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Suggestions for a twin single bed motorhome to tow 3.5.Tonne


stevechambers4wd

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Hi all first post and any help appreciated. We are looking for a newish 2016 or younger motorhome with a twin single bed layout that will tow our sons rally car or some vintage cars of mine. We had an Iveco Daily van conversion which was great but would like a well insulated motorhome with a twin single bed layout and travel seats for 4. We would want 3 tonne plus towing capacity. Have seen some such as RS and RC motorhomes but they are massive £120k + prices and while we like some build quality don't want something the price of a small house :-D .

 

Have tried some of the larger dealers and no joy. Anyone got any suggestions.

 

Thanks

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stevechambers4wd - 2020-11-25 8:59 PM

 

3.5 T is preferred so when trailer is full of car and spares I am still legal. Never know what you can find at a vintage event and need to get home. Our Iveco was 7.5m long extra high but width was a limit. Just looking at the campscout though we had moved away from van conversion. Thanks for help

 

I will be surprised and interested if you find a MH plated at 3500kg MGW which has a Maximum Train Weight of 7000kg.

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I wonder how many motorhomes have a towing capacity of 3500kg? I had a 4250kg Ducato with an Alko Chassis and I think the Train Weight limit of that was around 6000kg.

With a maximum licence weight of 8250kg and a trailer loaded to the limit of 3500kg that means the tow vehicle can be 4750kg max. An interesting dilemma.

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rayc - 2020-11-25 9:24 PM

 

I wonder how many motorhomes have a towing capacity of 3500kg?

I just Googled 'vans with 3,500 kg towing weight' and the answer seems to be VW Crafter, MB Sprinter or IVECO. So I think your choice of base vehicle is VERY limited.

 

Keith.

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yeah we have looked at option of another Iveco van conversion on a 7.2T van. But something like https://www.rsmotorhomes.com/the-rs-collection/rs-endeavour/ for half the price or less :-D :-D with less toys, no slide outs and maybe 8m long. Also looked at http://www.smart-vanz.co.uk/rc9m-motorhome/ but again a bit longer and more expensive than we want.

 

Maybe even a quality bespoke build if anyone has any suggestions.

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colin - 2020-11-25 10:13 PM

 

There are manufacturers who use the Iveco base, Pilote Dethleffs Swift, to name just a few, problem is they all seem to use them for the larger more expensive models.

 

True but do they retain those 3500kg towing limits when converted to a motorhome?

It seems to me that if the OP wants to tow that 3500kg trailer and comply with the limits of his licence that he will find it difficult to find a motorhome with a towing limit and train weight to allow him to do so.

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Hence me asking the original question rayc to see if anyone can help.

 

I know I can get motorhomes generally well over £100k based on Iveco, Merc or even Transit base. Looks like needs to be rear wheel drive. Some import motorhomes also seem to meet requirements but have "black tanks" which I don't think I want.

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If 2016 is your start-year, the following ‘mainstream’ Continental-European motorhome converters were building coachbuilt models on an Iveco or Mercedes-Benz base then.

 

Carthago

Concorde

Hymer

Le Voyageur

Neismann+Bischoff

Notin

Phoenix

 

None of these vehicles would have been cheap to begin with - all over £100K for the heavier variants - and (as rayc has warned) there’s no guarantee that they would all have a 3.5-tonne towing capability. Although buyers of such motorhomes might well want to tow a car, it’s unlikely that the car + trailer would be as heavy as 3-tonnes. For ‘heavyweight’ towing the preference seems to be to opt for an American RV (example photo attached below) but then there’s a good chance that a UK “C” driving licence entitlement would be necessary to legally drive the vehicle.

RV.jpg.9f8023ded82335fe9e15d1bfe199cb1a.jpg

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Thanks Derek

Have looked at some US imports and they all seem to have black tank which I think may be restrictive in uK campsites and all seem very long I don't really want longer than 8m.

 

Also looked up all the list of motorhomes. Can't find any "phoenix" ones with a google search.

 

thanks for help so far. Any other ideas? Any converters that would build a bespoke on a 8m Iveco chassis cab?

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its MIRO is 5070 T so would it not be legal to tow just over 3.1T? As long as my total train weight is less than 8.25T?

 

Even better just actually checked my license and I have C1E without the restrictions code which gives me up to 12T from what I can see on the very helpful link provided by an earlier poster :-D

 

Still can't afford it though

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stevechambers4wd - 2020-11-29 10:06 PM

 

its MIRO is 5070 T so would it not be legal to tow just over 3.1T? As long as my total train weight is less than 8.25T?

 

My experience of the one time I was stopped was the Police Officer summing the MGW of the tow vehicle plus the MGW of the trailer and checking it against the GTW on the plate. My licence, which had the 8250kg limit on it, was checked but the GTW was way under that so I think I was just being checked for C1E entitlement.

I guess that in your example and the Police Officer did the same you could be having an interesting discussion on whether you were driving in accordance with your licence maybe leading to a trip to a weighbridge.

In your example 5070 and 3100 adds up to 8170 not not a lot to spare for load especially if you are carrying 3 passengers.

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There’s exhaustive advice on driving-licence entitlements on this Camping and Caravanning Club link

 

https://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/AdvicePdfs/Datasheet-40.pdf

 

This mentions the difference between the C1E (107) entitlement that drivers who passed their car driving test prior to 1 January 1997 were automatically awarded (shown on 1st attachment below) and the subsequent C1E entitlement.

 

The following webpage goes into more detail about the C1E (107) and C1E entitlements and I’ve copied the relevant text on the 2nd attachment below

 

https://www.drivex.co.uk/driving-licence-info/#C1E info

 

licence.png.ffec12deb10902387cc9dd83c2315f35.png

C1E.png.9419f1d43f75b6ace8f3965af227a50f.png

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stevechambers4wd - 2020-12-04 4:19 AM

 

Thanks Derek.

 

Back to the original question. Anyone know of builders of bespoke motorhomes on say an iveco daily chassis cab, 8m long max with a twin bed over garage layout? The ones I have found so far are RS and RC.

 

 

Mostly German.

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Have you looked at Nu Venture? They build bespoke conversions alongside their small coachbuilt motorhomes. No idea what they are like to deal with but I have always been intrigued by their coachbuilts.

 

A rear wheel drive Transit would appear to meet your requirements.

 

This is a bit over your price limit https://www.winnebago.com/theroadahead/models/class-c?Product=ekko&Menu=KeyFeatures

 

Peter

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