I have noticed on a lot of sites i go on that there are many sited tourers for the season.I thought that a touring van should be towed.Isnt that the whole idea,so why not just get a static or am i missing something.
Static vans are more expensive than tourers. Also it is possible to get someone to tow your touring caravan to a site and leave it there for the season, while you use a smaller car to journey back and forth to your van.
Plus, if someone likes a particular site, why shouldn't they just site their van there for the season.
Seasonal pitches are not my cup of tea as we far prefer to tour with our touring van, but campers come in many forms and it is not for me to criticise how other choose to do their camping.
I have a friend who keeps there's on a seasonal pitch which is only 30 minutes drive from there house so they get to go camping most weekends, but when they get a longer spell away from work then its off touring they go .....
yes you are, a touring caravan can be placed on a seasonal pitch and be taken off to tour and then be put back again
If you have a seasonal pitch it does not mean you are restricted to one place
It can also be moved to a different seasonal pitch anywhere in the country whenever you like.
a static van is just that ,static.
A good choice if you're getting too old to tow, as my parents are. Not that they would site their van somewhere for a season! They expect my Sis to take them, her hubby tows the parent's caravan, she tows their own and they spend a week taking them out all over the place! And do all the jobs like emptying loo tanks, filling water containers, etc on both caravans. She and her hubby are positive saints!
I would offer myself, but I have enough of a struggle setting up my own van, never mind two. And I can't tow two vans at the same time anyway! So it's something they started that has now become an obligation.
Well some valid points but personelly i cant see the point myself.If you want a static its far cheaper to hire one as when needed.I know its not your own but these statics are seriously expensive to site.Plus you pay all that money and the site owners lay down the rules like being at school,not for me
I think the point you are missing is the;- "If you want a Static".
A touring van on a seasonal pitch is not a static. You can have it there for the summer and then move it to another site for your next summer and so, year on year move it to another area.
Moving a static to another site is both costly and finding another site that will take your static is difficult.
We had a static many years ago and after a couple of years got totally board with the same old same old in that area. We sold it and bought a trailer tent and had a ball touring with it.
If we ever do put our van on a seasonal pitch, it will only be for one season and we will move it to a new area the following season.
We live about one mile from a static caravan park that has over 500 vans on it. To us it is like driving into a large housing estate. Not what I am looking for in a holiday but clearly some folks like it.
Our tourer was sited. After a while we got bored so started touring again. We toured the length and breadth of the UK and then for a few years toured Europe - France, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. This year we fancied a rest from travelling by car so sited our caravan again. We are on a gorgeous site in a great location and being less than 2 hours from home we use it almost every weekend. We call it our holiday home. We may decide to tour again in a year or so, and then again we might not.
We would never have had that flexibility if we'd had a static.
I have been in quite a few of the static vans on our nearby site and without a doubt, some of them are beautiful and better equipped that most holiday homes, plus, for their price, well worth the money, but when you add the yearly site costs of them, unless you are full timing in them and therefore have to find other accommodation for the close down month, they are very expensive.
However, if your idea of "camping" is to carry as little as possible and be sitting on a chair watching telly within 5 minutes of arrival and "setting up" is just a matter of turning a key in the lock, then a static is for you.
For us, having the same neighbours and the same view, is just like staying at home. A fact that would be considerably cheaper all round.
A seasonal pitch basically comes down to a matter of personal choice often due to individual circumstances.
We have toured for the last 3 years but now have a 3yr old and 1 yr old which makes popping away for a short notice weekend a bit of a nightmare. We also don't keep the van at home (local storage) so again as the van isn't at home short notice get aways are hard.
With the kids been so young we tend to limit our breaks to a maximum of 2 hours drive away and often visit Hampshire (new forest) and Dorset. Next year we have decided to go for a seasonal in this area for the following reasons:
1 - My OH doesn't tow so she can pop down with the kids when I am working
2 - We will be able to get away a lot more at short notice and for short breaks
3 - We aren't tied to only going away on set dates and can therefore go at short notice if the weather is good
4- We can leave the van and awning set up so once we arrive its just plug in the EHU and we are done
5 - We can make the full use of a weekend as we can stay until Sunday evenings as we don't have to be off the pitch by a set time
Cost wise it probably won't work out cheaper than touring but if we make the use of it then the difference is minimal, especially when you factor in the fuel savings, etc. We are looking at a annual cost of £1500 for a pitch which includes electric and with no nightly charges.
We did look at a static but the cost put us off. The sites we looked at wanted around £3000-£3500 per year just for site fees and on top of this you needed to add on council tax, gas / electric and insurance. You are then also tied to one site and I worked out that the depreciation on a static was around £2000 per year. So for a static we worked out the annual costs (inc depreciation) was around £6000 per year which we felt was far too expensive. Even factoring in the depreciation on a touring van it is still going to be half of this cost with the flexability than you can move sites and also return to touring as and when you like.
As I can fully understand why a seasonal isn't everyones choice but for us it will suit our current lifestyle for a few years
Quote: Originally posted by LobeyDosser on 14/8/2014
Well said Dazzer, but you don't pay Council Tax on a Static. The only time you pay Council Tax on a van is when you are Full Timing in a Park Home.
Sorry, bad use of terminology....I meant "water and rates" which is what a couple of parks we looked at showed us would also be chargable and seemed to come in at around £250 per yr (plus insurance, plus pitch fees and gas / electric!)
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Topic: siting a tourer
