I have just become a member of your forum and look forward to some interesting information and help. I am aiming at retirement by the end of 2010 and we would like to buy a caravan and and 4WD, we have looked at so many and are more confused then ever, what we would like in the van is; queen size bed, inside shower and toilet, club lounge (not a must but large comfortable seating) 12 volt syatem and charging. I have spoken to a couple of people who are telling me to avoid Jayco and Coramal, any sugetions? size of van 17' - 19' duel wheels
Are you buying new make a list like you have , take you time and don't forget to sit at the dining table and any other seating , pretend you are living in the van when you are looking at the van. If you are buying a van can be made to suite you we have a Regent caravan which was built to what we wanted are very happy , we didn't like the finish of the jayco but we all like different things so have a look at them all and buy what suits you not somebody else happy looking
depeneds in what you want in a van, what are you mostly going to do ? short trips ? long trips? we have a jayco motor home, love it, has 240v inputs for cp use. but its all upto what you want to do and how long your gonna be in it..
Thanks for the info, we not only sit in all the seats we lay down on the bed and everything. The Regent is one that we have on our not so short list. Happy vaning.
Ray, Why don't you hire a van for a couple of weeks and just tour to different van parks. This way you will get to know what you really require and also get to look at a lot of vans in use as well as talking with the owners. Regards Coromal and Jayco vans, they are the Holden and Falcon equivilant of vans and you get what you pay for as their are good and bad in ALL brands of vans. It really pays to do your homework as you have started to do and look, investigate by going around as many sales outlets as you can manage.
__________________
I was tired yesterday and I'm tired today betcha I'm retired tomorrow. he he.
Forget the negative comments about Jayco & Coromal. My Jayco has been excellent for >10yrs & my neighbour who really got me into caravanning has, after very much investigation including discussion with other recent CV buyers has just taken delivery of a new Coromal & is very happy with it. Be sure that you consider the market share of those two producers, their across Australia dealer network and their long life in the industry. To exclude them might be like buying a new car without considering, Ford Holden & Toyota.
All of the advice about trying out a van & looking at 2nd hand ones is good & worth listening to.
I think that the over riding factor is your budget. As in all things, you get what you pay for.
There are a tremendous number of small suppliers who often produce good product and some who come & go.
For my part I would choose a long established brand with good market share .. but that's my conservative approach.
I seem to recall that only a few days ago I responded to a similar post .. Might be a good idea to look back thru the posts to see if you can pick up that thread.
In any case ... good luck in your quest & enjoy the fantastic experience ahead.
I think that the first step is to decide on what sort of van you want/need & then what sort of vehicle is required to tug it.
The answer to the first part will include such things as .. How long you will be on the road Will you be Free Camping or using Caravan Parks or a bit of both. Do you intend to go off road, or soft road of primarily bitumen What sort of fit out do you want .. basic or deluxe or in between Where are you going to store it when not travelling What is your budget both for purchase & when travelling
Make a list
Read lots of caravanning mags .. Go to Caravan Shows. . Talk to experienced caravanners .. Seek out those who seem to have similar interests to you. Visit Caravan sales yards & see what's about that meets your desires. Ask them what sort of vehicle will be needed to pull those that you are interested in. Listen but make your own judgements.
It took us over 12 months to go thru this stage...
This was our list for a van in 1999 ..
Must have on board shower & Toilet
Be self sufficient for 2-3 days (batt gas water)
Suitable for resale in 2 to 3 years (ha ha)
Meet the budget
Within the towing capacity of a Nissan Patrol (our early investigations showed that we would end up with a 20' van or similar, so we picked up a 4.2L Nissan early in the bit)
Prefer aluminium frame
Air Conditioning
Prefer new van
Full van not pop top.
Off road capability not required
The Van & Vehicle that we decided on has suited us perfectly for over 10 years now and after >180,000km of van travel we can find no reason to change. So this approach worked for us
............................................................................................................... You mentioned a "club lounge" not sure what you mean. Some of the imports have a semicircular lounge at one end. Certainly look good. If this is what you mean, be very careful in your research of imports. There are some good looking ones but I would be careful when assesing their suitability on Aussie conditions.
If on the other hand you are refering to the cafe type where the seats face each other across the table rather than the other common L shaped ones .. I couldn't agree more. Ours is L shaped & I have often pondered how I could convert it to a cafe type.
Cupie very good posts that the same method we used it took us 6 mts. to find what we wanted but we stuck if our wish list and are very happy . Cupie newbies will find your post very helpful , May be you should put that up has a new post so all to see may have got lost at the end of a post so don't be afraid to run your post at any time well done
Ray,
