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We're back to the drawing board with no caravan. I'm going round in circles looking at loads of layouts and vans online and would really appreciate some advice.

We are a family of 4, kids are 15 and 12. Usually there will only be 3 of using the van as our 15yr old perfers to stay with the inlaws. On the occasions he does come we need space for him to sleep in the van, he has Aspergers and will not cope being in an awning annexe as a few dealers have suggested. We would prefer new or nearly new (max 3 yrs old) and have a budget ok around 15.5k. Cannot tow anything heavier than 1470kgs.

We had a fixed bed van we loved but practically it meant kids had to share as front seats werent long enough to use as singles and when we were in France and DD wanted to go to bed before us we were left without any seating inside the van.

So I know we dont want a fixed bed van, have looked at double dinette layouts but these are becoming less common and most are too heavy for us. Also I'm not keen on the corridor feeling these vans have compared to the more open layouts available.

I like the new Olympus 540-5, bunks are 6ft 1 in length and plenty of headroom which we need for our son whos already 5ft 9. The Olympus would work for now but I question how bunks will work in a couple of years time for us.

I really like the 4 berth long front seat side dinette layout due to the open feeling and end bathroom (never orginally wanted a big bathroom but with a 12 nearly 13 yr old DD I can see the advantages!). If there were onlt the three of us using the van this is definetly the layout I'd choose. But then we are back to two kids having to sleep on narrow dinette bunks which is no good unless we go for a Pegasus 514 which has a huge front bed, no bed slats as bed boxes pull out sideways. On the few occasions our son will come with us three of us could sleep easily on the front bed and because of the length we can lie head towards the front window so no climbing over anyone if you want the toilet in the night. The Pegasus would also work long term as withina couple of years our son wont come with us at all and even when DD grows up we could use it as a two person van.

Going round in circles here, any advice from people with kids of a similar age really would be appreciated.

Jennifer, thanks for reminding me of this layout. Looking at this layout on caravanfinder it really would work, could give kids the single beds and we could have the front double then later when kids dont want to come it will still work.

Looks like the Lunar Lexon SB is light enough and at 7m 26 should just about fit the drive.

Quote: Originally posted by savanne1 on 09/11/2011

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is that the copy due out on the 9th Nov? Must go and buy it if its got the Olympus in.

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We find the 5 berth Twin Dinette layout of our van perfect for us. Most of the fixed bunk vans we looked at were either too new (expensive) or a bit cramped for our son who keeps growing. 

We can have a double or 2 singles up front.

The kids (we have 2) can choose between sharing the rear double, or one of them going in the bunk. We usually leave it up during the day as we eat together at the front of the van. But when they go to bed we can pull the partition accross and stay up without disturbing them.

If we are ever lucky enough to escape without the kids we would use the rear double as a sort of fixed bed arrangement.

Best of all it is under 7m shipping length so I don't need an air strip to park it on.

I love the Elddis Avante but the newer ones I've looked at are too heavy unfortunatelty and they have got longer too

We have an Elddis dealer a couple of miles away and the 2011 Avante range is really lovely.

Ours is a 2004 model - it was a lucky find (came with everything) - previous owner bought it from a dealer near us used and decided caravanning was not for them.

It is our first van having moved up from a FC. Having looked at the NEC at the new vans I am struggling to see what you get from a new van (apart from a bigger bill) that you don't get from a carefully sourced used van. As you point out the new vans are bigger and heavier it seems - whist cars are getting lighter.

If I subtract what we got for our old FC from what we paid for our Elddis it actually owes us less than a 2 week break in Spain! And it still looks nice and modern inside and out.

I do hope you get something that suits you - should be some good deals over winter?

You may find the Lexon SB a bit tunnel like and if you are like us, will have a job to find one as not many on the market.

Ps there are only two of us but if we have guests then they don't have to go through a bedroom to get to the rear washroom. We generally use the fixed single beds and use the front for sitting/dining.

Quote: Originally posted by Prospector on 09/11/2011

You may find the Lexon SB a bit tunnel like and if you are like us, will have a job to find one as not many on the market.

Ps there are only two of us but if we have guests then they don't have to go through a bedroom to get to the rear washroom. We generally use the fixed single beds and use the front for sitting/dining.

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