Campervan purchase - thoughts please

[john51]

Hi Di

Like kevini I would say a huge yes.
We have had a caravan for years before I had dementai diagnosed. The hard bit is that my wife who was not confident towing has had to gain confidence, but whenever she can squeeze a few days away we take the caravan out. We bought a new car and caravan with the lump sum which formed part of my pension.
Its great, and I can leave some of my demons at home.
often we only go a very short distance from home but I really enjoy it and its really restful.

I still say yes.. do it!

John

 

[grannyannie]

campervan

I have just had a windfall and was considering buying a campervan to enable us to take few days away occasionally. I was thinking, that rather than the confusion of going to different accommodation every night, the familiarity of a campervan (plus I can keep an eye on where he is) may be a better option.
Has anyone had experience of this type of travel?

Hi
YES most definitely , we have a 5 berth motorhome, we have had it for 10 years and are thinking of putting on a holiday park where we have been going for a longer than 10 years as we had a caravan first.
Hubby loves being in the motorhome and feels safe and at home, They have a clubhouse where we can go for a meal, meet friends and enjoy the entertainment
I am a great believer in enjoying today so once the site opens we will be away.
I agree hiring one is a good idea

 

[di65]

Thanks everyone. I now have no doubt that after the summer season is over and the campervan companies have their sales of used campervans I will be "up an at 'em".
We have a holiday home which we can enjoy in the meantime, so the summer is not lost to us - and what a glorious one it is too

This is taken from the beach in front of our holiday home

 

[stanleypj]

A massive YES from me.

We'd had a camper van previously but had been without for 6 years. When I thought about buying a new one in 2006 Sue was already well on on the dementia journey. She still had capacity and I discussed it with her. She took her time in deciding but agreed.

It has made a huge difference to our lives. We've used it every year since and travelled over 40,000 miles. Apart from holidays in Europe every year we also use ot when visiting family and friends. In many ways it's easier than living at home. Everything is to hand and it's hard to lose stuff (though still possible. Each year it's got more difficult but I'm pretty sure we'll be making full use of it this year as well.

Go for it.

 

[truth24]

Wow, what an amazing view

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[di65]

Wow, what an amazing view

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Thanks truth24 We love it - although OH now thinks we have rented the holiday home that we have owned for the last 30 years, and is anxious that we will have to leave soon so that the owner can come back. One more week in paradise (Queenstown) before we go home

 

[skeletor]

Reverse with a caravan

Hi to reverse a caravan or any trailer... Hold the steering wheel with both hands at the bottom of the steering wheel. if you want to reverse your trailer to the left keeping your hands on the steering wheel, use your left hand turning upwards towards the top centre of the steering wheel... same when turning right just use your right hand....
Sounds sort of weird but it works..

Hope this helps

 

[di65]

Hi to reverse a caravan or any trailer... Hold the steering wheel with both hands at the bottom of the steering wheel. if you want to reverse your trailer to the left keeping your hands on the steering wheel, use your left hand turning upwards towards the top centre of the steering wheel... same when turning right just use your right hand....
Sounds sort of weird but it works..

Hope this helps

Thanks skeletor - believe me I have tried for years to master it. I tried on our back lawn with our garden trailer to absolutely no avail. I believe that you can buy a remote control gadget to park trailers and caravans now, but given the driving instructions OH gives me constantly, I don't think I will go down the towing path (no pun intended )

 

[Chemmy]

LOL. Reminds me of the time my OH wanted me to 'guide him' reversing the motor home in to a space in a Whitby car park.

So there I was standing facing him, remembering what I'd seen others do (that funny circular thing representing the way to turn the steering wheel) ... and I hadn't a clue.

When we go home, he tried to give me a lesson - I was sitting on the sofa (as the driver in the cab) and I had to 'reverse' - which way would I turn the wheel? No idea.

I have cameras giving 360* vision in my car and I sit there trying to use them to reverse...and I STILL don't have a clue which way to turn the wheel. I just drive on and find somewhere easier to park a couple of streets away.

I've been driving over 40 years but it seems some of us are just spatially-challenged.

 

[2jays]

My son in law teaches people to drive all sorts of vehicles. His main job is to teach lorry drivers, ambulance drivers and people who have caravans or motor homes. He's a very good instructor. He doesn't get any failures

Except me......

He still can't get me to understand how to parallel park
..... and for his sanity I have promised him faithfully that I will NEVER consider driving anything that needs towing


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[Chemmy]

One big regret I have is that I've never attempted to drive overseas, ie on the RHS. I'm not convinced I would cope with negotiating a roundabout the 'wrong way' under pressure if the traffic was busy, so have just chickened out.

I'm bad enough trying to deal with the lanes changes and tunnels in Leeds...I go the long way round the ring road instead

 

[di65]

The silly thing is - I am quite a confident driver in nearly every other aspect! I can parallel park without hassles ( but love parks alongside a shop window where I can check how far back I can go ), cope with lane changes and even tow a trailer. But as for the backing the thing . I can remember once when I had to back a trailer into a DIY stores collection area, as OH had popped in to pay for our purchase. After a 1/4 of an hour of embarrassment and hilarity from the workers, someone took pity on me and did the deed for me.

 

[Trisha4]

One big regret I have is that I've never attempted to drive overseas, ie on the RHS. I'm not convinced I would cope with negotiating a roundabout the 'wrong way' under pressure if the traffic was busy, so have just chickened out.

I'm bad enough trying to deal with the lanes changes and tunnels in Leeds...I go the long way round the ring road instead

I have driven abroad on various occasions and we actually lived in Belgium for two years. I think roundabouts are the most difficult part.


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[2jays]

I can drive quite happily "on the wrong side of the road" when abroad., swing round roundabouts like a native.... I have no problem with any spaghetti junction... Though yes I did pause a bit in Leeds.... And Colchester where their roundabouts seem to go "the wrong way" but to think of needing to parallel park brings me out in a sweat just thinking about it


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[Mango]

Go for it

Has anyone had experience of this type of travel?

Hi from a fellow kiwi

We took delivery of our first van (a 2 berth with 2 extra seat belts) just before Christmas and have done two short trips and a few day trips. Love the lifestyle already.

A small part of the reason for the purchase was that we could take elderly mother and mother-in-law on day trips. My Mum (who has Dementia) is perfectly happy in the van, whereas before it was difficult to convince her to come out on a day trip.

I think the privacy, comfort, bathroom and readily available refreshments all help relieve her feelings of anxiety when she is in a strange or "new" place. The van is not "strange", she loves it.

The latest NZ MOTORHOMES CARAVANS & DESTINATIONS magazine has a great review/roundup of all the camper brands from 2014. Also, join the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association (http://www.nzmca.org.nz/) - well worth it.

All the best ,
M

 

[truth24]

We too lived in Belgium for several years and had no problems on driving on the 'other side'. In fact in some ways we found it more sensible but can't remember why now The only thing I do remember having a problem with was when a driver flashed his lights at a junction and I assumed he was giving way, as we do in the UK, when, to my horror, and his rather obvious annoyance, it was just a warning on his part to tell me he was taking priority. Never repeated that mistake
again! Had more probs when we came back and had to get used to driving here again.

Sent from my GT-N5110

 

[di65]

Thanks Mango. I will pop out tomorrow and get that magazine. I have heard of that association, and will investigate further. Many years ago when we had our caravan (18ft 6 and a six berth) everything was so 'primitive' in comparison to today's pull out labour saving devices that I have seen in a friends new caravan. It is only a two berth, and not that long, but has a shower, toilet and full oven. Oh to have had those things all those years ago.

 

[stanleypj]

For anyone interested in motorhomes, this is a very useful site:

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/forums.html

A wealth of information from people who often have a lot of experience of everything to do with motorhomes/camper vans.

 

[Mango]

Thanks Mango. I will pop out tomorrow and get that magazine. I have heard of that association, and will investigate further. Many years ago when we had our caravan (18ft 6 and a six berth) everything was so 'primitive' in comparison to today's pull out labour saving devices that I have seen in a friends new caravan. It is only a two berth, and not that long, but has a shower, toilet and full oven. Oh to have had those things all those years ago.

All the best in your investigations. We looked around for months, and decided that "small but perfectly formed" was our goal, so we bought a Fiat van, designed our own layout and had it built. You might like something such as this one I saw recently on TradeMe:

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=828507794

or the equivalent via the second-hand market. Lots of options - I always enjoy the researching process almost as much as the end result

 

[Trisha4]

We too lived in Belgium for several years and had no problems on driving on the 'other side'. In fact in some ways we found it more sensible but can't remember why now The only thing I do remember having a problem with was when a driver flashed his lights at a junction and I assumed he was giving way, as we do in the UK, when, to my horror, and his rather obvious annoyance, it was just a warning on his part to tell me he was taking priority. Never repeated that mistake
again! Had more probs when we came back and had to get used to driving here again.

Sent from my GT-N5110

Where were you? We were in Antwerp.


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