Cavarno 2 - Horizons Unlimited

[Guest John S]

Having recently sadly lost my wife , I have every intention of carrying on motorcaravanning , albeit on my own and in a smaller van. I have been studying the market and the Horizons Unlimited Cavarno 2 seems to suit my requirements. The base vehicle is a Ford Transit turbo with the advantages of having a chain driven camshaft, cheap spares and a wide dealer network. The choice of space/water heating is between gas and diesel and I would welcome comments from readers, particularly from anyone with experience of the model and of using a diesel powered system. I have read that they can be a bit noisy. John S

[Guest Clive G4ODM]

It all depends on your intended camping lifestyle. Diesel powered heater systems, some which include hot water as well as space heating use your road tax paid fuel, but having said than the running cost is not a lot. The diesel powered system will take battery amps all the time it is running and especially when starting up to warm up the glow plug to light it. Yes they make a noise although the noise is not a lot. But its never going to be silent like a conventional gas system. If you plan to stay without mains hookup at a place for several days then you must think very carefully about your battery capacity as the heater will over time consume quite a lot. But its convienient and the "gubbins" can frequently be mounted under floor. Sometimes the "gubbins" can include a heat exchanger so that during a run the engine heat can pre warm your hot water. Likewise its also possible with some systems to pre-warm the engine from the heater before starting on a frosty morning. A Gas system may take a fraction of an amp if it has an electric start but after starting they take zero amps unless you have that circulating fan turned ON. But they work very well without the fan running. But they need gas. I had an Eberspatcher unit for a while but sold it prefering to retain the simplicity of the Gas heater that did not consume precious battery energy and was totally quiet. I fitted a bulk gas tank though so my gas is less than half the price of your diesel in the UK. Transit Turbo diesel with a chain cam. Good choice! Good luck

[Guest Mike E]

For heating I would go with an Eberspacher. In the Horizon your gas carrying capacity is likely to be relatively low so a diesel powered system will probably suit you best. The system is noisy on start up but is quiet once it has got going. Transit is an excellent choice.

[Guest David Lloyd]

John S We have the new Eberspacher Combitronic system in our Autocruise Startraveller. So far it has been fantastic. Alhtough it is a little noisy on start up once running it is OK - it has the advantage also of a 24ov Heater/Water mode when on hook-up and at night you can put it into ECO mode when it will maintain the set temp with just a very quiet fan circulating the heating. Also has a FROST setting and I have been using that this week at home - maintains the temp above freezing so you don't have to purge the system in cold weather (useful for us as we are often inclined to just take off at any time and don't have to worry about comissioning the system again). Finally it has all the usual controls - Set water/heating temp - set to come on at a specified time- alarm etc. We particularly like the option of stretching our gas supply by using diesel or 240v heating. David

[Guest Derek Uzzell]

John: About a year ago there was forum discussion about smaller motorhomes, including information from a Cavarno 4 owner that you might find useful (there's also a contact phone number). Search the forum on Cavarno to retrieve it. Regarding the standard gas heating, Horizon Unlimited's advertising doesn't say what system is fitted, but I suspect it uses Propex appliances. Optional diesel heating replaces the gas air-heater with a simple, well-proven Webasto AirTop 2000 2kW unit. HU apparently can offer Webasto's water-based system, but it's likely to be unpleasantly expensive and, I suggest, be overkill for a vehicle this compact. I'd forget about the Webasto heating programmer options - these really only offer value for money when the heaters are installed in buses or trucks. Both gas and diesel air-heating systems are fan driven, but I can't comment usefully on comparative noise levels as I don't know where HU put the Webasto heater (outside hopefully!) As Clive warns, a diesel system needs a biggish battery for reliable operation (I'd suggest 100Ah minimum) - this may present a problem with the Transit as the batteries tend to be put beneath the cab seats. (Worth discussing with HU as it's feasible to double-up the leisure batteries and still shoe-horn them under the seats.) If you can confirm that HU use Propex equipment, you could consider adding a new posting to the forum asking for information on this. Similarly for the Webasto heater. You should get feedback as Mel Eastburn's latest 'van has Propex appliances and there will probably be a number of forum readers with Trigano Tributes that have the AirTop 2000 as standard. (I note too that the January 2006 MMM will include a Webasto heater article.) Unusually HU offer Cavarno on FWD or RWD Transit chassis, but FWD is the logical choice unless a buyer intends to tow or requires an automatic gear-box. RWD would carry a significant weight penalty and the under-floor storage would be sacrificed. The standard FWD 2.0 litre 100PS motor should be adequate, but the optional 125PS TDCI, besides being noticeably more powerful, is a whole lot more civilised. There has been plenty of recent debate on Ford Transits that you can access via a forum search. I had a good look at the Cavarno at the 2005 NEC show. It appeared very well made and sure crams a lot of stuff into a small space. It's probably unique on a Ford for packing a usable bathroom, full size kitchen and 4 travel seats on to a SWB chassis. I don't think there are any direct competitors, though there are plenty of designs that would make effective 'singleton' motorhomes. Personally, I've always fancied Concorde's Compact as my hypothetical on-my-own motorhome, but this is a mite larger than Cavarno, the layout is quite different and the price nowadays may not be competitive. Eura Mobil's Pronto would also be on my window-shopping list.

[Guest John S]

Thanks everyone for your helpful contributions. I'll do further research and report back via the Forum

[Guest Derek Uzzell]

Although it's not indicated in MMM Buyers Guide, I've just noticed there was a report (May 2005 issue, page 57) on the HU Cavarno 2 Lo-line that confirms that Propex heating is used.