We have owned one of these for 4 years bought it brand new from Holland, it is great. I don't understand the uk's fixation with nearly all caravans having the same style front lounge area. The rear horseshoe seating of our van means we can easily seat 6 for dinner and the king size drop down bed takes a couple of seconds to bring down or put back up.
To explain the 'fixation'. European makers have a much larger market so are able to profitably market caravans that might only appeal to a niche market. UK makers have a smaller market & cater for a more specific set of Uk buyers requirements as few Uk built 'vans are exported to Europe.
The proof that the Uk caravan buyers have different requirements is borne out by the fact that no European maker has made any serious attempt to penetrate the Uk market. Even Adria that currently produce Uk specific model offer a much smaller range that is available to the rest of Europe.
Caravan makers need to make money, they will have done exhaustive market research as to the layouts of caravans they need to market to Uk buyers.
It seems to me that the range of caravans available in the UK has got even narrower in the last 8 or 9 years. When we started looking to buy our first caravan in 2007 we visited a number of dealers, the NEC caravan show, The Lawns etc. There were quite a few continental vans around - we saw Hymers, Burstners, Sterkemans, Weltbummlers, Hobbies, Fendts, Adrias and Caravalairs (not sure of the spelling!)
As total newbies at the age of 60 we had no preconceptions of what layout or fittings we wanted, but after a while we decided we liked German vans best. Hymers were too expensive,so we bought our Burstner which we still love.
We are obviously totally out of step with the vast majority of the UK caravanning public - I'm not sure whether to be worried that we're weird, or glad that we have independent tastes!
------------- Il vaut mieux vivre ses reves que rever sa vie
I agree that hot air rises and that sleeping nearer the roof could be hotter than lower down however our caravan has 4 skylight Windows one which is over the bed we haven't found it to be any less pleasant than sleeping lower down, which we can still do if we make up the lower bed. We have used an electric fan before when in France in July and August but normally we haven't felt the need for it; as long as you can get a slight draft through the caravan we find it fine.
Quote: Originally posted by Ronni54 on 07/9/2011
I had a 1960 Sprite Alpine with a pull down bed - although it pulled down from the back wall rather from the roof. 4 inch thick sprung mattress and ties to tie the bedding on. The only thing was that it weighed a ton!
We once had a 1966 Sprite Musketeer that had a pull-down double bed too, and it too pulled down from the back wall. Lovely and comfortable and ready to use in seconds. It was very heavy too, but still very easy to put back up. It would seem that this style went out of favour in Britain.
Quote: Originally posted by iank01 on 25/9/2016
A pull down bed would seriously lower your internal roof height!
you beat me to it. my colleague has a knaus deseo transport plus (for carrying motor cross bikes)and it has this type of bed i think though it goes right down to the height of a regular caravan bed.
he has just had the bed repaired under warranty due to freighed cables. he tells me that the pulleys are too small in diameter and it causes the cables to be over stressed (should be 30mm diameter but they are 10mm). Knaus just replaced the cables. i guess they will do this until the warranty is over.
anyway the next generation of Deseo uses 'seatbelt' type webbing instead of steel cables.
------------- First van bailey ranger 550/6
Now the proud owner of a coachman amara
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Could this answer the fixed bed dilemma?
