Motorhhome vs Caravan

[pemass48]

Hi - newbie to the forum so apologies if this is in the wrong place or another thread covers this! I tow a caravan and am seriously thinking about selling the whole rig and taking up motorhoming as I find towing quite stressful. I have some questions: with parking (seeming) to be a problem and not wanting to tow or take another vehicle, how do you get around? I am knocking on 60 and my butt can't take cycling and I struggle to walk long distances. Do you try to pitch at sites close to town or close to public transport? Do you tend to pitch and stay on site for short stays and then move on ? How do you handle sites that have a minimum stay in high season, particularly abroad and you want to site see? Is it much easier to motorhome abroad in terms of parking when out for the day? Are bikes, scooters or another small car a must? If you were once a caravanner, did you easily get into motorhome mode? What were the most difficult things to get to grips with?

 

On the technical side, if there is no MV waste point how do you get the waste offloaded if there is no toilet cassette - some of the MVs I have looked at just have an expanding waste tube that plugs into the waste tank. Is it safe to travel with any of the water/waste tanks laden? Is it vital to have left hand drive if driving an MV abroad?

 

Many thanks for any input. ;-)

[chas]

Hi - Everyone on this forum will recommend you to motorcaravaning, and there can be a fair bit to learn, but only you can decide if its for you, so I would recomend you hire a van and see how you get on, I am sure you will get hooked. Regards chas

[Keith T]

pemass48 - 2007-04-22 11:30 AM

 

Hi - newbie to the forum so apologies if this is in the wrong place or another thread covers this! I tow a caravan and am seriously thinking about selling the whole rig and taking up motorhoming as I find towing quite stressful. I have some questions: with parking (seeming) to be a problem and not wanting to tow or take another vehicle, how do you get around? I am knocking on 60 and my butt can't take cycling and I struggle to walk long distances. Do you try to pitch at sites close to town or close to public transport? Do you tend to pitch and stay on site for short stays and then move on ? How do you handle sites that have a minimum stay in high season, particularly abroad and you want to site see? Is it much easier to motorhome abroad in terms of parking when out for the day? Are bikes, scooters or another small car a must? If you were once a caravanner, did you easily get into motorhome mode? What were the most difficult things to get to grips with?

 

On the technical side, if there is no MV waste point how do you get the waste offloaded if there is no toilet cassette - some of the MVs I have looked at just have an expanding waste tube that plugs into the waste tank. Is it safe to travel with any of the water/waste tanks laden? Is it vital to have left hand drive if driving an MV abroad?

 

Many thanks for any input. ;-)

 

Hi, many years ago I used to have trailer caravans, then after several years break, came into the world of motor-caravanning. Personally speaking I would never wish to tow again!

However, there is the world of difference, and you do need to look at the two as very differnt ways of life! You don't say what type/size of Motorhome you are considering, but generally, the samller coashbuilts or van conversions will just about fit into a car park space if you are able to overhang a grass verge or similar, and some councils will allow you to use 2 spaces, as long as you pay for both!

 

We use our motorhome as a 'tourer' for quite a lot of the time, by staying on any one site for maybe 2-3 nights, and trying to choose those near public tranport, or where the site is near enough to walk wherever. We do not take bikes with us, and enjoy using publiic tranport, although at times it does take some organising and sorting out.

 

The UK can be quite difficult, but here we also use some of the CC sites near cities, and stay maybe up to a week or so, especially somewhere like London, Bristol, York,, Machester or Birmingham, to name a few, where there are excellent public transport links.

 

In France, where we like to spend up to 7-8weeks at a time, things are better, as most towns have municipal sites, which provide at least the basics,k and very often far more. So here we usually set ourselves a general route, and simply look for a site late afternoon, then may stay just overnight or perhsp a little longer. We've explored some really intersting places by this method.

 

As to your enquiry about travelling with water tanks full - we never carry waste water, but always have say half tank full of fresh, although this depends on the capacity of your tanks, and how much 'spare' weight you have available. For toilet waste, most sites now have a MH waste point, and unless you are looking at an American stayle vehicle,I would have thought you'd have a casseette type, as in a caravan.

 

Hope you enjoy whatever you do end up with, and I'm sure you'll get lots of other hints from this forum, but as a previous response mentioneed, it's always worth hiring a motorhome to seee how you get on.

[Randonneur]

We were caravanners for 20 years. We moved to France over 6 years ago and again bought another caravan. Had it for 2 years and then went for a motorhome after finding it so easy to park and also taking it to Spain, but only on one occasion. We have taken the motorhome back to the UK for 3 weeks but we parked on relatives' and friends' drives only using a CC site on the way home.

 

There are pros and cons on both sides so only you can decide which is best for your lifestyle. Having said that we do miss the space that our caravan afforded us, island bed, being able to use the car separately, but we do like the option with the motorhome of moving everyday to a different location.

 

There are a lot of motorhomers who tow a small car for the convenience when parked but I think if we were to go down that route we might as well tow a caravan. But again its a very personal thing, everybody is different and what suits one will not suit another.

 

 

[Brian Kirby]

Hello, pemass48.  I have set out your questions below, with my answers.  Hope you will find this of some help.  Others will, doubtless, argue, amend and contribute as they see fit!

1.             With parking (seeming) to be a problem and not wanting to tow or take another vehicle, how do you get around?

Generally, we walk, cycle, or use public transport.  Parking can be problematic, but it does depend where you are and how big your van is.  Somewhat obviously, smaller vans have the least parking problems.

2.             I am knocking on 60 and my butt can't take cycling and I struggle to walk long distances. Do you try to pitch at sites close to town or close to public transport?

For the reasons stated above, yes.

3.             Do you tend to pitch and stay on site for short stays and then move on ?

Generally, yes.  The relative ease of doing just this is the main advantage of the motorhome when compared to the trailer caravan.

4.             How do you handle sites that have a minimum stay in high season, particularly abroad and you want to site see?

Avoid them!  However, we generally avoid the high season.  Where demand locally exceeds available space, you can usually find pitches by going a little further out.

5.             Is it much easier to motorhome abroad in terms of parking when out for the day?

Easier than what?  Easier than when towing a caravan: definitely.  Easier than when motorhoming in UK: mostly.  The problem here is that abroad is a large place, so inevitably availability of parking is vary variable.  Larger, flatter, countries with relatively low population densities, generally equal easier parking, and vice versa.

6.             Are bikes, scooters or another small car a must?

No, you can walk or use public transport.  But this will depend upon availability, health, fitness, and the size of your van.

7.             If you were once a caravanner, did you easily get into motorhome mode?

I was like you, a bit of a reluctant “tugger”.  Despite this, we took our small caravans to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, and all over France.  With a caravan, one tends to head for a location, site the van, jump in the car and make looping sightseeing journeys from that base.  In mountain country, this can become tedious, because one keeps re-treading the same routes.  With the motorhome, one explores a smaller area around the site, then moves on a bit, and so on, probably picking up the food etc en route.

8.             What were the most difficult things to get to grips with?

The conceptual difference between the relatively static caravan and the more mobile motorhome.  Most other aspects of the motorhome are easier to deal with than a with trailer caravan.  Motorhomes, overall, are more autonomous, and the toilets and cookers can more easily be used en route.  Motorhomes can, of course, be larger than trailer caravans but generally work out to about the same width and shorter overall than ‘van + towcar.  Greater height can be an issue.  They are, of course, much easier to reverse, though this remains where most motorhome damage is done!  The co-pilot must get out and supervise from the rear.

9.             On the technical side, if there is no MV waste point how do you get the waste offloaded if there is no toilet cassette - some of the MVs I have looked at just have an expanding waste tube that plugs into the waste tank.

Unless the wastes are brimming, you just drive to the next place.  Both toilet and grey water tanks are quite safe on the road when part filled.  See next question. 

10.         Is it safe to travel with any of the water/waste tanks laden?

Most vans have Thetford cassette toilets, with which I assume you will be familiar.  The cassette is quite safe until the tank is really full and the light on.  The seals cope well with the on road surges and we have experienced no problems.  The grey water tank is similar and can readily be driven with.  However, it is preferable to dump the contents of both fairly regularly, so that you don’t arrive “brimming”, and then find the promised dump facility doesn’t exist.  The same is true for fresh water.  Fill the tank to the max and run it down to around 75% empty.  Then re-fill.  That way you always have fresh water to hand and, if you don’t like the look of the first fill point you get to, you have a reserve to get you to the next.  How long the water will last will depend on whether you drink the water, and use campsite showers, or not.  We use bottled water for drinking, use campsite showers, and our 130 litres of fresh water does us for 7 – 10 days.

11.         Is it vital to have left hand drive if driving an MV abroad?

Several threads on the forum about this.  Try using the search facility for “lhd” or “left hand drive”.  But vital?  No.  The driving position in most motorhomes is sufficiently elevated that one sees over most other traffic.  Advantageous, yes.  Mainly at oblique road junctions, and in just keeping an eye on following traffic.  However, some find left hand drive easier to adapt to than others, so that must also be taken into account.  Lhd in UK?  Not a real problem, in the same way rhd isn’t a real problem when elsewhere.  Which is preferable, apart from personal preference, boils down to where you intend doing most of your driving.  If outside UK, lhd is preferable overall, if in UK, rhd would be best.  However, the greatest advantage of lhd motorhomes is that they can be bought in Europe for far lower cost than in UK.  That saving, which can amount to several thousand pounds, coupled with the greater range of vans, and options, that are available, all at lower than UK prices, can make a big difference to what is affordable.

 

[saruman]

Brian Kirby - 2007-04-22 1:11 PM

Hello, pemass48.  I have set out your questions below, with my answers.  Hope you will find this of some help.  Others will, doubtless, argue, amend and contribute as they see fit!

1.             With parking (seeming) to be a problem and not wanting to tow or take another vehicle, how do you get around?

Generally, we walk, cycle, or use public transport.  Parking can be problematic, but it does depend where you are and how big your van is.  Somewhat obviously, smaller vans have the least parking problems.

2.             I am knocking on 60 and my butt can't take cycling and I struggle to walk long distances. Do you try to pitch at sites close to town or close to public transport?

For the reasons stated above, yes.

3.             Do you tend to pitch and stay on site for short stays and then move on ?

Generally, yes.  The relative ease of doing just this is the main advantage of the motorhome when compared to the trailer caravan.

4.             How do you handle sites that have a minimum stay in high season, particularly abroad and you want to site see?

Avoid them!  However, we generally avoid the high season.  Where demand locally exceeds available space, you can usually find pitches by going a little further out.

5.             Is it much easier to motorhome abroad in terms of parking when out for the day?

Easier than what?  Easier than when towing a caravan: definitely.  Easier than when motorhoming in UK: mostly.  The problem here is that abroad is a large place, so inevitably availability of parking is vary variable.  Larger, flatter, countries with relatively low population densities, generally equal easier parking, and vice versa.

6.             Are bikes, scooters or another small car a must?

No, you can walk or use public transport.  But this will depend upon availability, health, fitness, and the size of your van.

7.             If you were once a caravanner, did you easily get into motorhome mode?

I was like you, a bit of a reluctant “tugger”.  Despite this, we took our small caravans to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, and all over France.  With a caravan, one tends to head for a location, site the van, jump in the car and make looping sightseeing journeys from that base.  In mountain country, this can become tedious, because one keeps re-treading the same routes.  With the motorhome, one explores a smaller area around the site, then moves on a bit, and so on, probably picking up the food etc en route.

8.             What were the most difficult things to get to grips with?

The conceptual difference between the relatively static caravan and the more mobile motorhome.  Most other aspects of the motorhome are easier to deal with than a with trailer caravan.  Motorhomes, overall, are more autonomous, and the toilets and cookers can more easily be used en route.  Motorhomes can, of course, be larger than trailer caravans but generally work out to about the same width and shorter overall than ‘van + towcar.  Greater height can be an issue.  They are, of course, much easier to reverse, though this remains where most motorhome damage is done!  The co-pilot must get out and supervise from the rear.

9.             On the technical side, if there is no MV waste point how do you get the waste offloaded if there is no toilet cassette - some of the MVs I have looked at just have an expanding waste tube that plugs into the waste tank.

Unless the wastes are brimming, you just drive to the next place.  Both toilet and grey water tanks are quite safe on the road when part filled.  See next question. 

10.         Is it safe to travel with any of the water/waste tanks laden?

Most vans have Thetford cassette toilets, with which I assume you will be familiar.  The cassette is quite safe until the tank is really full and the light on.  The seals cope well with the on road surges and we have experienced no problems.  The grey water tank is similar and can readily be driven with.  However, it is preferable to dump the contents of both fairly regularly, so that you don’t arrive “brimming”, and then find the promised dump facility doesn’t exist.  The same is true for fresh water.  Fill the tank to the max and run it down to around 75% empty.  Then re-fill.  That way you always have fresh water to hand and, if you don’t like the look of the first fill point you get to, you have a reserve to get you to the next.  How long the water will last will depend on whether you drink the water, and use campsite showers, or not.  We use bottled water for drinking, use campsite showers, and our 130 litres of fresh water does us for 7 – 10 days.

11.         Is it vital to have left hand drive if driving an MV abroad?

Several threads on the forum about this.  Try using the search facility for “lhd” or “left hand drive”.  But vital?  No.  The driving position in most motorhomes is sufficiently elevated that one sees over most other traffic.  Advantageous, yes.  Mainly at oblique road junctions, and in just keeping an eye on following traffic.  However, some find left hand drive easier to adapt to than others, so that must also be taken into account.  Lhd in UK?  Not a real problem, in the same way rhd isn’t a real problem when elsewhere.  Which is preferable, apart from personal preference, boils down to where you intend doing most of your driving.  If outside UK, lhd is preferable overall, if in UK, rhd would be best.  However, the greatest advantage of lhd motorhomes is that they can be bought in Europe for far lower cost than in UK.  That saving, which can amount to several thousand pounds, coupled with the greater range of vans, and options, that are available, all at lower than UK prices, can make a big difference to what is affordable.

 

hi great post :-D brian

[Poppy]

We have caravanned for many years but are now taking delivery of our first motorhome. I was a reluctant motorhomer but a few things changed my mind.One was we tried towing with our beautiful but very heavy large Bessacar.Lovely on site but a real hassle to hitch/unhitch pitch up and tow.Secondly we want to return to the touring life having used the Bessacarr really as a static most of the time. We can't keep a caravan at home but a moderately sized motorhome is possible.Much easier for weekends and short breaks.We read Go Motorhoming which had the very sensible sugestion (and was SOOO useful to us as first timers) that if you want to stay in one place for a few days and feel a little car would be helpful RENT ONE. Do the sums. Much cheaper than buying/towing maintaining etc. any car however small. You will also get the right sided drive for the country you are in!.Will let you know how we get on.

[pemass48]

Thank you, everyone, for your helpful and informative replies. I can now start looking with some confidence!

 

Thanks again.

 

pemass48