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Hi, you may already have read we've got an aging Avondale.  We are hoping to one day move on to a newer caravan. As we have two young children my prefered set up is to have fixed bunk at the back of the van (don't like the vans with bunks along side cooking area).  I wondered if anyone could offer some advice on good makes/models to look at.  There seams to be so many different one's out there and as yet I've not found a simple way to compare them all.

Also, do all newish vans have showers in them, I've heard that they can be a pain for causing damp problems and I'm happy enough using campsite facilities.  Thank you.

They all have showers, but we tend to use campsite facillities.  Apart from the damp issue there is also the transporting of water.  Its easier to go to the water than bring it to you.  I suppose for shy people having a shower in the van might seem more important.  We have bunks at the rear and its a good set up with kids.

Brian

We have just bought a German Geist caravan with fixed bunks, Absolutely love it, My little boy just climbs in and goes to bed now which he never did when sleeping on the double in our old van

We got it from Elite Caravans in Northampton £3k under list price, Thrilled to bits with it.

Our Abbey Vogue 540 is a 6 berth, but has 2 fixed at the rear, are great for our boys, Does have a shower, but its a  combi type room, so to set up you swing things about,  its a pain so we use the site facilities.  

Here's a link with layout diagrams.

http://www.tilshead-caravans.com/sales/NewAbbey/2007/2007_abbey_vogue_range.htm

Hi

I have a 2004 Abbey freestyle 6 berth single wheeler fixed bunks at rear,Super van we love it, we are a family of 4 its great just leave the bunk beds made and kids are sorted,swift abbey ace and stirling are all part of the same group and all do 6 berths on a single or twin axle,take a look at them you wont be dissapointed

cheers Tim

We've just bought the Bailey Ranger 540/6 (GT60 version) and couldn't recommend it enough.  We have 3 kids and 2 dogs so the end layout is perfect for us as it's so versatile.  We can fold up the bottom bunk for storage or dogs beds but still have 2 bunk beds and then the seating area in that room converts to a bed too.  We often take along dd's best friend so she is still accomodated.  The shower room seems quite small if you were to use the shower but we have always used on site showers and will carry on doing so.

hth

I have to be honest with a lot of fixed bunks you have to comprimise bathroom space, however our old van had a seperate shower cubicle and I genuinely thought I would miss it when we changed, However having spent 9 days away at a no facility site in the new van it really didn't effect us. Infact shaving is a whole load easier in a wet room for me as it was in the old van as I am not bothered about the floor getting wet now and the shower had more than enough room with the curtain round,. Even though big bathrooms are nice and I loved our old van I would rather have the space in the living part of the van as thats where you spend most the time,

Just a though

We have one of the newer Pageant Bretagnes with the rear bedroom rather than the bunks along the rear wall, (it is the same layout as Ashwellgirl's Ranger 540/6).

We also find it fantastic as we can leave the top two bunks made up (we could never go back to a side dinette!!!)  We store the (lightweight) tables and chairs in the space of the folded up bottom bunk.  This still leaves the back dinette table for DS playing and drawing.

One reason why we did not want one of the 6 births with the rear bunks in the main living area is that you get no space to get changed out of view of everyone in the caravan.  If this is no issue to you then you do get a lot of space with this type of layout which makes the caravan appear much bigger.

Our children are 6 and 3 so we have a few years where bunks should be ok.  They think its a big adventure sleeping in the bunks but I would like fixed bunks as the matresses look much more comfortable, especially as they get older and heavier.  Not that bothered about bathroom size, like I said I'm happy using site facilities. Although I would probably use it a bit more when I've got a nice sink to wash at and hot water, lol.

Some lovely vans suggested but some are a little out of our range. We'd love to be able to afford a new van but we're currently looking at around 2004 mark. We are really only looking to spend 7K or less at the moment.  Thanks for your replies its nice to have some idea of what vans people have been happy with.

Would you avoid caravans made by companies that have gone out of business, eg Avondale?