After a 30 year hiatus from camping, we bought an air tent during the pandemic, which was comfortable and allowed us to have a 'safe' holiday. We quickly realised that the set up and pack up time was not conducive to overnight stops.
We watched some people camped next to us pack up their trailer tent. They took almost as long as we did with our tent! But then we saw people with a folding camper pack up and go - it was a revelation!
We came home and bought a 2008 Conway Countryman. Here are the advantages as we see them:
It's lightweight - we can manoeuvre it around on our driveway which has a slope. One person can put it up easily.
Its footprint is small and it fits on our driveway, it's also low, so it doesn't obstruct our view of the garden or cut out any light.
We can open it out on the driveway - although one side goes over a flower bed and the other side needs chocking up!
It is accepted everywhere we've tried - including sites that won't have tents and sites that won't have caravans.
It's spacious inside, with a fair amount of storage space. The beds are permanently made up once pitched - smaller caravans tend to have beds that have to be assembled each night from the sofas.
We can do a 'quick and dirty' setup for an overnight stop in about 30 minutes and a takedown, including hitching up, in about 45 minutes.
It's easy to tow, it doesn't seem to have any impact on fuel consumption either.
With the cotton canvas roof, it still does have the authentic fresh air camping feel.
The downsides:
The season is shorter than with a caravan, because you wouldn't want to use it in the winter. But it's still better than a tent for the marginal spring and autumn trips.
There are no onboard toilet facilities - but on balance I prefer the idea of having to walk to a flushing toilet, rather than having to empty out a cassette.
Since retiring we have gone through the whole gamut.
Cabanon Vis-à-vis - lovely tent but a bit heavy Camplet Concorde - a good idea but uncomfortable and a pain to set up
Holtkamper Astro - absolute bliss. Set uptime record of 11 mins from arrival on pitch to being in bed. Had beautiful double skin air conditioning which kept you cool in the Continental heatwaves and warm when in the Pyrennees with 4cm of snow. Problem no toilet.
Trigano Silver 420 a pop top caravan which had over 2metres head room when roof raised.Lightweight and kerb height towing 1.98m.This gave over 40mpg and when travelling on the French motorways it was treated as a car (60% cheaper than a caravan). It also could be stored in the garage and served as extra living space when the children and their families visited.
What you decide upon depends upon your facilities for storage and drying, and, in our case, bladder capacity.
I might have agreed with that when I was younger ukros, but not now. That last one alone would be enough to put me off. When you get to a certain age you find yourself having to get up in the night, sometimes more than once, and the idea of having to get dressed and trudge across a field in the rain to get to the toilet block, or even to a toilet tent, holds no appeal at all. We only use our caravan toilet at night, but I wouldn't want to be without it.
My caravan is easy to tow too, and it doesn't seem to affect fuel consumption noticeably either, but then it is a fairly powerful car in relation to the weight of the caravan.
For us the thing that takes the time in setting up and taking down is connecting up the water and levelling up the caravan, so I doubt a folding camper would be any different.
Quote: Originally posted by navver on 11/4/2024
Actually caravans have a big advantage on narrow roads. I've found in places like Devon on narrow roads the lorries and buses are waiting in the passing place ready for when I get there.
They can see caravans coming above the hedges.
I think you've raised a very good point there. I've certainly had that happen to me. Always given a obvious 'thank you' gesture to them for the courtesy
Think it may be a combination of them being professional and doing what is right and proper to ensure efficient traffic flow, and them thinking what the hell can this f***ing numpty do to block the road and stop me going anywhere for god knows how long if I don't let them go and get them out of my way!
Over fifty years of camping ... voyaged from one man cycling tents ... to 2 person, 4 person, tunnel, 8 person tents, then to folding camper (Pullman), then to caravan ...
Had the Pullman for seven years (from new) and loved it ... all over Europe with it ... fabulous for the better weather (summer camping only) ... only changed when the volume of ancillary 'kit' we took overwhelmed the carrying capacity (bikes, boats, extra fridge etc etc). Despite having fitted a cycle carrier to the rear oif the Pullman, taken out the folding down cupboard to allow more storage space down the centre of the FC when towing etc. Setting up with full awning was taking about 2 hours ...
5 years ago we switched to a caravan after a tearful farewell to the FC as the new owners towed it off into the sunset ...
We have really enjoyed the caravan ... the speed of set up and striking and the extra facilities ...
But, we still only use it on the Continent (store it over there, as we did with the Pullman) ... at under 200 euros a year (secure and under cover, it's a no brainer) ...
We do, still, from time to time, miss the FC ... nothing like canvas in a hot clime ... or in rain, compared to a caravan ... unless you have an expensive climate control unit ...
So ... unless you carry tons of ancillary kit ... I'd go with an FC ... at least for a couple of years ... then you can always switch to a caravan ... also, second hand, decent FC's may hold their value better?
We purchased our first folding camper a Pennine Aztec about 30 years ago. we then later purchased a Pathfinder that we used for about 12 years and then sold it with the idea of getting a caravan. We then spent many hours at the NEC and dealers looking at a caravan to buy. We finaly came to the conclusion that we are far better off with a folding camper, and decided to buy a new Pennine Pathfinder that we have now had for about 10 or so years, Caravans have a lot of advantages for some folks. It works out that a Pathfinder is the best all round option as far as we are concerned, We have always ignored negative comments which are mostly unfounded, and carry on enjoying our camper. I am 80 now and have no plans change anything.
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: The argument for folding campers
