I know the topic is Caravans Vs 5th Wheelers, however, have used both of these options as well as motor homes over a period of years, as far as I'm concerned for convenience and comfort the motor home wins hands down.
Have owned one for quite a while now and don't regret the purchase for a moment.
Will now take cover and await incoming fire.
Not taking a shot at you but I was sold on motorhomes, too, until the day I was driving down a multi lane road and a tow truck pulls up near me with a motorhome on it. I imagine the car part of it had some significant problem because it wasnt that it had been in an accident. At that point, I suddenly realised that whoever owned that motorhome just had their car AND their home towed away with all their valuables in it. If my CAR broke down if I had a caravan or 5th wheeler then the thing I lived in could be towed by some towing company to where I want it to be. If the HOME part of my equation needed repair significant enough for it to be towed then I could at least DRIVE somewhere to stay. That was the day I decided motorhomes werent for me.
I can see what you mean about convenience but I am going to live in the thing until the day the ambos pull me out of it in a body bag. ;-} So, I have to look at both the good and the bad. I even went so far as to contact the people who make "The Australian Winnebago" and suggest to them that they could make it easier - and therefore better sales - by doing the sections in units so that if someone's car section was stuffed badly and needed replacing or the living section was just in need of upgrading according to the owner, the car and living sections could easily be detached and then a new home or a new car section added. All the power, water etc would end in the exact same position for every single one where connection between the two parts demands it. I know it would be more complicated than that but MODULAR with an emphasis on easily renewing drive or living sections seems one heck of a lot better than "dump the lot and buy the lot" to me when maybe the car section is fabulous, just the occupants want the living section updated. Naturally, they couldnt give a brass razoo about the idea. Imagine being able to drive in with an idea of changing only the living section, pick the one you like, detach and then attach the new one and 1 hour later out you go with the same car section but new living quarters. I would have thought that would be someone most motorhome lovers would want. Guess I was Robinson Crusoe! ;-{
Andrea said
08:16 PM Feb 3, 2014
Just a couple of additions, Greg:
Tim thetruckie mentions that all 5-ers use a 50 mm pin. In fact, some use a ball - our Southern Cross sits on a 3" ball on the tray of the BT-50, directly over the diff. Another advantage of this is that the ball takes up far less room than the old-style pin & plate.
As for breakdown recovery: I had to call the NRMA last year when the Mazda suffered a problem on the Oxley Highway west of Wauchope. They quickly found a heavy-duty tower in Port Macquarie, with several types of hitch on his prime mover, who took the van to our destination at Long Flat (which is neither long nor flat! ) and carefully manoeuvred it into just the right spot (thanks, Peter Crawford!). Meanwhile, the ordinary NRMA tow truck took the Mazda to Wauchope for repair. Now I know why I paid the extra last year for Premium Plus cover!
Still reckon that a 5-er is the way to go...but then after 5-and-a-half years we're biased!!
Andrea & John
oldbobsbus said
08:41 PM Feb 3, 2014
I guess it is all up to the individual.. I for one wouldn't have anything else than a motorhome made from a bus..
We have friends that often travel with us in a tug and van that would really like the convenience of a MH where you can get up from your seat and put the kettle on for a cuppa without having to alight from your tug and go and open up your trailer... we often have our drink under way before they are in their trailer..
GregTheComputerGuy said
10:42 PM Feb 3, 2014
Andrea wrote:
Just a couple of additions, Greg:
Tim thetruckie mentions that all 5-ers use a 50 mm pin. In fact, some use a ball - our Southern Cross sits on a 3" ball on the tray of the BT-50, directly over the diff. Another advantage of this is that the ball takes up far less room than the old-style pin & plate.
As for breakdown recovery: I had to call the NRMA last year when the Mazda suffered a problem on the Oxley Highway west of Wauchope. They quickly found a heavy-duty tower in Port Macquarie, with several types of hitch on his prime mover, who took the van to our destination at Long Flat (which is neither long nor flat! ) and carefully manoeuvred it into just the right spot (thanks, Peter Crawford!). Meanwhile, the ordinary NRMA tow truck took the Mazda to Wauchope for repair. Now I know why I paid the extra last year for Premium Plus cover!
Still reckon that a 5-er is the way to go...but then after 5-and-a-half years we're biased!!
Andrea & John
I know that bit about bias all too well. Back in 1983 I got my first home computer, a Texas Instruments 99/4A (or TI-99/4A) and for the time it was a wonderful machine though it had no capacity, as bought, to save anything at all to any medium. I spent around $5000 in coming years building it up nicely for the day and the moment I got there, Texas Instruments pulled the plug on home computers. I kept on with it for a few more years before I had to dump it and modernise and I sold all that for $700 and was lucky to get that much! I moved on to an Amiga 500 and fell in love with it and kept it for many years even when Commodore died. It was at this point that I realised howstupid and pointless it was to remain biased to a particular brand of computer. I was on the verge of going Apple but I didnt like the signals in the wind and went PC instead which, up until Windows 8, hasnt been a bad idea. Apple, in 1996 almost died because of its own stupidity and got a cash injection from Bill Gates that kept it alive. Later, Steve Jobs came back and the rest is history until when Jobs died. Apple is repeating what it did to kill itself back in the 90s, now. Already it doesnt hold the place it did and it slips every day.
So having said all that and relating it back to the topic, I was definitely sold on a motor home then realised that it was too easy to have one thing go wrong in the car section that I couldnt repair and then I lose the whole unit until it is fixed. I dont like that idea. Being flexible these days after having the idea of inflexibility in computing TWICE bite me in the backside, I moved to the standard and ever practical car plus normal caravan idea then eventually decided I couldnt live without slide outs. However, still moving on with the idea of flexibility, I decided to look at the 5th wheeler option a lot more seriously - thus this thread - and see what I could find. With the help I have been given, I have shown my wife 5th wheeler ability to be driven and moved about much easier and more easily hitched by what I see. She has hated the idea of 5th wheelers the whole time. To my delight, she shut up! No kidding, just shut up! They say that ONCE in a marriage a miracle happens and blow me down, I witnessed the truth of that! ;-} I could hear this strange grinding noise and saw her clenched jaw. I thought it was her thought processes but no, it wasnt that. Then, as suddenly as the blessed silence appeared, it disappeared but in a rather amazingly GOOD way. She saw the point of a 5th wheeler. She saw she can have the same floor space as a caravan AND have slide outs but she saw the easy hitch and easy manoeuvring of it around. So she is having a real and honest think about it and seems to be moving towards 5th wheeler.
Now you have given me something else to try flexibility about. Tow ball planted in rear deck of the car versus standard 5th wheel. What is best and why? Not sure but have to find out now! ;-}
GregTheComputerGuy said
10:47 PM Feb 3, 2014
oldbobsbus wrote:
I guess it is all up to the individual.. I for one wouldn't have anything else than a motorhome made from a bus.. We have friends that often travel with us in a tug and van that would really like the convenience of a MH where you can get up from your seat and put the kettle on for a cuppa without having to alight from your tug and go and open up your trailer... we often have our drink under way before they are in their trailer..
I think I can "one up" you on Motorhome. It was when you mentioned tug that I remembered seeing a motorhome done really in deluxe style so worth a mint but not a standard one. It was done from a bus style and best yet, you could actually drive it down a boat ramp into a river and it was a house boat! I saw it on YouTube but I have to say I dont know ANYWHERE in Australia that could fix the thing when it needed it and honestly when it was sitting in the river it looked like a wave from a passing motor boat would topple it.
Nevertheless, it tickled me pink to think of going down the river in front of people on the shore just gawking in surprise! ;-} Bet you'd trade your current one in on THAT thing if you had the bickies. Oh and price? They were talking in Yankee dollars and thinking around a million. Now get it converted to right hand drive on top of that. Sheesh! If I had that sort of money I wouldnt need to work on the road when I am there! ;-}
oldbobsbus said
08:15 AM Feb 4, 2014
Not into being better than the next bloke Greg,
We are happy with our unit and we tow an old Pulsar so we can do the tourist bit when we want to, and if that breaks down for less than $1000 we could just get another one...
Have to say I agree wholeheartedly with this statement Bob.
I simply don't have the need or desire to spend the time defending my choice or heaping scorn on the choices of others.
We're all different and as such have our own needs and requirements.
I, as most other travelers could, relate horror stories about all three modes of getting around, sometimes things go wrong, guess that's why we have insurance.
-- Edited by Santa on Tuesday 4th of February 2014 10:24:22 AM
native pepper said
09:21 AM Feb 4, 2014
GregTheComputerGuy wrote:
oldbobsbus wrote:
I guess it is all up to the individual.. I for one wouldn't have anything else than a motorhome made from a bus.. We have friends that often travel with us in a tug and van that would really like the convenience of a MH where you can get up from your seat and put the kettle on for a cuppa without having to alight from your tug and go and open up your trailer... we often have our drink under way before they are in their trailer..
I think I can "one up" you on Motorhome. It was when you mentioned tug that I remembered seeing a motorhome done really in deluxe style so worth a mint but not a standard one. It was done from a bus style and best yet, you could actually drive it down a boat ramp into a river and it was a house boat! I saw it on YouTube but I have to say I dont know ANYWHERE in Australia that could fix the thing when it needed it and honestly when it was sitting in the river it looked like a wave from a passing motor boat would topple it.
Nevertheless, it tickled me pink to think of going down the river in front of people on the shore just gawking in surprise! ;-} Bet you'd trade your current one in on THAT thing if you had the bickies. Oh and price? They were talking in Yankee dollars and thinking around a million. Now get it converted to right hand drive on top of that. Sheesh! If I had that sort of money I wouldnt need to work on the road when I am there! ;-}
Seems to me you have very little experience in travelling and may need to do a few trips, in hired vans, MH etc, to see how you handle different living and travelling conditions. It can take a while for many to work out and decide what is best for them on the road full time and many make mistakes because they have preconceived ideas of what it is like. Normally that's just fanciful and their learning curve is filled with problems.
Over the more than 40 years we've been almost fully on the road, had a variety of vehicles. Started out with vans, then changed to a coupe of buses then went back to a 28ft van, which lasted less than 6 months and since only converted buses. At one stage towed a dog trailer home from place to place with a work truck and towed a car behind.
A converted bus suits us best, we don't stay in van parks, buses are very secure, sturdy and designed for heavy on road work every day of their lives. A bus will handle side winds 10 times better than a van MH or 5th wheeler. Buses are much harder to get into or steal wheels or anything else, with a van modern MH or 56h wheeler, all you need is a screwdriver to bend the aluminum siding ands you're in. Over the years we've seen a lot of poor souls who have returned to their vans etc, only to find their aluminum doors bent back and lots of things gone. Mind you this mainly seems to happen in van parks in large populated or frequented areas. We carry electric mountain bikes for getting round.
Others do it differently because it's what suits them and their life style approach and are very happy with their choices. You'll never know what will make you happy and do the job for you, until you actually experience the life and work it out for yourself..
GregTheComputerGuy said
10:30 PM Feb 4, 2014
oldbobsbus wrote:
Not into being better than the next bloke Greg,
We are happy with our unit and we tow an old Pulsar so we can do the tourist bit when we want to, and if that breaks down for less than $1000 we could just get another one...
Wasnt trying to BE better than the next bloke. So far as I am aware, I didnt say anything like that.
GregTheComputerGuy said
10:40 PM Feb 4, 2014
Santa wrote:
oldbobsbus wrote:
Not into being better than the next bloke Greg,
Have to say I agree wholeheartedly with this statement Bob.
I simply don't have the need or desire to spend the time defending my choice or heaping scorn on the choices of others.
We're all different and as such have our own needs and requirements.
I, as most other travelers could, relate horror stories about all three modes of getting around, sometimes things go wrong, guess that's why we have insurance.
-- Edited by Santa on Tuesday 4th of February 2014 10:24:22 AM
If you mean me, then:
At no time did I say anything that could be seen that way. In fact at the start of this thread I did explain that I was just mining for info. However, I do have the right to express my OWN opinions in the way I see them without fear or favour so long as they are MY opinions without putting anyone down. That is all I did. If you saw me as heaping scorn on you then that also is your choice the same as it is for me to say that I saw a motorhome on the back of a tow truck and that made me decide NOT to have a motorhome that day. I dont see anything prejudicial in that. All I said was what I decided to do and the reason for it.
Dont get upset because people dont agree. It is in the differences of opinion, put nicely, that we can ALL learn. I know next to nothing, for example, about 5th wheelers other than that they look a great deal like a caravan and hitch differently. When I started this thread I wasnt even thinking remotely of having a 5th wheeler but due to the well put arguments expressed by some in this same thread, I actually have changed my mind and may even decide, finally on a 5th wheeler. Dont get precious about the opposite views put by others. Just take the time to read them, correct them if they are wrong, advise when needed. How the hell else can newbies learn more? I sincerely would NOT want to be on any board where people couldnt put their own views nicely without being berated for it or have others feel like they have to go have a sooky about it. Arent Grey Nomads PAST being 12 years old after all?
Personally I dont give a brass razoo if the best thing in the world to someone else is a yacht on the back of a trailer where the yacht never makes it into the water but gets driven around Oz and the person lives in it. Sure, I would think it odd but then they have surf life saving carnivals in the middle of the country so it wouldnt be TOO odd! ;-} If someone can present their view rationally I really need that help. That is why I really am leaning a lot more heavily to 5th wheeler now whereas at the start of the thread it was a distant possibility but unlikely to be a reality. People put their views rationally!
If you DIDNT mean me then:
Isnt MY face red? Sorry! ;-} I wonder if they make a Blockout cream for embarrassment red face? ;-}
GregTheComputerGuy said
11:19 PM Feb 4, 2014
native pepper wrote:
GregTheComputerGuy wrote:
oldbobsbus wrote:
I guess it is all up to the individual.. I for one wouldn't have anything else than a motorhome made from a bus.. We have friends that often travel with us in a tug and van that would really like the convenience of a MH where you can get up from your seat and put the kettle on for a cuppa without having to alight from your tug and go and open up your trailer... we often have our drink under way before they are in their trailer..
I think I can "one up" you on Motorhome. It was when you mentioned tug that I remembered seeing a motorhome done really in deluxe style so worth a mint but not a standard one. It was done from a bus style and best yet, you could actually drive it down a boat ramp into a river and it was a house boat! I saw it on YouTube but I have to say I dont know ANYWHERE in Australia that could fix the thing when it needed it and honestly when it was sitting in the river it looked like a wave from a passing motor boat would topple it.
Nevertheless, it tickled me pink to think of going down the river in front of people on the shore just gawking in surprise! ;-} Bet you'd trade your current one in on THAT thing if you had the bickies. Oh and price? They were talking in Yankee dollars and thinking around a million. Now get it converted to right hand drive on top of that. Sheesh! If I had that sort of money I wouldnt need to work on the road when I am there! ;-}
Seems to me you have very little experience in travelling and may need to do a few trips, in hired vans, MH etc, to see how you handle different living and travelling conditions. It can take a while for many to work out and decide what is best for them on the road full time and many make mistakes because they have preconceived ideas of what it is like. Normally that's just fanciful and their learning curve is filled with problems.
Over the more than 40 years we've been almost fully on the road, had a variety of vehicles. Started out with vans, then changed to a coupe of buses then went back to a 28ft van, which lasted less than 6 months and since only converted buses. At one stage towed a dog trailer home from place to place with a work truck and towed a car behind.
A converted bus suits us best, we don't stay in van parks, buses are very secure, sturdy and designed for heavy on road work every day of their lives. A bus will handle side winds 10 times better than a van MH or 5th wheeler. Buses are much harder to get into or steal wheels or anything else, with a van modern MH or 56h wheeler, all you need is a screwdriver to bend the aluminum siding ands you're in. Over the years we've seen a lot of poor souls who have returned to their vans etc, only to find their aluminum doors bent back and lots of things gone. Mind you this mainly seems to happen in van parks in large populated or frequented areas. We carry electric mountain bikes for getting round.
Others do it differently because it's what suits them and their life style approach and are very happy with their choices. You'll never know what will make you happy and do the job for you, until you actually experience the life and work it out for yourself..
Well the fact that I started a thread asking for info would prove you right. I came in here looking for info and I did it the right way at the start though the subject header did look controversial. If I knew everything there was to know about driving full time on the road as a Grey Nomad, I would be charging people to learn from me not asking for info! ;-} Having said that, as mentioned somewhere in this thread, I dont have the cash to travel 5 years in this then trade to that. I never will. I spent 7 years out of work due to health and when I came back no-one wanted me with a history like that. In those 7 years I had to use every single cent of super I had to pay the bills and now have none. So, I had to start my own business with the $300 in my bank account. Note that at no time did I take one red cent from the Govt in support. I have a mortgage on the house worth approximately half its value that wont ever be paid off until I sell the house and when I do it should leave me with enough to buy the RIGHT car and the RIGHT "home on wheels" once only and then I will have 2 bob and a bottle top left over if I am really lucky. So I will buy, when I know enough, what I consider to be right at the time. Granted I may make a real blunder in that but sometimes even the best plans arent the right plans for the situation. They just LOOKED good at the time.
Did your experience with car/van include ESC on both car and van? I believe the addition of ESC to both car and van makes them one HELL of a lot more stable these days in high wind. One friend with a Cell drove it out of Melbourne area (wherever the Cell people are, exactly) without ESC on the van he had purchased but with ESC on his car. He said he could feel the van wobbling every time he passed a truck going the other direction and it really worried him. He eventually got ESC put on the van and he said you still feel a wobble but nowhere near as bad as it used to be.
As to "experiencing it", if I win Lotto I can do that but otherwise I cant experience Motorhomes. In fact even hiring one for a week or two to holiday in is a huge expense so I am never going to find that out. However, as I was at pains to point out, I saw a motorhome on the back of a tow truck. Up until that point I was ONLY thinkin motorhome. When I realised that person's car and home and valuables were all going to somewhere to get the car section of the motorhome fixed, that was when I dumped the idea of motorhome. Again, as I was at pains to point out, that wasnt my idea of fun when, with a car/van where the car breaks down you still have the van to live in or where the van needs serious repair, you still have the car to get around in and find somewhere to stay and into which you can offload your valuables. Like I said - those were MY feelings about it. I was at no time putting anyone down nor was I saying I had experience - so thanks for putting in that about me having none in your opinion as it DEFINITELY added to what I said..... - all I ever said about Motorhomes was what I felt to be right for me, never something like "POS" for example. I dont think of them badly. I just see the downside - again to MY way of thinking for anyone who may be wondering - of having one. I dont have and never will have the type of money you are talking about (short of Lotto win or rich uncle I dont have dying and leaving me millions) to do what you have done. All I will have is ONE SHOT ONLY and with that one shot at the time I do it, I am going to be convinced I did the right thing and then see if the actual lives up to the expectations.
Is it really so wrong for me to voice my own opinion about motorhomes when I did it in a way reflecting my own feelings? Dont think so.
In the meatime about experiencing "the life", I have experienced enough life and near death to know that I have no financial choice other than to become a Grey Nomad. I cannot buy the rig and then go home for months because I dont have that financial option. Luckily Grey Nomad lifestyle is something that agrees with me as I just LOVE driving HUGE distances and I love seeing what is over the top of the next hill and I love being in wonder and awe at the changing of seasons and how it makes the same patch of land affect my senses. Luckily I am still alive today to experience the driving but I may never live to see the Grey Nomad lifestyle I so dearly would love to have. I go to the doctors again soon to find out. If it ends up bad for me, it wont stop me working towards being a Grey Nomad. I was told I would be dead by 4 years ago and either I am still alive or I have hired a "ghost" writer. ;-} My old man taught me one thing when they gave him 4 years to live with his diagnosed asbestosis - it was that no matter who you are, you wont believe the bone being pointed at you will kill you but a lot of people WILL believe a doctor doing exactly the same thing. He impressed that on me some 12 years after he was supposed to be dead and I wasnt using a Ouija board at the time, either! No, if it ends up being a bad prognosis it will just be another one and I will adjust myself to compensate and I will keep aiming towards the lifestyle I want. What I need is helpful info to prepare for that lifestyle. It is all I ever asked for in this thread, really.
Sheesh....
oldbobsbus said
08:43 AM Feb 5, 2014
Hi Greg,
I understand where you are coming from, but you also need to understand that there are others of us that weren't all born with a silver spoon in our mouths..
And as for making a judgement on MH's becoz you saw one on the back of a truck thats a bit unfair. how do you know why it was there and wether or not they had their car in tow at the time and were off in it sightseeing while it was being repaired..
How about this and to be honest it could just as easily been a Tug and 5th wheeler..
You have put a thread up here and asked for some advice and this is what you have been getting and from what I can see there has been a lot of very good advice, some of which you didn't exactly ask for but none the less advice..
Please understand that ALL of us didn't come down in the last shower and lots of the members here have their own problems , you only need to read some of the other threads around the boards to realise that others also have their own problems.
Anyway I just hope you are able to find a rig that suit YOU and join us on the road one day mate..
native pepper said
09:26 AM Feb 5, 2014
GregTheComputerGuy wrote:?
All our buses are old, the current one is 1978, cost $4000 registered and been through school bus inspections. We've spend probably $3000 more on bits and pieces over a couple of years. Did all the conversions myself, using scavenged second hand materials and live on a pension. Certainly not well off and do some work to get extra money. I never buy any vehicle new, learnt many years ago of the huge financial lose that goes with buying new vehicles. But also like fixing things, so much prefer to do everything myself and very rarely have the need for any supposed professional. Others are different and leave just about everything to others, it's their choice. But if you are going to live full time on the road, you'd better make yourself fully acquainted with what you need in a set up and become fully familiar with it, or you're in for a big and probably expensive shock.
The number of people on the road who don't have a clue about their rigs, is growing rapidly and it's becoming more common to come across these people stuck, broken down, or unable to fix a simple problem in their van or car. More and more it seems to be compute problems, rather than mechanical. if you stay on the conga line tourist circuit, you will have easier access to the services you will need at times, if you decide to travel off the beaten track as we do, getting outside help is fraught with problems of distance, expense and availability of services.
If you are going to mostly free camp, you have a huge amount to learn, if you want to avoid and overcome the problems everyone gets at times. if you don't know your rig, these problems become time consuming and expensive. if you have no idea of what life on the road is like, what you will do and the places you want to go to, then you have a dilemma. If you just want to buy something and get out there, follow the crowds and you'll be in good company. A change in approach may help.
-- Edited by native pepper on Wednesday 5th of February 2014 09:56:56 AM
-- Edited by native pepper on Wednesday 5th of February 2014 09:57:43 AM
Tim thetruckie said
02:04 PM Feb 5, 2014
Andrea wrote:
Just a couple of additions, Greg:
Tim thetruckie mentions that all 5-ers use a 50 mm pin. In fact, some use a ball - our Southern Cross sits on a 3" ball on the tray of the BT-50, directly over the diff. Another advantage of this is that the ball takes up far less room than the old-style pin & plate.
Andrea & John
Andera you are of course correct . Most imported 5er's use the standard 50mm pin and turntable , some aussie built use the ball like you have on yours .
topender said
09:19 PM Feb 10, 2014
We have a 9 mtr 5th Wheeler with large slide out and recently returned to Perth after traveling through SA Vic. Tow vehicle was a DMax (2010) with chip, exhaust and suspension upgrades. Found this lacking a bit on power. Have just upgraded to new BT50 and getting ready to head back over east for the rest of the year.
Excellent driving, handling, hitching up.
I suggest if going towards a 5th Wheeler you consider a Hayman Reece Sidewinder pin box. This allows for the turning pivot to be a further 500ml back from the hitch and this gives greater flexibility when reversing and tight turns.
JohnLG said
12:12 PM Feb 5, 2017
Hi Greg,
This may help, since your last postings there has been a lot of changes in the Caravan industry.
Jayco 2017 28 Caravan verses the 5th wheelers, its much lighter & small tow vehicle. Only 2.8t
Jayco raises the bar this year for families, retirees, grey nomads to take camping & exploring to the next level Feb 2017
2016/17 Jayco Jay Flight 28 [new ultra-light model Feb 17]
I wont comment either way as we have a caravan for sale on this site with the above headings.
But check out the new weights of jayco, you get used to the extra 2 feet in length from your old caravan very fast and when parked up really enjoy the extra space and storage.
Happy Trails John & Louie
-- Edited by JohnLG on Sunday 5th of February 2017 12:13:22 PM
Greg, while at the Newcastle show look at the Travelhome stand and see the fifth wheelers that are made at Caves Beach NSW.
I have had one for 4 years on the road full time, however last year I was unlucky and ran out of road in SA and wrote both the Ford Ranger and the 5'er off. Ken Tame insurance came to the rescue. I have since bought another Travelhome 5'er same size 29'. but have upgraded to an Iveco Daily tug. The 5'er that I wrecked in SA was bought by the makers, they sent two new axles down to SA and flew down and fitted them an hooked the 5'er up and towed it back to Caves Beach The chassis is in very good condition considering that it crashed at 90kph.
Report by the tow truck contractor "Its still in one piece, we usually have to pick up all the scattered parts from caravan smashes".
I am very happy with the service I recieve from Travelhome, who go out of their way to ensure the customer is happy.
PeterH
PS, Tell either Adam or Jim you have read this and they will care for you.
-- Edited by Pet-els on Sunday 5th of February 2017 01:32:15 PM
Not taking a shot at you but I was sold on motorhomes, too, until the day I was driving down a multi lane road and a tow truck pulls up near me with a motorhome on it. I imagine the car part of it had some significant problem because it wasnt that it had been in an accident. At that point, I suddenly realised that whoever owned that motorhome just had their car AND their home towed away with all their valuables in it. If my CAR broke down if I had a caravan or 5th wheeler then the thing I lived in could be towed by some towing company to where I want it to be. If the HOME part of my equation needed repair significant enough for it to be towed then I could at least DRIVE somewhere to stay. That was the day I decided motorhomes werent for me.
I can see what you mean about convenience but I am going to live in the thing until the day the ambos pull me out of it in a body bag. ;-} So, I have to look at both the good and the bad. I even went so far as to contact the people who make "The Australian Winnebago" and suggest to them that they could make it easier - and therefore better sales - by doing the sections in units so that if someone's car section was stuffed badly and needed replacing or the living section was just in need of upgrading according to the owner, the car and living sections could easily be detached and then a new home or a new car section added. All the power, water etc would end in the exact same position for every single one where connection between the two parts demands it. I know it would be more complicated than that but MODULAR with an emphasis on easily renewing drive or living sections seems one heck of a lot better than "dump the lot and buy the lot" to me when maybe the car section is fabulous, just the occupants want the living section updated. Naturally, they couldnt give a brass razoo about the idea. Imagine being able to drive in with an idea of changing only the living section, pick the one you like, detach and then attach the new one and 1 hour later out you go with the same car section but new living quarters. I would have thought that would be someone most motorhome lovers would want. Guess I was Robinson Crusoe! ;-{
Just a couple of additions, Greg:
Tim thetruckie mentions that all 5-ers use a 50 mm pin. In fact, some use a ball - our Southern Cross sits on a 3" ball on the tray of the BT-50, directly over the diff. Another advantage of this is that the ball takes up far less room than the old-style pin & plate.
As for breakdown recovery: I had to call the NRMA last year when the Mazda suffered a problem on the Oxley Highway west of Wauchope. They quickly found a heavy-duty tower in Port Macquarie, with several types of hitch on his prime mover, who took the van to our destination at Long Flat (which is neither long nor flat!
) and carefully manoeuvred it into just the right spot (thanks, Peter Crawford!). Meanwhile, the ordinary NRMA tow truck took the Mazda to Wauchope for repair. Now I know why I paid the extra last year for Premium Plus cover! 
Still reckon that a 5-er is the way to go...but then after 5-and-a-half years we're biased!!
Andrea & John
We have friends that often travel with us in a tug and van that would really like the convenience of a MH where you can get up from your seat and put the kettle on for a cuppa without having to alight from your tug and go and open up your trailer... we often have our drink under way before they are in their trailer..
I know that bit about bias all too well. Back in 1983 I got my first home computer, a Texas Instruments 99/4A (or TI-99/4A) and for the time it was a wonderful machine though it had no capacity, as bought, to save anything at all to any medium. I spent around $5000 in coming years building it up nicely for the day and the moment I got there, Texas Instruments pulled the plug on home computers. I kept on with it for a few more years before I had to dump it and modernise and I sold all that for $700 and was lucky to get that much! I moved on to an Amiga 500 and fell in love with it and kept it for many years even when Commodore died. It was at this point that I realised howstupid and pointless it was to remain biased to a particular brand of computer. I was on the verge of going Apple but I didnt like the signals in the wind and went PC instead which, up until Windows 8, hasnt been a bad idea. Apple, in 1996 almost died because of its own stupidity and got a cash injection from Bill Gates that kept it alive. Later, Steve Jobs came back and the rest is history until when Jobs died. Apple is repeating what it did to kill itself back in the 90s, now. Already it doesnt hold the place it did and it slips every day.
So having said all that and relating it back to the topic, I was definitely sold on a motor home then realised that it was too easy to have one thing go wrong in the car section that I couldnt repair and then I lose the whole unit until it is fixed. I dont like that idea. Being flexible these days after having the idea of inflexibility in computing TWICE bite me in the backside, I moved to the standard and ever practical car plus normal caravan idea then eventually decided I couldnt live without slide outs. However, still moving on with the idea of flexibility, I decided to look at the 5th wheeler option a lot more seriously - thus this thread - and see what I could find. With the help I have been given, I have shown my wife 5th wheeler ability to be driven and moved about much easier and more easily hitched by what I see. She has hated the idea of 5th wheelers the whole time. To my delight, she shut up! No kidding, just shut up! They say that ONCE in a marriage a miracle happens and blow me down, I witnessed the truth of that! ;-} I could hear this strange grinding noise and saw her clenched jaw. I thought it was her thought processes but no, it wasnt that. Then, as suddenly as the blessed silence appeared, it disappeared but in a rather amazingly GOOD way. She saw the point of a 5th wheeler. She saw she can have the same floor space as a caravan AND have slide outs but she saw the easy hitch and easy manoeuvring of it around. So she is having a real and honest think about it and seems to be moving towards 5th wheeler.
Now you have given me something else to try flexibility about. Tow ball planted in rear deck of the car versus standard 5th wheel. What is best and why? Not sure but have to find out now! ;-}
I think I can "one up" you on Motorhome. It was when you mentioned tug that I remembered seeing a motorhome done really in deluxe style so worth a mint but not a standard one. It was done from a bus style and best yet, you could actually drive it down a boat ramp into a river and it was a house boat! I saw it on YouTube but I have to say I dont know ANYWHERE in Australia that could fix the thing when it needed it and honestly when it was sitting in the river it looked like a wave from a passing motor boat would topple it.
Nevertheless, it tickled me pink to think of going down the river in front of people on the shore just gawking in surprise! ;-} Bet you'd trade your current one in on THAT thing if you had the bickies. Oh and price? They were talking in Yankee dollars and thinking around a million. Now get it converted to right hand drive on top of that. Sheesh! If I had that sort of money I wouldnt need to work on the road when I am there! ;-}
Not into being better than the next bloke Greg,
We are happy with our unit and we tow an old Pulsar so we can do the tourist bit when we want to, and if that breaks down for less than $1000 we could just get another one...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za63ltkMGGE
Maybe one of those is what you mean..
Have to say I agree wholeheartedly with this statement Bob.
I simply don't have the need or desire to spend the time defending my choice or heaping scorn on the choices of others.
We're all different and as such have our own needs and requirements.
I, as most other travelers could, relate horror stories about all three modes of getting around, sometimes things go wrong, guess that's why we have insurance.
-- Edited by Santa on Tuesday 4th of February 2014 10:24:22 AM
Seems to me you have very little experience in travelling and may need to do a few trips, in hired vans, MH etc, to see how you handle different living and travelling conditions. It can take a while for many to work out and decide what is best for them on the road full time and many make mistakes because they have preconceived ideas of what it is like. Normally that's just fanciful and their learning curve is filled with problems.
Over the more than 40 years we've been almost fully on the road, had a variety of vehicles. Started out with vans, then changed to a coupe of buses then went back to a 28ft van, which lasted less than 6 months and since only converted buses. At one stage towed a dog trailer home from place to place with a work truck and towed a car behind.
A converted bus suits us best, we don't stay in van parks, buses are very secure, sturdy and designed for heavy on road work every day of their lives. A bus will handle side winds 10 times better than a van MH or 5th wheeler. Buses are much harder to get into or steal wheels or anything else, with a van modern MH or 56h wheeler, all you need is a screwdriver to bend the aluminum siding ands you're in. Over the years we've seen a lot of poor souls who have returned to their vans etc, only to find their aluminum doors bent back and lots of things gone. Mind you this mainly seems to happen in van parks in large populated or frequented areas. We carry electric mountain bikes for getting round.
Others do it differently because it's what suits them and their life style approach and are very happy with their choices. You'll never know what will make you happy and do the job for you, until you actually experience the life and work it out for yourself..
Wasnt trying to BE better than the next bloke. So far as I am aware, I didnt say anything like that.
If you mean me, then:
At no time did I say anything that could be seen that way. In fact at the start of this thread I did explain that I was just mining for info. However, I do have the right to express my OWN opinions in the way I see them without fear or favour so long as they are MY opinions without putting anyone down. That is all I did. If you saw me as heaping scorn on you then that also is your choice the same as it is for me to say that I saw a motorhome on the back of a tow truck and that made me decide NOT to have a motorhome that day. I dont see anything prejudicial in that. All I said was what I decided to do and the reason for it.
Dont get upset because people dont agree. It is in the differences of opinion, put nicely, that we can ALL learn. I know next to nothing, for example, about 5th wheelers other than that they look a great deal like a caravan and hitch differently. When I started this thread I wasnt even thinking remotely of having a 5th wheeler but due to the well put arguments expressed by some in this same thread, I actually have changed my mind and may even decide, finally on a 5th wheeler. Dont get precious about the opposite views put by others. Just take the time to read them, correct them if they are wrong, advise when needed. How the hell else can newbies learn more? I sincerely would NOT want to be on any board where people couldnt put their own views nicely without being berated for it or have others feel like they have to go have a sooky about it. Arent Grey Nomads PAST being 12 years old after all?
Personally I dont give a brass razoo if the best thing in the world to someone else is a yacht on the back of a trailer where the yacht never makes it into the water but gets driven around Oz and the person lives in it. Sure, I would think it odd but then they have surf life saving carnivals in the middle of the country so it wouldnt be TOO odd! ;-} If someone can present their view rationally I really need that help. That is why I really am leaning a lot more heavily to 5th wheeler now whereas at the start of the thread it was a distant possibility but unlikely to be a reality. People put their views rationally!
If you DIDNT mean me then:
Isnt MY face red? Sorry! ;-} I wonder if they make a Blockout cream for embarrassment red face? ;-}
Well the fact that I started a thread asking for info would prove you right. I came in here looking for info and I did it the right way at the start though the subject header did look controversial. If I knew everything there was to know about driving full time on the road as a Grey Nomad, I would be charging people to learn from me not asking for info! ;-} Having said that, as mentioned somewhere in this thread, I dont have the cash to travel 5 years in this then trade to that. I never will. I spent 7 years out of work due to health and when I came back no-one wanted me with a history like that. In those 7 years I had to use every single cent of super I had to pay the bills and now have none. So, I had to start my own business with the $300 in my bank account. Note that at no time did I take one red cent from the Govt in support. I have a mortgage on the house worth approximately half its value that wont ever be paid off until I sell the house and when I do it should leave me with enough to buy the RIGHT car and the RIGHT "home on wheels" once only and then I will have 2 bob and a bottle top left over if I am really lucky. So I will buy, when I know enough, what I consider to be right at the time. Granted I may make a real blunder in that but sometimes even the best plans arent the right plans for the situation. They just LOOKED good at the time.
Did your experience with car/van include ESC on both car and van? I believe the addition of ESC to both car and van makes them one HELL of a lot more stable these days in high wind. One friend with a Cell drove it out of Melbourne area (wherever the Cell people are, exactly) without ESC on the van he had purchased but with ESC on his car. He said he could feel the van wobbling every time he passed a truck going the other direction and it really worried him. He eventually got ESC put on the van and he said you still feel a wobble but nowhere near as bad as it used to be.
As to "experiencing it", if I win Lotto I can do that but otherwise I cant experience Motorhomes. In fact even hiring one for a week or two to holiday in is a huge expense so I am never going to find that out. However, as I was at pains to point out, I saw a motorhome on the back of a tow truck. Up until that point I was ONLY thinkin motorhome. When I realised that person's car and home and valuables were all going to somewhere to get the car section of the motorhome fixed, that was when I dumped the idea of motorhome. Again, as I was at pains to point out, that wasnt my idea of fun when, with a car/van where the car breaks down you still have the van to live in or where the van needs serious repair, you still have the car to get around in and find somewhere to stay and into which you can offload your valuables. Like I said - those were MY feelings about it. I was at no time putting anyone down nor was I saying I had experience - so thanks for putting in that about me having none in your opinion as it DEFINITELY added to what I said..... - all I ever said about Motorhomes was what I felt to be right for me, never something like "POS" for example. I dont think of them badly. I just see the downside - again to MY way of thinking for anyone who may be wondering - of having one. I dont have and never will have the type of money you are talking about (short of Lotto win or rich uncle I dont have dying and leaving me millions) to do what you have done. All I will have is ONE SHOT ONLY and with that one shot at the time I do it, I am going to be convinced I did the right thing and then see if the actual lives up to the expectations.
Is it really so wrong for me to voice my own opinion about motorhomes when I did it in a way reflecting my own feelings? Dont think so.
In the meatime about experiencing "the life", I have experienced enough life and near death to know that I have no financial choice other than to become a Grey Nomad. I cannot buy the rig and then go home for months because I dont have that financial option. Luckily Grey Nomad lifestyle is something that agrees with me as I just LOVE driving HUGE distances and I love seeing what is over the top of the next hill and I love being in wonder and awe at the changing of seasons and how it makes the same patch of land affect my senses. Luckily I am still alive today to experience the driving but I may never live to see the Grey Nomad lifestyle I so dearly would love to have. I go to the doctors again soon to find out. If it ends up bad for me, it wont stop me working towards being a Grey Nomad. I was told I would be dead by 4 years ago and either I am still alive or I have hired a "ghost" writer. ;-} My old man taught me one thing when they gave him 4 years to live with his diagnosed asbestosis - it was that no matter who you are, you wont believe the bone being pointed at you will kill you but a lot of people WILL believe a doctor doing exactly the same thing. He impressed that on me some 12 years after he was supposed to be dead and I wasnt using a Ouija board at the time, either! No, if it ends up being a bad prognosis it will just be another one and I will adjust myself to compensate and I will keep aiming towards the lifestyle I want. What I need is helpful info to prepare for that lifestyle. It is all I ever asked for in this thread, really.
Sheesh....
Hi Greg,
I understand where you are coming from, but you also need to understand that there are others of us that weren't all born with a silver spoon in our mouths..
And as for making a judgement on MH's becoz you saw one on the back of a truck thats a bit unfair.
how do you know why it was there and wether or not they had their car in tow at the time and were off in it sightseeing while it was being repaired..
How about this and to be honest it could just as easily been a Tug and 5th wheeler..
http://thegreynomads.activeboard.com/t55415487/crash-cam-of-the-iluka-turn-off-crash-involving-a-nomad/
You have put a thread up here and asked for some advice and this is what you have been getting and from what I can see there has been a lot of very good advice, some of which you didn't exactly ask for but none the less advice..
Please understand that ALL of us didn't come down in the last shower and lots of the members here have their own problems , you only need to read some of the other threads around the boards to realise that others also have their own problems.
Anyway I just hope you are able to find a rig that suit YOU and join us on the road one day mate..
GregTheComputerGuy wrote:?
All our buses are old, the current one is 1978, cost $4000 registered and been through school bus inspections. We've spend probably $3000 more on bits and pieces over a couple of years. Did all the conversions myself, using scavenged second hand materials and live on a pension. Certainly not well off and do some work to get extra money. I never buy any vehicle new, learnt many years ago of the huge financial lose that goes with buying new vehicles. But also like fixing things, so much prefer to do everything myself and very rarely have the need for any supposed professional. Others are different and leave just about everything to others, it's their choice. But if you are going to live full time on the road, you'd better make yourself fully acquainted with what you need in a set up and become fully familiar with it, or you're in for a big and probably expensive shock.
The number of people on the road who don't have a clue about their rigs, is growing rapidly and it's becoming more common to come across these people stuck, broken down, or unable to fix a simple problem in their van or car. More and more it seems to be compute problems, rather than mechanical. if you stay on the conga line tourist circuit, you will have easier access to the services you will need at times, if you decide to travel off the beaten track as we do, getting outside help is fraught with problems of distance, expense and availability of services.
If you are going to mostly free camp, you have a huge amount to learn, if you want to avoid and overcome the problems everyone gets at times. if you don't know your rig, these problems become time consuming and expensive. if you have no idea of what life on the road is like, what you will do and the places you want to go to, then you have a dilemma. If you just want to buy something and get out there, follow the crowds and you'll be in good company. A change in approach may help.
-- Edited by native pepper on Wednesday 5th of February 2014 09:56:56 AM
-- Edited by native pepper on Wednesday 5th of February 2014 09:57:43 AM
Andera you are of course correct . Most imported 5er's use the standard 50mm pin and turntable , some aussie built use the ball like you have on yours .
We have a 9 mtr 5th Wheeler with large slide out and recently returned to Perth after traveling through SA Vic. Tow vehicle was a DMax (2010) with chip, exhaust and suspension upgrades. Found this lacking a bit on power. Have just upgraded to new BT50 and getting ready to head back over east for the rest of the year.
Excellent driving, handling, hitching up.
I suggest if going towards a 5th Wheeler you consider a Hayman Reece Sidewinder pin box. This allows for the turning pivot to be a further 500ml back from the hitch and this gives greater flexibility when reversing and tight turns.
Hi Greg,
This may help, since your last postings there has been a lot of changes in the Caravan industry.
Jayco 2017 28 Caravan verses the 5th wheelers, its much lighter & small tow vehicle. Only 2.8t
Jayco raises the bar this year for families, retirees, grey nomads to take camping & exploring to the next level Feb 2017
2016/17 Jayco Jay Flight 28 [new ultra-light model Feb 17]
I wont comment either way as we have a caravan for sale on this site with the above headings.
But check out the new weights of jayco, you get used to the extra 2 feet in length from your old caravan very fast and when parked up really enjoy the extra space and storage.
Happy Trails John & Louie
-- Edited by JohnLG on Sunday 5th of February 2017 12:13:22 PM
Greg, while at the Newcastle show look at the Travelhome stand and see the fifth wheelers that are made at Caves Beach NSW.
I have had one for 4 years on the road full time, however last year I was unlucky and ran out of road in SA and wrote both the Ford Ranger and the 5'er off. Ken Tame insurance came to the rescue. I have since bought another Travelhome 5'er same size 29'. but have upgraded to an Iveco Daily tug. The 5'er that I wrecked in SA was bought by the makers, they sent two new axles down to SA and flew down and fitted them an hooked the 5'er up and towed it back to Caves Beach The chassis is in very good condition considering that it crashed at 90kph.
Report by the tow truck contractor "Its still in one piece, we usually have to pick up all the scattered parts from caravan smashes".
I am very happy with the service I recieve from Travelhome, who go out of their way to ensure the customer is happy.
PeterH
PS, Tell either Adam or Jim you have read this and they will care for you.
-- Edited by Pet-els on Sunday 5th of February 2017 01:32:15 PM