We went to the NEC, 8 years ago, we were not really happy with our Coachman 545, Sat in the 560, for 15 minutes, kept going around all the caravans and the 560 just hit all our tick boxes.
Useful then for countering noseweight on the JW when trying to extract the caravan by its mover from a muddy or wet grass CL. 🤭
Your safe as I will not mention it. 😅 went into view a caravan and dealers hadn't put the rear stays down. And the caravan tipped back, Mrs H joined Slimming World next week.
We had a look in vans from Eldiss, Bailey and Swift, all new vans. They were still short of stock but there were enough vans for us to mooch through.
We learned that we are not keen on the french/side bed or fixed single beds but did like the transverse island bed, particularly the Eldiss version.
We are not keen on the integrated loo /shower combo, don't mind an end washroom seperate shower but did quite like the seperate loo and shower amidships, particularly the Eldiss version.
To me the fitting of the shower in the bailehy and eldiss was better than the swift, wood in the shower of the swift, mmm, not sure.
Being in the vans we were not keen on the Bailey or swift but did like the eldiss as a space to sit in.
So out of all the vans we were in our favourite was a 2020 Eldiss 860.
This was duly noted by thevsalesman and we were given a price.
But..........
When we got home we had a chat and I was quite surprised at the good ladies reluctance to spend so much on a van.
What we ralised was that we are not at a time in our lives to get the most out of such an expensive investment. We work a full week and spend the weekends catching up, shopping, cleaning, gardening etc. We don't have the flexibility to go away regularly or at the drop of a hat if we wanted to.
Aftef yesterdays revelation we are now back to looking but now we are looking at used, bigger than the Jade, but if we can at a much more realistic cost than a new whopper of a van, that option is in waiting for retirement.
All in all a useful exercise though.
We learned that we are not keen on the french/side bed or fixed single beds but did like the transverse island bed, particularly the Eldiss version.
We are not keen on the integrated loo /shower combo, don't mind an end washroom seperate shower but did quite like the seperate loo and shower amidships, particularly the Eldiss version.
To me the fitting of the shower in the bailehy and eldiss was better than the swift, wood in the shower of the swift, mmm, not sure.
Being in the vans we were not keen on the Bailey or swift but did like the eldiss as a space to sit in.
So out of all the vans we were in our favourite was a 2020 Eldiss 860.
This was duly noted by thevsalesman and we were given a price.
But..........
When we got home we had a chat and I was quite surprised at the good ladies reluctance to spend so much on a van.
What we ralised was that we are not at a time in our lives to get the most out of such an expensive investment. We work a full week and spend the weekends catching up, shopping, cleaning, gardening etc. We don't have the flexibility to go away regularly or at the drop of a hat if we wanted to.
Aftef yesterdays revelation we are now back to looking but now we are looking at used, bigger than the Jade, but if we can at a much more realistic cost than a new whopper of a van, that option is in waiting for retirement.
All in all a useful exercise though.
I have two friends that thought the transverse beds were good when they bought them and decided afterwards, they didn't like them, still semi making up the bed, and another a lunar the legs did not support the bottom of the bed, properly.
We are now retired 6 years and since stopping touring France 5 years ago, at now 69 have had 5 years of dental and hospital appointments same as Mrs H.
And we thought we could get away every other week for a week. No way.
We are now retired 6 years and since stopping touring France 5 years ago, at now 69 have had 5 years of dental and hospital appointments same as Mrs H.
And we thought we could get away every other week for a week. No way.
Likewise we had more flexibility to go away when we were working and our grown up kids were childless. For nearly 29 years we have taken successive grandchildren on holiday throughout the year. Last year the youngest then 15 decided summer holidays with us wasn’t to be. Recently though she has asked if her and a friend can come with me and they sleep in an adjacent tent. Since her mum has just rescheduled a summer tip to Greece into 2022 I said “yes” to the van-tent expedition.
Despite quite a lot of hiccups on the way we treasure the time we have spent caravanning since retirement on our own or with grandchildren.
Cammy That means you are looking at a bit bigger and newer caravan to what you have enjoy looking and trying them out
Cammy, The problem at the moment is that used vans are in very short supply and as a result are often wildly overpriced. If you are not going to use one a lot this year my feeling is that there will be more and cheaper second hand models next year. That would put me off buying this year, although if you want to try out caravanning, hiring one might work.
Hi Cammy I hope you enjoy your newish caravan and have plenty of holidays
We collect it in about a month, no rush, service and a couple of new tyres to go on it.Hi Cammy I hope you enjoy your newish caravan and have plenty of holidays
Jeezo! No! I thought i did quite well with my checks too!Hi Cammy did you check your spare tyre is that ok
Facebook
Twitter