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Quote: Originally posted by tinallkn4 on 04/3/2012

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i will have to be careful with packing i guess!! but they do allow 1000kg + on most 6 berths for weight load... and we dont weigh that much! but i appreciate what you are saying!!

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Not quite sure where that "1000kg+.." figure comes from Tina'..?

Be VERY carefull if looking at a 3500kg,6 berth van..as it's not just the "all-up weight" you'll need to watch but also the axle loadings...

The CC mag had a test recently,on a new 6 berth Adria MH and the tester visited a weighbridge after the test and found they had been  nearly 300kg over weight!..that was with three adults and three kids(1 at 5 months,1 at 4yrs and 1 at 9yrs)and with only,what they considered, was an "average" loading....

When I weighed our MH,originally a 3500kg,2-3 berth(replated to 3850kg),in "going away mode",I found it to be almost 200kg over the original 3500kg gross!

(..and that was with just the two of us,no bikes,no scooter on the back,no heavy sports kit etc)...

Personally,I think you'll struggle to find one with a realistic,usable payload..and that doesn't risk overloading one(or both!) of the axles..

Do your homework..and don't just believe the salesman.... 

So so sorry to spoil your dream Tina but hopefully you will agree, better to warned in advance then find out the hard way.

Hopefully the dream is not completly dead, bigmoney's idea sound worth looking at. Good luck for the future and future dreams.

Tina...if having a large MH( or converted mobility bus?) to take all the kids away in, really is your dream,then just look into taking your C1 (?) test...

That way you'll be able to drive anything you're likely to look at....

Not cheap..but there again,buying a MH..and/or realising dreams, don't tend to be! .  

Well,it sounds like I've offended you somewhere?(.. what with you not wanting to drive "fecking HGVs", as you "..HAVE a career"..and you "don't need to know how to drive fecking lorries"..?!

(.. The "converted mobility bus" idea,was just a thought as to a way of achieving your ends,in a comparatively inexpensive way..we have friends that have done just that..)

but hay ho...

You go ahead and realise "your dream" by going out and spending a shed load of cash on the first 3500kg,6 berth van, the salesman points you at...

My OH drives buses and bloomin 13 metre coaches for a living yets the DVLA have told her that she will have to take an an extra test if we ever get a motorhome heavier that what we have now. Its absolute madness, she can drive a whopping 15 tonne half a million pound luxury coach but a motorhome over 3500kgs its a  no no no,

Stupidity and box ticking gone mad.

We have a 6 berth and have to watch our payloads but we have managed with the 5 of us and the 2 big dogs.

Anyhow back on track, we swapped our caravan and one of our cars last year for the motorhome and haven't looked back (well almost) We have since bought another second car but just a cheap banger as a spare as the motorhome was recently off the road for a week and we realised how much we actually need an extra car. The motorhome was ok to use as a second car but the diesel engines aren't really meant for little journeys, (we have since found out) We didn't find parking very difficult in the town we live in for it or anything like that but it did use a lot of diesel just doing little journeys too.

I love our motorhome and am so glad we bought it, we took a long time to decide on layouts but finally found the perfect one for us and able for us to both drive on our licences.

I was terrified the first time I drove it but my OH took me out for a practice in Morrisons car park and I drove it back and haven't looked back since, Once you get used to the width and the length its easy, although I admit i love having the reversing camera on when going backwards

Good luck.