Hi All,
Newby first post here!
We're looking to buy a van in the next few weeks, and wanted to bounce a few ideas around.
There are (at the moment) my 4 yr old daughter, my beautiful wife, and I (6' 5" tall).
Criteria are; nice big front double bed (bearing in mind I'm 6'5"), middle kitchen & bathroom, rear for the little one (with room for any extras we might add along the way). The rear needs to have a proper partition (i.e. solid door, not curtain or concertina blind) so it can be sectioned off and used for sleep whilst life goes on in the main part of the van.
No rear bathrooms (doesn't allow sufficient segregation of the ends of the van), no fixed doubles (vital that in the day as much of the van comes into general use as possible) but fixed bunk are an option. Am wary of rear bunks across the back of the van though (particularly if they are not full width) as I've read loads about people's kids out-growing them (and with my 4 yr old in age 5-6 clothes I suspect she's following me rather than her Mother dimension wise). Not keen on middle dinettes which convert to a bunk or two- they sap usable space and the beds aren't really required for the size our family is (or is likely to become).
Tow car is a '55 Saab 9-3 sportwagon diesel (which has hirsch springs and remap). Max tow weight 2100KG, max vehicle train weight 3700kg, according to the plate on the car. I'm aware of the 85% guideline and intend to ignore it if that suits me, in favour of a cautious approach to driving and a getting a decent sized van. I am minded to stick to 100% ratio if I can though. Car is going to be in the 1400KG region I imagine, although I'm struggling to find the actual kerb weight (it's not on the vin plate or anywhere else obvious). I have granddad rights on my license.
At the moment I keep finding myself coming back to the Lunar 615 (quasar, eclipse, galaxy- but what is the difference?) range; flexible rear layout (double fixed bunks or collapsible ones), proper divide front to rear, good size but manageable weight- seems the best of all worlds.
Am slightly concerned about the beds at the front though- do those drawers they stick in the middle of the two benches move at night to make a decent sized double, or will it be me, the wife, and the drawers competing for space? Ideally I'll be sleeping parallel to the orientation of the van so my feet can stick off the end of the bed (as they do in our king size at home). Have seen the L shaped front layout of some of the series 5 Bailey Pageants, and wonder whether that's going to add up to a better bed by the time it's all made up.
The large Abbey Spectrums (620, 410 etc) seem to have what is possibly the ideal layout for us, but with MIROs more than my car weighs before you even start loading it up that is out of the question for now by some significant margin, rather frustratingly.
Anyway, thanks for reading all that- if anyone has any pearls of wisdom (except, perhaps, that 85% is not something I should ignore- I am aware of the various sides of the debate and am not trying to reopen them) please do share (particularly of models or variations of models that might suit our needs but have escaped our search so far).
Budget is £5-7K.
Jules.
Newby first post here!
We're looking to buy a van in the next few weeks, and wanted to bounce a few ideas around.
There are (at the moment) my 4 yr old daughter, my beautiful wife, and I (6' 5" tall).
Criteria are; nice big front double bed (bearing in mind I'm 6'5"), middle kitchen & bathroom, rear for the little one (with room for any extras we might add along the way). The rear needs to have a proper partition (i.e. solid door, not curtain or concertina blind) so it can be sectioned off and used for sleep whilst life goes on in the main part of the van.
No rear bathrooms (doesn't allow sufficient segregation of the ends of the van), no fixed doubles (vital that in the day as much of the van comes into general use as possible) but fixed bunk are an option. Am wary of rear bunks across the back of the van though (particularly if they are not full width) as I've read loads about people's kids out-growing them (and with my 4 yr old in age 5-6 clothes I suspect she's following me rather than her Mother dimension wise). Not keen on middle dinettes which convert to a bunk or two- they sap usable space and the beds aren't really required for the size our family is (or is likely to become).
Tow car is a '55 Saab 9-3 sportwagon diesel (which has hirsch springs and remap). Max tow weight 2100KG, max vehicle train weight 3700kg, according to the plate on the car. I'm aware of the 85% guideline and intend to ignore it if that suits me, in favour of a cautious approach to driving and a getting a decent sized van. I am minded to stick to 100% ratio if I can though. Car is going to be in the 1400KG region I imagine, although I'm struggling to find the actual kerb weight (it's not on the vin plate or anywhere else obvious). I have granddad rights on my license.
At the moment I keep finding myself coming back to the Lunar 615 (quasar, eclipse, galaxy- but what is the difference?) range; flexible rear layout (double fixed bunks or collapsible ones), proper divide front to rear, good size but manageable weight- seems the best of all worlds.
Am slightly concerned about the beds at the front though- do those drawers they stick in the middle of the two benches move at night to make a decent sized double, or will it be me, the wife, and the drawers competing for space? Ideally I'll be sleeping parallel to the orientation of the van so my feet can stick off the end of the bed (as they do in our king size at home). Have seen the L shaped front layout of some of the series 5 Bailey Pageants, and wonder whether that's going to add up to a better bed by the time it's all made up.
The large Abbey Spectrums (620, 410 etc) seem to have what is possibly the ideal layout for us, but with MIROs more than my car weighs before you even start loading it up that is out of the question for now by some significant margin, rather frustratingly.
Anyway, thanks for reading all that- if anyone has any pearls of wisdom (except, perhaps, that 85% is not something I should ignore- I am aware of the various sides of the debate and am not trying to reopen them) please do share (particularly of models or variations of models that might suit our needs but have escaped our search so far).
Budget is £5-7K.
Jules.