Ok, first: there's no such beast as the perfect motorhome!

The rest is pretty much one person's opinion against another's. We've had over cab beds and liked them, but now prefer the drop down bed as it's lower (easier to jump into) and the A class cab brings a lot more light into the van and also used the space for living as it has swivel chairs. On the other hand, we liked the cab area in our coachbuilts because it gave us lots of space to chuck coats, shoes and bags...

I reckon you'll get used to whatever type of toilet you have. If you mean the actual bathroom, we prefer a separate shower, having had one where it was the floor of the bathroom, as you always seemed to get wet feet when brushing your teeth, etc.

As for payload, I'd hazard a guess that if it's just the two of you, you should be ok with most vans as long as you don't take lots of really heavy stuff.

Just my 2p worth!

Steve

 

No such thing as "the perfect motorhome". It's all about compromises and ticking as many boxes as possible. The manufacturers have got to squeeze all the necessaries into given spaces - you can't have a big kitchen, big bathroom/shower, big lounging area all in a small(ish) van. As much as we like our van, there's always room for improvements!
Keep reading, and asking questions on here. It's a minefield, but you will get there.

DavidL

Ps. Steve beat me to it with the first sentence - I'm not very quick on the keyboard!

 

Best thing to do before taking the plunge is to set up the bed and both get in it,otherwise it could be an expensive mistake.

The only 2 drawbacks I can see are if the inner person wants to get up in the night they have to climb over the outer person and you have to be reasonably mobile to get up and down the ladder,anyone with a disability may struggle.

 

As with the others, you need to work out your requirements for the length of time you intend keeping the van as best you can.
I have a Luton because a teenager can sleep/sulk/keep his stuff/play his guitar/surf etc out of my way, at all times and we can stuff bulky things in there when he is not about. Downside is loss of 15% fuel efficiency.

 

I like the sound of the drop-down beds too, because of the space it releases for daytime activities. We can't sleep all snuggled up though - need our own space - so the standard 4ft 4in drop down beds are a non-starter.

But note that the drop-down beds in Frankias and Laikas can have pull out extensions to the drop-down bed, creating a drop-down sleeping area of 6 foot by 6ft 6ins, allowing you to sleep north-south in the van, rather than east west.

How do fit mid-sixties folk cope (one with a demending prostate) with getting up and down from a drop-down bed? Easy?

After motorhoming for 7 years in a 7m twin singles van, it suits us, but (1) there's not as much relaxing room at the front as we would like, (2) we would not buy an built-in awning again and (3) the shower area has been a bit of a waste of space.

Payload is extremely important. Our van weighs nominally 3150kg but 3550kg on the weighbridge in typical trip mode, with one person, 2/3 fresh water, 2/3 waste water, bikes so pleased we have the uprated chassis giving a maximum all-up weight of 3850kgs. I reckon there must be plenty of 3500 kgs max vans out there running overloaded.

Hope this helps.

 

Work out your budget, decide how many people you want to take away with you, what width and breadth of motorhome you can store, whether you have special needs e.g. if you have mobility issues, and what sort of motorhoming you want to do e.g. touring ski resorts in the winter, touring small villages in the UK, using the motorhome home as a base for hobbies, just watching the sun go down, being sociable etc.

Once you know the answers to these sorts of questions, you can then dig into the other issues. For example, my drive can house a maximum length of 6.5m so a drop down bed in an aclass suits us because it gives us more space in the motorhome in a smaller vehicle.

Personally, I've always found drop down beds in a-classes the most comfortable.

 

Drop down beds can be very heavy. if you go for one bear in mind that if the mechanisms jams or fails you need to get the bed back up or you cant drive the van. You probally have to fold the seats flat too.

My mate had a power assisted bed and the motor failed. Luckily there were people there tro help as ity took 3 blokes to heave it back up and secure it.

Its just something you may not have through

Phill

 

We get on very well with our drop down bed and find it very comfortable. We don't use the ladder as it comes down low enough to be able to hop onto it from the lower bed/settee.

One benefit is that it is made up ready for use and only takes a second to drop down. Ours is a manual one and not too heavy for a 70year old to lift!

The only drawback is of course,as others have said, when the inner person needs to get out in the night.

Don't let anything put you off - just go for it. When you've looked around a few you'll soon get a feel for what you want.

Happy hunting

Cazzie

 

We'd considered a van with a drop down bed but one issue that was in my mind that no-one else seems to raise is what if you don't want to go to bed at the same time. I'm one of those that sometimes likes to stay up late, and John isn't.


Chris

 

We have a drop-down bed, which we were apprehensive about, but it was one our compromises - you will have several compromises whichever motorhome you eventually plump for! One reason for choosing the Frankia was that the bed dropped down further than any other we tried, giving more headroom for sitting up to read (or whatever).

As a previous poster said, some Frankias have an extendible bed, and ours is one. However, we've never used it. In order to do so, you have to drop the bed, unlock and slightly extend the edge, drop the support legs, extend the edge the rest of the way, drop the bed the rest of the way, put in place the two extension pieces for the mattress, put on the bottom sheet then arrange the quilt and pillows. This contrasts with using the bed unextended, which involves dropping the bed and arranging quilt and pillows (which store in the raised bed). For us, for all the palaver involved in using the extended bed you might as well get rid of it and make up the bed in the seating area, like a caravan.

We don't use the ladder as the arms on the settees provide a convenient step, and with the bed down the sitting area is still usable. Getting up at night is hardly more difficult than getting out of a fixed, rear, widthways bed, especially one over a garage.

Having been apprehensive about the bed, we've come to like it (in fact, we often sleep better there than at home :roll: ). The only thing likely to be better, in our view, would be an island bed, but given our other choices for facilities, that would involve a much bigger van, which we didn't want.

 

My van has an over-cab bed which we find perfectly comfortable and a good size, plus we can store loads of stuff up there while we're travelling. we get by easily with this arrangement especaily as it means we can have a smaller van. There isn't much spare room but there is sufficient room.

Everyone has their own opinion but I don't like permanent beds as they're taking up good room thereby dictating a bigger van (generally speaking).

 

The layout took us ages to decide and Motorhome shows are a really good way to see lots of different sorts.

Money is the biggest thing first of all, how much are you willing to spend? I don't want to know but you need to be sure. As to should you buy new, everything in me says no as you lose the largest amount of money in the first couple of years. That said we decided to buy new because of a good price but we are going to fulltime soon and wanted to get everything just right.

I have read that many people change their vans in the first year as they didn't get the right layout. Don't know if it's true but it's anouther reason for your nightmares,

The weigh issue is very important, we have a 4.5 tonne chassis and that allows a rear axle weight of 2,225kg. So when loaded with a 125 scooter in the garage and 3 bikes on the rear bike rack plus normal stuff inside we are very close to the limit. You need to understand how the rear axle weight is calculated.

One of my first posts was about weight and ignoring the flippant comments there is some very interesting info. JeanLuc aka Philip was very helpful, maybe worth while taking a look.

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopict-94001-.html

Last comment about the drop down out experience is on the A class and sleeping in it when the we have visitors, they are easy to get in and good headroom. Not sure what length of time you plan to be away but for us we wanted 4 berth for if one of us is ill then the other can sleep in the other bed etc. Some on here also say it is handy when very hot.

Good luck, the nightmares only stop after you have taken delivery, on that I am an EXPERT

 

We had a drop down bed in the Hymer and it's one of the reasons we changed it

I found it difficult to get out of especially if in a hurry :lol:

neither of us liked the inside position

We now have fixed raised single beds that can be a large double although we use single duvets

Spacious easy to get in and out of without disturbing the other

A pleasant place to recline and read in the day

a cosy place to watch a film on the TV

And I can sneak off for an afternoon nap :lol:

Plus the advantage of a good sized garage for storage and a day bed / drying room for the dog( we fitted internal wire doors)

aldra

 

I think this is a great question from the OP. looking forward to more replies.

It's been a long time since we ventured in to an A class and I was wondering if the mattress could be replaced by a domestic double?

 

HI.

Drop down beds. Well we have one on our van but we have never used it though friends and relatives have, they say it ok and very comfortable and easy to get in and out of.
We have a fixed bed at the back and one of the pleasures of that is Sandra has to climb over me to get out of bed, but there again I am a dirty old man...hehe!...

Ray.

 

.......................
We have a fixed bed at the back and one of the pleasures of that is Sandra has to climb over me to get out of bed, but there again I am a dirty old man...hehe!...

Ray.

We have the same fixed bed at the back and I know what you mean Ray,it's the only time I get the leg over nowadays

 

I save my energy for other things

Only climb over him whoops enough said :lol: :lol: :lol:

Aldra

 

We've had 3 A class vans and love the extra room you get at the front but as we've aged climbing in and out of the drop down is a pain in the a**e, brilliant when you are young and agile.
After the last A class we went for high transverse double over garage, getting in and out was not so much of a problem with the fitted steps but the clambering over each other at 3 in the morning was still a pain.
We have now got a pair of high singles over a garage, which means very comfortable sleeping with the added bonus of loads of storage in garage and double floor of Alko chassis.

As others have said much is personal choice but do consider all of the practicalities of what you choose for the longer term or face the prospect of losing money when needing a change because the layout doesn't suit.

On the subject of toilets our current van has the Dometic one with the ceramic bowl, compared to the older style of Thetford it is rubbish, the design of the cassette is very poor with the vent button being awkward to operate and the handle that operates the blade protrudes beyond the tank so as when you come to empty it and place it on the floor to remove the cap it scrapes on the floor which scratches it problem is it is visible when in place in the van, flush not so good either. I am also finding it difficult to locate a spare blade seal as the one installed does not work too well which mean that unless careful you end up with the main housing filling with urine, most motorhome shops stock Thetford spares.

Separate shower and toilet areas a definite bonus.

I think the Thetford fridges to be less reliable and inferior to the Dometic ones..

 

We'd considered a van with a drop down bed but one issue that was in my mind that no-one else seems to raise is what if you don't want to go to bed at the same time. I'm one of those that sometimes likes to stay up late, and John isn't.

Chris

Yes, that's what bothered me at first, but there are some models where the drop down bed only covers the cab area seats, so the rest of the front seating is still available for late-night or early-morning lounging while someone gets an early night or sleeps in.

Also, re the inside sleeper problem, we found that with the drop down bed being lower than an over-cab, the extra head height makes it easier for the inner person to get out (and easier to hop down without using the ladder, as has already been mentioned).

I've got a feeling our drop down is also a touch bigger than the over-cab bet, which also helps.

Steve

 

I have an over garage fixed bed, and an in lounge drop down bed, useful if having visitors as they can be at the back and sleep whilst I can go in the drop down when im ready, its 7m long with l shape sofa and side sofa so plenty of lounging space too, you just have to find whats most important, make a list, mine was a bed I could watch tv in and rest on at anytime, and plent of lounging space and a tv that I did nt have to crane my neck to watch, the garage is huge depending on which height you select, the bathroom was the compromise as it has nt got a separate shower, iv e had the motorhome a year and am still very pleased with it.

 

BEWARE: Friends of ours have just bought a brand new LMC A Class motorhome and they have discovered that the drop down bed will only take 200Kgs of weight. Due to this, they are not able to use it, just store their bedding on it.

I thought it was a one off, but when we were at Lincoln I saw many new A Classes with a sticker on the bed restricting the weight to 200Kgs.

So if you both weigh more than the above, look for another type of bed to be on the safe side.

 

. . . The only 2 drawbacks I can see are if the inner person wants to get up in the night they have to climb over the outer person and you have to be reasonably mobile to get up and down the ladder,anyone with a disability may struggle.

No problems for us as we sleep top to tail & (TG) no disabilities

 

On the 5.6m van (HRZ Reisemobile, Holiday Dream) the bed ran lengthwise so no one was trapped on the inside. Only two steps up and no problem for one to go to bed while the other sat in the diner/lounge area underneath. Also had a separate shower. Toured in it for 6 months and we're pensioners.

 

Our decision tree was that we wanted the smallest van we could get, but with a decent bed (which didn't need to be made up) and a large lounge.....wanted to get off the beaten track, but with some comfort!

This led us to the drop down bed concept and we chose the Rapido as it had the best clearance in the bed, bed could be left made up, the lounge was large and the finish was excellent.

Easy to get into and you can get out both sides......only down side is that you have to go to bed together, but as we always do anyway, not a problem.

Wife is always worried that bed will not work (it's electric) but we've never had a problem (touch wood) and you can wind it up and down manually.....

Have always been surprised that UK manufacturers have not followed this layout....

 

as others have said, there is no such thing as the "perfect" m'home - you have to compromise to find what works best for your setup.

we're on our 3rd m'home and I think with this one (Rollerteam T-line 700 non-family) we are about as close as we can be to what we want - anything extra that we'd like is perhaps frippery or unrealisable.

I would however suggest that you go and see as many as possible to check their layouts and see what you like/dislike, talk to dealers - the Motorhome and Caravan Show is on at the NEC at the end of the month so you will get to see so many that your head will be spinning!! maybe take 2 days to go around them all and then revisit which ones you like to narrow down further.

we bought ours there last year having seen it the previous year - we'd liked it 1st time, liked it even more the 2nd time knowing nothing better had appeared - and a good trade in made a big difference this time.... :wink: