Caravan to Motohome

Hi, JD. No doubt opinion will vary but my recommendation is to stay as small as possible for the use you intend to give a MH.

We had a 6.4m coachbuilt van and although not too bad for parking, sight seeing and so on, it had limitations. We hired a car for dealing with the lanes of the Isle of Wight. We then downsized to a 6m panel van and the difference was terrific. The 6m PVC would park in most places - only one bay in a supermarket car park providing the rear could overhang a verge, as opposed to 2 or 4 bays for the coachbuilt. Later, we reduced to 5m PVC and that was as simple to park as a big car.

In your shoes, I’d go for the smaller van but only you can be sure. 

PS. That was the only occasion we hired a car. Once we downsized to the 6m van we always used it to go places and never used public transport or any other form of secondary transport. To go out for the day and have all the comforts of home with you is unbeatable. 👍🏻

Our MO is to move every day or two and do our sight seeing and shopping en route to the next site.

Fo r the last 23 years I have always got by with motorhomes in excess of 7 meters. I think to gain any advantage you have to go too small but that is just my view. As TW says only you can decide. You might want to think about where and when  you want to use your motorhome. I personally would not want to be cooped up in a small van in inclement weather. OK a drive away awning could increase space but do you want to be bothered putting it up every time you stop? If you are proposing to tour more on the Continent I wouldn" t be too concerned about the size of the van unless over 8m. It is considerably easier to park where you want to be over there than in this country but it is getting easier here. My current motorhome is 8m and I toured the Scotish Borders last year for a month without encountering problems. This year, I spent 6 weeks touring on the Continent again without having any parking problems. A way round problems in this country is to tow a small car. It does give you more options. I have such a car but do not always take it. It all depends where we are going and if we intend to stay on site for any length of time.

peedee

We’ve done that, too. Years ago we had a near 8m MH and towed a car. For us it was a real pain and inhibited the freedom of going off on a whim to tour as it was more suited to staying in one place and tripping around with the car. So, that’s what we did - reverted to a caravan and went on outings in the tow car. Each to their own but it was a huge mistake for us and we learnt from that.

We did the swap 6 years ago and have a 6.5m coach built , and never had any real problems finding somewhere to park , but we also have a car we tow , but we don’t take it on every trip ,we gives us flexibility, I would go for as large as you can get away with , but only you can decide what you want 

Personally I would have been asking these questions before making the decision to change to a moho….. and I certainly wouldn’t be going to all that expense without hiring one first to see if a moho works for your required use. We are undecided albeit for the type and location of holiday we like, become less convinced as time goes on a moho will suit us. The concern we have in going too small to such as a panel van conversion is loss of space and storage when compared with our current caravan. I suspect we will end up with two caravans. One on a seasonal pitch in the UK and a smaller 2 berth for continental trips. 

We changed from caravan to Motorhome about four years ago. Thought we knew what we wanted, 6.4m coachbuilt. Swapped it two years ago for a 6.4 m pvc. Much better. Because it is narrower it is easier to park, either in car parks or road side. also being narrower it is easier t drive on country roads, or indeed some of our more narrow main roads with lorries hurtling towards us. We wanted two fixed single beds, plenty of kitchen surface for prep (we don’t eat out) and a useable shower. We have all that in our Globecar.

You mention going to the beach for the day. In some areas e.g. where we live, Lincolnshire, many car parks now have height barriers, supposedly to stop overnighting, but of course also stops those day trips.

Height limits can be a real problem. You do need to do a bit more research than you would with a car.

Hiring cars, some do some don’t. We tend to take the van off site for the day if appropriate. We stay at more sites. So just done about eight nights around sw Scotland, stopped at eight sites, mixture of CS, CL, Aire, CCC club sites. We stopped at attractions on our way, did our shopping, on our way. Dont find supermarket parking difficult, except some small car parks.

Our first MH was 6.6m long but it was a Bailey coach built  and they are wide vans. We did however take it to Cornwall and Devon with no issues, we live in Scotland and used it around there again with no issues. Using it as a day van we did a few times.

Our current MH is a PVC, 6.4 M long but so much narrower than the coach built one. That does make the difference, we do use it as a day van and we do take it off site when away.

It does take a bit more planning ahead to make sure there is space for a MH.

I'm not sure I would want to go below 6m and there is only the 2 of us, put a dog and a teenager in the mix then it could get a bit cramped depending on the layout. 

We don't use an awning, not even when we caravan. However we do have a bike tent for when we are on site for a few days, handy for the bikes, chairs, bbq etc.

If you can try and hire one in the layout you like to try it out. I've heard it said it takes 3 MHs to get the right one. I think we have managed it in 2 ☺️

FC, I think JD is on the right track by considering their prospective method of use of a MH and by asking relevant questions here.

You might be surprised at the storage available in MHs, even PVCs with no outside lockers. The roof lockers tend to be deeper and higher than in a caravan and adding shelves in them helps considerably.

Two things that haven't been mentioned are the need for 3 belted travelling seats and adequate payload to cater for 3 people and all the necessary gear. Both of those might limit choice considerably.

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