Reflections on how to buy the right caravan

The user and all related content has been Deleted User

Well done for even thinking of questions and problems that you might encounter. Not meant to be patronising either.

Doesn't matter though how many questions you put, and despite your comment about "the prophets of doom" you can easily walk into a "Friday afternoon caravan". We have and we have as many questions as yourself, actually more, as we store at home so size of 'van is high. Most important question that you asked and answered was "What do we want from our caravanning experience?". We want to be able to carry bikes in the 'van so over the years payload has been important. They tend to only go with us abroad but we have started taking them in the country as well. Even our Lunar Ariva 2 berth could carry the bikes but we had to take the front wheels and pedals off. But needs must.

We have had 2 absolute stinkers of caravans over 31 years. Both models were touted as excellent and reviewed as such and both from main UK suppliers but one had 36 faults in 36 months (warranty period) and was then got rid of and the second recently disintegrated after hitting a pothole. Apart from delaminating it was a fine caravan, layout and payload wise. However the "Apart" bit was significant.

Just like buying a car that has had great reviews and has a high reliability percentile doesn't mean that you can't end with a turkey.

But at least you have gone into the enterprise with your eyes open and done the best you can.

Our main priorities are large bed, long front end for lounging and large wash room so we can avoid the main sites. You may infer from these requirements that we have a large twin axle but you would be wrong, we have a 2 berth. The made up bed takes approx 3 mins to erect/dismantle. One compromise we can accept.

In our case we spoke with a neighbour on a CL, he suggested that we look around their van.

We did and were so impressed we purchased what was probably the last one off the production line. It has suited us down to the ground - including 6 months in Portugal over winter.

 

16 years of heaven. Thank you Eccles Onyx - (now part of Sterling group.)

You have gone through the right questions.  It's a bit like formal 'Problem Solving';  you list the essential criteria then the desirable criteria, your purchase has to meet all the 'essential' (eg budget, berths, weight - whatever you want) and as many of the 'desirable' as possible, then compare and decide.  Like the posters above we have had a  number of caravans and settled on a 2009 Bailey Ranger GT60 Series 6 which we purchased in 2012.  It has given us 9 years of, almost, trouble free caravanning but no major problems.  Everyone has their own reasons when selecting a particular caravan.  We wanted a fixed bed, the size of the shower was less important as we nearly always use site facilities,  good payload and a space to move around inside.  A bit like buying a boat, we looked at getting one with more beds than we needed, just 2 of us so a 4 berth.  We have gone through the thought process of buying a motorhome; however, as we tend to do what Deleted User User does and go for long continental trips spring and autumn staying for a few weeks at sites rather that 2 -5 days we will stay with our caravan.

Sadly, this will probably be our last caravan as the years are creeping by,  but we are really struggle to think of how we will spend our holidays when we give up caravanning.  But that is another topic!