American Forest River or Hobby 720 KFU

What do you plan to tow with?

Have you checked the actual external body sizes of these vans?  That will determine what spec of tow vehicle you will need to stay legal in UK.

Max body length for towing with what I would call a " normal car or 4x4" is 7 metres.

Air con can be fitted to most caravans.

How will having slide outs impact on staying within the spacing requirements on a site?  Will it limit your choice of site?

You do realise that as both have a body length of over 7m they will require a towcar with a plated GVW of over 3500kg to be legal in the UK and such a vehicle would require a category C1E driving licence? That virtually means that they can only be towed by a van of suitable size (even most Transit variants are too small) or an uprated US pickup (normal pickup trucks imported from the US are also below 3500kg).

You will then hit the problem that your tow vehicle will be over 3500Kg and you will need a C1 licence. Your photo suggests that you aren't old enough to have that category by default on your licence. Only us old wrinklies used to have it.

 How do you intend using them? Are you intending to tour or pitch up permanently? Given the size of both of them you might struggle to find sites that can accept units of that length. Neither will be particularly easy to manoeuvre on some sites. If air conditioning is important to you that can always be fitted as an extra.

David

We rang DVLA to check both our licenses and they said as long as the towing vehicle was under 3500kgs and the towed trailer was under 3500kgs there was no limit on length.  (we have read that 7m is the max.) so we asked her again and she confirmed it was weight and not length.

She checked our licenses and we both have C1E as I passed my test in 1987 and Andy passed in 1984,  There was no restriction or limit on length - which contradicts their website!

Does this mean that because we have this category on our license that we can tow these caravans?  The Hobby is 2,200kgs and the American one was 2,500kgs

In terms of leisure activities we plan on going to CLA Game fair at the end of July, booking local approved sites around Devon, Dorset and doing short trips locally and maybe next year going down through France for a month.

I will call the Insurance company tomorrow and maybe speak to DVLA again as the last thing I want is to be stopped by police!

We may need to view some smaller models!

Thank You guys, much appreicated!

It is not to do with your licence.

No matter what licence you hold, a van over 7 metres body length must legally be towed by a vehicle weighing over 3500 kg.

see here.....

https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/media/1022859/choice-of-trailer-caravan.pdf

What do you plan to tow with, this will dictate your limit on the weight of van you can tow.

85% of your tow vehicle kerb weight is advised, especially if you are new to towing, but it is only advisory.

I would never contemplate a van that is actually heavier than the car, that is why the spec   of the tow vehicle is so important.  Engine power is another factor.

All mainstream UK made caravans will be legal to tow in UK, but you still need to match van and car.

We will tow with a Ford Ranger truck, it has commercial vehicle insurance,  After speaking with the DVLA there was no limit to length only weight.

FORD RANGER spec

2.2 Duratorq TDCi (150PS (110kW)) 4x4 Automatic

Payload Net 1062kg

Payload Gross 1137kg

Front Axel Plated Mass 1480kg

Rear Axel Plated Mass 1850kg

Gross Vehicle Mass 3200kg

Kerb Weight 2063kg

Rear Axel Ratio 3.73kg

Maximum Trailer Weight braked/unbraked 3500kg

Max GTM 5950kg

If you plan to get a large van, often that will be a twin axle.  

You mention going to France, be aware that some French sites will not accept twin axles (as these are commonly used by "travellers"), others will offer to take you then charge you three times the going rate, while others are happy to accept you.  

Until you turn up you will not know, unless you ring or e mail ahead, and even then you may get a different response when you actually get there!

However, do not let that put you off too much, there are plenty of sites out there.  It's just wise to be aware of what can happen.  It is only France, in our experience, where this may be a problem.