I have just got back from a weekend away in our trailer tent absolutely exhausted. I really want to go away for weekends with my 3 daughters (8, 12 and 14) but I think it's really just too much for me to put the tent up only to take it down again two days later. But I love camping and don't want to give up being able to go away for a couple of days at a time throughout the year.
So I'm now beginning to think a small 4-berth caravan with a reasonable awning would be the way to go. I have a 2003 Vauxhall Zafira 2.0 DTi. Kerbweight in the manual is 1525kg. Does this mean I can tow a caravan up to 85% of that i.e.1296kg? Or does that figure have to include any gear that we pack on the van?
And are there any other solo women caravanners out there? Are there any things I should consider before going it alone with the kids?
We have an 04 2.0 DTi Zafira and you have to look in the handbook for the towing weight. It's really light, about 1000 kg only. That is part of the reason that we have a folding camper and not a caravan. As I understand it you have to go by the towing weight and not the kerbweight, but according to the handbook you can really load up the car. We know about the towing weight as we went to a caravan dealer who looked it up for us.
Not entirely sure that a van will really cut your work load that much in all honesty. I'm not a solo woman but hubby's disabilities mean that I have to do the work. You just get a whole new long list of things to do and the awning takes some doing as well when you're on your own. We much prefer caravanning, but that's for reasons of comfort and warmth. But earlier this evening I said to hubby, do you think it would make life easier if we sold the house, downsized and got a motorhome? He didn't seem impressed though!
We have been away this weekend and on the small site we went to there were no less than four solo campers with kids. Two men and two women. We too did the folding camper thing but wanted to do weekends and have now changed to a caravan because we thought the setting up was too much for weekends and we wanted to be able to get away as much as possible. We went on Friday night and were set up within 20mins, admittedly there are two of us but everything is just so much easier with a caravan as long as you are comfortable with the towing. I towed ours for the first time this weekend and ours if 18ft long. As long as you take things slowly you are fine. The only problem you could encounter being on your own is maneouvering the van into position but the thing with camping is there is always some friendly sole around to lend a hand. I think you should give it a whirl, we certainly won't be changing back. Good luck.
Quote: Originally posted by andyclarky on 08/5/2007
Stick with the tenting Claire,
Load up on four wheels - only five wheels can go wrong!
Tow? - you've got eight wheels to think of ! - nearly 100% increase.
GET,S really Scary when you consider I watched a 72 Seater Coach overtake me at 75mph - pulling a drag - and fully loaded !!
Anyway keep what you tow to a minimum for safety - protect passengers heads with a cage to stop throw forwards in an emergency
andy
Thing is Andy, I already have 6 wheels to think of as I have a trailer tent to tow! Admittedly not at all the same as towing a caravan, but towing none the less.
It's really the physical side of things that concerns me. The hazards of towing are presumably the same whether there are one or two adults in the car. But with the trailer tent I really struggle to pull 7 metres of canvas over the frame. The girls are so helpful, and I got several comments this weekend from neighbouring campers as to how much the 3 of them did, but their muscles are even smaller than mine!
Anyway I shall ponder some more. Thanks so much for all the replies
If 1000kg is your limit then there are not many 4 berth vans. Ours is a four berth with a maximum permissible towing limit of 1000kg. Its a cristall sprint 390tk. There are one or two others below this limit. We tow ours with a rover 45 which is lighter than yours and has less power and torque. It is not ideal but ok.
May I suggest you look for a much older van :) I have a 3-4 berth sprite from the early 80s that tips the scales under 900kg laden. All these new vans with their built in microwaves, showers, water heaters, airconditioning units etc, really pile on the weight, My previous van was a similarly aged sprite, much larger and could sleep 6 good friends without the awning and still came in under 1000kgs at max allowed weight. Yes there are some rot-boxes out there, and you wont find one in most dealers, but for cheap, light & fun I can heartily recommend the old van route
Things like a TV or microwave can always ride in the car to keep weights down, as does only taking the first 24hrs food, on extended trips and then enjoying the delights of a Tesco far from home :)
my friend is a solo cravavanner with two kids - she has just swtiched from tent to caravan - she has a zafira 1.8 and tows a bailey ranger 550/6 - and she has the sunncamp 390 porch awaning which is really simple to put up. It is sooo much easier to set up a caravan -
We have done the same as our mate and have also got a bailey ranger - we have kept our tent, just in case, but you know what i rally can't see us using it again. We used the awning like we would if we were in a tent - an evening gathering place.
------------- Bee
Teenager for sale! Eye rolling, back talking, temper tantrums, and I already know everything attitude included. All sales are final!
Go for it I tow our abbey gt212 with a mondeo 1.8 petrol ok we used to have a tent but no way would i go back to it now every one on here is really helpful so any problems you come across there is always someone who will help they have helped me loads no im not a solo camper but i might as well be sometimes hahahahahahaha
Quote: Originally posted by andyclarky on 08/5/2007
Stick with the tenting Claire,
Load up on four wheels - only five wheels can go wrong!
Tow? - you've got eight wheels to think of ! - nearly 100% increase.
GET,S really Scary when you consider I watched a 72 Seater Coach overtake me at 75mph - pulling a drag - and fully loaded !!
Anyway keep what you tow to a minimum for safety - protect passengers heads with a cage to stop throw forwards in an emergency
andy
The coach should be limited to 60 or 65 mph Andy. Shame you never got his number. I run a lorry for a living & I do it legally, I'd have reported him for that sort of speed. If it was doing that speed of course.
What's the bit about keeping towing to a minimu & protecting passengers heads with cages all about for petes sake??
If you find an awning that is easy to put up, then Id say gor for it, one I'd recommend is a Bradcott Active with the easy up alloy poles. I had one with our last van and it was actually just as easy to erect as our small porch awning that we bought later (doh!)
The 85% match is a guideline, but yes the MTPLM or fully loaded caravan weight is the one that you need to calculate your match.
Never towed a trailer tent but I did tow a caravan at a 85% match and it was fairly easy going, one thing that you will notcie if you choose to go ahead is that a caravan is affected by large vehicles turbulence when overtaking/being overtook.
A bonus of a caravan is that you get to take advantage of seasonal or part seasonal pitches, at the moment ours is on a spring pitch 2 hours drive away and so far we have had 10 days at easter and 3 weekends for towing it there once.
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Topic: Need advice please
