Went to the Motorhome show............
Discussion
.........and Oh dear.
As we were driving there SWMBO asked what I was going for. Did I have anything in mind to buy? Told her the truth, just a couple of gadgets and maybe look at an underslung gas system so I can free up the gas locker in our '15 Swift Lifestyle.
Wandering round looking at various m/h's and she fell in love with an Elddis Magnum GT. Dealer offered us a good trade in for the Lifestyle which meant it had cost us only £1k for a year's holidaying.
We get the new one end of March.
Thought it was a good show and being a Tuesday easy to get around with few ankle biters to clog up the stands.
Well worth the day out.
As we were driving there SWMBO asked what I was going for. Did I have anything in mind to buy? Told her the truth, just a couple of gadgets and maybe look at an underslung gas system so I can free up the gas locker in our '15 Swift Lifestyle.
Wandering round looking at various m/h's and she fell in love with an Elddis Magnum GT. Dealer offered us a good trade in for the Lifestyle which meant it had cost us only £1k for a year's holidaying.
We get the new one end of March.
Thought it was a good show and being a Tuesday easy to get around with few ankle biters to clog up the stands.
Well worth the day out.
I see Elddis have just been bought out by Hymer....
http://www.elddis.co.uk/hub/article/343/the-explor...
Also The Caravan Club is changing it's name to The Caravan and Motorhome club.
http://www.elddis.co.uk/hub/article/343/the-explor...
Also The Caravan Club is changing it's name to The Caravan and Motorhome club.
GlenMH said:
Not the cheapest day out... Well done!The day cost us £14 in tickets, £60 in fuel, £20 in refreshments. We bought nothing!! What a waste of money.
Had we bought a caravan it would have been worth the £14 in tickets to compare all the vans and fuel to go up there and the refreshments to celebrate!
Wacky Racer said:
I see Elddis have just been bought out by Hymer....
http://www.elddis.co.uk/hub/article/343/the-explor...
Also The Caravan Club is changing it's name to The Caravan and Motorhome club.
Go the letter yesterday re. name change.http://www.elddis.co.uk/hub/article/343/the-explor...
Also The Caravan Club is changing it's name to The Caravan and Motorhome club.
Also got some nice window stickers.
Complete change of logo as well.
After spending the weekend at the Clumber Park CC site, 30% were probably motorhomes.
we went yesterday with the view of a new awning, maybe a motormover and so general items.Opps..... Traded our 2007 Bailey Senator arizona for an Elddis avante 866!!!! Its a beast to say the least but wifey fell in love. Thankfully a free motor mover included so all in all i got one item i was after. Similar to OP the trade in price they gave us means last year only totals £1k altho tempted to advertise and see if we can get a little more.
Steve57 said:
we went yesterday with the view of a new awning, maybe a motormover and so general items.Opps..... Traded our 2007 Bailey Senator arizona for an Elddis avante 866!!!! Its a beast to say the least but wifey fell in love. Thankfully a free motor mover included so all in all i got one item i was after. Similar to OP the trade in price they gave us means last year only totals £1k altho tempted to advertise and see if we can get a little more.
we went to "have a look" & ordered an Avante 840!
did you upgrade to the 4 wheel mover?
If you don't have a mover then you are bound to find you wish you had one.
We have never had a mover but we should have one, just don't have the money to spend it on one.
We have to disconnect the car at home, turn the caravan through 180 degrees. (Its only 10m wide outside the house) reconnect the car and reverse onto the drive. We have been on a couple of campsites in France where they don't think about how a caravan needs to get onto its pitch. Roads are narrow and hedge rows staggered! A mover would have saved 40 mins and an argument!
Also a mover would mean we could put it else where on our drive. £500 on a mower will go on a generator first, Then a Sun Canopy, Then a new van etc. (The new van will have a mover).
We have never had a mover but we should have one, just don't have the money to spend it on one.
We have to disconnect the car at home, turn the caravan through 180 degrees. (Its only 10m wide outside the house) reconnect the car and reverse onto the drive. We have been on a couple of campsites in France where they don't think about how a caravan needs to get onto its pitch. Roads are narrow and hedge rows staggered! A mover would have saved 40 mins and an argument!
Also a mover would mean we could put it else where on our drive. £500 on a mower will go on a generator first, Then a Sun Canopy, Then a new van etc. (The new van will have a mover).
Steve, re the mover. we had one fitted to our last caravan in '14, a four wheel Ace Jubilee and it was DREADFUL. Incredibly slow and very hard to turn. I had Powertouch out twice to look at it and they said it was within spec and nothing they could do. Only thing they offered was if we bought the four wheel version they THOUGHT it'd be quicker. Looked at the Carver (??) version at one of the shows where they had a small demo four wheel bogie, and it was really quick. Sales guy guaranteed it'd be quicker than current or our money back but I didn't go with it, sold the 'van instead and bought a M/H.
My advice, for what it's worth is forget Powertouch.
My advice, for what it's worth is forget Powertouch.
I'll put the question to the supplying dealer (Bicester Caravans) im thinking i might be better with an AWD version just incase we find a tight site. last year with the Bailey we never had one and never had any issues but decided i was going for one for ease and not relying on the wife to guide me 
.
. I always thought Powertouch was one of the better makes to have but then I've never had any mover before just wished I had a number of times!!
(
France 2010, 20 or so sweaty foreigners watching me struggle my arse off! )
I managed to squeeze a 4 wheel mover into the deal as I have seen people struggling with a twin axle & 2 wheel mover on sites
(
France 2010, 20 or so sweaty foreigners watching me struggle my arse off! )I managed to squeeze a 4 wheel mover into the deal as I have seen people struggling with a twin axle & 2 wheel mover on sites
I think Powertouch are OK on a single axle but as pja says and in my experience they just can't cope with twin axle.
And to put it in context, Powertouch didn't even offer a discount on the second axle mover when I called them out to look at mine. Twin axle is just two single axle units so it would have been another £1200 and NO guarantee it'd work. Have a look at the Carver, go and see the demo four wheel version.
I think the chappie on the Carver stand told me that the German lady who owns Carver is also related to the MD of Powertouch but that's not really relevant
And to put it in context, Powertouch didn't even offer a discount on the second axle mover when I called them out to look at mine. Twin axle is just two single axle units so it would have been another £1200 and NO guarantee it'd work. Have a look at the Carver, go and see the demo four wheel version.
I think the chappie on the Carver stand told me that the German lady who owns Carver is also related to the MD of Powertouch but that's not really relevant
Chased up Bicester caravans yesterday to see how our 6 week delivery was doing, we knew it would be longer as when we added the extras a few weeks after ordering they told us our build was due in June but were hoping to bring that forward into May. Nope build now due for finishing on 20th June. They seem to think the caravan market this year has got extremely busy, no further orders being taken on by elddis for 2017. 
After a rather manic day rushing around in between school hours (after school club finished at 6pm) we managed Essex to Bicester with our old van and back with the new one only 15 mins late 😬 Due to traffic we hit the M25 at the worst possible time 😩 All done and home tucked up by 7pm.
Elddis Avante 866, motor mover was a godsend, with the old narrower bailey it was fairly easy without one but I'd probably say it would be impossible with the 8ft wide without some gate changes. I'll do a separate thread over the weekend once we start sorting stuff out because it's bare to the bones inside, no carpets down, plastic covering still on etc. Also picked up a Kampa Rally pro plus awning as wifey liked the idea of the entrance area. Will try that at the weekend and see how we get on 😂
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