What size Caravan?

Hi Kalex

What a wide open question

It's going to depend on a number of factors, the least of all being, what are you going to tow it with, where do you intend to go in terms of terrain???

Reckon that you need to address these before anyone could make any recommendations

Cheers

Ray

Hi Kalex, for the amount you wish to spend $6-7k, your looking at a late 70's to early 80's van. Considering you intend on doing the van up, I would suggest the money you would have spent on renovations go towards a later model. Considering that later models are safer to tow on the road. I know that this doesn't really answer your question. I guess you would need to look at the classifieds to see what you can get.

Cheers Steve

I would not go for a pop top but a full height c'van. Less moving parts and not much different to tow

Thanks, i have a V8 Discovery 1 so weight is not a huge factor. We will be mainly touring the east coast of Aus, with a trip to Tassie planned. And Victoria where we live. I want to get down some easy dirt tracks to camp sites in state forest and national parks. I have a good tent and all the gear for the rough stuff.
Is a full height van much different to tow than a pop top?
Must be big enough to have main beds for my wife and i always made and ready to sleep in and our son can sleep on a converted table bed.

A relative recently bought a "bargain" older model pop top and immediately had a very large bill for replacing leaking canvas and old mechanism on the top!
Unless you have the trade skills and lots of time, it is expensive and slow work renovating a caravan. If you wish to travel while your lad is still young look for something that is not too old eg parts are available, electrics are up to date and suspension is suitable for your plans. Have you looked at wind up campers like the Jayco Dove? A fairly recent one in good nick might be within your reach and actually be cheaper than an old pop top with big renovation costs. These do come with two beds and are quite spacious when set up. They go very well for family holidays and have the advantages of a caravan in that they have ready set up kitchens and storage inside and are up off the ground and insect proof. Lynne

wwe have a 1983 Millard poptop 14' which we find great. easy to tow behind old Pajero. We started with a soft floor camper, as we do this fulltime, got sick of being chased by the weather.
Our "Milly" was in that budget range, everything worked, Tare was 830kgs, GVM is 1380kgs. Seeing more older vans on the road now. cheers
keith

I think that space would be ample. We find that 22' is great for a family with 4 kids full time. With one kid you should be fine. It depends more on how efficient you are with the layout (In my opinion)

Kalex

This question comes up every now and then in the question and answer sections of caravan magazines. The answer is always to buy the smallest van that meets your needs. Any size van will have an affect on how the car handles, fuel consumption and general wear and tear. Manoeuvring it in tight situations can also be an issue so try not to go any bigger than you have to.

A good guide to what you can do with an old van can be found in a five page article that appeared in Caravan and Motorhome magazine about seven years ago. The magazine should be able to sell you a copy of it or even a back issue. The van was a 12 foot wood frame 1978 Millard pop top that had been modified for off road work. It had been in use successfully for ten years in its modified form prior to the article being written. Some of the tracks it had been on included the old Ghan railway line, the Israelite Bay track and the original entry to Chambers Pillar. Its total weight after mods was 860 kg and that included a full size double bed placed in a front to rear position and one metre off the floor for under bed storage.

These vans come up often on ebay with the average price being around $2500 to $3000.

Also think about where you two will sit when the youngster crashes asleep at the end of the day. If he's using the dinette you need somewhere to unwind and its not always good weather outside.
I'd also keep an eye out for one with a bunk. The old 16ft Millards had bunks up the front and double down the rear.

I have 4 kids so need a bit more space than you but in my opinion a wind up Jayco would be ideal. They have 2 bed ends so you don't have to have a bed on the diner which is a pain, as someone has already mentioned. On the older models you need to make sure the wind up supports are straight or it can get costly repairing them. A wind up van will save heaps on fuel economy. We lost about 150km to a tank changing from a Swan to an Expanda.