites. One of my Yorkshire friends who uses a 'Mister How-Much' icon thinks they're ridiculously expensive but we like knowing what the facilities and pitches are going to be like. Plenty of good smaller sites including the Certificated Locations. Quite a few decent places inside 90minutes from here including the Chilterns, Cotswolds, Rutland(ish) etc. A bit further and there's the New Forest, the Peaks and so on.

The one thing I won't do is take it to the Western Isles - too far and I'm not sure I could back it into a passing place.
 Messages Author Date
 Caravan thoughts   Bobby 17 Jun 21 14:17
 Caravan thoughts   Bromptonaut 17 Jun 21 14:40
 Caravan thoughts   Bobby 17 Jun 21 15:26
 Caravan thoughts   Manatee 17 Jun 21 15:55
 Caravan thoughts   Zero 17 Jun 21 16:45
 Caravan thoughts   Bromptonaut 17 Jun 21 16:52
 Caravan thoughts   Zero 17 Jun 21 16:40
 Caravan thoughts   Bromptonaut 17 Jun 21 16:48
 Caravan thoughts   Bobby 17 Jun 21 20:10
 Caravan thoughts   Dog 18 Jun 21 08:08
 Caravan thoughts   No FM2R 17 Jun 21 20:15
 Caravan thoughts   Bobby 17 Jun 21 20:39
 Caravan thoughts   Fullchat 17 Jun 21 20:57
 Caravan thoughts   James T 17 Jun 21 21:40
 Caravan thoughts   Lemma 17 Jun 21 22:37
 Caravan thoughts   bathtub tom 17 Jun 21 23:08
 Caravan thoughts   Zero 17 Jun 21 23:15
 Caravan thoughts   legacylad 17 Jun 21 23:38
 Caravan thoughts   bathtub tom 18 Jun 21 09:45
 Caravan thoughts   Kevin 18 Jun 21 00:03
 Caravan thoughts   Zero 18 Jun 21 10:25
 Caravan thoughts   hawkeye 18 Jun 21 16:53
 Caravan thoughts   Fullchat 17 Jun 21 23:34
 Caravan thoughts   legacylad 17 Jun 21 23:43
 Caravan thoughts   Zero 18 Jun 21 10:29
 Caravan thoughts   Haywain 18 Jun 21 10:35
 Caravan thoughts   Falkirk Bairn 18 Jun 21 10:45
 Caravan thoughts   Bromptonaut 18 Jun 21 11:27
 Caravan thoughts   Bobby 20 Jun 21 17:48
 Caravan thoughts   Bromptonaut 20 Jun 21 20:23
 Caravan thoughts   Zero 21 Jun 21 10:07
 Caravan thoughts   Zero 21 Jun 21 10:14
 Caravan thoughts   Bromptonaut 21 Jun 21 10:21
 Caravan thoughts   Zero 21 Jun 21 14:52
 Caravan thoughts   Bromptonaut 21 Jun 21 10:15
 Caravan thoughts   tyrednemotional 21 Jun 21 14:12
 Caravan thoughts   Bobby 21 Jun 21 21:48
 Caravan thoughts   No FM2R 21 Jun 21 21:53
 Caravan thoughts   bathtub tom 21 Jun 21 22:52
 Caravan thoughts   Zero 21 Jun 21 23:07
 Caravan thoughts   No FM2R 21 Jun 21 23:12
 Caravan thoughts   legacylad 21 Jun 21 22:09
 Caravan thoughts   Bobby 6 Jul 21 11:28
 Caravan thoughts   James T 21 Jun 21 20:36
 Caravan thoughts   No FM2R 21 Jun 21 20:52
 Caravan thoughts   Zero 21 Jun 21 21:03
 Caravan thoughts   henry k 21 Jun 21 21:16
 Caravan thoughts   tyrednemotional 21 Jun 21 21:08
 Caravan thoughts   No FM2R 21 Jun 21 21:15
 Caravan thoughts   Bromptonaut 21 Jun 21 21:21
 Caravan thoughts   Zero 21 Jun 21 21:46
 Caravan thoughts   henry k 21 Jun 21 21:13
 Caravan thoughts   Bobby 21 Jun 21 21:40
 Caravan thoughts   Bromptonaut 22 Jun 21 08:10
 Caravan thoughts   sooty123 22 Jun 21 08:16
  
 Caravan thoughts   Runfer D'Hills 22 Jun 21 09:04
 Caravan thoughts   James T 22 Jun 21 19:39
  
 Caravan thoughts   hawkeye 24 Jun 21 11:30
 Caravan thoughts   Bromptonaut 24 Jun 21 12:28
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