Hi all, I have been camping for years and towing a trailer for a long time.
Really seriously considering a small caravan as love my trips away but would love a decent bed!
The issue i may have is my car, which I don't want to replace unless I have to .
I've got a skoda roomster scout . It's a 1.9 tdi.
According to the handbook and the plate on the car I can tow a braked trailer of 1200 kg . Now I realise I have to take a percentage of to make it all safe, but my car also has a low nose weight of only 50 kg !
Are there vans out there. For arround 3/4K and preferablly 4 birth that I could safely tow, or is it time to change the car for something heavier ......... Or could get a FC
?
Got a lot to think about so any advice would be much appreciated .
Well its been a year, and I am no further on !! Just got back from a week in Cornwall, and although we had a great time, I had to leave a day early as we didn't want to take the huge tent down wet as I don't have the drying space at my new house!
I am going to sell the tent and have already sold the trailer to a friend so I now have to get something new
Would like a 4 birth lightweight van but have been doing some research and not having much joy!
Love the Eribas but don't have that kind of cash! Prob have a budget of 2-3K
Have been looking at F/Cs but will still have the wet pack up problem unless I get a Dandy?
So any helpful ideas on a 4 birth van with a max loaded weight of 1000KG and a noseweight of 50KG ( yes I know its low !!)
There is a place in Stafford sells the Freedom caravans plus some other lightweight models.Sorry can't rmember their name. They probably have a website.
------------- DS-There's more to life than football!!!
I agree a folding caravan or folding camper will probably be best options on that budget, providing you havae room on drive to store and open up?
Folding campers are better than large tents if wet pack down as you simply open them up on your drive at home. You may still have issue of wet awning if you use one but your can get porch awnings adapted which are smaller and lighter weight
Folding caravans like one linked are great options and popular in Europe
Problem you will have going to your tow limit at around 1150kg is the max noseweight of 50kg. This means you would have a noseweight of 4.3% which is at very lowest end you want to be
We were at a rally last weekend and someone was towing a new Sprite with a Roomster. He said they had towed across France to Luxembourg with it with no problems.
I tow with a Fabia,same engine and noseweight as your roomster I think. I am just careful with loading and tend to travel with most stuff in my car and unload when I get there.( caravan is in storage) It tows level and I have no problem keeping to 60 on the motorway.
Thanks Robin, that's really helpful, yes my roomster has the same engine and gearbox as the Fabia, and I'm fairly sure the nose weight is similar .
Which Avondale do you tow?
I've been looking at vans from the late 90s and was pleasantly surprised at how light some of them are!
Hi Robin, I've been doing lots of research and will get something early in the new year.
I'm leaning toward a Dandy, like the look of the Destiny, as I can store it at home, but for similar money I've also seen a few Esterel folders so it will be one of those two :-)