Hello everyone, I am so new to caravanning that I do not even have a caravan (or a towbar but that is being fitted next week) My wife and I want to be able to go away with our 3 kids for weekends and holidays that do not cost the earth. I am looking at spending about £3K on a caravan and would love some advice on what we should be looking at. Also as the eldest is 16 going on 25 she will not be with us all the time is it possible to sleep 5 in a 4 berth? Any advice gratefully recieved.
New and no idea
- Thread starter siclu
- Start date
Parksy
Moderator
Hi Siclu, welcome to the Practical Caravan forum. We all had to start somewhere and by asking experienced caravanners on this forum where to start you have done exactly the right thing
Have a look around dealers forecourts at some of the caravans taken in part exchange to decide which features you like and what you and your family are not so keen on and remember, looking costs nothing as long as you leave your wallet at home.
Bear in mind what you can safely and legally tow with your vehicle and driving licence. ClickHere for a buyers guide which will give you the more obvious things to look out for and ask forum members any questions that you may have in the various sections of this forum. Good luck in your search for a first caravan.
Have a look around dealers forecourts at some of the caravans taken in part exchange to decide which features you like and what you and your family are not so keen on and remember, looking costs nothing as long as you leave your wallet at home.
Bear in mind what you can safely and legally tow with your vehicle and driving licence. ClickHere for a buyers guide which will give you the more obvious things to look out for and ask forum members any questions that you may have in the various sections of this forum. Good luck in your search for a first caravan.
Hi, welcome to the forum, you will be amazed at the wealth of knowledgable people on here, just keep asking.
On the note of sleeping 5 in a 4 berth think it near impossible unless there are very two small ones. You may consider an awning with a separate annex to sleep in then you could go for a 4 berth. Bear in mind some (very few) sites will not allow sleeping in an awning, think I came across this once but cant remember where, I also thought it was a strange rule.
Happy holidays and good luck on your hunt
On the note of sleeping 5 in a 4 berth think it near impossible unless there are very two small ones. You may consider an awning with a separate annex to sleep in then you could go for a 4 berth. Bear in mind some (very few) sites will not allow sleeping in an awning, think I came across this once but cant remember where, I also thought it was a strange rule.
Happy holidays and good luck on your hunt
Mel
Moderator
I agree with kev, you'll be better putting the 16 year old in the awning. You can get an inner tent for a full awning that you suspend with a bit of bungee cord, or an additional bedroom annexe. You can generally sleep 2 in these; handy if 16 year old wants to bring a mate. The alternative (what we have done) is to take one of those throw up pup tents and put it up in the awning and the teen has slept in that.
In all honesty most triple bunks in vans are not big enough to accomodate a teen anyway; so you may find even a typical 6 berth is not suitable. Go to a large dealer and spend time getting in and out of vans of various layouts and see what suits you, even if you eventually end up buying privately. If you do buy from a private sale take someone with you that knows about caravans, as it may be loads cheaper but you have little comeback if it is riddled with damp. Ask questions on here and others will help.
Welcome to the forum
mel
In all honesty most triple bunks in vans are not big enough to accomodate a teen anyway; so you may find even a typical 6 berth is not suitable. Go to a large dealer and spend time getting in and out of vans of various layouts and see what suits you, even if you eventually end up buying privately. If you do buy from a private sale take someone with you that knows about caravans, as it may be loads cheaper but you have little comeback if it is riddled with damp. Ask questions on here and others will help.
Welcome to the forum
mel
put kids in pup tent in awning go to halfords and get a haynes manuale by john wickemshaw it is a bible to caravaners .
Wandering around the dealers forecourts will give you a good idea of which layout and model of caravan suits your needs.
Obviously buying at a dealer does usually only give you a basic van with no extras like awning or water barrels thrown in, but you do have a degree of buyer protection if you get sold a dud.
Buying privately often get's you a lot more for your money and the van comes with most of the basic accessories. But you do need to be carefull and take a friend who knows about caravans.
A good tip is never to look at a van with the door and windows open before you get there and stay away from those with air fresheners stashed under the bunks or taped to the roof of cuboards, because that's usually there to hide a damp musty smell. I always take a good snif on opening the door and that tells a story.
Good luck on your search.
Obviously buying at a dealer does usually only give you a basic van with no extras like awning or water barrels thrown in, but you do have a degree of buyer protection if you get sold a dud.
Buying privately often get's you a lot more for your money and the van comes with most of the basic accessories. But you do need to be carefull and take a friend who knows about caravans.
A good tip is never to look at a van with the door and windows open before you get there and stay away from those with air fresheners stashed under the bunks or taped to the roof of cuboards, because that's usually there to hide a damp musty smell. I always take a good snif on opening the door and that tells a story.
Good luck on your search.
Damian
Moderator
Whichever van you think about buying, I would very strongly suggest getting a mobile caravan engineer to give it a pre purchase inspection.
It will cost you a bit of money,around £60 but may save you thousands on a damp, rotten van.
You can find one here : http://www.mobilecaravanengineers.co.uk/mcea-find-an-engineer.htm
It will cost you a bit of money,around £60 but may save you thousands on a damp, rotten van.
You can find one here : http://www.mobilecaravanengineers.co.uk/mcea-find-an-engineer.htm
Hi siciu welcome to the practical caravan forum there is a lot of people on here that will give you advice just ask and you will get a reply ...
Thanks to everyone who has replied, this seems to be the most friendly forum on the interweb, I can only hope that the caravan sites are as friendly. Further developments: We had a good look around a local dealers forecourt on Saturday and the thing that struck me most is how much more caravan you get for your money by buying a 2 berth rather than a 4 / 5 berth. This has got me thinking! How about if I buy a 2 berth and make sure there is a very good awning to go with it. We can sleep in the awning with the teen at the other end, the two littles can sleep in the van. As we only have a golf estate this also ensures we are able to tow it safely. (For detail I can tow up to 1400kg)
Thoughts please.
Thoughts please.
You can do as suggested however don't forget about the weight of the awning if it is a full awning they can be very heavy with the steel poles.
Think about being able to put the awning in the car and not the caravan as this will leave more available weight to put into the caravan and help ballast up the tow vehicle
just a thought ?????????
John
Think about being able to put the awning in the car and not the caravan as this will leave more available weight to put into the caravan and help ballast up the tow vehicle
just a thought ?????????
John
Also consider the weather damp and cold at night have a look at the sprite alpine 4 it may be a bit pricey but look at the lay out and try to find some thing like it but in your price range older sprite or musketer are cheaper not to be sniffed at .We use the awning as a over spill as stated before but you need to cover all aspects if it turns a wee bit wet.
Hello siclu and welcome to the wonderful world of caravaning.
With Forest Gump suggesting the Sprite range it brought back many great memories of our first caravan, a Sprite Musketeer that we bought second hand for the sum of £250, but it was a model from the late 50s and it was forty years ago when we bought it, but I think others will agree with me that you seem to get the most enjoyment out of your first caravan no matter how much you pay for it, and to this day forty years on, I still get excited at the thought of going away in the van.
Like others have said enjoy your new hobby, and just shout up if you need any help, theres lots of great folk on here only to willing to help.
Allan and Gill.
With Forest Gump suggesting the Sprite range it brought back many great memories of our first caravan, a Sprite Musketeer that we bought second hand for the sum of £250, but it was a model from the late 50s and it was forty years ago when we bought it, but I think others will agree with me that you seem to get the most enjoyment out of your first caravan no matter how much you pay for it, and to this day forty years on, I still get excited at the thought of going away in the van.
Like others have said enjoy your new hobby, and just shout up if you need any help, theres lots of great folk on here only to willing to help.
Allan and Gill.
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