I've tried all sorts over the years: caravans, folding campers, Combi Camps, motorhome, campervans, tents.
Folding campers involve a lot of faffing about when you arrive and a lot of packing up when you leave. Then there's the faffing at home putting them up and down to get them dry if you packed them up wet.
Frankly, I've found a tent is less hassle.
A caravan would be easier - how about a small one like my Freedom Sunseeker?
Stick with the Tribby, you know it make sense............ unless you fancy a straight swap for my Sunseeker?
------------- Caz
If you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, just keep going till you go round the bend.
We've been debating this all summer!
We love our FC ... but ... it is now taking us about two and a half hours to set up completely ... we have so much gear! Bikes, boats, one small wardrobe per person, extra fridge, kitchen stuff, Cadac, lighting etc etc.
The quick one nighters are fine ... up in ten minutes and in bed immediately .... but the complete set up (and pack) is a different matter. We, mostly do two weeks stays, so a lot of research to get the right site/area.
The biggest advantage of the FC (or caravan) is that you have a separate touring/site seeing vehicle that can manage small roads and interesting 'off piste' areas ... something a motorhome makes almost impossible (unless it's very small), and parking in cities is so much easier. The FC is also much cheaper to tow than a van, and you can tow up to 80 mph on french motorways, and go Class 1 on the motorways (much cheaper). As we camp, pretty well exclusively, on the continent, wet packs are seldom a bother ... we store the FC in France (185 euros a year), which saves a lot of time and ferry costs.
On the other hand ... we do get jealous of Motorhomes that arrive, park, wind out the awning cover, out with table and two chairs and open a bottle .... ten mins and ready to go. We'd thought of taking the Nissan Micra from home to the storage depot, then taking both Micra and MH on hols, then we could tour about with the Micra (60 mpg, and great for the little roads, and cheap on the ferry, and easy to park) ... scooters might have been an option, but don't think the OH would really take to one.
We love the FC when it's all up and organised .... but it takes time ...
Still pondering ...
Just a thought but how about a folding caravan. We've got an (old) Esterel that we have just taken down to spain spending 3 nights in france each way. For a one night stop it was up and ready in about 15 minutes and away in about the same time. Wet pack up hasn't caused us a problem before as you can quickly wipe it before putting down. Also if we stay any longer on a site we can add an awning which if it does rain you can dry in the garden (eventually) which gives us more living space. Not much effort needed to put up or down and once the shell is erected you just add the fancy bits inside if you want them for more than one night stays.
[If you swap your M/H for a folding camper you will regret it BITTERLY.]
.....I'm thinking you are right....cheers everyone.....Mike
WE have a trailer tent and recently toured in France with my brother in law who was in a motorhome. Having been able to make direct comparison for about 3 months, we have decided that a motorhome is just not worth the hassle
(a) we were always searching for carparks that would accept the motorhome when in towns.
(b) the amount of space availabe was minute compared with our unit and the storage very poor.
(c) The advantage seemed to be that you could pull into a layby whilst travelling and brew up quicker than we could in the trailer tent.
(d) the basic set up of the Holtkamper was sometimes faster than the fiddling around with levelling blocks at the campsite for the motorhome.
(e) taking the whole unit off site when going for a day out proved to be annoying, and we all spent most of the time in our car when visiting local attractions.
(f) the only advantage we saw in the motorhome was it could be packed up easily in the rain.
(g) the motor home cost more on the toll roads
Will be make the transition to motorhomes ? No way
I suppose, to a certain extent, it does depend on the size of MH you have ... some seem to be much better designed with lots of storage space .... others ... don't.
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Topic: Motorhome vs Folding Camper
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