Caravan width - help please advice requested

There are folk on here who manage quite well with 8’ wide vans. There are others who avoid narrow roads because they have an 8’ wide van.  

You may well have trouble accessing some CLs with a large van as they can be in remote locations with restricted access. Club owned/operated sites should not be a problem and size restrictions on pitches will be on length. Each club site will show on its web page the max length that can be accepted, ie shipping length of the caravan.

It's not something I would contemplate with living down here but, at the end of the day, it’s down to how confident you are in your towing and manoeuvring ability and, of course, the capability of your towing vehicle.

If 8’ wide vans are such a problem they wouldn’t be so popular with manufacturers and therefore buyers. As tinwheeler suggests there will inevitably be the odd site where access is an issue and in those cases the site operator will probably advise. The site we use in Cornwall near St Mawes has access road not for the faint hearted but is accessible with an 8’ t/a with care. If you are going to use club or commercial sites it is unlikely you will encounter any problems. There are one or two sites who are sniffy about t/a’s due to a perception that users are from a specific ethnic group, however those are also rare and more likely sur le continent. 

Be aware, some camp sites and storage sites will not permit the large twin wheel caravans of certain makes on their property. 
you certainly couldn’t keep the big Buccaneers and Hobbys on my previous storage site as they were a known target for our travelling friends.

Presumably heavy as well as wide - perhaps getting on for two tonnes all up weight?  It wii take an awful lot of expensive diesel to haul that about. And how long will new big diesel tow cars be available on sale? So not surprising the present owners of that caravan are selling it.

Gentlemen (and if any of you are Ladies of course), You are all stars and many thanks for all of your comments ....I'm pretty confident with manoeuvering as I run small one man band car & van transport business and tow pretty much daily wish me luck!! ...I'm going to now discuss your comments with my good lady wife .....when of course she's in a good mood.....by the way ....the 8 footer that we're thinking of buying is a Swift, Sprite or Bailey ...not one of the banned or suspecting brands that our travelling friends might favor. As far as my research goes it just seems a no brainer that for our budget if I chose an 8 footer we'll get a much younger van ....plus there's the extra inside space. My tow vehicle is a VW Touareq V6 diesel. Thanks again to you all for your help and advice, much appreciated. Have a great evening. Cheers Steve Merrick 

Steve - we have an 8' wide van - a Knaus Starclass 695 and tow it with a Touareg. Fully laden, it weighs 2 tonnes and the Treg tows with effortless ease - indeed it's probably the best towcar I have had - including 4 Discos in the past.  

The extra room inside that the additional 6" of width gives you is incredible and we really like it. That said - I am careful where I take it and always research new routes with care (Google Maps Street View). We regularly use CLs and CS's and because I choose them with care, we haven't had a problem.  On the other hand, we have changed our plans this summer to go to the Dartmouth C&CC site (which we have been to, many times in the past with our Barcelona) because I felt that the approach into Dartmouth was just a step too far with a van of that size.  Yes - I know that buses and HGVs use that route every day - but they're not bothered if they get the odd scratch on their vehicles - whereas I am!

Instead, we are off to Charmouth C&CC site which has a much easier approach.

With your towing experience, you won't have a problem - but perhaps I am just extra cautious

Hello

We have an Adria 8ft wide van.

Only one site had caused us problems requiring an unhitch and motormover use. That was  C&CC site at Wyre Piddle.

Lady luck shone on us last year when we opted for the C&MC site at St Mawes instead of a private site around the corner. We took a drive past this other site and it was immediately evident we would not have got past two rocky outcrops nor would we have managed to enter the site whilst still hooked up.

We've never been refused entry anywhere.

So, yes careful consideration is to be employed.

We love the space inside and for our particular van the longer draw bar makes for a smooth towing experience. Van is 1800kg, Volvo car is 1989kg without my athletic frame sat inside. Tows a dream and no ATC.

If you want to sneak into tiny hidden gem CL's on a regular basis maybe 8ft is not the way but that said not every CL has tight access.

I see your profile shows you in Derbyshire - whereabouts are you?

Many thanks go to Richard Andros & Asda 160, appreciate your thoughts and comments ....but sad to say that I've failed (again!) miserably .....spoke to the missus this morning....she's having none of it....apparently the 8ft van is a deal breaker!!....so spent the day searching for some 7.5 footer's ....found four ....going to view tomorrow :-) ...Hi, Asda160 I'm based in Hilton, South Derbyshire ...why where are you ? Cheers Steve 

@ Steve M ... spoke to the missus this morning....she's having none of it....apparently the 8ft van is a deal breaker!!.

Will she be towing it?  🙄

Hello Steve

're location, I've got to fetch our van out of storage very soon and thought it would help if you could experience travelling with an 8ft van for real, but it appears you've had your mind made up for you ...plus I'm in north Derbyshire and you're from the deep south so not really neighbours.