- Jul 8, 2018
- 13
- 0
- 4,510
Hi folks
I am looking into getting a teeny tiny 'van I can tow behind my Peugeot 207SW. I haven't caravanned before, although I have stayed in a parked largish touring caravan for a few weeks and then an off-grid (no services) static caravan for a few months in the summer, and have had a holiday in a motorhome and a couple of nights away in a friend's VW T6 campervan.
The idea is to be able to up and away locally for just a night or two, or set off for a bit of a touring holiday to see friends and family, attend events and so on. Just me, my small collie dog, and my spinning wheel
I'm a semi-retired farmer, so pulling and manoeuvring a trailer is no problem.
However I'm very naive about the practicalities of touring, although I know some things that I want and don't want.
I don't think I will like to have to take down and put up a bed every night, and I haven't found any layouts that give a fixed single bed and another seating area. So I think I will need to either reconfigure a 2-berth or get a 3-berth in order to have this setup?
I also will not want to have to carry things in the car and transfer them when I park because I don't have the payload allowance to carry everything in the 'van.
I definitely want to be able to camp without hookup for a few days, as well as be able to use sites with hook up. I remember that it wasn't really practical to stay without hookup in the motorhome we hired, but can't recall exactly why. (I do have notes somewhere but haven't located them as yet.). Memory says it was something to do with the water pump. It would do a bit on the leisure battery but not really enough for an overnight, and certainly not for a couple of nights. (It was October in Shetland, so we did need the heating for a short while in the evening.)
I've lived for 13 months quite recently with a bucket for a loo where I was staying and using a proper loo in another house, so am not phased by the idea of using either a folding bucket or a porta potti for middle of the night calls of nature, and getting to a proper loo for other things at other times
.
I'm not tall - about 5/5", so won't need a great deal of headroom.
'Vans I'm looking at at present are:
- T@B 320 (Will I need Offroad to get the extra payload allowance? 100kg for everything sounds not much.)
- Freedom Microlite Bijoux or similar
- Eriba Puck and other very lightweight options
- Go-Pod
I'd love everything, of course, but am sure I would manage with a single hob, a teeny sink and a teeny fridge. Some form of heating would extend the months in which I could use the 'van, of course. Although I was amazed at how much warming the whole 'van got when I boiled a kettle in my friend's camper van, so maybe heating isn't quite so crucial for autumnal nights!
Because I am not 100% certain I will find that I use this and enjoy it as much as I hope to, I would prefer really to get a decent secondhand 'van at this point, and not have to invest very many £000s. If I was certain I would use it, I wouldn't object to buying nearly new or even new to get the layout and facilities I want.
I thought I'd found somewhere I could hire a T@B for a few days to get a feel for it, but I was mistaken, sadly.
I'm also very uncertain about how it will all work with the dog. She's not a dog that can be trusted with small children, and can be a bit nervy and reactive with people she doesn't know (but is very obedient and has a totally 100% recall, thankfully.). I'm thinking I would need to have an awning and a tie-out cable, so she could get under the 'van for shade? Would it be feasible to leave her in a large cage inside the awning if I needed to get a few provisions, and it was too hot for her to be left in the car - even in shade for 20 minutes? Or does it get too hot in awnings too? I've read a lot about how people manage dogs in caravans and camper vans, but everything I've read has been couples, so there's always the option of one looking after the dog and the other doing the shopping. (Maybe I just have to do the shopping at 24 hour supermarkets before sun-up or after sundown!)
Anyway, being a singleton with a dog is one of the things makes me unsure it will really work for me. I could tour the country and be unable to see anything that isn't welcoming to dogs! lol. So I could still have some great times, but I could be quite limited - or would have to have some breaks where I don't take the dog. And I'd miss her and not stay away as long :/
Also, I have found the multiplicity of models of Eriba quite bewildering and am not sure whether a Familia (or some of them) or a Triton might be okay, as well as a Puck. (Or maybe you'll all tell me that the figures on paper are one thing, and for an Eriba I'd be wanting more than my 1.6 tdi.)
Enough of my ramblings; it would be great to hear about some pros and cons of the various options from folks who've done it; any options I haven't thought about, and so on.
Oh, and I live in North Cornwall, near the sea, on a most beautiful farm, so most of the time it's just heaven where I live! So trips are likely to be as much about seeing friends and family and going to events (especially spinning and other woolly events) as about 'getting away from it all'.
I am looking into getting a teeny tiny 'van I can tow behind my Peugeot 207SW. I haven't caravanned before, although I have stayed in a parked largish touring caravan for a few weeks and then an off-grid (no services) static caravan for a few months in the summer, and have had a holiday in a motorhome and a couple of nights away in a friend's VW T6 campervan.
The idea is to be able to up and away locally for just a night or two, or set off for a bit of a touring holiday to see friends and family, attend events and so on. Just me, my small collie dog, and my spinning wheel
I'm a semi-retired farmer, so pulling and manoeuvring a trailer is no problem.
However I'm very naive about the practicalities of touring, although I know some things that I want and don't want.
I don't think I will like to have to take down and put up a bed every night, and I haven't found any layouts that give a fixed single bed and another seating area. So I think I will need to either reconfigure a 2-berth or get a 3-berth in order to have this setup?
I also will not want to have to carry things in the car and transfer them when I park because I don't have the payload allowance to carry everything in the 'van.
I definitely want to be able to camp without hookup for a few days, as well as be able to use sites with hook up. I remember that it wasn't really practical to stay without hookup in the motorhome we hired, but can't recall exactly why. (I do have notes somewhere but haven't located them as yet.). Memory says it was something to do with the water pump. It would do a bit on the leisure battery but not really enough for an overnight, and certainly not for a couple of nights. (It was October in Shetland, so we did need the heating for a short while in the evening.)
I've lived for 13 months quite recently with a bucket for a loo where I was staying and using a proper loo in another house, so am not phased by the idea of using either a folding bucket or a porta potti for middle of the night calls of nature, and getting to a proper loo for other things at other times
I'm not tall - about 5/5", so won't need a great deal of headroom.
'Vans I'm looking at at present are:
- T@B 320 (Will I need Offroad to get the extra payload allowance? 100kg for everything sounds not much.)
- Freedom Microlite Bijoux or similar
- Eriba Puck and other very lightweight options
- Go-Pod
I'd love everything, of course, but am sure I would manage with a single hob, a teeny sink and a teeny fridge. Some form of heating would extend the months in which I could use the 'van, of course. Although I was amazed at how much warming the whole 'van got when I boiled a kettle in my friend's camper van, so maybe heating isn't quite so crucial for autumnal nights!
Because I am not 100% certain I will find that I use this and enjoy it as much as I hope to, I would prefer really to get a decent secondhand 'van at this point, and not have to invest very many £000s. If I was certain I would use it, I wouldn't object to buying nearly new or even new to get the layout and facilities I want.
I thought I'd found somewhere I could hire a T@B for a few days to get a feel for it, but I was mistaken, sadly.
I'm also very uncertain about how it will all work with the dog. She's not a dog that can be trusted with small children, and can be a bit nervy and reactive with people she doesn't know (but is very obedient and has a totally 100% recall, thankfully.). I'm thinking I would need to have an awning and a tie-out cable, so she could get under the 'van for shade? Would it be feasible to leave her in a large cage inside the awning if I needed to get a few provisions, and it was too hot for her to be left in the car - even in shade for 20 minutes? Or does it get too hot in awnings too? I've read a lot about how people manage dogs in caravans and camper vans, but everything I've read has been couples, so there's always the option of one looking after the dog and the other doing the shopping. (Maybe I just have to do the shopping at 24 hour supermarkets before sun-up or after sundown!)
Anyway, being a singleton with a dog is one of the things makes me unsure it will really work for me. I could tour the country and be unable to see anything that isn't welcoming to dogs! lol. So I could still have some great times, but I could be quite limited - or would have to have some breaks where I don't take the dog. And I'd miss her and not stay away as long :/
Also, I have found the multiplicity of models of Eriba quite bewildering and am not sure whether a Familia (or some of them) or a Triton might be okay, as well as a Puck. (Or maybe you'll all tell me that the figures on paper are one thing, and for an Eriba I'd be wanting more than my 1.6 tdi.)
Enough of my ramblings; it would be great to hear about some pros and cons of the various options from folks who've done it; any options I haven't thought about, and so on.
Oh, and I live in North Cornwall, near the sea, on a most beautiful farm, so most of the time it's just heaven where I live! So trips are likely to be as much about seeing friends and family and going to events (especially spinning and other woolly events) as about 'getting away from it all'.