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30/6/2025 at 11:46am
Location: Manchester
Outfit: Pennine Countryman
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Weight is a big consideration, both for towing and manoeuvring on site. You are unlikely to be able to tow your unit onto your pitch, so you do need to be able to move it around by hand. For towing, you need to check your cars towing capacity, and there's a kerbweight calculation as well, I can't remember exactly what that is, sorry, but it's easy enough to find online, and shouldn't be an issue with a trailer tent.
We looked at lighter units last year, before deciding to switch to a folding camper with a motor mover instead. A bit of luxury for retirement, but it does commit us to keeping a bigger car.
We had a bigger but similar trailer tent for years, a Combi Camp, and were very happy with it. A big plus with this style of hard bodied TT is the lack of pegging on the main cabin. The downside is you need to carry bits of wood or something similar to push under the lid if the ground isn't level. Ours was also very heavy, not a problem with the Solena.
The Trigano Camptrail opens the same way as the Raclet Solena, but is soft top. More forgiving on uneven ground, and the cabin area might be a bit bigger, but it has to be pegged. It's a similar weight.
Camplets are very light, and are also a solo pitch, though I would caution that wind makes it harder! Lots of space, maybe more than you need on your own, integral kitchen that hinges rather than lifts off, but as much pegging as a tent. Pricey as well.
Camperlands also do the Campmaster Air, which is different again, more of a tent & trailer combo than a truly integrated unit, but very light indeed.
My husband has never found the towing difficult, though he can't reverse, but he did do a course to improve my confidence 
I don't actually know about the insurance because we use a company car, but I'm glad you mentioned it because that will be changing in a couple of months and we probably should find out!
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All the best,
Alison
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30/6/2025 at 4:34pm
Location: London
Outfit: Lunar Cosmos 524
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Towing a trailer isn't difficult (says he who's been doing it for over 50 years and can't remember the first time, or second, or third .... but now does it as second nature!), by and large if all set up properly the trailer just happily trundles along behind the car minding it's own business when travelling if driving in a manner appropriate to towing.
But you do need to drive with a slightly different mindset, it's now a heavier 'vehicle', which means it doesn't accelerate (pulling out of junctions, joining moving traffic etc.) as quickly, so bigger gaps needed to cross/pull into moving traffic, or brake as quickly as the solo car does, so extra braking distance needs to be allowed. It may be as wide or wider than the car, so size needs accounting for, there is a need to take corners a little wider to stop inside trailer wheel from clunking over kerbs. Road conditions can have a more noticeable effect than they would on a solo car, perhaps crosswinds and bow waves from HGVs are one of the more noticeable, and they tend to push the trailer and back of the car around to some degree, BUT a Trailer Tent is low so no where near as bad as an ordinary caravan. Thinking ahead, avoiding sudden actions and manoeuvres, and smoothness, make towing a lot easier (and safer!). Reversing a trailer is DEFINITELY a new skill to learn, and you really should learn it as you can't always just hop out, unhitch and push it where you need to go! It's not the most intuitive thing to be reversing an outfit that 'bends' in the middle and loves to jack knife! - but it's like all other aspects of driving, you learn how to do it. Sadly, smaller trailers tend to be harder to reverse (even for the well practiced/skilled!) than larger ones!
There are a few other 'non-driving' things to learn as well, such as correct hitching/unhitching, correct break away cable attachment (if the trailer accidentally parts from the car, it automatically applies trailer brakes to stop it becoming a 'runaway'), correct trailer light connecting and function check. Getting your trailer loading and nose weight (hitch weight) correct for good/safe handling. Laws are different for trailer towing cars, max speed limits are less than for solo cars on major roads, 50 or 60mph depending on road type. If road is 3 lanes or more, you can't use the outside lane.
It probably all sounds horribly daunting and complicated, but it's not really, just unfamiliar stuff at the moment, it becomes just another part of driving once you've learnt it.
For a complete novice, a basic trailer towing tuition course is money well spent, on a good course there is so much more than just how to pull it forwards. They are hugely confidence boosting, as you will have done everything necessary to deal with a trailer and under supervision and advise. Both the big Caravan clubs offer courses, as do a number of other of driving schools.
As to insurance. Firstly having a towbar fitted (or already fitted) to your car is generally considered a 'modification' which the car insurer wants to know about, doesn't necessarily increase your premium, but they ain't happy if you don't tell and claim!
Usually trailers are covered for 3rd party risks at least whilst attached to the car under car insurance - your policy will explain how much cover for that and other things, like theft, IF they are included. With so much variation between policies, we couldn't tell you what your cover is for sure, you would need to read your policy small print. Once detached from the tow car, car insurance cover for the trailer usually ceases, and separate trailer specific insurance comes into play if you have it.
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Topic: Raclet Solena Trailer
