Quote: Originally posted by navver on 13/4/2010
With a van that big I don't suppose it occurs to the designers that an awning is needed.
It certainly is a magnificent beast and being a Hobby should lst for years.. I'm not sure I would want ot tow it very far though. Did you look at the fifth wheelers at all. They look good as well and have slide outs to make them even bigger.
http://www.fifthwheelco.com/fifth_wheel_range.html
We did seriously consider 5th wheels as an option, especially seeing as we have pickups on the farm but decided against them for several reasons.
1. Although they are huge and beautiful, the layout still means the grown ups get a bedroom but the children have to sleep in the living area and our children are 5,6 and 8. Even on holiday they are in bed by 8.30pm, so we would be back to sneaking about. The only one that would suit is an american one we saw which had a seperate kids room but then we'd need a dodge to tow it.
2. The cost, the 5th Wheel Co ones are very expensive, yes you get a bit more peace of mind for your money. We really liked a Niche marketing one and it wasn't a bad price, about £24k (as was the Calder leisure one) and had bunks etc but they only have a 12mth gaurantee.
3. The depreciation. We were watching some on ebay and saw that the same ones (not just the same model but the same actual 5th Wheels) were on there for months on end with the price gradually being lowered. There is such a small market for them and that coupled with the lack of warantee meant that the resale value is dreadful. We saw one which was £25k new going for £3500 at two years old and still no bidders. It's just not worth the risk to us.
4. If My truck broke down just before a holiday or was stolen, we wouldn't have another vehicle with a swan neck hitch, (other than an actual tractor) so we'd be stuck. At least with a caravan all of our vehicles have towbars. Also the hitch takes up a lot of the truck's back and I need it for my dog cage day to day, for sheep, for feed etc so we'd have to keep connecting it and disconnecting it.
lol, sorry I've gone on a bit!
The point about foreign sites allowing us on. The chances of us getting abroad are very slim. One of the reasons we caravan is that it's hard for us to get away from the farm. The most we've left the farm for was 3wks 10years ago to go on honeymoon and since then we've had 4 seperate weeks away but the stress makes it hard. We worry too much about the animals. We stay in this country so we can get back if we need to. The older the father in law gets the harder it is. With a caravan we can have lots of little breaks, 3 nights at a time which is a lot more manageable for the farm. Hence we don't go more than two hours away either. This would probably seem very restrictive to some but it suits us at the moment.
I'll now try and figure out how to attach photos 
Topic: Back from my first outing
although I can understand why 
