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Post Info TOPIC: Caravan length?


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Caravan length?


When vans are given their length e.g 21 foot 18 foot etc. Are they measured from the towball hitch or are they just measuring the outside of van itself.

thanks,

Collo.



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.. as in my case, I have a Series 18 Oz Classic NewAge van .. 18ft is an "internal" measurement ..



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Jonathan     DMax & NewAge Van .. fulltime 

 



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Roughly the outside length of the van not including the drawbar or bumper bar.



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Barbara & Brendon



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Don't know why , but some manufacturers quote the length as an inside measurement .

Also in feet and inches . On the order form when we bought ours it had all the stuff we wanted

and at the end said " inside length 20ft6ins ' .



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My van was measured inside at bench top level and for some weird reason in feet and inches, why, when we introduced metrification in 1970 and most people retiring now, would not have been taught using the imperial system and they are the ones who are the main buyers of new vans, so why do manufacturers and suppliers still work with an out of date measurement system.
Cheers
David

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Roving-Dutchy wrote:

My van was measured inside at bench top level and for some weird reason in feet and inches, why, when we introduced metrification in 1970 and most people retiring now, would not have been taught using the imperial system and they are the ones who are the main buyers of new vans, so why do manufacturers and suppliers still work with an out of date measurement system.
Cheers
David


 

Still enough of us oldies around who can instantly visualise in feet and inches but have to do some mental gymnastics to convert to metric - especially for measurements we don't use every day. Wonder how long tyre specifications will continue to show the tread width in millimetres and the wheel size in inches?

Joe

 



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Hino Rainbow motorhome conversion towing a Daihatsu Terios



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I am not aware of anyone measuring their vans from hitch to rear bumper (or the equivalent). The only time you need this is for when you go to a place like Tasmania and you need the total length. Our van is a garden variety 21'6, but from hitch to bumper is nearly 25'.
Regards, Larry

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Ex software engineer, now chef



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It is 40 years since this country went metric.
The fact that the caravan industry can't seem to do this is indicative of their state of mind and state of development.

Cheers,
Peter

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OKA196, 4x4 'C' Class, DIY, self contained motorhome. 960W of solar, 400Ah of AGMs, 310L water, 280L fuel. https://www.oka4wd.com/forum/members-vehicles-public/569-oka196-xt-motorhome
 

 



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Maybe it's just that 18 feet sounds a lot bigger to a potential buyer than 6 metres. Probably just a marketing ploy.

Robert

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Recently while getting insurance quotes I was asked for the internal body length or the external body length and one place even asked for the towing length. Some companies wanted the info in imperial units while others wanted them in metric. You would think that the industry would have a recognised standard for describing vans instead of this mess.

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Peter_n_Margaret wrote:

It is 40 years since this country went metric.
The fact that the caravan industry can't seem to do this is indicative of their state of mind and state of development.

Cheers,
Peter


 Tend to agree with Peter, reflects on the industry in general.



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I'm with you. 152mm sounds a lot bigger than 6 inches biggrin



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Bryan



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D and D wrote:

Recently while getting insurance quotes I was asked for the internal body length or the external body length and one place even asked for the towing length. Some companies wanted the info in imperial units while others wanted them in metric. You would think that the industry would have a recognised standard for describing vans instead of this mess.


 Could be because in the USA and some other places they still use imperial measurements. As most of our commodities are representations or copies of USA, they come in imperial measurements and as the USA is god here, that's what they follow. It's the same in the marine industry, they still use imperial measurements for boat lengths in lots of cases. I did my building apprenticeship in imperial and went through the transition. Now can work everything out in either, but prefer metric, less complicated and simple to use.

Advertising internal length for a van is a bit misleading and they should be forced to give overall lengths as well. In trucking overall length is the base measurement for planning or operating. can't see why it shouldn't be that way for vans. Have met those who go and buy a van using the internal advertised length, only to find they can't fit it where they wanted to at home because it is much longer than was advertised.

It should be mandatory for overall measurements and weights to be fully advertised and revealed at first sales contact.



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When we re-rego'd the van from NSW...to...Qld the transport dept were climbing all over the van...even the height but not once did they enter the van so I can only assume that here in Qld...they are only interested in external measurements.



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