My Wife Has Gone Mental!!!! Forums

mascott

Ok.... This is my first post so I apologise if those that help out have answered the same old questions time and time again

First....the background.
Myself and my lovely wife Nat have lived in Tunbridge Wells for just over a year and we have a ridiculous mortgage (as does everyone we know!)
We have been thinking about the way we live and we both work full time (me doing shift work) and pay the bills. I work long days and sometimes I am out of the house from 5am til 9pm. This is of course our choice and although it can be tough we love our lives. We both enjoy working in London.
What we don't like is spending all our money paying off our mortgage. We would like payoff as much as possible of our mortgage so that it is more affordable so that we can have the flexibility to enjoy life more later

Nat Goes Mad
Of the two of us I am the one who spends all my time thinking upm crazy plans to improve our lot in life, but now Nat has joined in!
She plans to rent our house out, buy and live for 3years in a Motorhome and carry on working in London
On extremely shakey accounting We reckon we could save about 1/3 to 1/2 of our mortgage.
We love camping and have hired RVs for Holidays, but we recognise this is completely different. My Mum has lived on a boat for 10years so I have seen some of what is involved but I wanted to get some advice. We have my Dads address as a base for post etc and he is not too far from our House. We would probably like to hand around between London and TWells.

Questions ......

Are we fools?
Anyone doing it ?
What would we get for around 12k. What do you recommend
What about where to stay. We need to get into central London but don't mind a drive/train in. Do many places offer all long term places, and how much do they charge.
Any pitfalls?
Any advice is really gratefully recieved.

Mark and Nat x

geraldandannie · Moderator

Welcome, Mark and Nat. It's good to have you here.

We have a number of people on here who full time in their motorhomes. Some are travelling, and some are semi-static.

I'm afraid I can't offer any real advice, other than to say £12k isn't a lot to buy a van to fulltime in. If you're living in it during the winter, you'll want one which is very well insulated, and designed to be used when the temperature dips below zero. I'd be looking at Hymers - they're well built, and seem to last well. You can pick up some great second hand bargains.

More (and probably better Wink

) advice along soon, I'm sure.

Gerald

Rapide561 · Last edited by Rapide561 on Sun Feb 04, 2007 4:23 pm; edited 1 time in total

Hi

I live in my van and have done so for two months now. I am currently at Lake Garda, just me and the dog! Gerald is quite right about insulation qualities.

When I took up residence in the van, the first few days were mild - early December.....then a real cold blast. This van is classed as winterised and so we were snug! The German vans are generally well insulated. I cannot comment about the American vans, but there was a thread recently discussing this.

The worst aspect about living in a van for me - and don't laugh - it is having to go to the launderette etc and sort out my washing. Not as convenient as throwing it in the Hoover!

Your homework so far looks Ok to me. My only regret is not getting on with it sooner!

Russell

PS forgot to say that a lot of sites will not let you stay for more than 28 days. Not sure why.......but some turn a blinder!

mascott

Thanks Gerald!
Well....12k is a start, it is early Days. If we need to bend the budget a bit we could i guess. I have seen quite a few HYMERs around they look pretty nice.

Anyway first advice recieved...consider insulation and budget for more for the Motorhome. I saw the one for 180k......very nice.....

mascott

Thanks Russel
Is there anyway of knowing which vans are more suited to winter living. Do they have a rating or anything.
You pick up on one thing that I have thought of as a problem and that is that you cannot stay put in one place.
I was thinking that the answer was to go with the flow a bit and book 28days here and there and if we find one we like and they are happy to let us stay longer then its a bonus.
Cheers Mark

Rapide561

Hi Mark

Some sites will of course turn a blind eye to the fact that you have been there for months on end!

Insulation wise - British and European motorhomes are graded 1,2 or 3. Three is alledgedly most insulated against the elements.

Interestingly, most body shells of motorhomes, wall, floor and roof are a consistent thickness, and most British motorhomes are a grade 2.

Mine is a grade three - principally it has a double floor. The gap between the two floors is heated and houses the water tanks and pipes, plumbing, pumps etc. A good number of German and French vans also have the double floor. Not many British vans do, however.

A grade three van is supposed to be able to maintain an inside temperature of +20 degrees when the outside temp is -15!!!

I have yet to experience -15 - the coldest our thermometer has recognised is - 7!.

There are some threads on the site about insulation.

Russell

geraldandannie · Moderator

mascott

ok
Thanks for the advice on insulation...
As for where to stay it would be great if we could find somewhere like that.....I could offer Nat to do the Lambing.!

theboadacea

Hi, I (and boyfriend and dog) have lived in a van since August 04 and work at least 6-9 months of each year. We are now going through our 3rd winter in the van.

During the Spring and early summer we tend to move between CL's (Caravan Club Certifieed Locations) where we can stay 28 days and a local Caravan Club Campsite which we can only stay at for 21 days at a time. The CL is a third of the price of the Campsite too.

In the winter months we stay at the same CL each year - he is officially closed from November to March so lets us stay the whole time. However, we cannot move the van as it would damage the grass so a car is essential.

When we travel during the height of Summer we dot from campsite to campsite to CL - trying to get away without prebooking as we hate being tied down.

When I have a bit more time i'll post some tips on working fulltime and living in the van - its easy - most of the time!! Wink