Moved from caravan to motorhome with a family

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Hi,

Maybe not immediately but we would like to try motorhoming to see if we like it long term. We know it's ideal for European trips as can see more in a shorter space of time. We know it should be good for weekends on the whole as long as we don't want to leave site.

My intention is to get a 7.2 to 7.5m motorohome so a good size. I wanted to hear if other people had been caravanning and now switched to a motorhome and love it. What issues have you faced? Or if anyone switched and now wants to go back to caravanning.

We might even consider hiring one but it looks like 300 quid for a weekend which does seem a bit steep but supply and demand at present i suppose.
 
We moved from caravans to motorhomes many years ago. In Europe it was the right thing to do because motorhomes are largely well catered for.

Three years ago we downsized to a PVC, and because we are neat and tidy, did not miss the reduction in storage. We need to be out and doing, and are still fit enough to walk or simply catch a bus.

Sadly, in the UK, many folk abuse the privilege of motorhoming,, behave badly, and are spoiling for others. Height barriers are being installed, and 'No Camping' signs erected. The members on this excellent forum frown on campers like that.

We feel it is inevitable that one day we will need to return to Caravanning as our legs start to ache and move more slowly. Until that time, we'll continue with the hobby we love.

I suspect the only way to avoid making an expensive mistake is to hire a van, and probably for a week as a minimum.

Good luck!!
 
Ever since we got married we have camped, our honeymoon was spent in my little pup tent over a long weekend in Buxton, it was also our first experience of campervanning too; it rained so hard on the first night that a family in a big frame tent offered us the use of their v dub van, mind you that was back in 1967. We then bought a frame tent via Exchange & Mart for 19 gns, it came with everything and although stuff got updated we kept using it until 1979. Then we went posh and bought an ancient Swift caravan with gas lights too, but it was ours and it was great and over the following years we had several non less than 20 years old, in fact at the end we had two, one here in the UK and another kept in a friends barn in Normandy. Then my arthriticals kicked in big time and I could no longer handle the pulling and pushing to park it on our drive. It owed us nowt so we gave it away around Easter time and then wondered what to do for our holiday!! The upshot of this is that we bought another 20+ year old van, but this one had an engine and again we fell in love with it, things break, fall off and disintegrate but it's still going and has taken us all over Europe several times. The intention was to use it to see how we got on and then trade up, but our funds were needed elsewhere and now we can't even think about changing it, we just love our tin tent. And as a bonus, there's this shower of reprobates who may on occasions take the wee, but the fount of knowledge is priceless, as is the willingness to help.
 
We swapped caravan for Motorhome and loved both currently we have a Motorhome and are noticing that Motorhomes dominate in numbers on Camping Club rallies as they are becoming more popular, it is down to choice really, consider no car on site when you have MH walking bikes busses etc to get around can you do that or must you have a car, some Motorhomes tow a car behind the van caravaning in reverse I call that but each to their own. Motorhomes are more mobile of course unless you anchor them down with awnings wind breaks etc, we are happy to take our MH off site to go shopping etc if needed it just needs a bit of planning but all very easy and consider that you have your toilet with you and also tea making facilities with you at all times, very convenient, but plan well because if you get the wrong van for your needs you have made an expensive mistake because you will lose money changing vans again for sure, good luck and happy travels
 
We have owned both over the years. We found that a caravan was better with a family. Motorhomes are great for touring type holidays but most children do not appreciate making friends on a site and being moved on within a day or so. In fact we even gave up the caravan for a while and went to Haven sites in a static caravan to keep our daughter amused and ourselves relaxed and rested. The motorhome is much more suited to singles and couples who want to tour around. We have even moved on, yet again, to a fifth wheel (Celtic Rambler made in the UK) so that we have wheels available for shopping etc. Cycling and walking everywhere has got a bit beyond the old joints.
 
Trigger has it right. Too many variables to give advice on your choice. Is this just for 2, or are kids involved? Is your licence good for more than 3500kg? What extras might you want that will eat your payload, like awning, sat dish, bike rack, solar panels and extra batteries? What kit would you want to take with you, and where would it fit? Not to mention the sleeping arrangements (twin, double, fixed, drop-down, french, island; the list goes on . . .). And then you will probably still want a car when at home.
Don't jump without a great deal of research!
 
We have had both over the years caravan after the tent then 5 years later a campervan to tour around Europe and beyond. For a number of years we also had a caravan bought from a friend which we kept in Spain for the long winter months. Enjoyed them all and now nearing retirement from this great community? I think it boils down to the type of holiday you like to have a motorhome for touring or a caravan for longer stays on site.
 
We started in a small tent, two weeks in Scotland, not had as much fun since TBH, but we envied the campers so looked into it when we got home and had 12 now, the secret is to look at as many as you can stand, sit in them for a while, as much as 30 minutes each & consider how you will cook, relax and sleep in them as it would be an expensive mistake to get the wrong layout.
 
I started off under canvas, but Mrs (no. 2) hated the thought of canvas so we started off as tuggers by buying an ancient Ace which cam complete with palm crosses quite literally everywhere, after finding we loved the experience we went through several other vans before finally, we decided to move to France where we built our own caravan sites with our last caravan parked away in one of the barns.
After many years of welcoming hundreds of tuggers and motorhomers and I started thinking about some of the advantages of MoHo's over caravans and ended up deciding that I was going to build my own panel van conversion.
The reason why I decided on a PV was that they can be easily driven wherever a car can go, whereas anything larger (i.e. wider) would be very difficult in certain areas to drive or get access and this has been very much my experience over the past 6 years of extensive use.

Oh, I decided to do my own self build for several reasons, the main one being that almost all the professional vans I had looked at very closely indeed were built so very poorly and yet they cost a veritable fortune!
 
We have owned both over the years. We found that a caravan was better with a family. Motorhomes are great for touring type holidays but most children do not appreciate making friends on a site and being moved on within a day or so. In fact we even gave up the caravan for a while and went to Haven sites in a static caravan to keep our daughter amused and ourselves relaxed and rested. The motorhome is much more suited to singles and couples who want to tour around. We have even moved on, yet again, to a fifth wheel (Celtic Rambler made in the UK) so that we have wheels available for shopping etc. Cycling and walking everywhere has got a bit beyond the old joints.
Celtic Rambler, was that yours at Bradford on Avon Bee Hive recently?
 
MH is great if you like moving on regularly: as a retired couple this is ideal for us although it comes with problems accessing some small roads and parking.

We both camped/caravanned as youngsters and back-packed when we were first married. With kids we bought a trailer tent and that was ideal: easy to tow and store, permanent beds for everyone with a separate lounge/kitchen area. Downsides included setting up and taking down (1 hour?) especially in the rain. Facilities could also be a nuisance and sites had to be used at all times. "Upgrading" to a caravan meant moving folk around whilst beds were made/unmade and space was considerably smaller: adding an awning reproduced the problems of setting up etc.

As has been said, £300 is cheap for hiring. Visit dealerships and sit in them for free to get some idea of your needs. Given our history, our first MH purchase satisfied our requirements and we are still using it 16y later.

Gordon
 
We have had caravans and made the switch to motorhomes. We found that we are much more spontaneous with the motorhome - even just popping to a favourite local spot for two nights. We therefore get a lot more use from the motorhome than we ever did with the caravan.
We have grandchildren and it is boon to have the loo with us when we are just having a day trip with them.
We have looked at 100's of motorhomes - physically and also on-line and as stated by previous posters think very carefully about the layout in day and night modes before you spend big bucks. Parts of the UK are better than others but continental Europe is streets ahead for providing good facilities for motorhomes. Stick with the caravan if you only intend to use 2 or 3 weeks in a year and only stay in UK but if you want to explore and take your home with you a moho opens up a whole new worlds. Good luck.... try before you buy might not be such a bad idea.
 

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