Do you own a motorhome?

Cor...what a beautiful vehicle . Over 30 years old so exempt from road tax and MOT I believe. I'd be scared to drive it around a field.

That's a good point longk, I did think about it - so if we do go for a motorhome it will be a petrol one (LPG conversion perhaps?).

My current car doesn't really have the power to tow a caravan - it's a 1.4 petrol - so I'd be looking at purchasing a towing car and a caravan.

I've driven large vans before and to be honest I'm a bit scared about towing a caravan - never done it before - probably end up in a hedge or blocking a mini roundabout .

I was a bit shocked at the price of a new motorhome - 30k to 40k .

 

I'd personally give LPG a miss. Modern petrol engines are what we call lean burn - not an ideal mix with LPG.
Swallow the hit in economy (not as bad as it used to be though) but have peace of mind regarding reliability.
Or go classic and forget about depreciation. I just sold a very nice 1985 Transit (Devonshire) camper for four grand. A quick google came up with the following - a bit slow but totally bombproof!

1982 Mercedes camper

Parts are not dear for them and being an old Merc they just go up in value.

 

I’ve ummed and ahhd about what to do when I retire. Should I go for a Motorhome or another (new) caravan? I like the ease with which one can just get up and go with a Motorhome. But the cost of buying and running a Motorhome make it a bit prohibitive (to me), bearing in mind one would still need to run a ‘regular’ car. Then there’s the issue of inside space, compared to a caravan. Also there’s the issue of trying to park a Motorhome in the local supermarket, whilst away.
I certainly wouldn’t want to put down Motorhomes though. Horses for courses.

 

@clanless Google Concorde Motorhomes we just had one on the site we are on and it was like a coach with those large sticky out wingmirrors.I went onto their website and a new one will set you back a cool £222.000 Round where we live you can buy a small house for that sort of money

What sort of Motorhomes are you looking for for £30-£40K as all the small ones I look at are a lot more expensive than that

 

That's the prices I can see for reasonably new 2nd hand motorhomes - I can't afford more than 15k - which looking on ebay and the like 'should' buy a reasonable 2 berth.

So a brand new motorhome is way out of my price range .

Wow - that looks more like a bus

 

Picture from the net
If it's just for you, why not one like this


Parking may be a bit harder but fun you can buy things like this and run them on a car lience/7.5tons, tax it as a car as well, but you have to lock the fith wheel so you can't pull loads

Chris Eubank does

 

Ex-commercial vehicle conversions have been difficult to get RAC/AA/etc. cover for when several years old for some time now. I remember the days when you could get cover on any old truck, take some dodgy parts with you to the far side of Europe and beyond, then 'break down' and get a free recovery ride home.

 

First thing I think off when I see a motor-home , especially the huge ones , where do you park the boogers. We opted for a static caravan when I retired , in the Silverdale , Morecambe bay area. Towing never appealed to me.

 

Their easy to work on, well alot easyer than a car, Had clutch go once and fitter and me changed that on the motorway silp road hard shoulder ,wouldn't do it now!

 

Maybe I could stick my comments in here @Freddy :shy:

Many sites (like ours) are easily accessible with a touring caravan and a 4x4 towing car, however with most motor homes the weight becomes an issue during spells of wet weather, and it becomes necessary to restrict where they can park - in case they get stuck.
There are a lot of lovely sites all over the UK without hard standing areas, and so the motorhomes, which usually weigh over 4 tons are somewhat limited as to where they can park up.
I find that those of the campers that come here seem to go for a motorhome (or campervan) if they intend to tour on the continent more as there are a lot more places evidently that will cater for them, however, in this country they seem to prefer to set up ''home'' with a caravan, and then have the chance to leave it on site with the freedom to use the car for day trips.
I always advise people to join one of the clubs - either the Caravan club, or (as we are with) the Caravanning & Camping club. This then gives access to cheaper insurances, and lots of other perks, including a big sites book that lists hundreds of Hideaway sites all over the country. I do believe that you can get driving courses to learn about towing a van, and all sorts of other perks.
For anyone who finds it difficult to reverse and park a caravan, the campers here all seem to have ''movers'' - these are gadgets that are fixed to the caravan, and when the van is unhitched from the car, they position the caravan using a remote control - fascinating to watch, and makes life so much easier - I think they cost about £1,000 to fit, and most of the regular ''oldies'' have those .

 

We’ve now got a “Motor Mover” and they are one of the best inventions yet as we used to find it very difficult trying to move the caravan around on our drive and on to pitches and that was with two of us doing it especially now that Mr Kandy isn’t as sprightly as he once was plus we both have back issues so a mover for us has made life so much easier

Also a lot of the CL sites are on grass not hard standing so as Mr Kandys cousin found out as she is a CL lover that when it rains in these grassy farm fields the caravans can get bogged down and in their case the farmer had to use his tractor to tow them onto firmer ground

 

Many a time we heard crashing noises in the back after going up/down the first hill and realised we hadn't cleared away our breakfast stuff before heading off

"I thought you'd done it"
"No, I thought you'd done it'
Etc.

 

Just sharing a memory. And this is not a motor home, but one that goes on water, so sort of matches the discussion. We spent a week on a houseboat. It was on the St. John's river, in Florida. Get a 2 hour one to one training, on how to drive the thing. Had a fridge, outdoor grill, one toilet and a shower. carried 20 gallons of water. a little living room. and a top deck to climb up on. Bought the groceries and away we went. there were these little coves to roam around in and out of and to tie the boat down to the trees at the edge and to anchor out the other side. You sleep with the windows open, but yes, screens necessary. The sounds were interesting. The coves were so private, no one around, not another boat, and no houses. It only went 20 mph. Got to see creatures in the water, birds. And we could tell bridge masters to raise the bridge so to pass under it. Could not go in the water as alligators were around. But there was one area we got to, where they filmed Tarzan, that was the only are that was safe from alligators. Its was really a neat experience.

 

Shame it's just a "Bay" It'd be worth more if it were a "Splitty."

"Ruby," has been to the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany and even Switzerland.