I'm going to cause shock here, I also think you might have got different answers were this in the tent forum.
I had to give up camping due to my health and go to caravanning. Yes I do love the van especially the not going to the toilet in the night or having to use the notorious bucket. No queue for the shower great!
However, I love sleeping in a tent there is nothing like the fresh air. The sound of rain pattering on a tent is lovely (yes I know its nice on a caravan too). Sleeping in a caravan is a bit claustrophobic to begin with.
Set up for us the caravan takes longer we had our 6 man tunnel tent down to 20 minutes to put it up. The 8 man tunnel was 1 hour from start to completion and we had a lovely set up. The caravan takes longer if we are putting up the full awning but about 45 minutes with a porch awning.
Journey times are longer with a caravan due the slower speeds of towing. Sometimes this is an advantage as you enjoy the scenery more but it may limit you for weekends away, especially if you don't finish work until after 6pm on a Friday.
The experience is different with a caravan I always liked no TV and computer with the tent. With the caravan the children/ husband quickly pile stuff in and you fast lose the argument on no TV and board games instead. Plus the irritation of setting up the aerial.
Personally I think you need to compromise on the new van there are great older vans around if the price is putting your wife off why not buy an older van with a warranty. Our van is very elegant. Drinks cabinet with matching glasses, all the same things as a newer van apart from a microwave (we don't need one). We don't have blown air heating but do have a heater and it works well, lovely shower and cassette toilet.
I agree with everything everyone has said yes there are pros and cons but the pros far weigh out the cons, We camped for years and loved it like many others we decided to get a van solely down to having two years in a row with rotten weather limiting us to short seasons. We looked for a long time for a van not new but something that we could try and see if we liked it. We eventually bought a 97 Abby spectrum this was a top of the range van in its day so all mod cons we could have gone for a newer van for the money but less spec. We are now on year three and are so happy with the van we are not looking to replace it with anything soon. I love the van you are looking at but a 12K price tag as you say may be swaying the good lady, Why not try a cheaper van but get as big and as much spec as you can it does make the difference. If all goes well keep it for a couple of seasons and then upgrade to a newer van it could be the best thing you ever do as as a family.
We love our caravan and definitely don't regret getting one - I really didn't enjoy tenting as I was always either too cold at night or too hot, but I love every bit of caravanning (I don't even mind emptying the loo - though don't tell OH that ).
A word of warning though, there's no guarantee that buying through a dealer will mean the van won't be damp. However you choose to buy, take a damp meter with you and test the whole thing thoroughly, use your nose, and be especially curious about caravans that are on show with their doors propped open! There's plenty of damp newer vans - on the other hand, ours is 15 years old and bone dry.
madz--that is easily solved, use the van for day time and get an awning with a bedroom annex for sleeping, you ten get the pattering noise when it rains and you don't have to unmake the front bed in the morning.,
Quote: Originally posted by Gary Eaves on 22/4/2013
madz--that is easily solved, use the van for day time and get an awning with a bedroom annex for sleeping, you ten get the pattering noise when it rains and you don't have to unmake the front bed in the morning.,
Actually I sleep with the caravan door open into the awning best of both worlds then.
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Topic: Bit of advice please :)
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