Hi everyone- considering buying a motor home

We still actually own both. A caravan and a MH. We did use the caravan one or two times after we bought MH, but it quickly became apparent to us, just how much easier it was to keep MH ready to roll, and simply hop in and go. There are one or two places in UK we would prefer to use caravan, and if we decided to stay in one place for a long time, say a couple of weeks plus, then the van and tow car would be better for daily living. But for sheer ease of getting away for shorter breaks, as we have to do at the moment, it’s the MH every time. There are less cheap stopovers for caravans as well, you tend to have to use a site of some kind.

 

The user and all related content has been Deleted User

Setting up on site takes about 15 minutes, not much longer I've noticed than a MH with its EHU, ramps, screens, and certainly your filling and emptying of water and waste takes far longer at each time, as we use SP it's a one off thing.

I do find setting up easier with the MH than the caravan, although I never thought of that as a chore. However the time will depend to some extent how long we are stopping. If only a night we will put up with more of a slope and only use the inside blinds. The big benefit is when we arrive when it is raining, a few times on our last tour of Scotland. We always travel with some water, the gas has crash protection so is already on and will run everything while we have lunch and wait for the rain to go off.

The main reason we have now bought  a PVC, I think I have explained before  we tow a small trailer that carries most of what had to be offoaded and loaded at each stop,where as now I can use out of the trailer if and when needed,

I certainly would not buy anything larger as we now have our car sorted and use the PVC as our everyday vehicle so the car will probably be sold, the caravan has already been sold at £a much better price than we were offered 2years? ago

The OP asked 

“I’m interested in finding out the reality of owning and getting best use out of a motor home.”

By recounting our preferences and experiences of using them we are hopefully helping him with the reality as we see it. Clearly they are going to be personal views, it would be difficult for them to be anything else.

But why? Do you feel it would get damp in some way if you left it in or to dissuade would be thieves?

 

Yes there's no way of getting round the rain when you're setting up with a caravan

Wise advice from Another David.

We were set on a MH and decided to hire one of the same make and approximate size (7m) that we intended to buy for a week in south of France.

Advantages of a MH: very slightly quicker to pack up and setup; slightly easier to manoeuvre in supermarket car parks (necessary to stock up with food and fuel before an overnight stop); use of the France Passion stopovers which are great fun and not available to caravans (although the German equivalent do allow caravans on most stopovers); and use of the Aires in France.

Disadvantages: loss of the car for transport in the local area (towing a car increases costs), electric bikes can be an option but may impact payload, buses weren't an option in France because there weren't any + its very difficult to establish if a campsite is on a bus route); noise compared to a caravan; internal space and a cramped living area if you have fixed single beds; payload, your options are limited for 7m premium MH with a reasonable payload for long European trips (we wanted our children to be able to drive the MH so that they could enjoy low cost holidays); purchase cost.

After 18 month research pointed us in the direction of a MH. 7 days living with a MH was enough for us to decide to buy a caravan. I still miss the idea of off grid stays in France Passion sites (but would probably miss the EHU to power our air conditioning in the summer).

Its a compromise but both a caravan, MH or campervan open up a world of opportunities to explore new places....just differently! Worth checking out Andrew Ditton's vlog on YouTube. Good Luck! 

DD makes the point of UK versus Europe in the decision process. It is definitely more marginal where the UK is concerned and probably, on balance, is better suited to a caravan. For Europe a motorhome is a no-brainer.

The user and all related content has been Deleted User