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for safety sake stick to 85% of kerb weight of car on the caravan

From when we were looking around there was a Geist  and a Dethleff that had a rear dinette with bunks at the side. Just looked on http://www.practicalcaravan.com/ and under used they show layouts of caravans they have listed there.

J

Hi

I have been looking and 4 berths tend to have a double and 2 singles one made up from the table and chair and a pull up sort of hamock thing above (not fixed).

We have a 6 & 3yrs old and are going for a 5berth min as that give us 2 doubles and the hamock thing they are only rated upto 11 kg or so so we won't use ours for safety sake.

Hope that makes sence.

Dee x x x x

"only rated up to 11 kg or so" ?? The bunks are usually rated up to about 10 stone.

Another issue is the length on side dinettes, they tend to be quite short on some models.

Sorry Bordercaz you are more than likely right I get confused with Stone and Kg same with Km and miles lol

Dee x x x x

I don't know how old your kis are, but you may need to think long term, unless you want to change your van in a few years.  My boys are now 11 & 8, and have just change to a five berth.  A four berth was great when the boys were smaller, the side dinette changed into bunks.  But as he got taller our eldest had to move to the bottom bunk as the top bunk is very narrow.  He had to roll in and out of the bottom bunk as the head height is very low and he wasn't able to sit up in bed.  Though he never complained about this I knew it would only get worse as he got bigger.         We have removed the bunk out of our five berth to save weight, so the boys will top to tail in the double at the back, and they choose to sleep in the awning in the summer.  We are now looking to many years of caravanning.  With more space and better comfort for everyone especially at bed time.

Thats why we are going for the 5 berth caravan21 we are trying to think ahead as we are going to spend about £3000 and won't be changing the caravan soon

Dee x x x x x x

We've just bought our 1st caravan in Feb & had the same budget.  What you do need to bear in mind is not to go to your limit just on the van - you'll also need towbar, stabiliser & other bits & bobs.  We spent £5k on the van & the rest on the other things we needed.

Totally agree with everyone else re the 5 berth - our kids are 18, 13 & 4.  Eldest won't some with us very often & will sleep in the awning when he does.  The other 2 (all boys) are happy to share the rear double for now but the extra bunk's there if we need it.

Happy hunting!

Quote: Originally posted by adsheadv on 06/5/2009

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What you do need to bear in mind is not to go to your limit just on the van - you'll also need towbar, stabiliser & other bits & bobs.

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........ and most importantly, a damp tester.   Many damp caravans have a negative value - i.e. they would cost more to repair than they are worth.

caveat emptor

Cheers
Andrew

 

Thank you all for your continued good advice. We did spend quite a lot of time late last year going round dealers, which, in a way, is a bad thing to do because you see all the new, shiny models and you don't want anything else.

However, that caravanfinder site is superb - exactly what I was looking for, being able to search used caravans by layout - genius!

My wife has decided she can suffer this year in the tent and we'll look to buy later next year (my daughter starts school then so we won't have her nursery fees to pay, which will help). Personally, I'm an instant-gratification type and want to rush out this weekend but OH is right...have to be patient...

Thanks again for all the advice...

PS: we do have EHU but the darn tent is so big, the fan heater doesn't make much of an impact, unless you're sitting on top of it!