Maximising space in your caravan or motorhome

Just shows how we all have different choices😁 We wanted something very compact, and as I say we travel very light. Our little 5.5 metre job works well for us, it’s mainly bikes on rear, which only adds another 0.75m. Same if we use box. Makes life in UK very easy as well.
We wanted something we could use daily to move about and park up very easy, bikes and box usually overhang in a car park, and we aren’t dependent upon bikes, walking or public transport, which was a must for us. Our little outfit will go most places with care and a bit of research. We didn’t need a fixed bed of any type either, so  we are not towing beds around. Ours takes a couple of minutes to sort out, put away, and it’s not an issue for us. Our original plan was to get something small to tour the whole of the UK coastline, stopping off, occasional B& B if we fancied it, pop home every now and then just to check on house. We started life with a micro camper van, so what we have now is brilliant😁 We still have caravan if we want long holidays in one or two places.

We have looked at other MH’s. Nothing large though, 6.5m would be our max, and for that we would want a garage. We did like a small Hymer we saw at Lowdhams in Huddersfield (?). Can’t recall model. It was well made, a good layout that suited us, at the time, possibly around £65k and on a Merc chassis🤔 Probably a lot more now. We decided that £65k would buy us a lot of holidays, so stuck with our little AS for now. Storage in that looked ok as far as I can remember. But possibly a compromise on parking and exploring like we do now. 🙂

I just clicked onto Hymer, see if I could find that model. Came across this

https://www.hymer.com/gb/en/models/hymer-venture-s

like the idea, total adventure. Not sure about the compromise on the French shape bed, we are both tall. I showed it OH, he liked it, then I scrolled down to price🤣🤣🤣 (Unprintable expletive🤣) Plenty of storage though👍

I perfectly see the attraction of motorhomes with a garage under the sleeping accommodation where all those things you don't want in the van can be safely stored but with relatively easy access. Unfortunately they are not so good for people who are less agile as they often require steps to get up into the bed. Trying to get up in the middle of the night when you are half awake and having to negotiate down a series of steps or even a ladder might well be Ok for the younger retired but once you reach a more venerable age not such a bright idea. We changed our first motorhome as we thought a slightly smaller motorhome would be more practical. From a manoeuvrability point of view it does have its advantages. However we sometimes mull over the question of whether we should have stayed with a longer motorhome (7.5 metres) and gone for a model with two single beds plus a front lounge as not only would that have given us extra space and comfort but much more internal storage. Can't see us changing now but we do sometimes think about what would be our ideal layout. Can't ride bikes anymore so that wouldn't be an issue.

David

I definitely wouldn't fancy climibing over the OH and trying to find and negotiate the steps in the dark!   

Having had two single settees to make into beds each night, with difficulty raising one mattered to get underneath because of a hinged shelf, and insufficient room under the other for all the bedding because of battery we wanted two fixed single beds and a garage. Which we have in our pvc. The garage is used for our folding mobility scooters now we not so mobile. Yes there are a couple of steps to the beds but we don’t find them an issue even in the middle of the night.

Firstly, most would struggle to find the £200k+ to buy the van linked to!!💶

I'm 70 in a a few weeks and have no issue getting into bed using the step up to bed. Most twin singles or island beds over large garages have the softest easiest steps up to the beds, and are usually illuminated.

my OH doesn't need to move overnight so no climbing over required.

If you can climb two stairs at home you can get into bed in one of these vans.

most continental MH have a double floor and the raising of the van floor and the lowering of the garage floor means the height to 'climb up' is nowhere near as far as it might be in a UK van with a single floor. It's these two 'changes in height' that's the 'secret' to having a bed over a garage without the perceived difficulty.

some continental vans (Hymer, Carthago etc) even have a full garage under a rear lounge van, whereas in a single floored UK van you'd be lucky to get a 'cupboard' under....its double floors and lowered garages that Europe has mastered.

We don’t have problems hopping over each other, it’s the blinking hound that’s the issue for us. He insists on sleeping in front of bathroom door😁 Smaller hound required😉 But we’ll hang onto the old lad for as long as we can. 

Which brings me to storage space required for an elderly mutt and all his requirements………bedding, toys, fold up chariot, soft mats for ageing bones…………it’s a good job we travel light😁 Five and a half stone of Labrador, draped wherever it fancies. However we managed with two is a mystery, but we did❤️

Over the years, we have saved 'trial size' or 'travel size' containers as they now call them, for things like toiletries, washing up liquids and cleaning products, toilet fluids and refill them for each trip.  I don't see the sense in carrying a full Fairy Liquid bottle around the country only to take most of it back home again.  My 'trial size' Fairy Liquid bottle was bought in the 1970s and is still going strong. 

I bet the feeling  is mutual.😁😁

YT I agree with your final paragraph having been in a friends Hymer. The 2 floor system seems perfectly logical and gives him enough garage space at the rear for his motor bike etc.