sandalwood Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 Lost lastthread. Thinking of buying Coachman VIP 620, changing from MH as feel too old to drive big vehicle. Any advice? Haven’t towed for 15 yrs, but see many elderly with caravans, who seem very confident. What are disadvantages, if any? Taylor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 Personaly I think stick with MH More faffing around with a caravan Towing much harder IMO. The ONLY advantage of a caravan is that you have a car to get about. We thought about it a few years ago, but decided we did not want to stick in one place/area, like the idea of moving.after a week or so. We intended to stay in Northern Spain last year, but the weather turned to rain/wind, so decided to move south, would have thought twice about moving around with a caravan. You say getting too old. How old is too old? As long as you are capable keep going We in 80s now, so play it by ear, and will continue as long as possible PJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 sandalwood - 2018-02-17 3:07 PM Thinking of buying Coachman VIP 620, changing from MH as feel too old to drive big vehicle. Any advice? Haven’t towed for 15 yrs, but see many elderly with caravans, who seem very confident. What are disadvantages, if any? Hitching and unhitching at home or on site, particularly on a slope or in a confined area. Unhitching to turn the whole lot around if you take a wrong turn and can't get out any other way. Fetching and emptying water and waste containers - unless you like doing that!. Restricted to sites and their cost - unless you like sites! Greater reliance on ehu - unless you like ehu!. Ferry and road and bridge toll charges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 Which motorhome do you have now? do you feel it is too large for you if so why not downsize to smaller motorhome. We did that a couple of years ago and the van we have now is 6.26 mts and is fine for the two of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 Hello Taylor, is the Coachman VIP 620 7.9 meters long? Add in a tow car of the size required and you are talking of a unit of 12.5 metres. The Coachman is also wider than some of the new slim line motorhomes by 9cm. It is lower by about 35cm. I'm not sure why a bigger caravan and tow car is easier to drive than a large motorhome. I've towed caravans and its not difficult if you follow the sensible guidelines. Heavy lorries can buffet you as they pass, snaking still happens even with new technology. I've seen many posts where people are asking about switching the other way and the evidence I see is that elderly people are switching from caravans to motorhomes because they feel the latter is easier to handle. There are still more elderly caravanners than motorhomers though according to the Caravan & Motorhome Club. To me the main disadvantage is that you will end up with a giant caravan and a gas guzzling tow car when many people are happy with sub 7m motorhomes - my motorhome is 6m long. This assumes you can afford to make the switch.Taking a 7.9m caravan through a town centre will be a challenge! I can see the attraction of a caravan if you like staying on sites for more than a week or so and want a car to visit local points of interest. Motorhomes can be a pig to take to supermarkets or town centres. Motormovers make it easier to pitch a caravan - although I've seen some people get it wrong. You are obliged to by an awning and putting this up is known as the divorce maker - have you forgotten how stressful it is when its windy or raining? I wonder whether changing the style of your motorhoming will make life easier? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 Randonneur - 2018-02-17 5:34 PM Which motorhome do you have now? do you feel it is too large for you if so why not downsize to smaller motorhome. We did that a couple of years ago and the van we have now is 6.26 mts and is fine for the two of us. Sandalwood’s motorhome apparently is a Rapido 776FF and its dimensions are given in her 9 February 2017 1:41 PM posting on this earlier thread. http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Downsizing/46274/ The ‘change to a caravan’ question was also discussed here: http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Downsizing-/47438/ I could understand replacing the Rapido with a smaller motorhome (as sandalwood has considered in the past) or with a car and a compact caravan, but - as brock points out - the dimensions of the VIP 620 caravan alone would exceed those of the Rapido. If sandalwood, as the sole driver, finds that a leisure-vehicle as large as the Rapido is intimidating to drive nowadays, realistically her choice will be either to identify an alternative (motorhome or car+caravan) that is small enough for her to be comfortable driving, or to stop driving leisure-vehicles altogether. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archiesgrandad Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 We have sold the van and I am looking for a suitable middle size caravan to tow behind the family car, so the maximum weight is 1200 kilos. From my research so far I can expect to find a fixed double bed, loo and shower compartment, an adequate kitchen and a reasonably comfortable dinette. We all have our own view of what is good or bad, but compared to the accommodation in the van I find the caravan slightly more comfortable and convenient. I can buy such a caravan for under 5,000 euros , and when towed behind the modern car it is not likely to be excluded from major towns etc. To replace the Pilote with something that will be able to go wherever I choose in the coming years I will have to pay 50 or 60,000 euros , and enter what seems to the evermore risky business of buying a new Fiat Ducato, in addition I will still need to run a modern family car. I made my decision to change from van to car because as I get older I feel less confident to ride far on my cycle, and I dare not risk travelling on public transport because I can no longer cope with a lot of walking. That left me with the choice of giving up or having a car with us for when we want to go sightseeing, shopping etc. We have discussed endlessly on this site the pros and cons of car towing a van or van towing a car, and in my opinion it doesn't make sense to put the car on a trailer behind a van. It costs a lot more money to buy the motorhome/trailer/car set up than it does to buy a suitable caravan and tow car , and you will need to spend an awful lot of nights on free aires to make up the difference, and I personally do not consider it to be more or less difficult to drive one or the other, but always, you takes your choice. I intend to put together a way of operating the caravan which I call "caravaning light". I no more need one of those enormous awnings on a caravan than I would on a van, so I will have a similar awning to those we have on our motorhomes, so no difference there then. yes I will have a wheeled water container to supply the caravan, but I won't need all that hosepipe and it's associated box of fittings, and I won't have to move the van to fill the tank. I will have a solar panel to charge the battery when no EHU is available or needed, and I can install an extra battery if I need to. I will definately have the same sort of toilet cassette on my caravan, it will be necessary to empty it with the same frequency as with the van, so no difference there. In my sailing days we would say "different ships, different longsplices",nothing changes really. AGD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 Yes, but this thread is headed “Downsizing”, and replacing a 7m-long Rapido coachbuilt motorhome with a Coachman caravan that’s nearly 8m-long seems like “upsizing" to me - and I very much doubt that any forum member would advise sandalwood (who is concerned about driving her ‘large’ Rapido motorhome for age reasons) that towing the bigger Coachman caravan would be less stressful than driving the Rapido. The pros and cons of caravanning versus motorcaravanning are regularly discussed (and are touched on in sandalwood’s other recent thread) http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Motorhome-or-caravan/48733/ but I’ve always felt the for-or-against arguments were largely self-evident and, if one were to decide logically, a car+caravan would be the obvious choice. But as Andy Stothert concludes his to-tow-or-not-to-tow “Motormoan monthly” article on Page 27 of November 2017 MMM Magazine, “We like our motorhome. Sod all that logic stuff - it doesn’t suit some of us”. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monique.hubrechtsgm Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 I realy hope that all downsizers are happy in them If unsure make some test drives. and not buy Ad- Hoc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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