Buying a caravan is an exciting prospect, with the freedom to tour where you want, when you want now at your fingertips.
When you’re in the process choosing the best caravan to buy, whether it’s new or pre-owned, you’re likely to have a list of requirements for features you want and your preferred layout. However, there are some things that you can only learn through doing.
With that in mind, I’m sharing the five things I think you should keep in mind when you’re in the process of choosing and buying a caravan.
1. Make-up beds are great if you have good storage
A layout you could be tempted by could come with a fixed bed, such as those seen in the best island bed caravans, or a tourer with a rear-corner bed.
However, fixed beds take up a lot of room that could be put to better use during the day, which is why you might be tempted by make-up beds. But don’t forget that if you opt for one you’ll need to have somewhere to stow away all that bedding during the day. Otherwise your interior might start resembling a store’s bedding department!
2. Flatbed microwaves are a useful addition
The best caravan microwave really can be a useful appliance to have in your tourer’s kitchen. In the past few years new caravans have started coming with flatbed microwaves, which don’t have separate glass plates.
This is a huge advance. You ideally need to remove the glass plates from older microwaves before you set off, and store them somewhere safe – a job that you might forget. If the plate then shoots out during the journey and smashes on the floor (as has happened with me, twice) it can be a very tricky job – for safety reasons, the glass usually shatters into tiny bits that then find their way into every nook and cranny before you have even realised that anything has happened.
3. L-shaped lounges are currently popular, but won’t suit everyone
L-shaped caravan lounges are more comfortable for stretching out in, compared with parallel settees. But they have their drawbacks, particularly if you are touring as a family.
You can usually only use two sides of any table you put in position – unless you have a footstool, which can get in the way and needs stowing securely before you move off.
The settees in such lounges are also not usually long enough to make up into single beds. And, if you come to make them up into a double, you often find that while one side of the bed is nice and smooth, whoever sleeps on the other side has to put up with lying on slightly higgledy-piggledy sofa cushions.
That’s perhaps why such layouts – while popular now and popular back in the mid-1990s – don’t suit everyone.
4. Don’t assume that all motorway services are the same
In theory, almost every motorway service station in the UK now offers dedicated parking spaces for caravans.
Actually using them is a different matter, though. In my experience, such spaces are often poorly signposted, too small, or you have to squeeze between huge articulated lorries, which can be alarming.
As a result, I have kept a note in my mind of service stations that certainly do have decent parking. Fleet on the M3 in Surrey, Cherwell on the M40 in Oxfordshire, and Blyth on the A1(M) in South Yorkshire, are three that spring to mind.
5. Onboard water tanks are not essential
Perhaps because most motorhomes have them, some people think that onboard water tanks are ideal in caravans. They are certainly very convenient, but you need to remember that they take up a lot of room, and usually aren’t large enough to give more than a couple of fairly brief showers.
You are also best emptying the tank before any long journey, too, unless you want water in the tank slopping around and affecting your towing. So carefully consider whether it’s the best option for you before buying.
If you’re going to be caravanning with a newcomer to touring and they’re hesitant to get behind the wheel, don’t miss our tips on how to encourage a reluctant tow car driver.
Lead image: Matt Lincoln
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