We love camping, and have Been through all types as the children have grown up, Tent, trailer tent, folding camper and caravan. The latter being the easiest except I hated towing it as it rocked in the wind. We are considering a folding caravan, and wondered if anybody had any experience or recommendations. Thank You.
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------------- XVI yes?
As well is two words!
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Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.
Unless you otherwise don't like the caravan I would try and fix the rocking problem, as that shouldn't happen. It is often caused by incorrect loading, particularly having too much weight at the back and/or too little nose-weight. It could also be that the car and caravan aren't a good match though, so that's worth checking.
The only time I had concerns with my current caravan was when I bought it home from the dealer I bought it from. It was empty and I didn't bother to check the nose-weight, just hooked up and drove home as it wasn't far. Once I got onto the dual carriageway and any large vehicles went by, it swayed much more than my previous one ever did. However, once I got it home and loaded up all my usual gear and set the nose-weight right, it was a completely different story. It towed like a dream and still does. I hardly know it's on the back.
Got to echo Colin's comments and experience. On the way back home from the dealers after purchasing my van (only about 35 miles) I thought "what the hell have I bought here!", it was horrible, even the ATC kicked in a few times despite driving relatively slowly and cautiously! On that journey the van was virtually empty, but after loading correctly, getting nose weight correct, and inflating tyres to correct pressure, it tows like a dream and really don't know it's there most of the time.
Now my outfit is pushing boundaries, the van is a 97% weight match with the car on MTPLM, and van loaded quite close to the MTPLM limit as after Motor Movers and HD Battery were fitted there wasn't a lot of payload left for contents! It should be a rather marginal tow based on the numbers, and perhaps limited in what speed it could comfortably do, but very much NOT the case. But I've been VERY careful with loading and positioning of loads.
I've dragged it all over the country on every type of road for thousands of miles, even accidentally exceeded 70mph a few times, and it's rock solid. Yes you feel the effects of crosswinds and HGV bow waves (just slow down a little if necessary), but it doesn't make the outfit unstable or inclined to snake/wobble. The only time the ATC has kicked in has been where the uneven road has confused it with rapidly alternating cambers, and that has been at low speed where snaking really isn't a possibility.
If your van is disturbingly 'rocking' in the wind, then I'd take a serious look at your weights, your loading/weight distribution, your tyre pressures etc. Everything heavy should be low down and over the axle, nothing weighty in high up lockers, not a lot of weight in the rear, EVEN IF it means storage space is left empty during travel!
There are a few poorly matched outfits out there, AND tow cars that are just not great, but the vast majority of handling problems come down to bad loading of the van. You'd be surprised how little weight it takes to upset the handling. Once I had cause to move an item weighing about 5Kg from the underseat storage ahead of the axle to the wardrobe in the rear bathroom to make space, and the van became quite 'lively', so much so that I stopped after a few miles and removed the item from the rear of the van, which restored the normal very stable tow characteristics.
Yes, a folding caravan does have a lower profile that is less susceptible to side winds, but that doesn't mean you can't still make it a horrible tow with bad loading, and gain nothing over a full height van. Thousands upon thousands of us tow full height vans without issue, so it's not inevitable a full height van has to be a bad tow. Probably worth a little thought and maybe a few trials with different loadings before giving up on your existing van.
We have a Gobur Carousel, we have owned it for 7 years, it is easy to store, tow and set up, as regarding loading you can only store stuff under the beds an in the cabinets/cupboard as most the floor space is taken up with the wall cabinets, drop down wardrobe and cooker/sink, we love ours but you do really need an awning to give more room and for storage, our gobur has a toilet although can buy them without one, if you are interested in gobur I would suggest looking on their website or take a trip to Melton Constable in Norfolk to have a good look at them, Richard is very helpful they may even show you how they are put up and folded down, if you buy one from them they do that as an essential among other tuition from them
Agree with the above about towing empty. Our first 'van was towed home empty for about 5 miles and I was not happy with it, however when I had more information we decided to give it a go. After loading it up and checking the noseweight we took it to a local weighbridge and it towed perfectly. With that experience on board when we went to pick up its replacement we took some empty 25 litre containers with us and asked the dealer to check the noseweight (it was 25kg above allowed for the car). We part filled 2 containers to use as ballast and had an uneventful tow home, again via the weighbridge. Hope this helps.
------------- I like children but I can't eat a whole one
Appreciate all the responses made. I think it was probably side winds, hgv’s etc making me feel uneasy. I used to tense up and my arms would ache by the time I got to the campsite.Zneedlesss to say I have sold it, but miss the camping life. I will probably consider a trip to Hobart. Thanks again all for your help.
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Topic: Folding Caravvan
via mobile 14/8/2022 at 11:45am
