Full Time Caravan Living

basilthedog, we have a 2011 Bailey Madrid Unicorn. It does not have a permanent double bed but we like it as it has 2 seperate wardrobes, so we have one each, and a large rear toilet section. The one thing we miss with it is it doesn't have an electric plate, only 4 gas rings, but we purchased a seperate double electric hotplate unit which we use most of the time, inconjunction with our built-in mircowave. Saves on the gas that way, as we always use sites, mainly CL's, with EHU. 

hiring for a few days, and full time living are no comparison, you really need to gain a bit of experience before comiting to full time. How about joining your local cc centre, and going along to some rallys, even without a van the members would be quite helpfull in showing you the ropes, and their caravans, or at least our centre would, and sure the others would be just as welcoming!

some dealers may even let you stay in one of their s/h vans for a few days to get the feel of it before buying, so worth asking

Thanks for your advice everyone. I had got the idea for a wind turbine from yachts but I agree that they aren't ideal for a caravan. I agree with EasyT and was thinking it would make most sense to pay the extra for a pitch with electricty during the winter and then save the money during summer when I need less electricty. I could combine that with Pippah45's suggestions.

I realise this might be opening a can of worms but what manufactuers do people think build the most durable caravan? At the moment from what I have read, and bearing in mind avaliability second hand, I am leaning towards either a Lunar Detla or Swift Conqueror. I do like some of the European caravans as well but there seems to be less avaliability second hand.

 

Write your comments here...Not sure if you can get sued for posts on this site but Lunar lightweight is marketing speak for flimsy

Not sure that I necessarily agree with your comments about Lunar. That was one of my thoughts when looking at vans early 2012. However we bought a Lunar Clubman ES as previously we had a swift Charisma and often left the rear bed made up.in that dining area during all but the coldest times of the year and used an awning to dine in. As I have arthritis in my spine I found erecting an awning more difficult and we generally move every 5 days. When my daughter joined us on a couple of occasions the front benches were long enough for her to sleep on. Also as I do all the cooking I decided that having a side diner would make it easier to prepare food with the lower work height and with deeper seating and 6' 2'' front bunks they suit us as two singles taking a few minutes to remove back cushions to shower room although can be made up as a double. I actually leave my own back cushionson as I still have ample space. What swung it for us was the fact that the seating was more comfortable than other vans we tried and especially in the dining area. The seating in our previous swift Charisma was showing its age before the end of 5 years and after we had used it for around 320 nights. In fact probably sooner. Our current van has been used for 3 seasons and a total of 360 nights and the seating looks and feels as good as ever. 

Having tried blown air and wet heating (we have the Alde heating) I would definitely want a similar form of heating if full timing and decent well sprung seats. Also some 'vans are capable of having an MPTLM upgrade. Well worth checking out to ensure a good payload for full time usage. Some cannot be upgraded and some have substantial upgrades available. We were able to upgrade ours by 50kg. Is the limit of 3500kg based on the MPTLM of the van plus the maximum laden weight of the tow vehicle? If so I would definitely look at taken the second part of the driving test. 

"I realise this might be opening a can of worms but what manufactuers do people think build the most robust?"

A quick glance at the Travelling communities will reveal mostly European vans Hobby seem particularly popular.  Although I noticed a Bailey and Clubman in the last convoy I saw.

The only problem with the Hobbys, and many other Continental vans, is that very few have a separate shower, unless you go for the larger (heavier) models.

Many also have minimal kitchen worktop space.

I think that caravans are very much manufactured under a strategy of 'horses for courses' The majority of CC members will be part time tourers, with a much smaller minority being of a disposition to live for extended periods in their leisure vehicles. Hence they will tend towards lightweight vans with good facilities for the price/ weight. Travelers, who live in their vans full time, as you propose to, have a different agenda. They want spacious and robust accommodation regardless of any weight/ cost penalty. They will tend to stay in places for longer periods, reducing overall towing fuel costs. It is no surprise that they favour twin axle vans of a high weight/ robustness. Reconcile yourself to undertaking the higher weight driving test.  A panel van allows the storage and transport of a decent payload of domestic ancillaries such as bicycles and spin dryers. A preferred combination might be a panel van and a Hobby caravan. Wash clothes by hand, put up with unpopularity by recharging your battery with a generator, you.ll need 240v on occasions, use refillable gas bottles which can be refilled without moving the van (a tricky one this). And don't expect on board water tanks in lighter vans. The ultimate of course is an American style RV, but it's a long way out of  your price range. Oh, to manage costs down, ensure that your kitchen is well equipped too.

However, arriving at many sites in UK with a panel van and a large Hobby caravan  can be a bit tricky!

Hi , not sure if my comments have been mentioned , where I live I know of a few CL'S where folk pitch there vans for months sometimes years , some sites are not happy to have campers going off to work on a regular basis , they also may charge you for an extra car too .depending where your going to work you maybe better booking a seasonal pitch on a commercial site , you then will have , maybe a pool , and entertainment on offer , some sites do part seasonal ..

I defintiely agree that I will need to do the B+E test it is just a compromise between weight and robustness as I would want the tow car to be usable as a daily driver. I just need to decide on the best balance. It is a difficult decision to make as there are so many pros and cons to both sides. 

I think ultimately I will go a lightish large van that is durable enough to last, even if it could be better built. That means that I can then get a car/4x4 that does not cost a fortune to run and means that we can be relatively mobile as we would also like to use the van to travel the UK and maybe parts of Europe during holidays.

Do people think that sounds like a sensible compromise? I am defintiely been drawn towards Swift/Bailey/Lunar as the choice of manufactuer - mostly due to the fact that there is much more choice on the second hand market than for the European vans.

If you plan on living in your van full-time, the first consideration must be the level of insulation.   If I were you I would make sure that any van had Grade 3 level insulation so that you keep warm in the coldest weather.  Modern UK caravans mostly meet this criteria but older ones don't.   Personally, I would go for a German made van as they are usually equipped to cope with European winter temperatures which can go well below zero.  Hymer have excellent insulation which they claim is equivalent to a normal cavity wall in a house.  Also, Hobby and Fendt caravans.  The only problem you may find with a continentl style caravan is that they tend to have very small bathrooms where the shower is extremely small and is basically the footwell in the bathroom.