Welcome to Motorhomefacts, we are a thriving motorhome community (Largest in Europe). Why Not JOIN NOW and get instant access to more of the website. It costs nothing to join and only takes a few minutes. We have 200,000 different people visiting our site monthly and this amount of motorhomers in one place guarantees a fast response to any questions you may have. We also have unique facilities not found elsewhere such as our Online Logbook, stopover tracker, Motorhome directory with Ebay type feedback and the largest repository of motorhome campsites reviews found anywhere
Hello everyone, yes another new member who wants to pick your collective brains. This has probably ben discussed before but thought I would ask.
1. What is the choice vehicle for the full-timer?
2. Are american RVs the way to go?
All comments would be really valued. I have looked at the American RVs but worry about what sites might think and whether they would let you stay. I am however only looking at ones under 30foot in length as I really dont need anything bigger.
Hi wantstoroam
We have a 30 foot ARV and so far we have not had to much trouble with sites in the UK at least.... They are built to last so should offer a good return upon investment, although there seems to be fulltimers using european mh's so I guess the choice is, as ever, yours mate....
Personally I would plump for a 30-32 foot RV anyday, for the space that it gives and the comfort, also most RV's under 30 foot seem to compromise on the bedroom space, this may or may not be important to you, but it is a serious consideration for us. Whether it is 28 foot or 30 foot will, in reality, not make much of a difference to your driving of it or siting of it, I think the only time that the length becomes an issue is when you get to 36 foot plus. Remember that if you intend to travel abroad a lot, that servicing may be easier with a euro MH, but that said there are a lot of ARV's abroad and they get by. That would seem to me to be the only advantage, although I am sure others will offer different advice.
Whatever vehicle you choose, remember the importance of getting the layout right for you, it is the one thing that will irritate if it is grossly wrong, everything is a compromise, but get most of it right mate.....
Hope this helps
I would definitely say get a model with a fixed bed. MY van is just under 25 foot and is OK for me and the dog. For two adults I would guess an RV to be more suitable.
Fuel economy on the RV may be an issue - but would you also have a tow car for local exploring etc
How many a going to full time?
Price wise - look at this - a brand new 25 foot Swift is listed at just under 50k. The RV'ers will tell you that will get you a lot of RV.
Russell
______________________________________________________________ Our long trip around Europe - blog now online at www.swift-kontiki.co.uk
Your question is one that we are asking ourselves at the moment. We have been fulltiming for two months now and we are living very happily and comfortably in a 28ft Euromobil 810. The Euromoby is a twin axle 6 berth. Our model is an end lounge with a second dinette at the front. It also has a drop down double bed.
The first thing we did when we went fulltime was to take out the cushions at the rear and put in a mattress to turn it in a "fixed" bed. Our daughter who is just over 1 year old obviously fulltimes with us sleeps on the front dinette and it takes approx 2 minutes to prepare it for her but if we had to do the back one as well I think it would become a chore.
The Euromoby is proving very comfortable but we do sit back and wonder whether an RV would be better. Obviously we get much better fuel economy from ours - 24 mpg compared to possibly 10-15 from the RV but Rvs are often cheaper to buy. We paid £32000 for our 96 model, a fellow member of MHF recently paid much less for a newer RV. I was chatting to a non MHF member last night and he had imported a brand new Coachman RV and the total cost incl. taxes was £36000. So you could put these savings into a fund to pay for the extra fuel.
The right RV is going to be more spacious. We saw a stunning Damon Daybreak the other day. Non slideout but due to the internal layout you had acres of space. Obviously the ones with slideouts give even more.
In the euromoby the read bed is part of the daily living area whereas the RVs seem to give more privacy in this area, which we think would be nice.
The Euromoby is easy to work on when it needs it in that it is little more than a van. The Rvs do seem very complex and that does worry us.
As we have the Euromoby we are going to give it six months and then make our mind up. Personally I think there are so many pros and cons there really is not a definative answer other than if you buy a European you will wonder whether you should have gone for an RV and visa versa. What I am pleased about though is that more by luck than judgement we ended up with a large european with two living areas and loads of locker space. We really would have struggled with anything less.
Best of luck and one thing I can give a definative answer on and that is "Fulltiming is great"
There are pro's and cons for both european and american units. It will all come down to budget (including fuel and maintainance), experimentation with layouts and personal preference.
Personally I'd go for an RV for fulltiming, my choice swayed by the sheer amount of room inside an RV, required for my family. Although the mh I have at the minute is very spacious and would be ok for a couple, it would not accomodate a family fulltiming.
I asked the self-same question here at the beginning of December after putting a (refundable) deposit on a new 28ft AutoTrail Cheyenne (£50k). We're not full-timing yet but will be in about 3 years.
We got the deposit back and bought a 32-ft Rexhall Rexair - just fabulous, and utterly no comparison to a Euro van im my opinion. I also saved £12.5k for something many times better. That's why I'm happy as a pig in Sri Lanka.
It's a question we have been asking ourselves over the last few weeks and we have been spending today looking over lots of RV's.
As we have been living in a European Motorhome since August 2004 (with only one lounging - if you can call it that - area) we have decided to upgrade to something we can stretch out in.
We have discovered that if you are travelling around in summer then a European is fine as you spend most of your time outside, however when winter kicks in it is another matter.
We have now spent 3 winters in this country our 23 ft van and it is starting to get a little cramped. We don't have the floor space that we need and are used to dancing around each other but we have decided that it is time that we just went for it and upgraded to something with acres of carpet/lino/woodenfloor ...
As we both work full time for at least 7 months of the year it will be nice to be able to come home in the evening and swing the proverbial cat .. woo hoo.
I think we have found the perfect van today too, we have a choice between 24 or 28 foot ... both have ample space. Oh the pressure !!!!
Very difficult question. To me the key is not length, but width. That is where l think the feel of space comes from. In your shoes l would be looking at one of the under 30 foot ARV's with slide out.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You cannot download files in this forum
UK
