Who's the future of caravanning?

[LizziePope]

Practical Caravan's David Motton takes on this subject in his latest blog – read more!

What do you think? When and why did you start caravanning?

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

When and why did you start caravanning?

We started off with a car, frame tent and 2 kids
The car then got a roof box
The car, without a roof box, then got a 5' x 3' trailer
The car then had the roof box back, as well as the trailer
The trailer then carried a toilet tent and chemical toilet 😱hmy:

the trailer was taking a couple of hours to unload on arrival and then load back up again after our trip, which is when I called a halt and said we needed a caravan, as we were towing in any case.
SWMBO said that a caravan would be claustrophobic and didn't want one but when I got her in one at the local dealers and she saw the fridge, water heater, toilet, shower, proper beds, cooker/oven, hot and cold running water, double glazing, etc, etc etc she decided to try it. Never looked back. 😉 This was about 12 years ago

 

[Parksy]

There are quite a few lightweight 'crossover caravans' on the market and they all have one thing in common.
They are expensive items.
21st century tent and sleeping bag technology, with ehu available might tempt younger potential buyers to stick with canvas until middle age catches up with them no matter how trendy and well equipped these small pod type caracampers may be, but the British tourist industry led by the two major clubs could do a lot more to make sites so attractive to young adventure tenters that when they have families they would be prepared to invest in family friendly caravans to introduce their own youngsters to the great outdoors.
Most sites, including those owned and run by the two main clubs, increase their prices significantly during school holidays. Perhaps they could consider offering special deals for young campers, cheap weekend breaks, subsidised transport to and from sites from local town centres to cater for backpack type campers who one day could consider caravan ownership?
On site organised activities as part of a package, such as hiking, canoeing, climbing etc; might tempt these intrepid canvas champions to stay loyal to our tourist industry when they are eventually wealthy enough to buy foreign package holidays for their young families.
The caravan manufacturing industry is right in thinking of the future, but I'm sorry to say that unless they can come up with family friendly affordable lightweight caravans and are willing to introduce more rigid quality control protocols with no faults or design issues on new caravans their future will be somewhat bleak.
Personally speaking we've only been touring caravan owners since1999, as a divorced father whose ex moved with my sons 180 miles from home I had to find a way to spend weekends and holidays with them.
I spent much of my own boyhood under canvas, proper old school tents with creepy crawlies to scare my sisters and leaks if the sides of the tent were touched during wet weather. I loved every second of it and would do it all again in a heartbeat.
Having met my partner Carole in 1999 tenting was definitely not on the agenda as far as she was concerned, it took all of my powers of persuasion for her to try a caravan, so I found a bone dry 1982 Eccles Topaz 2 berth and took it from there....

 

[PHOENIXFLIER]

Spent 26 years in the Army sleeping in / on / under / freezing / baking....so any caravan to me is...............bliss!

 

[Martin24]

I've never done the cross over or tenting as such, although when we had diddy little two berth caravans I often slept in the awning.

From before I was born we had a caravan and I've grown up with pretty much all my holidays in the van. As soon as I could afford to get a starter van I did.

We bought an Elddis shamal XL from my uncle and have gradually progressed through quite a few family layouts as our needs as a family have changed. Our layout now pretty much suits us down to the ground and no plans afoot to change in the foreseeable future.

The girls all enjoy our holidays, pretty much all of the school holidays are spent in the van, even if quite local so swmbo can go to work from the van.

Where possible we only use CL's and CS's with fairly minimal facilities. The children do not like big commercial sites or large club sites with facilities and when we have stayed on a large site they've asked when we're going back to a field.

When we stayed near Pickering for the Woosiefest last September there were certainly a nice group of families in tents for the weekend and all having a jolly good time. In many cases a tent is probably more reliable than a modern UK caravan and anyone considering and researching caravanning could easily be put off with the number of problems constantly being raised on caravan forums.

We have a large twin axle and are lucky enough to have been able to afford to buy and run a large tow car. The majority of families are not in this position and the industry needs to recognise this and get lighter and cheaper family vans onto the market. Our Shamal which from memory was about 1991 vintage, was perfectly well equipped, we had everything we needed for keeping warm in the winter, cooking for a family, end washroom ideal for nappy changing and came in at around 1000kg we towed with a family car. There is no reason why family vans can't be a little smaller a little less well equipped and come in at a sensible weight for more families with a normal family car. These pod caravans and trendy designs are all well and good but they are rarely at a price point families can afford and they do not offer the required space for more than a couple. Trendy they may be but in my view they are no more than that.

I think children who are lucky enough to be brought up to the hobby do share their experiences with friends at school and many are jealous of the number of nights they get away. As they grow up they'll either fondly remember caravanning and go down that route themselves or they'll rebel and get on aeroplane to somewhere exotic and never go in a van again.

Owners clubs and other rallying groups through the two main clubs or other organisations are good for families and a good way to get better use of the van and chill out for the weekend. Many of these clubs have youth groups within them and children enjoy the opportunity to have another set of friends. They are not always well publicised or show their best colours for being family friendly. Perhaps if they had the opportunity a couple of times a year to advertise what they do in the major caravan publications free of charge and report on their activities more in the press the word would spread further.

I can honestly say no one has even made a derogatory comment about my love of the caravan lifestyle be it through school days or as an adult. :cheer:

 

[Mogwyth]

Went thought the whole gamaunt of camping from ex army canvas tents with the scouts, to aone man tent as a solo walker and cyclist, two man tent with my misses through a succession of bigger tents as the kids arrived untill we ended up with a trailer tent for a few years before Oh confessed she didn't realy like camping and the girls were of an age that we should explore a bit further afield like Sri Lanka and similar destinations.

Fast forward 12 years and the kids have moved out and bedrooms are a bit small for partners coming to stay, so we brought a small £600 caravan as spare bedroom. On a whim we went away in it for a weekend, then another, than 10 days, came back went out and spent £9,000 on our current 'van and go away at least once a month. Our regret is we didn't discover caravaning sooner.

 

[Raywood]

Caravans should cross all age groups although they tend to be for families and older people at the moment. Young people always started in tents at one time but if the likes of the Basecamp and Surf and Fun can attract a younger crowd then they should be encouraged. New though they might be too expensive but as they hit the secondhand market things should improve. Youngsters now are more concerned with style and these two do have that and should do better than the teardrops which are probably too basic for many.

 

[tuffty]

Caravans are always going to be primarily the preserve of families or older people I think. When I was young we caravanned every summer with the family which was great, but when I left home I could barely afford a little Citroen Saxo let alone something big enough to tow a van (and then buy the van too!). Also at that age if I wanted weekends in the wilderness we'd go wild camping in tents, really away from it all with no site fees to play. Beyond that it would be cheap hostelling breaks around the world.

Fast forward to having my own family and being forced into ridiculously expensive school holiday breaks, and a van makes far more financial sense. The extra comforts such as heating, toilet, full oven etc make it far more usable with a very young family than a tent, particularly for short weekend breaks where the set up time on a Friday night after school is minimal compared to pitching a behemoth of a tent.

One thing though, I was obviously very lucky without knowing it when younger as the site we went to in Cornwall every year was beautiful - outdoor pool, games room / table tennis and outdoor play areas for kids, a few organised activities such as games of rounders but no bar / clubhouse on site so still lovely and peaceful. I've been surprised when trying to find similar sites in my region (East Anglia) how few and far between they are! Most are either much smaller and more basic (which can be fun in itself), or bigger with bars, discos etc which I don't want. There must be a market for more sites like I went to as a child, and I'm sure that would help more people to get into it.

It's also interesting what Martin24 says about youth clubs - I'm in the CC and had no idea of this, worth checking out for my kids as they'd love that - so agree they should push this more!

And yes, lightweight, quality family vans at reasonable price points are a must. Most people don't want to have to buy a huge SUV or similar for the few trips per year they will take with their van, you need plenty of options towable by a standard family car.

 

[Raywood]

I am not sure that price is the problem. Like most people we started with a second hand model and simply found one that fitted our price point and the car could tow. You tend to work up to the new models, if that is what you want, and provided people buy new as they move up, there will always be a supply of second hand ones for those starting out.
Both our parents had caravans but were entirely different in the way they used them. My parents used CLs almost exclusively where my in laws wanted a big site with lots of facilities. It is everyone to there own but I suspect most adventurous types or on a tight budget will want minimum facilities whereas the ones wanting life's luxeries will go for full facility sites. The idea though is to convince the younger ones that caravans will suit them and the more trendy ones will help with that.