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My husband has introduced me to camping and much to his surprise I did really like it. However I really dislike the pitch and pack up, and it is really putting me off. I fear divorce will be in the cards if we have to do it again in bad weather. LOL

I think we should invest in a caravan as my thought is it would aleviate all the downsides. However hubby worried about the cost, whether it is easier, the towing and whether caravanners are as social. (we always meet people in a tent which is particularly important with a 6 year old only child)

I also think we'd get more use and have comfy beds. How much would we need to spend to get something decent - I really like the adria altea as I'd like son to be at the other end to us and it seems relatively cheap.

Any thoughts, positive and negative, please especially from people that have done the transistion

We have just turned to caravanning exactly for your reasons. It took us 4 hours in total packing up from our holiday in France this summer with our tents etc. I thought that there has to be an easier way too! We ended up buying a van and had it on our drive 2 weeks after returning home!

It was a huge learning curve going round the vans new, second hand and bargain basement- (not for me!) We found the lay out that we thought that would work for us - 4 berth side dinette. (Kids to sleep in awning on long stays but overnight and short stays in van with us.) New vans lovely but expensive and bit too extravagant for first time buyers - for us. Bargain basement very dated and not for you if want something bit more modern. (and most had a 'whiff' about them!)

My mother in law said that the right van chooses you and she was actually right! You need a price ceiling in mind and with looking you will find a van that suits you at the right price. Maybe we were lucky as we did have some exacting criteria! Mine was no glass cabinets, no real 'whiff' and OH was the twin dinette privacy curtain to be kept in a cupboard!!

Anyway we had all beds away in 10 minutes and we reckon we could be away in hour or less if we got our mind to it and not do much faffing!

Yes it is more expensive, towing isnt as bad as you would think, jury is still out on the social side of things - I guess more effort is needed to sit out rather than huddle away in your van BUT we enjoyed it.

Wow thanks for such a fab reply, really helpful.

Anyone else with help?

I think most people will have started out as tenters & then moved on to a van for the same reasons you're looking at doing it.

Our tent was a huge 9 man dome (Vango Diablo).  Loads of floor space etc... but took so long to set up & pack away we never went for weekends - wasn't worth the hassle.

We bought a van for £5000 at 1st to make sure it was what we wanted & she gave us a cracking start.  A year ater we bought the same layout (5 berth with rear dinette/double bed & bunk) in a new van & love her.

It's easy to get away for weekends, towing isn't as bad as you'd think as long as you take it easy & setting up & packing up are a doddle in comparison to the tent, even with the awning.

Downsides are mostly financial - insurance, servicing, storage etc... then making sure you have an adequate tow car, looking at weights etc...

Social side is 'different' to being in a tent as vanners tend to sit in the van of an evening unless it's nice & warm but we've always met nice people everywhere we've been.

I'd say if you can afford it, go for it (try to avoid finance - esp on your 1st van just in case you do decide it's not for you).  The only major problem you'll have is working out how to fit all those extra weekends in.  We've never looked back altho I do still look at tents when we're away as well as the vans!

Hi

We made the change some five years back.  At the time, we had a Khyam Ultimate Tent (hence our username).  We loved the camping, but hated all the setting up/packing up - especially in the rain!   We found that the season was too short and the car was never big enough (even with a roofbox and a trailer) - LOL!

We are now confirmed caravanners on our third van and there are a lot of plusses.  We use our van all year round and find it very comfortable.  I think you will find that the majority of caravanners have camped with tents in their past.

However, the costs do need to be considered carefully.  Apart from buying a van, you need to consider other setting up and ongoing costs such as insurance, possibly storage, servicing, spare wheel,  replacement tyres, leisure battery, gas/water/waste containers, wheel clamps and other security devices - all of which notch up the costs a fair bit.

...and there is still quite a lot of work involved too!  You need to do all your homework on your towcar's suitability, towing weights and the like.  Each time you hook up, there are a number of checks and procedures to go through - so going away in a van isn't perhaps the simple 'drag and drop' that you might think!!

We were very daunted by the towing to begin with and did wonder if we would ever feel comfortable dragging such a big box behind us.  We are fine with it now and have recently had another fantastic holiday in France.  Whilst we were there, we got chatting to some people in a tent alongside us and they too were considering changing to caravanning - again, they were a little envious of the ability to come and go between campsites without hours of pegging and packing in 30 degrees C.

We've found other caravanners to be friendly and sociable - our  lad is now 13 so most of his playing days are behind him but his experience of finding playmates in caravans has been pretty much the same as it was when we were tenters.

Hopefully, this will help you with thinking it through.

Mrs U-M

Hi Catie - if we hadn't tent camped there is no way we would ever own a caravan now.  I love my tent (hanging on to it) and it was more the OH who wanted to make the move over to caravanning as he works very long hours and the last thing he wanted to do was spend an entire evening packing the car in order to go on holiday the next day & then the same in reverse.  I think I could've happily tent camped forever (in comfort of course). 

We started off by going to the NEC and spent the day in and out of all the caravans looking at the different layouts & features & by the end of the day we had identified our perfect layout but we didn't actually buy for another 18mths - in the meantime I warmed more and more to the idea while OH studied the more practical elements and we were both really excited and more than ready for the transition by this July when we finally bought our new to us van.  I think the NEC is a great starting point whether you are buying new or used as there are so many layouts you can freely roam around and get the feel of.

I have to say I am now completely converted and love the comfort factor, hot and cold running water, the bathroom, heating, & kids love their bunks & their own area at the rear.  When its sheeting down with rain its lovely to know that we don't have to go anywhere if we don't want to as everything is inside our caravan - no bowl of dishes at the front of the tent waiting to be washed.  We have our caravan on the drive, so to have it right there already part packed is like a dream & also means more quick weekends away in it.  Although I'll never say never to tenting I am loving the caravanning right now!

As others say of course its more expensive to begin with but as with the tenting where you are filling an empty space and tend to keep adding to it, your caravan is ready furnished and once you are fully equipped thats pretty much it.  I don't seem to be adding to my kit all the time like I was with the tent, which is making the OH very happy!!

Another thing worth mentioning is that if you mention to a dealer that you are a first time buyer you will probably be offered a starter pack ( if not ask as you havent a van to part exchange.) We got aqua roll, waste master, electric hook up thingy, extended wing mirrors, pink loo stuff, blue loo stuff, steps, extra carpet. All of which helped. We just had to buy a wheel clamp, insurance and security for the drive. (hitchlock came with the van) We borrowed  agas bottle and awning for our first trip.

If you buy private then you may do even better for the extras as often more is included in the price.

We've got a caravan, a trailer tent and a family tent - so know all sides. The caravan is very nice, but....there's always a but isn't there! In terms of setting up it depends how organised you are, how much junk you take away in the caravan (that big space just begs to be filled with a few more toys, fishing rods, extra chairs, larger BBQ etc etc. And also where you store it.

Ours is about 10 miles away, but even so, for a weekend we take the trailer tent. Simply because the TT is in our garage all ready to go and travelling with it is much easier than the caravan.

Don't get me wrong, we love the caravan, but we've probably made the mistake of taking too much with us so we need to always taken an awning. If you go for the caravan keep it simple!

Towing isn't a problem most of the time - but if you want to be relaxed as you travel then don't try to use a towcar that is marginal in its towing capacity. Otherwise it isn't a lot of fun - and that's basically what's it's about after all.

after spending a very windy and rainy bank holiday weekend at a not so good camping site my partner has been put off camping in a tent for good, and now looking to buy a caravan

the weekend started with us being confronted with very high winds as the site was directly opposite the sea and there was no sheild from it and the pitches were water logged due to no drainage system. it was freezing at night and couldnt sleep properly because of worrying about the tent collapsing (it is a very good tent)

I am glad we are now looking for a caravan as at least you can lock up and all your valubles are safe unlike the tent , was sick of transporting items back into the car to go out in the evening.

I've got 4 tents, a caravan and we had a TT.

TT was a disater as it was too big and heavy for me to put up myself which meant relying on hubby to come too which is difficult as he works 6 days a week. Sold it pretty quickly.

Started tenting about 5 years ago and love it apart from having to pitch and pack up in the pouring rain and wind (like I did recently!)
Still had a good time but it's no fun trying to dry a large tent in a small flat! Not planning to ditch the tents just yet as there is something rather lovely about sleeping in a tent.

Now have a 41 year old 2 berth caravan which I paid £450 for. I used her for the first time recently and LOVED it!
OK she is small, but that means she is easy to tow, I can keep her in our garage (so no storage fees), beds made up quickly and were very comfortable (I bought new foam and made new covers), wind and rain didn't effect us at all (no leaks!)
She is pretty unique and other campers were very curious about her, so she proved to be a real ice breaker!

Some things to consider:
*  initial purchase price (expensive compared to a tent)
* storage fees/space (tents can go in the loft/spare room/garden shed)
* towing (both Clubs run courses to give you some confidence if you've never towed before)
* socialbility - if you smile and say hello then others will reply so no more or less sociable than a tent
* extended season/year round trips in a caravan will be more comfortable than in a tent
* you don't need to dry a caravan like you do a tent if you pack up in the rain (may need to dry an awning though if you use one)

I would suggest buying second hand first to see if you like caravanning but watch out for the dreaded DAMP!