- Location
- Next door to Mr Benn at No 54
Do some streets have a restriction about parking a caravan permanently on your driveway?
On owning a Caravan, CC'ers experience?
- Thread starter Fab Foodie
- Start date
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Yes, I believe they do.
I only park mine outside a day before we use it, so I can clean it and do a full systems check, otherwise it's kept in a secure compound 2 miles down the road.
KneesUp
Guru
I've thought about a caravan, but due to the nature of our car (1.8 petrol with not much low down torque) we'd need a light one, which would mean quite an old one, which in turn often seems to mean a damp one.
We camp a fair bit, but Mrs and Jnr Knees feel the cold more than I do, so a caravan would mean we could camp earlier in the season and later in the season, as I believe they're quite easy to keep warm. Also, with the tent you have to allow a certain amount of erection time on arrival, whereas with a caravan you could arrive late, wind the legs down and turn the gas on and you'd be fine - plenty of time to do the awning the next day if you're staying, and easy enough to move on if you're not.
We camp a fair bit, but Mrs and Jnr Knees feel the cold more than I do, so a caravan would mean we could camp earlier in the season and later in the season, as I believe they're quite easy to keep warm. Also, with the tent you have to allow a certain amount of erection time on arrival, whereas with a caravan you could arrive late, wind the legs down and turn the gas on and you'd be fine - plenty of time to do the awning the next day if you're staying, and easy enough to move on if you're not.
D
Deleted member 26715
Guest
Within the deeds of our house there is a restriction of parking caravans or commercial vehicles either within the property boundaries or on the road outside, however the number of people on the estate that keep either caravan. motorhomes or commercial vehicles it's not adhered to. We bring ours the day before & return it to storage the day after under most circumstances, it occasionally will be there an extra day if any maintenance needs doing.
- Location
- Next door to Mr Benn at No 54
So you can park on your driveway for a day or two? I do not think there is covenant like that for this street.
D
Deleted member 26715
Guest
Newer vans are far lighter than old vans
Technically we can't, but we do.
Oh & a motor mover is now not a luxury it's almost an essential, especially if getting on a bit.
- Location
- Next door to Mr Benn at No 54
If there is such a restriction on this street, then at least six people out of thirty houses are ignoring it, including someone with two Commer Vans.
Actually, older vans tend to be lighter than new ones because they are not loaded with as many extras eg. Microwave cookers, larger fridges, shower cubicles, motor movers etc.
They generally seem to be built better according to the guy who maintains ours.
KneesUp
Guru
It depends on age I think - in the early 90s cars were much lighter and less powerful than they are now - my dad had a MkIII Cavalier which probably only weighed about 1200kg tops. The van they had was about 900kg I think. The modern equivalent of that Cavalier is the Insignia, which comes in at at least 1500kg or so, and even the least powerful diesel one has 190lb/ft of torque, which is (from memory) about double what the Cavalier put out.
The weight of vans seems to match the weight and power of the cars of the era. It may be that brand new ones take into account the smaller engines and lighter cars that tax and emissions legislation have brought about. I'll be honest I've not looked that recently.
I live on a private road, so I could leave it there if I wanted. I prefer to keep it in storage, as it's not such a giveaway that you've gone away when the van's not there.
Electric_Andy
Heavy Metal Fan
- Location
- Plymouth
I'm going to throw this out there: why don't you just get a van (Peugeot Partner or similar) and deck out the back for sleeping in. All you need is a couple of inflatable mattresses and some storage for cooking stuff. I did this all around Australia, pretty much lived in the thing for a year. My experience was, we rarely spent much time in the van, only for driving and sleeping really, but if we felt like it we'd just put some music on and crack open the beers in the back (off road of course to avoid a drink driving charge). For cooking you just use the caravan park facilities or you use your mini gas stove (or get a takeaway). For TV, again you use the site facilities or go to the nearest pub, though if I'm honest I did far more reading than watching TV. And when you want to drive anywhere, you still have a normal sized vehicle that doesn't cost the earth to run, and can be parked in a normal car parking space.
What I'm trying to get at is (without offending anyone I hope) - why spend 10k on a caravan when you can spend a third of that on a van? The inside of a larger van would be as spacious as a tent easily. This would be a good compromise between camping and caravaning in my opinion.
What I'm trying to get at is (without offending anyone I hope) - why spend 10k on a caravan when you can spend a third of that on a van? The inside of a larger van would be as spacious as a tent easily. This would be a good compromise between camping and caravaning in my opinion.
You can spend a third of that (10k) and still get a clean, serviceable caravan if you look around.
Panel vans can be very cold at night, especially in winter and suffer from condensation. I've slept in a few over the years.
Also, something to consider, a lot of caravan sites do not allow panel vans unless they are proper campervan conversions.
Electric_Andy
Heavy Metal Fan
- Location
- Plymouth
I didn't know that. Elitist tossers. Ok, so my van idea is already a non-starter. No wonder I don't see many.
Most of them will also draw the line at a panel van towing a caravan.
