We (me and other half) are taking six months out in April next year to have a good look around Europe and Beyond. We are looking to a buy a Motorvan and are hoping to get some advise on What would be a good choice.
What we think we know so far is.
We don't want a Couch built as we would like to keep the size down and our presence small.
We were going to tow a trailer with 2 motorbikes(kTM dukes) on but it would make it all very long and limit are access to the more remote places and possibly be a real pain from a maneuvering point of view
We have up to £20K to spend
We think it needs to be less than 10years old as it makes breakdown cover more available ??
We would like center kitchen layout and still have room to move around when the bed is made up.
We like the idea of swiveling driver/passenger seating as it extends the space avail when not traveling.
We would have loved a classic VW camper but think it would be far too small.
As we will probably be clocking up 15-20K miles anything doing close to 30MPG would be great.
Everyone says raising roof vans are for shorter trips and no good for us
We like the look of conversions by Timberland and some Autosleeper.
We think Fiat Ducato would be a good base vehicle or larger VW tranporters
What we are not sure about.
Should we have a toilet/shower (we are used to camping so class it as a luxury) is it worth the cost in lost space. what is a cassette toilet and what if its not got one.
All the (tech) stuff like water tank sizes ,heating types , satellite, leisure batteries sizes
Anyone out there who can spare the time to answer any of these questions or offer advise We would be very grateful.
Edited by Pugugly on 11/10/2009 at 21:51
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This sounds like great fun trip your planning next year. I would this hire or borrow a camper or even a caravan for a weekend or two this winter. It will be cheap out of season and the lessons learned regarding cassette toilet, battery etc will pay dividends and help you choose what you really need when you come to buy. I personaly think a toilet is must but maybe not a shower. Any independant gas or diesel heating system should be ok from April as long as you dont plan on visiting locations at too high a altitude.
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I suggest you join a caravan forum as well if you haven't already, e.g.
www.ukcampsite.co.uk/
which has a motorhome section.
A friend of ours spends 3-4 months a year touring Europe in a motorhome. He saves a fortune, and gets into some remote and beautiful places, by wild camping, easy and legal in much of Europe. For this you need your own sanitation - the caravan forum folk will happily discuss this with you ad nauseam (literally).
Taking your point about coach-builts, I think they are unwieldy but it hasn't stopped my pal with a 20ft Hymer/Ducato with overcab bed getting into these remote spots - it can be awkward in narrow roads, especially dead ends! but they do have much more room than van conversions.
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The mercedes lwb panel van or vw lwb panel van is a good choice vehicle if you want to start from scratch and build your own?
There is web sites with conversions & advice plus plenty of folk who can build it for you, i will have one in a few years when my young son is old enough for a trip.
You can build your own for less than the price of a ready made camper van with a toilet,kitchen full eletrics,tv auxillaries etc.
But you have to have it MOT as a camper van with relevant insurance still much cheaper than going to buy one ready made.
A must is a diesel aux heater like a webasto or similar for those cold nights those that run inline with the coolant & keep the engine warm, is this the kind of thing you like?
Edited by bigtee on 12/10/2009 at 00:53
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Inevitably you will end up compromising so I think you have too many variables at the moment and need to decide what are your absolute must-haves. For most people - although I believe they are misguided - it is fuel cost. If you are anywhere near London I would suggest having a look at this as a compromise coachbuilt - tinyurl.com/ylz5lhl - I am tempted myself but would need to change the upholstery. The plus points are the Mercedes base (208 would be better), quality construction, not that much bigger than a VW Kombi, and well-equipped. It should be fully-winterised although from April on cold shouldn't be too much of a problem except in mountains. If nothing else it will provide a good guide for looking at other motorhomes. Experience tells me that space will matter after a few weeks in a small van. If you do go small, be sure to get an annexe or even a tent to give that extra space. On the Fiat Ducato read what is said online about the Fiat chassis on anything other than flat non-slippy fields.
PS: for an extreme but cheap alternative look on the same site using Bedford TK in the search box.
Edited by Harmattan on 12/10/2009 at 10:25
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I was ingto motorcaravanning some years ago when Autosleepers seemed best of all (I got one).
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