Caravan n00bie - tips and advice

[JFReturns]

Hi PH'ers,

SWMBO and I are serial campers but want to 'upgrade' to a caravan in time for our wedding in Cornwall next Spring. However, we know pretty much NOTHING about caravanning so I would really appreciate any tips or sources of information about everything from towing to making sure the gas is safe and caravan recommendations.

I guess some requirements would help!

- £5k budget
- Needs to sleep two adults and a big, smelly chocolate lab
- Ideally space for an little 'un in the future
- Needs to have an awning attachment thingy
- Fridge and hob would be ideal
- Somewhere for a midnight wee a bonus, but no shower required
- Mains power
- Compact and 'cool'

To tow we'll be using my 156 2.0 TS which off the top of my head is around 1300 kilos.

So far we really love the look of Eribas! They seem to be well made and hold their price?

Many thanks,

Robert

[eatcustard]

When I started to look for a van, I went around a few second hand dealers to get an idea.
This time of year you will find plenty.


Get a 4 berth as the extra space will be a god send
They all have awning rails to attach an awning, I recommend a porch one than a full awning.

Edited by eatcustard on Wednesday 30th September 08:47

[surveyor]

Your kerb weight looks low and I suspect will restrict your choice somewhat..

[littlebasher]

Read up on damp and where/how to check for it

I was looking at vans at your sort of budget earlier in the year. I went to see 15 in total, a mix of private and dealer sales.
Every van I checked had damp, every last one and in all the places I would expect to find it.

Buy yourself a damp meter and check with the seller before you view that you're okay to use it. If they refuse, you can guess why.

Oh, and if you do view and find damp be prepared for the sellers reaction. Some are none to pleased!

Surprising amount of reasonably modern vans with delaminated floors as well.

[smashie]

Have a look on Caravan talk. Lots of useful information on there. Was a lot of help when I started out a few years ago.
If you have never towed before, you may find the caravan club or camping and caravanning club towing course useful. I certainly did.

[Deerfoot]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Caravanning-Handbook-John-...

I bought a copy of this from the bay for about £4 before we got a van. It's a great book for a beginner as it explains pretty much everything you need to know. We knew absolutely nothing about caravanning.

We looked at a lot of vans before we settled on ours. Deciding on the layout wasn't easy for us (we've two kids) and once we'd decided on what we wanted it still took us a couple of months to find one we liked.

We've had three trips away since getting it a couple of months ago and it's great fun. The kids love it and within a couple of hours of finishing work last Friday I was set up on a site in Dorset overlooking the sea with a cold beer in my hand.

[hornetrider]

Eribas are nice little vans but they are that - little. Extra space in a van is a godsend so think carefully before you plunge in!

There's a few important things you need to consider.

Layout. Its the most important thing really, you need to get that right so decide what works for you. There are several caravan shows all over the country and you should go to one. Get in loads of vans and have a think about what layout works for you. You could also go to large dealers who have lots of stock. Then go on caravan finder, pick your layout and it'll show you vans for sale in that layout.

Damp. In your budget this is the highest risk so when making a purchase educate yourself and/or have it inspected or get a dampmeter and do it yourself.

Weight. Your towcar doesn't look that heavy so this will limit what vans you can tow, which is probably why you're looking at an Eriba?

There are a few lightweight van makes, I believe the Sprite range are relatively lightweight, one I'd recommend is Adria which also has good german build quality and the chances of damp are much less.

Good luck

Edit: this looks pretty good for 5k.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Adria-Altea-432px-2008-4...

[JFReturns]

Hi chaps,

Thank you very much for the replies, much appreciated. I've ordered the Caravan Handbook (£2.80 delivered, bargain!) and will start to have a nosy round the dealers to get a feel for them as suggested. I'll also be extra wary of damp and will look into buying or borrowing a dampmeter.

As for the kerb weight, yes you're right Hornetrider, we're looking at Eribas because they are compact, light and easy to tow. In fact the original was designed to be pulled by a VW Beetle so my Alfa should be fine. I don't know why, but I really like the retro looks of Eribas - I just think they look so much cooler than normal 90's and 2000's caravans in my budget.





The other consideration for me is storage. I've got a feeling the smallest Eriba (the Puck) would fit into a standard garage which would be really useful for keeping it dry and clean. Appreciate they are weeny but we'd only be using it for sleeping and a cuppa and would use an awning for eating and general storage.

What do you think of Eribas then fellas?

Thanks,

Robert

[russ_a]

What about a folding camper?

[JFReturns]

Eeeesh, I'm not keen! I could have bought one from a colleague recently but feel it's a bit of a half way house and would rather go the whole hog and get a caravan

[Deerfoot]

You really need to get to a dealer and see as many vans as you can.

The Eribas have a good following so retain value well but they are very small. Storage can be an issue with vans (and quite an expensive one in some cases). I'm not sure if an Eriba would fit in a garage unless it was particularly tall.

[hornetrider]

I pay less than 250/year for storage so I wouldn't get to hung up on getting a van that will fit in a garage. Remember, if there's a caravan in your garage you'll get f*** all else in there!

That said...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RAPIDO-POP-TOP-CARAVAN-/...

[Pot Bellied Fool]

JFReturns said:

Hi PH'ers,
However, we know pretty much NOTHING about caravanning so I would really appreciate any tips or sources of information

Welcome to the World of caravanning - and be prepared to be hooked!

said:

- £5k budget

You should find plenty at that price!

This Caravan Search is for anything between £4k & £5k and there's 231 when I ran it!

You can have fun in something far cheaper mind you - our caravan cost us nothing (donated by friends who were going to ebay it at 99p for farm workers) other than some fettling that I did myself. It's full of damp & the floor's shot but it got us going, taught me how it all works and I wasn't too upset if it got caught by a close encounter with a hedge etc.

If buying second hand privately, sellers will often throw in all the incidentals you need.

Don't forget a power hook up cable & water barrel for starters. The carvan should come with gas bottle and you probably won't use as much as you think. We use an electric heater which isn't a problem unless you're on a low power hook-up.

said:

- Needs to sleep two adults and a big, smelly chocolate lab
- Ideally space for an little 'un in the future

Go for as many berths as you can find then! Space really is at a premium. Perhaps Sir would consider a 4x4 as a weekend car so he can tow something a little bigger?

You may laugh but that's what happens...!

said:

- Needs to have an awning attachment thingy

They all have a standard awning atachment rail. Don't go for a huge awning if you value your relationship - not called divorce in a bag for nothing! Practice putting it up for the first time at home. On a nice day. With no-one watching!

But yes, we tend to live in the awning and that's only a half size one. It's nominally a 2 berth caravan but we get our 5 year old to sleep and then retire to the awning for the night till we go in. We'll need a bigger van so she can have her own bed very soon but it's done us proud to get going. If it wasn't for the generosity of some great friends we'd not have been able to manage it.

said:

- Fridge and hob would be ideal
- Somewhere for a midnight wee a bonus, but no shower required

All but the very smallest will have fridge & hob. You really do need somewhere to keep beer & milk! And the ability to make a brew...

We never use the shower (I'd never fit!) as toilet blocks on sites are generally excellent but you don't want to be traipsing across the site in the dark to go for a wee - and weeing on the nearest tree might upset the neighbours - although you could always blame the lab!!

said:

- Compact and 'cool'

You might pay a premium for cool! That said, there's some very nice small vans out there, saw one being towed by a Mini Cooper up at Coniston recently

said:

To tow we'll be using my 156 2.0 TS which off the top of my head is around 1300 kilos.

FIne for smaller vans but watch your weights carefully. The rule of thumb is 85% but that takes into account inexperience and all the rest of it. You can tow upto the limits of your vehicle (it'll be in the handbook and for some could be greater than 100%) IF you have the experience to do it - but as a newbie caravanner I wouldn't recommend it. You don't want to be the star of the traffic reports for all the wrong reasons. But don't worry about towing, the people who have issue are those who neglect weights, loading & tyre checks - and then do 80mph with it swaying behind them!

Beware of the missus overloading the caravan with lots of clothes & 'stuff' there's usually not a huge payload allowance. Get a noseweight gauge and check your noseweight before setting off, you may need to redistribute the load slightly - makes a big difference to handling.

Try http://www.towcar.info/ to check suitability.

Also - how long have you been driving? Unless you're an old fart like me, you may not have the right entitlement for anything other than very lightweight - check the sticky at the top of the page.

Lots of info on the caravan forums too, don't be put off - it's great fun and if you have kids later on - they'll LOVE it! Even my Pink Princess loves getting dirty & playing with other kids on sites.

[Pot Bellied Fool]

Pot Bellied Fool said:

Also - how long have you been driving? Unless you're an old fart like me, you may not have the right entitlement for anything other than very lightweight - check the sticky at the top of the page.

...the B+E sticky is of course in SP&L - http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[JFReturns]

Pot Bellied Fool (sure you're not that) - I never replied to thank you for your useful post! So, four months later - thank you!

Bit of an update; we have put a deposit down today on a 1993 Eriba Puck! For us it was tiny, cool, practical enough, and cool. Did I mention cool? We loved it the moment we saw it!

Pick it up in two weeks after its been fully prepped, waxoiled and gas cert'd. Can't wait! Here are some terrible pictures, I'll get more when we use it in anger:








p.s. Name has been chosen - "What The Puck". Blame my old man for that one!

[Andy Zarse]

Nice work! My neighbour has an Eriba, it's fabulous little thing, beautifully made too.

My only word of advice is caravans and Labradors (we have black one), and my view is they really don't mix! There will be hair everywhere, and basically they just get under your feet in a way they never seem to at home. So ours lives in the awning or on a long lead attached to the van's jockey wheel and she happily lays in the shade. Then she comes in the van after the infant has gone to bed, but goes back to her cage to sleep outside in the awning. And you know what, she absolutely loves it!

[JFReturns]

Hah cheers Andy, I know what you mean! When camping I would often wake with a hairy brown labrador nice and comfy on the bed whilst I'd been pushed onto the floor.... we have a big old doggy travel cot which we zip him into, and he loves it - often goes in himself! So he'll only be allowed in the puck when its bed time

Number plate ordered anyway, just need to get some extended mirrors and we're good to pick up!

[JFReturns]

And here she is!

I was a bit nervous towing but had no problems at all - steady as a rock and really didn't notice a huge difference in performance, even with three passengers. Can't wait for April and our first trip

Edited by JFReturns on Monday 7th March 21:49

[Spuffington]

Great stuff - thanks for the update and do keep us posted with more pics once you start using it in anger.

BTW - where are the extended mirrors?

Welcome to the Hymer Club!

[JFReturns]

Thanks and will do! Mirrors were fitted just after the pictures were taken the 'van is so small they're not really needed but I've read it's a legal requirement so bought some. Tbh they were useful.