Is 7m Too Long For A Newbie?

[Trev23]

Hi again,

 

Still looking for our first van, I prefer something compact but other half would prefer a fixed rear bed and front lounge, most of these tend to be 7m ish. How do you get on with that sort of length? There's a couple of sites we visit regularly in Cornwall and would stay for a week, my thoughts were to hire a small car for a couple of days if we wanted to go to places the van could not go such as small fishing villages, St Ives, Port Issac etc. The other places we go would be short weekend get away's where a car would not be needed and the comfort of a larger van would be nice.

 

Cheers

[Randonneur]

In a word NO. We have had various vans (4) all differing lengths, largest 7.4m (last van) this had a rear end bathroom with twin single beds but a very small lounge, we have had 2 with fixed beds (wouldn't go that route again - beds not wide enough and cut off at the ends) 7m vans and now we have an Auto-trail which is 6.26m with large lounge but no fixed bed. You only have a finite amount of space in a motorhome so you have to decide what is most important, how you are going to use it, for us with the present van was a lounge that we could actually lounge in without using the cab seats as in our previous van although the rear end washroom was a joy. So many possibilities for you to ponder and decide on your preferences. Good luck.

[Mike88]

If you like travelling in Devon and Cornwall I would say a 7m van is far too large for the appalling roads we have down here. In France and Spain no problem but you don't want to find yourself in a situation where you are reluctant to use the van because of an unpleasant driving experience.

[colin]

It's always a compromise on size.

Btw, for st Ives you can park at salting's and take train, for port Isaac iiirc there is carpark at top of hill if you don't mind the walk

[pagey]

hi following on from mike above if the van is 6m or 7m down in devon and cornwall a coachbuilt or a A class is just too wide, its not only the length

[BruceM]

Our first van is a (used) 6.25m left hand drive A Class Dethleffs and our experience is that getting used to the length has never been an issue. It’s more a matter of getting used to the width (2.55m) and becoming experienced in manoeuvring it. Good side mirrors and rear view cameras are, I think, a must. The smaller side roads only provide excitement if we meet something coming the other way. If it’s a car they usually reverse to the first passing point. If it’s a bus or a tractor-trailer combination we usually reverse. Incidentally, if the smaller Cornish villages can be reached by a UPS delivery van they can probably be reached by motorhome. The issue is more likely to be parking.

[peterjl]

It depends where you want to go and what you want to do when you get there. It's horses for courses.

 

Too big and you can't get down narrow lanes or through tight roads/ towns. Plus parking in towns is that much more difficult. If you want to go through Norway the ferry prices across the fjords double or triple over 6 m length (down the coast route there are a lot of ferries, several a day at times).

If you want to drive through Austria and are over 3.5 tonnes then you need a go box and that can be a pain. There are other countries with similar rules as well.

 

We deliberately went for <6m on a panel van <3.5 tonnes to facilitate easy travel. I reckon anywhere white van can get so can I.

 

Re fixed beds. Again some people like and some don't. Having had a fixed bed we would never go down that route again. In our experience they are a complete waste of space. We have duvaleys and setting up bed in evening and morning takes seconds.

 

Everyone will have different views. I suggest hiring a few different layouts and travel around in each for a couple of weeks. Don't sit on one site, you need to experience how it is to move on each couple of days.

 

Good luck cos you can guarantee whatever layout you first buy it will probably be wrong! It took us 3 changes over 10 years before we found our ideal.

 

Peter

[bolero boy]

one of the best 'compromise vans' is the short (>6.5m) A class, like a Pilote 600 or Hymer 544....

large lounge, good kitchen and washroom but with the convenience of a 'ready made up' drop down bed.

 

width is also an issue, we now have 'slim' (2.12m) A class Carthago and the less bulk means much easier driving....in towns, on aires, everywhere...

we also have a fixed bed, garage (plus drop down) in a 6.4m van, running at 3.5t.

[PJay]

Interesting that 2 of the replies state "would not have fixed bed again" Never had one, but feel that it is a waste of living space

Re size/length , don't forget weight. Can you drive over 3500? Is your licence valid for that?, It sounds like you intend to use mainly for weekends and short breaks/ therefore a smaller would appear to be the better option. Modern bedding takes seconds to make up beds!! Much better to have living space, for wet weather .

PJay

[Brock]

I won't go to Cornwall in our 6m x 2.34m [plus coach mirrors] van but then I'm a wimp. I do have a large scale road atlas which shows unclassified roads as narrower or wider than 4m which is more useful than a satnav. You might find that other places you can reach in a motorhome will draw you away from Cornwall.

 

More length means more weight which means less payload. As a guide, the 7m version of our 6m van is 210kg heavier. This is not a big issue if you have a C1 Driving Licence entitlement rather than just the standard car licence limiting you to 3500kg.

 

Picking up on BB's comments, we are on our third A-Class with a drop down bed in the cab because they give us more usable space in a shorter van. They have numerous other benefits and also some notable downsides.

[pepe63xnotuse]

I'd agree that it's not just the overall length, but also the width, the length of tail-overhang (ie increased tail-end swing when turning/manoeuvring ), poor ground clearances (body work, tanks, taps etc), that has the potential to cause occasional and possibly costly problems.

 

Out in some rural regions, even supposed "main" roads can get quite tight and be plagued by uncut hedges, over hanging trees and high/pronounced verges..

 

Sure, the likes of delivery trucks and buses may plough through okay but they're not as flimsy as the average MH...and their drivers aren't going be too fussed when they scrape their side along a rough, stiff hedge or clack an overhanging bough.. :-S

 

(It was only when I followed a similar sized vehicle to *ours (*at the time 7 mtr low profile Chausson), down a road (in Somerset or Devon?) that I realised just how close I must have also been coming to catching the lower rear corners of our van! :-S )

[mikebeaches]

As much as I like Devon and Cornwall, accessing some of the prettier and more appealing locations in a coachbuilt motorhome is more challenging than anywhere in the UK! The single track roads of the Highlands and Islands are a sinch by comparison.

 

And as many have mentioned, it's not so much length as width that compromises the driving experience, especially in this country. Whereas, travelling on the continent size is generally much less of an issue.

[Mike88]

I agree that width is the main problem but if you happen to get lost and need to turn around length can be very challenging as I found out yesterday in my car when I found the road completely blocked by a tractor cutting roadside hedges.

[Trev23]

This all shows my naivety, whilst in Cornwall in June I saw a German family pull up in a behemoth of a van, 7.5m minimum, on a narrow road just outside Moushole. I thought a 6m low profile would be a doddle.

[crocs]

I've toured Devon and Cornwall in a7.6m coacbuilt with no problems. It's all in the mind!

[Tourope]

There's some great advice above, much of which I would concur with. When we bought our first van at the annual NEC Motorhome exhibition, we looked at a few compact vans and met a couple who said that they'd had a 6m van and after a year or so decided it was too small, so said go for something bigger. We settled on a Hobby Optima V65GE which is 6.7m but is narrower that most other vans of a similar length. It has twin beds at the rear, which can be made into a full-sized double.

 

We like the twin bed configuration as I'm an early riser and my wife likes a lie-in. So I can get up pull the curtain across the bedroom area, and have my breakfast in solitude. If you need to go to the toilet in the middle of the night it's easy to both climb off and back onto the bed without waking the other person. As someone else mentioned though the beds are a little narrow and this maybe a problem for some. But you can leave the beds made up and don't have to faff around converting your lounge every night.Another advantage of this configuration usually means you get a large garage.

 

Similarly a longer van will usually mean you have plenty of in-van storage space if that's also a requirement.

[Will86]

In Devon and Cornwall what is important is to ... hide the satnav.

 

Buy a good map and work out a way to reach your destination on major roads only. It can be done and will take a little longer.

 

[Geeco]

I have only driven Devon & Cornwell in a car but did note the narrow roads. We have an AT Tracker FB that is a just over 7 Mtrs long. We like the fixed bed as there is no need to go to bed at the same time as is often the case with a drop down over the lounge. The length is not an issue on our roads and the length offers a feeling of space that is probably not obvious in a 6 mtr vehicle. Ours has a Luton peak that we use mostly as a storeage area for a coat or stunt kites etc however the additional open area adds to the openness of the cabin.  For our needs 7 Mtrs is about right. Cheers,

[emmerson]

Trev23 - 2017-07-21 1:48 PM

 

Hi again,

 

Still looking for our first van, I prefer something compact but other half would prefer a fixed rear bed and front lounge, most of these tend to be 7m ish. How do you get on with that sort of length? There's a couple of sites we visit regularly in Cornwall and would stay for a week, my thoughts were to hire a small car for a couple of days if we wanted to go to places the van could not go such as small fishing villages, St Ives, Port Issac etc. The other places we go would be short weekend get away's where a car would not be needed and the comfort of a larger van would be nice.

 

Cheers

Trev, you don't say how big your family is, but if it's only for two of you, have you thought about a panel van conversion? They may not have the "status" of a coachbuilt (which does seem important to some folk), but they are a damn sight more convenient! Yes, making the beds up can be a bit of a chore, but Herself and I manage it well enough, at a combined age of 155 years! We use ours as a daily runabout, too, but for long holidays we prefer our caravan and Range Rover.

[PJay]

emmerson - 2017-07-22 11:28 AM

 

Trev23 - 2017-07-21 1:48 PM

 

Hi again,

 

Still looking for our first van, I prefer something compact but other half would prefer a fixed rear bed and front lounge, most of these tend to be 7m ish. How do you get on with that sort of length? There's a couple of sites we visit regularly in Cornwall and would stay for a week, my thoughts were to hire a small car for a couple of days if we wanted to go to places the van could not go such as small fishing villages, St Ives, Port Issac etc. The other places we go would be short weekend get away's where a car would not be needed and the comfort of a larger van would be nice.

 

Cheers

Trev, you don't say how big your family is, but if it's only for two of you, have you thought about a panel van conversion? They may not have the "status" of a coachbuilt (which does seem important to some folk), but they are a damn sight more convenient! Yes, making the beds up can be a bit of a chore, but Herself and I manage it well enough, at a combined age of 155 years! We use ours as a daily runabout, too, but for long holidays we prefer our caravan and Range Rover.

 

"Combined age of "

Never heard that one before,

Still beat you by a few years, and yeas we make up beds too! Prefer to have living space.

 

PJay

[Brian Kirby]

Trev23 - 2017-07-21 1:48 PM

 

Hi again,

 

Still looking for our first van, I prefer something compact but other half would prefer a fixed rear bed and front lounge, most of these tend to be 7m ish. How do you get on with that sort of length? There's a couple of sites we visit regularly in Cornwall and would stay for a week, my thoughts were to hire a small car for a couple of days if we wanted to go to places the van could not go such as small fishing villages, St Ives, Port Issac etc. The other places we go would be short weekend get away's where a car would not be needed and the comfort of a larger van would be nice.

 

Cheers

Length really only becomes significant when parking, or when you take the wrong road and need to turn round. Most, if not all, vans of that length will be on a long wheelbase Fiat/Peugeot chassis, so turning circle also comes into it in tight places. On the other hand, width is more significant if you intend using narrow roads (are there any wide roads in Cornwall? :-)). The Fiat Ducato/Peugeot Boxer are the widest of the delivery vans at about 2070mm wide. Motorhomes built on these chassis (about 85% of motorhomes, I think) are commonly in the area of 2300-2350mm wide, so the coachbuilt body overhangs the cab by about 150mm each side. This can make gauging the width a bit tricky in really tight spots.

 

Coachbuilt motorhomes have only sheet aluminium, or less commonly sheet GRP, side walls, and both are much more prone to damage than the steel sides of vans. Scraping walls and bollards is obvious, but overhanging vegetation can leave creases down the aluminium sides if there is anything 10mm or more in diameter concealed among the leaves. Smaller stems will generally just leave sap streaks that can usually be polished out. It therefore pays to avoid "leaning on the landscaping" as you go, which is something truck and bus drivers do not always understand or anticipate.

 

On balance therefore, I'd suggest going for sub 2150mm width vans. This will eliminate anything with an island bed, but will admit quite a number of vans with transverse rear beds, starting at around 6.0 metres long and, at about 6.5 metres long, vans with longitudinal singles. You should be able to find a few at 6.0 metres with longitudinal, though possibly narrowish, double beds (often called French beds), but they will tend to be wider bodied.

 

Almost all will have a 4 seat front dinette that uses swivelled driver's and passenger's front seats, with two forward facing (belted) travel seats opposing them across the dining table. There will be no front lounge as such, but that is the price of a compact layout. Some hate it: we've had all the above variants over the past 12 years and have found them all comfortable and practical.

 

You'll probably need to look at imports from the many continental converters to get these layouts. They are not so popular in UK, at these sizes, as layouts based on convertible sofas.

 

It's a perennial problem. Large, spacious, van appeals to the desire for luxurious looking comfort - until you meet a combine down a narrow lane! Then the size suddenly seems less attractive. :-D That's the problem with motorhomes. They involve perpetual compromises that no-one else can guide you through, because no-one else exactly shares your particular preferences.

 

Before you leap in, why not try an out of season hire (and, if you'd both be driving, make sure you both do so)? It will help to distil many things that can't properly be assessed on paper or in showrooms (or shows), but need live-in experience to appreciate. You may find you hate the whole thing, immediately love it, or change your minds about what works best. Changing a van you have bought, because it doesn't work as you thought it would, is much more expensive than a week's hire! Even take it to Cornwall, and see if it fits down those lanes! :-D

[colin]

PJay - 2017-07-22 4:21 PM

 

emmerson - 2017-07-22 11:28 AM

 

Trev23 - 2017-07-21 1:48 PM

 

Hi again,

 

Still looking for our first van, I prefer something compact but other half would prefer a fixed rear bed and front lounge, most of these tend to be 7m ish. How do you get on with that sort of length? There's a couple of sites we visit regularly in Cornwall and would stay for a week, my thoughts were to hire a small car for a couple of days if we wanted to go to places the van could not go such as small fishing villages, St Ives, Port Issac etc. The other places we go would be short weekend get away's where a car would not be needed and the comfort of a larger van would be nice.

 

Cheers

Trev, you don't say how big your family is, but if it's only for two of you, have you thought about a panel van conversion? They may not have the "status" of a coachbuilt (which does seem important to some folk), but they are a damn sight more convenient! Yes, making the beds up can be a bit of a chore, but Herself and I manage it well enough, at a combined age of 155 years! We use ours as a daily runabout, too, but for long holidays we prefer our caravan and Range Rover.

 

"Combined age of "

Never heard that one before,

Still beat you by a few years, and yeas we make up beds too! Prefer to have living space.

 

PJay

 

I've posted this so many times, but here we go again.

We use our fixed bed as living space, this means we have a large living space and large storage area, I realise this doesn't suit everyone, but please don't say a fixed bed reduces the living space when it doesn't.

 

[Muswell]

pepe63 - 2017-07-21 5:11 PM

 

 

Sure, the likes of delivery trucks and buses may plough through okay but they're not as flimsy as the average MH...and their drivers aren't going be too fussed when they scrape their side along a rough, stiff hedge or clack an overhanging bough.. :-S

 

 

And the drivers do it day in day out.

[Keithl]

colin - 2017-07-22 5:29 PM

 

PJay - 2017-07-22 4:21 PM

 

emmerson - 2017-07-22 11:28 AM

 

Trev23 - 2017-07-21 1:48 PM

 

Hi again,

 

Still looking for our first van, I prefer something compact but other half would prefer a fixed rear bed and front lounge, most of these tend to be 7m ish. How do you get on with that sort of length? There's a couple of sites we visit regularly in Cornwall and would stay for a week, my thoughts were to hire a small car for a couple of days if we wanted to go to places the van could not go such as small fishing villages, St Ives, Port Issac etc. The other places we go would be short weekend get away's where a car would not be needed and the comfort of a larger van would be nice.

 

Cheers

Trev, you don't say how big your family is, but if it's only for two of you, have you thought about a panel van conversion? They may not have the "status" of a coachbuilt (which does seem important to some folk), but they are a damn sight more convenient! Yes, making the beds up can be a bit of a chore, but Herself and I manage it well enough, at a combined age of 155 years! We use ours as a daily runabout, too, but for long holidays we prefer our caravan and Range Rover.

 

"Combined age of "

Never heard that one before,

Still beat you by a few years, and yeas we make up beds too! Prefer to have living space.

 

PJay

 

I've posted this so many times, but here we go again.

We use our fixed bed as living space, this means we have a large living space and large storage area, I realise this doesn't suit everyone, but please don't say a fixed bed reduces the living space when it doesn't.

 

I totally agree with Colin, during the day the fixed bed gets used as extra storage and the space underneath (accessed from outside) is huge!

 

But the biggest plus is not having to make a bed at night, simply leave wine/beer glasses, etc on the table and jump into bed. Bliss!!!

 

Keith.

 

PS Our AT is only 6.5 m long with fixed bed and two side facing sofas. I wouldn't want to go any longer for our use but for you 7.0 m may work.

[Will86]

A waste of living space has been quoted for having a fixed bed yet no one has admitted that a little 'nooky' in the afternoon is worth ten thousand fold away beds !