One Year Later: Switching From A Motorhome To A Caravan- Did We Make The Right Choice?

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Caravanned for years, then Motorhome for 6 years. Sold Moho last year and thought we were done but realised 10 months on that hotels weren’t our thing but loved having the freedom of the car whilst visiting places. Pick up new caravan next month! This vlog summarised our feelings and was great to hear somebody else feels the same as us.

Had caravan for years. Had planned to move to motor home in retirement, but having toured Spain for 7 weeks and other long tours in Europe we spoke to many motor home owners who were trapped in their van because they are too big to tour the local roads. Sticking with a new caravan and tow car. With you all the way.

Agree with all that's been said, a caravan is an ideal base for a holiday, set up and go out in the car. From a cost point of view a good motorhome now costs almost 100k, for that price you can have a lovely new caravan 30-35k and a new VW camper to tow it with. The Dub provides you with a place to stay if just nipping off for a night or two when it is not worth taking the caravan, a tow vehicle when using the caravan, and somewhere to make a cup of tea when exploring, as well as another vehicle to use at home. Thinking this will be the best option for us, in early years of retirement when we no longer need two cars, and will be using the caravan more.

It’s great when you find the ideal outfit for you. We loved our caravanning and were happy for over 30 years with a caravan. More recently we needed fresh challenges and our coach built motorhome and now van conversion have given us new challenges and opened up opportunities to travel differently. Never say never, there’s no right or wrong, just different. Safe travels 😃 Trev

Thanks Andrew, very helpful

Interesting update, thanks Andrew. We had a Bürstner motorhome for a year around the time you had your Chausson. I wanted motorhoming to work for us, because I was tired of towing a big caravan. However, we decided to switch back to a caravan in the end. We switched back to caravanning because: * We have a Knaus 400LK caravan now, which I find really easy to tow. I made a mistake of buying too large and heavy a caravan in the past, but at only 6 metres this one is great. Our BMW tow car can to up to 1700kg and we usually run the Knaus at around 1200 kg fully laden. I would always urge potential buyers to buy a caravan which is well within the tow car towing limit, both for ease of towing and safety. * Neither of us have full time jobs anymore, so we have more time to go away for three or four nights, which for us is the minimum stay to make the preparation and towing to site worthwhile. For one or two nights, motorhome and camper vans are better. * The caravan is easier to keep warm in the winter than the motorhome, even with an insulated cab screen, as you mentioned. * The Fiat Ducato based Bürstner had a poor ride for long journeys, and the engine noise was tiresome for long drives. We are much happier sitting in the car. Don't be taken in by those smooth videos with background music, but hire a motorhome or camper van before you buy. Hiring is expensive, but nowhere near as expensive as buying a motorhome or campervan that you can't get on with. If you like the hire vehicle, then you will have peace of mind when making what these days is an extremely expensive purchase decision. * We like to stay at least four nights to a week in one place before moving on. The caravan is better for this, for the reasons you outline in the video. For those who love many short stays and European grand tours, I would get a campervan of say around 6 metres.

Hi Andrew. It's really useful to hear the opinion of someone who has the experience of both motorhome and caravan. Thought about a motorhome at Times but will definitely stay caravaning. Thanks for sharing

We love your channel Andrew! We caravaned for 35years (15 Tourers in that time) We loved every minute of our times doing it! Don't do it now but love watching people like yourselves enjoying it. I could probably write a book on it on the different experiences we had and the characters we ever met. Keep on going as long as you can it's a great hobby!😊👍

The nicest thing to hear are vlogs with no selling involved. Good points raised too. There’re are plenty who tour who keep changing MH 2 caravan vice versa it’s all down to personal choice. Thanks for making the vlog.

Picking our caravan up tomorrow. Our motorhome up for sale. Being retired now I think will be better for us. I agree with everything you have said.

Totally agree with you on the Caravan V Motorhome issue.

Pleased you have found balance in your decision and you are enjoying your caravan. I caravanned as a child and I love my Motorhome, the high riding position, the quality of build, the self-sufficiency and the fact you can stop in a lay-by or rest area and lie on, or even get into your bed for 30’ to freshen up. Had to do that last night on the way home! I appreciated your earlier videos, as we have a Chausson and I was impressed at your modifications, sorry to hear about your guarentee wors! We have a 2015 Chausson 728eb Welcome, the same size but different configuration to yours. We are very happy with it. Yes there were some snagging issues at first, which the dealer sorted, but it is also a learning curve for new owners. Even this past year, we have learnt something new using the van through the winter months on a regular basis. We had -11DegC at one point on a C&MHC site, but it was toastie inside, and everything worked fine. We just dropped all the water out prior to moving off and let the water “shoogle” out on the journey before closing the valves. Safe travels, enjoy your retirement.

After years of camping in the UK and France in a trailer tent followed by ten years of ordinary holidays we began to yearn for our camping adventures. A trailer tent wasn’t a consideration so, it was the age old Caravan or motorhome debate. After 12 months of research, visiting dealers and sitting in dozens of caravans and motorhomes we finally bought a new caravan, a Coachman VIP 575/4. It’s been faultless and we still love it. I do have occasional thoughts about swapping it for a motorhome but, videos like this remind me exactly why I shouldn’t. Thanks😊👍

We started off with a lwb campervan, which costs many tens of thousands of pounds, which we still have. It is great for things like the NC500, single track roads and constantly touring, day trips out and the likes. Further to that we have very recently bought a second hand 7.5 metre fixed bed, 4 berth caravan because we also wanted fixed holidays with more room but still have the ability to park easily. The caravan literally cost 1/4 of what the campervan did but we find ourselves gravitating to it mostly now when we go away. We have even towed it 300 miles to Bunree. If we had bought the caravan first, I don't think we would have bought the campervan. Side to side levelling was the only thing we found problematic, because the motor mover made the caravan pirouette, when trying to climb a ramp with it. We found the only way to do it was to re-attach the car and pull it up, which was a pain. Since then we have bought a lock n level and put a rubber mat under it and a rubber mat beneath the opposing wheel as well to replicate the friction on each side, whilst using the motor mover and levelling is now simplicity itself. As for a motorhome, I would never consider one at all. I could see the problems they present, with a parking and security nightmare.

Hi there, only just seen you. I’m going to get a caravan soon. I think it’s the much better option for us. Thanks for the vlog and I’ve just subscribed and look forward to seeing more Happy new year btw xx

I am very new to caravanning, having my first trip away today and have never owned a motorhome. I never understood the attraction and massive cost of a motorhome and you confirmed it for me. As you say pitching somewhere and then unhitching and travelling around locally sounds much easier than driving a huge motorhome about.

Hi ,did the same as you.got new car and caravan for what we sold motorhome for.As you say height barriers and parking in 2bay fines they are coming up with, also a lot of villages you cannot park in the summer with a motorhome. Glad it worked for you to.

Enjoyed the vlog ( as I do all your uploads). An excellent honest and frank update with many valid points. Finally someone addressing the issue of security. We have a caravan and pondered over getting a MH but the thought of leaving not only 50/60/70k of vehicle PLUS all your belongings, tech, personal effects in a car park whilst you trundle around Poundland and the charity shops, scares me. And every time you want to go out from the site you have to stow away the bone China and crystal glasses as you drop down off your ramps is another issue. But …. Each to his own and you’ve done both so are well qualified to comment for and against both. Keep up the great vlogs - appreciate all your work Regards Howard

Interesting to hear your views. We've only had motorhomes never had a caravan but we can see how much easier things are with a car. Great video guys 😎x