Message Forums

The Lunar Quasar 460/4 would suit you fine, the only problem is that to get one with a separante shower you would need this years model.

Our Lunar Zenith is 6 years old and has the same layout, with bunks/dinette to the rear, but a wetroom, not a separate shower.

To be honest, once you have done all the water carrying for a shower and stuggled to get all the family done on a 2gallon tank full of hot water you may well abandon the idea in favour of the showerblock anyway, and if you pick your site carefully, some even include a family bathroom complete with a bath for small children as well as a toilet and sink.

As far as your 5yr old need ing the loo at the same time as you shower, then you just need to get him into the habit of going to the loo first before you get in, then make it clear to him that hes not allowed in again until you have finished, and then maybe give a small treat for doing so. We went through a similar phase with one of our Girls, but with her it was whenever we all sat down for ameal in a pub somewhere, she would want the loo as soon as the food arrived, resulting in my meal being cold by the time she had done so, but the annoying thing was she was just doing it to play up, as when you did take her she very often wouldnt use it.

I hope you find the right van for your needs very soon.

Julia

we use our shower a lot in our 2 berth, husband says when we change it he would like an end bathroom but I feel in a 2 berth it would take up too much room and prefer the end kitchen.

As our shower is seperate from toilet although in same room, divided by a folding door, we can pop in to get something out of the room or go to the toilet if wanted.

We have to make it a quick one and turn the nozzle to off position to save mucking around with taps, however for the 3 of us we probably use a whole barrel and a bit of water, hubby would rather refill than use the sites showers, his way of looking at it is that the sites electric(that you've already paid for) heats the water it's just the refilling of the barrels thats the bugbear.

we have a 1999 Abbey Spectrum 520 twin axle-and it has a seperate shower.with a proper folding shower screen/door to seperate you from the loo and sink.theres an onboard water tank which holds a fair bit but,to be honest,we never use the shower-we always use the one on site.

Its a 5 berth-L shaped seating at the back with bunk above.we used a tall bed guard along the shorter part of the L at the side of the 'van to make 'cot'(so we didnt need a travel cot) and our son who was 5 slept in the bunk above.

You could do a lot worse than have a look at the Bailey Pageant Provence series 5. I don't know how much you're looking to spend but we had one & it's great for kids & also has the seperate proper shower cubicle. The series 5 & 6 Provence are very similar with the L shape loung but our current series 7 has double dinette. All have double at the front & back with a bunk over the rear bed & the rear end closed of with a solid door. Lovely family vans.

BB

Hi BB

Think you've just found my dream caravan:)

I probably have the layout of van similar to what you want but it is a fairly new model.  however, personally I think I'd go for the separate shower over the screened off sleeping area.  OH and I usually use the showerblocks, he goes whilst I look after the kids and vice versa - its so lovely to take your time having a shower by yourself and not have to fight with the kids who get showered down in the caravan and for me if showering them down meant wet floors, sink and toilet (which it would with kids in a wetroom) then I couldn't be doing with that and we'd all have to use the showerblocks.  I will use the shower when we treat ourselves to a multi service pitch which is nice to be able to do too.

Its a bit more tricky when caravanning out of season, but when the kids go to bed we sit in the awning (put the halogen on if its a bit cool) and have a couple of glasses of wine out there whilst the children go off to sleep, so once they are asleep if they have just a curtain across their bunks it will probably block as much sound as our corrugated fabric partition anyway. We've often wondered if the partition serves much purpose apart from sight. 

A dealer told us that the fabric partitions supposedly block as much sound as a wooden partition but it just isn't true.  I find that once the kids are properly asleep nothing wakes them and we can play games or watch tv inside the van undisturbed ha or should I say without disturbing them!!

Quote: Originally posted by pumfretts on 08/5/2011

---

Hi BB

Think you've just found my dream caravan:)

---

We love it, the proper shower cubicle is our favourite part of it, the series7 we have now is wider than the series5 & 6 pageants & it's a cracking van.  

BB

We're up for sale and trying to move so think the purchase of this new a van would have to go on the back burner, I did think that the gangway where the cooker is looked a bit narrow and may be a pain when you're standing there cooking, we're not a large family in proportion, so could overcome this.

Had my eye on the 1998 model on here for sale in Kent but too late. Not desperate just if one comes along we may upgrade.

Thank you all for your input

BB, the Bailey Pageant Provence series 5 you referred to looks lovely but is a bit too new to fall into our price range, unfortunately (our budget is only £3-4k) .... but whilst I was having a look at it, I came across the Bailey Pageant Moselle and that looks like it might just tick my boxes! Well, if I give up hope of the perfect layout in my price range, that is

Fiona - everything that you have said ties in with one half of what I'm thinking - plus I do like having the washroom space to get changed in without being seen.  I'm definitely starting to suspect that we just need to take the plunge and see which layout works for us in reality!