Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: plym ian on 19 August 2011, 18:51:20
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I'm looking at this has any one had one of these and what are they like. it's just i don't think i want a full size one as i saw one over turned the other day :(
Thanks ian
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Collapsible-caravan-/180712461145?pt=UK_Campers_Caravans_Motorhomes&hash=item2a134d5359#ht_616wt_1139
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What's wrong with a full sized one, been towing one for the best part of forty years not turned one over yet :y
Before I had a van had a trailer tent, not fancy as that ::) the big problem was keeping the joints water tight, the more they are used, the more difficult it is 8-)
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dont bugger about.if yer want a caravan get a caravan.most caravans turn over from driver error/incorrect loading/tyre failure(connected to driver error).im in the trade and weve only had one customer turn a van in the seven years ive been there...driver error.
theres loads of advice out there on how to enjoy it safely :y
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I'm looking at this has any one had one of these and what are they like. it's just i don't think i want a full size one as i saw one over turned the other day :(
Thanks ian
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Collapsible-caravan-/180712461145?pt=UK_Campers_Caravans_Motorhomes&hash=item2a134d5359#ht_616wt_1139
Commonly known as "pop-tops" .. :) Most are fairly easy to assemble, but they can be quite cold and draughty ... the walls are very thin and there are gaps at the corners if you think about it !! Easy to tow and as they are usualy quite light can be towed by small cars. Some folks buy them and store in a garage when not in use ... especially in high theft areas. Assembling/dismantling in the rain is a pain .. but is a good spectator sport for those of us with "proper" vans ... :) Storage of clothes etc appears to be a suitcase on the back seat of the car .......
I know of a few folks who started with these but quickly moved to a normal van .. however its your choice.... but I would insist on at least one attempt at assembly/dismantle before buying !!! You might find you just don't like all the effort :)
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Sorry mate i'm with the others on this one. Collapsibles & trailer tents have so many drawbacks in comparison to real vans. As long as you look after the van & towing vehicle you should be fine.
I can think of a certain admin who considers ALL vans to be collapsible...probably because he can't reverse one!!!! :D
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I prefer a proper caravan but my parents had a Pennine Pullman (similar thing but with canvas top) and I must admit it towed well. It was quite well laid out and had a large awning. Due to no high sides there is no pull when passing lorries and they can be stored in a decent size garage.
Having said that, you can end up folding them down wet which is not ideal. With a proper caravan you can make random layby stops for tea/loo etc so this is a massive advantage.
As Hercules said, if you get a proper caravan,please please read up on weight ratios/sensible loading/speed etc. They are fine as long as you are sensible. I've towed caravans for over twenty years and many years ago the good lord gave me a slap on the M5 motorway for getting too cocky. I no longer underestimate the importance of speed and correct loading. The 'folders' don't suffer the same issues so I appreciate your concerns. :y
Hope this helps.
EDIT: As Entwood said above ^^^^^ :) :) :y (especially the spectator bit ;D ;D ;D )
Regards
Alan
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They are all collapsible if you push them off a high enough cliff. :D ;D ;D
Sorry, couldnt resist. ::)
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You a midget mate - these are ideal for midgets :D :D :D ;)
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One of the best bits about folders is you don't hack off the neighbours to much. I mean is there anything more annoying than that white lump blocking your view and light because so many people don't have driveways and end up with it on the front garden.
Excellant way to hack off the neighbours is buy a proper one and store it right up against the boundary. Guaranteed they will never speak to you again, allthough that maybe a plus point for some ;D ;D
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I hadn't thought about if it rained and i had to put it up, probably go for a full size one instead and just take it easy and drive like my dad ;D cheers
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They are all collapsible if you push them off a high enough cliff. :D ;D ;D
Sorry, couldnt resist. ::)
:) ;D ;D ;D ;D :D
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Get a proper 'van, you won't regret it. As been said before, you'll only hit trouble if you don't drive sensibly.
Before I got my 'van I looked at these and decided it was too much hassle ::)
At the end of the day, it's your choice. Best of luck which ever way you decide to go! :y
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Have a look at the Caravan Club website, there's lot's of useful info. on how to load/tow a caravan.
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radical thought this, but what about a hotel room? You don't need to drive to your destination at 55mph getting crappy mpg. You can actually enjoy the drive down & not hold anyone up in the process!
You don't have to make your bed, empty your own shite, cook your own dinner, clean up after your self.
Save yourself a bunch of cash too :)
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radical thought this, but what about a hotel room? You don't need to drive to your destination at 55mph getting crappy mpg. You can actually enjoy the drive down & not hold anyone up in the process!
You don't have to make your bed, empty your own shite, cook your own dinner, clean up after your self.
Save yourself a bunch of cash too :)
I'm surprised you haven't suggested a tent :o
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radical thought this, but what about a hotel room? You don't need to drive to your destination at 55mph getting crappy mpg. You can actually enjoy the drive down & not hold anyone up in the process!
You don't have to make your bed, empty your own shite, cook your own dinner, clean up after your self.
Save yourself a bunch of cash too :)
i get that anyway probably due to having 2 cyclinders missing ;D ;D ;D
but thanks for all your feed back gave me something to think about :y
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radical thought this, but what about a hotel room? You don't need to drive to your destination at 55mph getting crappy mpg. You can actually enjoy the drive down & not hold anyone up in the process!
You don't have to make your bed, empty your own shite, cook your own dinner, clean up after your self.
Save yourself a bunch of cash too :)
we dont all get paid lots of cash for sitting around watching telly and eating ice creams :y
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radical thought this, but what about a hotel room? You don't need to drive to your destination at 55mph getting crappy mpg. You can actually enjoy the drive down & not hold anyone up in the process!
You don't have to make your bed, empty your own shite, cook your own dinner, clean up after your self.
Save yourself a bunch of cash too :)
we dont all get paid lots of cash for sitting around watching telly and eating ice creams :y
Exactly why you should use hotels, lot cheaper than a burger van ;)
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radical thought this, but what about a hotel room? You don't need to drive to your destination at 55mph getting crappy mpg. You can actually enjoy the drive down & not hold anyone up in the process!
You don't have to make your bed, empty your own shite, cook your own dinner, clean up after your self.
Save yourself a bunch of cash too :)
we dont all get paid lots of cash for sitting around watching telly and eating ice creams :y
Exactly why you should use hotels, lot cheaper than a burger van ;)
average night stay in hotel lets say £50.you can get a site for £10 a night with leccy and shower if you shop around and you still have to drive there be it with a van on the back or going to the hotel so the petrol more than favors in the cost of taking your own home rather than paying for a hotel and if it comes to kipping in a tent or having a proper bed and a toilet and a fridge and warm water and a shower and a kettle and a toaster and a oven and a grill and lights and a wardrobe and storage space and bbq and gas fire and leccy fire and music and telly and dvds and satellite telly and digital telly and the list goes on....rest my case
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ALL THE ABOVE.
& you don't have to put it up when you get there or take it down when you leave! :y
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radical thought this, but what about a hotel room? You don't need to drive to your destination at 55mph getting crappy mpg. You can actually enjoy the drive down & not hold anyone up in the process!
You don't have to make your bed, empty your own shite, cook your own dinner, clean up after your self.
Save yourself a bunch of cash too :)
we dont all get paid lots of cash for sitting around watching telly and eating ice creams :y
Exactly why you should use hotels, lot cheaper than a burger van ;)
average night stay in hotel lets say £50.you can get a site for £10 a night with leccy and shower if you shop around and you still have to drive there be it with a van on the back or going to the hotel so the petrol more than favors in the cost of taking your own home rather than paying for a hotel and if it comes to kipping in a tent or having a proper bed and a toilet and a fridge and warm water and a shower and a kettle and a toaster and a oven and a grill and lights and a wardrobe and storage space and bbq and gas fire and leccy fire and music and telly and dvds and satellite telly and digital telly and the list goes on....rest my case
There in you sink your own case....you have so much costs up front...
Van Purchase? Anything from a grand to 20 grand. Buying security bolt ones, wheel locks ect, going to wash it, check on it every few months. I don't check my hotel rooms are ok few weeks later ;)
Depreciation, who knows? Least few hundred a year!
Site fees £80 for a week?
Storage? £300 a year? Is it near you, suspect you have to drive at least half our to get to where ever you keep it
Insurance? £200?
Maintenance / Tyres / Service - £150?
So before you take the damn thing anywhere you will have spend a nights worth of accommodation minimum, easily two!
Fuel 50% worse consumption. London to Lakes, your looking at spending £120 odd in fuel, assuming 15mpg, compared to £60 at 30mpg, so again, another night there.
Sorry but dragging a plastic box at snails pace, then sitting on plastic furniture, getting your own water, emptying your own poo is not my idea of a holiday!
I had a week in Portugal, Camping trip to Cornwall & week on the Isle of Man on my motorbike, for less than the running costs of a Van, before you've even taken it anywhere!
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radical thought this, but what about a hotel room? You don't need to drive to your destination at 55mph getting crappy mpg. You can actually enjoy the drive down & not hold anyone up in the process!
You don't have to make your bed, empty your own shite, cook your own dinner, clean up after your self.
Save yourself a bunch of cash too :)
we dont all get paid lots of cash for sitting around watching telly and eating ice creams :y
Exactly why you should use hotels, lot cheaper than a burger van ;)
average night stay in hotel lets say £50.you can get a site for £10 a night with leccy and shower if you shop around and you still have to drive there be it with a van on the back or going to the hotel so the petrol more than favors in the cost of taking your own home rather than paying for a hotel and if it comes to kipping in a tent or having a proper bed and a toilet and a fridge and warm water and a shower and a kettle and a toaster and a oven and a grill and lights and a wardrobe and storage space and bbq and gas fire and leccy fire and music and telly and dvds and satellite telly and digital telly and the list goes on....rest my case
There in you sink your own case....you have so much costs up front...
Van Purchase? Anything from a grand to 20 grand. Buying security bolt ones, wheel locks ect, going to wash it, check on it every few months. I don't check my hotel rooms are ok few weeks later ;)
Depreciation, who knows? Least few hundred a year!
Site fees £80 for a week?
Storage? £300 a year? Is it near you, suspect you have to drive at least half our to get to where ever you keep it
Insurance? £200?
Maintenance / Tyres / Service - £150?
So before you take the damn thing anywhere you will have spend a nights worth of accommodation minimum, easily two!
Fuel 50% worse consumption. London to Lakes, your looking at spending £120 odd in fuel, assuming 15mpg, compared to £60 at 30mpg, so again, another night there.
Sorry but dragging a plastic box at snails pace, then sitting on plastic furniture, getting your own water, emptying your own poo is not my idea of a holiday!
I had a week in Portugal, Camping trip to Cornwall & week on the Isle of Man on my motorbike, for less than the running costs of a Van, before you've even taken it anywhere!
I wondered when he'd get around to tent camping ;)
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Given the fact that we have spent 48 nights in our van so far this year, and will probably do another 20 odd, covering events from a medieval weekend (Tewkesbury), bank holidays scarecrow festival (Urchfont), motor racing (Castle Coombe), Overseas holiday (France) I'll guess that "hotel" costs would rack up to a fair amount. However, 'vanning is something we enjoy, and it allows me to attend functions , meet with friends and have a drink without fear of driving .... hotels would not give me the same freedom unless ALL my friends were in the same hotel ... a highly unlikely scenario.
At least I can enjoy a roast dinner sat at a table and not rely on some pre-prepared re-heated muck in a plastic sachet .... :) ( I refer the honourable gentleman to his own photos of some while back .....)
Knock caravans as much as you want .. bothers us not .. we've heard it all before ... but just be aware that we actually put a large amount of money into tourism when we spend locally whilst visiting.
:)
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Given the fact that we have spent 48 nights in our van so far this year, and will probably do another 20 odd, covering events from a medieval weekend (Tewkesbury), bank holidays scarecrow festival (Urchfont), motor racing (Castle Coombe), Overseas holiday (France) I'll guess that "hotel" costs would rack up to a fair amount. However, 'vanning is something we enjoy, and it allows me to attend functions , meet with friends and have a drink without fear of driving .... hotels would not give me the same freedom unless ALL my friends were in the same hotel ... a highly unlikely scenario.
At least I can enjoy a roast dinner sat at a table and not rely on some pre-prepared re-heated muck in a plastic sachet .... :) ( I refer the honourable gentleman to his own photos of some while back .....)
Knock caravans as much as you want .. bothers us not .. we've heard it all before ... but just be aware that we actually put a large amount of money into tourism when we spend locally whilst visiting.
:)
:D :D :D :D
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What's wrong with a full sized one, been towing one for the best part of forty years not turned one over yet :y
Before I had a van had a trailer tent (http://www.wimdu.co.uk), not fancy as that ::) the big problem was keeping the joints water tight, the more they are used, the more difficult it is 8-)
I would have thought that was the main danger with these type of caravans, leaking. Nice idea though
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Given the fact that we have spent 48 nights in our van so far this year, and will probably do another 20 odd, covering events from a medieval weekend (Tewkesbury), bank holidays scarecrow festival (Urchfont), motor racing (Castle Coombe), Overseas holiday (France) I'll guess that "hotel" costs would rack up to a fair amount. However, 'vanning is something we enjoy, and it allows me to attend functions , meet with friends and have a drink without fear of driving .... hotels would not give me the same freedom unless ALL my friends were in the same hotel ... a highly unlikely scenario.
At least I can enjoy a roast dinner sat at a table and not rely on some pre-prepared re-heated muck in a plastic sachet .... :) ( I refer the honourable gentleman to his own photos of some while back .....)
Knock caravans as much as you want .. bothers us not .. we've heard it all before ... but just be aware that we actually put a large amount of money into tourism when we spend locally whilst visiting.
:)
:D :D :D :D
If I wanted a Roast Dinner, plenty of pubs around for that. Don't need to cook it either :)
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Caravanning is a matter of personal preference. Personally I prefer it to camping but it's not worked out the way we planned, so the van will be sold in the not too distant future. It will be replaced with a large, good quality tent and associated equipment, again quality.
In reality to get an equivalent, comparable setup in camping gear there is a significant cost involved... Much more than I paid for my caravan ;)
I tend to travel overnight with the van, with a bed that is readily available if I want to stop for a kip "en route" ;)
As Entwood says, if you use it a lot a caravan is considerably cheaper than hotels. For the odd weekend it's not.
Each to their own... The world would be most boring if we were all the same ;)
To the OP... I'm always dubious about folding vans. The cannot possibly be as dry and convenient as a proper one and, TBH, full size vans are perfectly safe to tow if you do it correctly :y
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radical thought this, but what about a hotel room? You don't need to drive to your destination at 55mph getting crappy mpg. You can actually enjoy the drive down & not hold anyone up in the process!
You don't have to make your bed, empty your own shite, cook your own dinner, clean up after your self.
Save yourself a bunch of cash too :)
we dont all get paid lots of cash for sitting around watching telly and eating ice creams :y
Exactly why you should use hotels, lot cheaper than a burger van ;)
average night stay in hotel lets say £50.you can get a site for £10 a night with leccy and shower if you shop around and you still have to drive there be it with a van on the back or going to the hotel so the petrol more than favors in the cost of taking your own home rather than paying for a hotel and if it comes to kipping in a tent or having a proper bed and a toilet and a fridge and warm water and a shower and a kettle and a toaster and a oven and a grill and lights and a wardrobe and storage space and bbq and gas fire and leccy fire and music and telly and dvds and satellite telly and digital telly and the list goes on....rest my case
There in you sink your own case....you have so much costs up front...
Van Purchase? Anything from a grand to 20 grand. Buying security bolt ones, wheel locks ect, going to wash it, check on it every few months. I don't check my hotel rooms are ok few weeks later ;)
Depreciation, who knows? Least few hundred a year!
Site fees £80 for a week?
Storage? £300 a year? Is it near you, suspect you have to drive at least half our to get to where ever you keep it
Insurance? £200?
Maintenance / Tyres / Service - £150?
So before you take the damn thing anywhere you will have spend a nights worth of accommodation minimum, easily two!
Fuel 50% worse consumption. London to Lakes, your looking at spending £120 odd in fuel, assuming 15mpg, compared to £60 at 30mpg, so again, another night there.
Sorry but dragging a plastic box at snails pace, then sitting on plastic furniture, getting your own water, emptying your own poo is not my idea of a holiday!
I had a week in Portugal, Camping trip to Cornwall & week on the Isle of Man on my motorbike, for less than the running costs of a Van, before you've even taken it anywhere!
you have forgoton something tunnie.. as welll where do you store the damn thing when not using it as if you are storing on your front drive you are advertising the fact that you are on holiday when its gone....therefore inviting all the little scroats in... :y
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Yup very true :y
You then have to go and drive to said storage to pick it up, check it over every so often so more costs there.
Also if you buy a "decent" one with all the A/C, Dish, ect I doubt most people would buy outright, so you have deprecation + interest on a loan.
I can see it working for Entwood, 40 odd nights so far, thats going to work well :)
But if your average joe, taking holidays maybe 2 or 3 a year for a week at a time, I can't see it working.
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i guess it is horses for courses :y
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Just sold mine as i want a same size but newer one. It was my first van to see if i liked it...& i do! B&B/hotels are'nt for me due the restrictions involved. No Smoking!!! I like to come & go as i please at any hour, eat what i want when i want etc. I understand if bike touring & not wanting to carry tents & mess about after a long days ride a B&B can work but my "vanning is more aimed at car meets so actually being on site 24/7 & in my own little home from home works for me.
Reckon a 1200GS would happily pull a small 2 berth!!!!!! 8-)
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Reckon a 1200GS would happily pull ......
The local Vauxhall dealer of all places has one for sale at the moment. £9000 IIRC, 10 plate I think. ;)
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Wise investment is a GS, despite what people here think of them they hold their value very well.
I paid £6,250 for my 2006 on a 56 back in 2009, from a BMW dealer no less. See whats on autotrader now for that money, I reckon if I sold it now, i'd barley loose a 3 figure sum :)
GS would pull it, its all about torque on it, its not a bike to red line. Peak torque is at 5.5k rpm :)
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Caravan works for us.
easier than camping - Sue would not do that
Cheaper than renting a place the areas we go you are looking at around £1000 per week
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For this purpose, traveling time will become more important than if you were taking an annual 2 week holiday.
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For this purpose, traveling time will become more important than if you were taking an annual 2 week holiday.
Exactly the reason we're looking at getting rid of out caravan... It was stupidly cheap when we got it (less than we sold the Trailer Tent it replaced for) and still worth at least 5/6 times what we paid so we couldn't turn it down. The fact is, it just hasn't had the use we had planned for it and we can't justify keeping it... A tent is more practical for the meets (for us) because they are all 210+ miles from us so travelling time is more important ;)
The plan was to use it for weekends as and when we wanted... It just didn't happen so it's not worth it. Fortunately we don't have to pay for storage, otherwise I think it would be long gone ;)