Large Vans & Caravan Parks

Submitted: Tuesday, Jun 16, 2009 at 15:26
ThreadID: 69876 Views:3439 Replies:7 FollowUps:2
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Hi All,
We have recently purchased a 2005- 25' Jayco Caravan, with the intention of hitting the road for a few years from March 2011. Can anyone who has a van that long or larger please tell us if you have ever had problems getting into Parks at all ? The previous owner told us that they always told the Park in advance how long the van was to stop being rejected or being placed on a site that was way too small to accommodate. Our plan is to spend about half the year in Parks and half away as we can be self sufficient with en suit, battery pack and Generator etc, etc.
As our previous extended trips (2-3 months long) have always been in a tent we would like to get some feedback from those on the road...
Thanks Mish
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Reply By: ob - Tuesday, Jun 16, 2009 at 15:45

Tuesday, Jun 16, 2009 at 15:45
Hi Mish,

My sister in law and her hubby have recently returned from a trip "around the block" with a 26' Jayco and after one instance of rolling up at a park and being told that they could not be fitted in with a van of that size made it a policy to call ahead to confirm booking and make the owners aware of the size of the van.

Cheers ob
AnswerID: 370329

Follow Up By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Tuesday, Jun 16, 2009 at 16:29

Tuesday, Jun 16, 2009 at 16:29
Second the above and always quote the OVERALL length

That is from towball to behind the four bikes you have on the back.
LOL

Ours is 26ft OVERALL , thats what we quote and usually thats what is asked.
Havent had any probs in 9,000km with another 10,000 to go.

Parks in smaller places quite often say here's the plan go pick a site.



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FollowupID: 637663

Reply By: Member - Redbakk (WA) - Tuesday, Jun 16, 2009 at 17:44

Tuesday, Jun 16, 2009 at 17:44
Yes...they do ask you for the length of your van and sometimes it can make a difference....but do it anyway and things always work out....have fun...might see you out there.

.
AnswerID: 370359

Reply By: Members Paul and Melissa (VIC) - Tuesday, Jun 16, 2009 at 20:00

Tuesday, Jun 16, 2009 at 20:00
I have found this also, they generally are OK up to 21' over that they get a bit funny. 2 christmases ago the park we stayed in asked how big our van was, told them 19'- Oh was the reply, asked why- our park does not accomodate vans that large. after some tooing and froing i booked us in. when we arrived i understood why they asked this as our van was the largest in the park and i had a job trying to park it in one of the spots at the back. i did get it in but if it was any longer no hope. they said they try to keep the lengths down around 18' to make it possible to fit them in without requiring an air drop.
AnswerID: 370396

Reply By: Member - Matt & Caz H (QLD) - Wednesday, Jun 17, 2009 at 08:07

Wednesday, Jun 17, 2009 at 08:07
Hi Mish,

We are a family of four travelling oz we have been on the road for 7.5mths now and have a 25 foot retreat caravan and always quote how long we are, we have only ever been knocked back once on the Great Ocean Road at Apollo Bay (only a small park and he happily pointed us to Pisces park who could accommodate us - nice park as well). We always quote how long we are (made it a little expensive on the Spirit of Tassie!!!) and we do free camp a lot, we have camps 5 and try check out the sites that say "big rig". We have never had any prob's.

Cheers
AnswerID: 370458

Reply By: Al & Mrs Al- Wednesday, Jun 17, 2009 at 18:07

Wednesday, Jun 17, 2009 at 18:07
Hello we have a 25ft Jayco, and I have contacted the park before to make sure we'll fit. I also check out to see if they have a website because they will often list what size sites they have.

cheers
Lyn
AnswerID: 370543

Reply By: Curlynan - Thursday, Jun 18, 2009 at 11:37

Thursday, Jun 18, 2009 at 11:37
Thanks everyone for your feedback. Sounds like we will need to quote the overall length. Yeah we can't wait till we hit the road permanently, target is March 2011. Our van has today gone into storage :-( **Hopefully we will get it out next year for a couple of short trips. We are off to Cameron's Corner in Oct/Nov this year with our 7yo grandson but that's a trip for the tent.........

Thanks Mish & Greig.........
AnswerID: 370654

Reply By: HGMonaro - Thursday, Jun 18, 2009 at 12:18

Thursday, Jun 18, 2009 at 12:18
just to add to this for future searches... if you have a wind-up camper, make sure you 'over estimate' your length a little to allow for guy ropes if putting up bed flys. We forgot at one CP and were allocated a site we couldn't fit on. No other std sites available so we had to upgrade to an ensuite site (wife was happy at least!)

Nige.
AnswerID: 370661

Follow Up By: Curlynan - Friday, Jun 19, 2009 at 10:24

Friday, Jun 19, 2009 at 10:24
Nige, We know where you are coming from with that, we usually travel in a reasonable size tent as some of our trips have been for 2-3 months long. In some Parks the site allocation for campers quite often left a lot to be desired. We used to ask to see the site before we booked in, as we got stuffed around too often, a lot of the time in the campers sections there are no designated sites jut fit in where you can and parking for your vehicle was on the other side of a fence. It's a joke. Funny thing was for a powered site it costs the same as a caravan site. So the buggers make more money out of getting 2 lots into a normal size site. Worst place was at Weipa in 2007 on our way to the Top, we had been on a site for 2 nights then on the 3rd we had been out most of the day got back and the back half of our site was taken over by the new arrivals next to us who had 3 tents so they sprawled well into our site. Complained at the office and after jumping up and down for a while they gave us back half our site fee for the 3rd night. We were gone early the next morning, rattled the pots a bit and had the radio on as well. But yeah a small amount of park managers don't have any thought or respect for campers needs but will gladly charge the same as a patron with a van. That could be another post though.
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FollowupID: 638120

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