We had been 'vanners' for many years until last year when we swopped to a motorhome. We had a lot of fun vanning but I got fed up of towing..... not that we held up any traffic personally, unlike some do in both motorhome's and towing vans.

We love the MH, and would not hire cottages by comparison as it gives us the freedom to move without having a fixed base as a van or a cottage does. Or we can just pull up and chill for a weekend away on a site without the hassles of setting up a caravan.

As for costs, yes you do need a big chunk of capital to put into both a van or MH, but you can sell and recoup a good proportion so long as you do not buy new.

This may not be the case with caravans over the next 5-10yrs however IMHO. With the driving license's issued to drivers after Jan 97' (if memory serves me correctly) these drivers can't just buy a van and tow it unless it's 750kg or below (& few are). They will need to do the B+E test to tow a van, so caravanning will become a holiday activity that drivers will have to want to do to put the training effort in to get the license.

So if my maths is sound lots of parents of 'young family age' are soon not going to be able to tow unless they make an effort, which may mean caravanning could lose some of its appeal.

These same families/drivers will however be able to drive a MH up to 3500kg max gross which could see their popularity grow if economics allow.

Just my 2p anyway.....Ridicule no doubt will be rapidly forthcoming

Never been bit by a mozzie, not even when I have been camping in Scotland or lake garda!

Neither had I And it was a complete roll reversal, the wife who normally gets bitten and has really really bad reaction didnt get bit once, me however got bit 15 times in one night with 'deet' mozzie repelant on, and a hand full every other night

I presume it was due to a hormone change with the wifes pregnancy why she didn't get bit, as for me I don't know

But our hotel had a pond between it and the beach a breeding ground for mozzies, and if this was in the hotels description we would have chosen somewhere else with the wife's issue, but I did get £250 back after a nicely worded letter Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

MVS, your memory is on the wane weight of the trailer is not the problem its it is the Maximum Allowable Mass which is what your looking at, after 97 you need the Towcar and Trailer to be below 3500kgs which is a bit daft to be honest, but that is the EU for you, so you can tow a 1500kgs traler with an early Mondeo which means you towing at nearly 100% which is not ideal but if you towed the same trailer behind a Disco which would be a lot safer you are then towing without tthe correct licence as you will be about 1000kgs over

As for losing money mentioned by other posters, our last van which we traded in two years ago over the six years we had it we lost just under £1000 a year so having around three weeks of breaks and about six or seven weekend breaks we would have spent a lot more if we went in Hotels. For that we could go where and when we wanted.

you don't lose much if you trade in, but if you are just selling up then it could well be a different story.
Last year we had a fortnight touring round sri lanka( no not in the van) and a fortnight in France with the van, then a week in cyprus mountainbiking, then a fortnight in the van in Benelux then a week in Egypt on a Nile cruise, But at Xmas we bought a holiday cottage on the Yorkshire coast, and have been going there most weekends, and have to our surprise found it more relaxing than a fortnight in the caravan.

ad210358 wrote:

MVS, your memory is on the wane weight of the trailer is not the problem its it is the Maximum Allowable Mass which is what your looking at, after 97 you need the Towcar and Trailer to be below 3500kgs which is a bit daft to be honest, but that is the EU for you, so you can tow a 1500kgs traler with an early Mondeo which means you towing at nearly 100% which is not ideal but if you towed the same trailer behind a Disco which would be a lot safer you are then towing without the correct licence as you will be about 1000kgs over

Now its as clear as mud, to stay on the safe side your trailer MAM needs to be below your towing vehicle MAM and below 3.5 ton. From memory I don't think there are many towcars today where you can tow more than they actually weigh 4x4 are excluded in that comment.

ad210358 wrote:

Now its as clear as mud, to stay on the safe side your trailer MAM needs to be below your towing vehicle MAM and below 3.5 ton. From memory I don't think there are many towcars today where you can tow more than they actually weigh 4x4 are excluded in that comment.

Correct, hence my opinion on the caravan & motorhome market over the next decade. I can only see the EU & DVLA making things harder as well, to the point where a B+E test will end up having to be done, but this is just my cynical view of the current nanny authorities governing us

Either take the test or its an Eriba Puck

Mmm. Looked at a Puck a few years ago, turned round inside and whacked by bonce on a cupboard, it bloomin hurt

Looked at one of these a while ago, but have to say it had to be a MH for us

http://showroom.southdownsmotorcaravans.co...715-0.html

They are cute

Ok it's gone, I am now an ex caravanner I can even refer to "vaners" now, I ended up selling back to the dealer, lost £7000 in 4 years , about what I expected. I might start chicken farming now , I'll get the wife to bake a few scones .....

thats alot of holidays you could of had!!!

a fool and his money

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chicken george wrote:

a fool and his money

~Clip~

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"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race