I'm a 70 year old solo female.  I have a Campervan for all those reasons.  Don't want to tow, only one lot of Rego. and Ins., and Tyres to worry about.  As far as milk goes, I only ever use Powdered anyway.

My sister is a few years younger, and has a Sunliner Islander MH.  She tows a Getz to use as a runaround when house-sitting anywhere.

Cheers,

Sheba. 

Another option is a 5th wheeler although they are very expensive but you can pick up 2nd hand ones. They disengage electrically and you have the tow vehicle to run around in. They are making smaller and cheaper ones now so maybe there could be one in your budget range.

I have always liked coasters and motorhomes and have been persuaded to try out a caravan and will do so because it is an exciting challenge which i was not confident enough to try before. When it gets too much to handle by myself will go back to a coaster or similar. I think you will get used to having enough supplies on board (powdered, canned, dried etc) to see you through and if you have to go without for a couple of days it doesn't matter. If I had a motor home I would have a small motor trail bike on the back for touring.

Thanks everyone I was sure there was some wisdom I could plug into. Any m ore suggestions would be welcome. Does any body have a slide on camper van they could comment on? I have found an Iveco Daily cab chassis that would carry a decent slide on and allow the tow vehicle to be available if staying somewhere for a few days. I would love to hear from any one who has had experience with a slide on. Thanks again for the feedback. Cheers, Scotty

Both my hubby and I are only in our 50's but we suffer from back pains and other ailments... hubby did not want to tow anything if he could help it and we could not afford anything too flash... we opted for a short wheel base coaster bus.. we bought one with the basics already in there (an unfinished project) and have had the best fun putting in the things we think we might need.. its taken us a good 6 mths and now its near done... but when I looked for one I scoured the net, looked at as many layouts as possible for something I liked.... then went on the hunt for a bus to buy.... Because its a 'get in and drive' not too large to go into most camping spots and has a diesel engine that might last for many years.... it will suit us. It might not be the fastest thing on the road but we dont want to go too fast... it uses a little more fuel than my car and its comfy as... ours is already packed appart from clothes so we could go at a moments notice anytime we feel the need.....

oh almost forgot it can park in a parking bay pretty well so shopping will be a breeze!

-- Edited by AmandaJayne on Tuesday 25th of October 2011 01:07:12 PM

Hi All,

Thanks for all your responses to my original past. While reading all you had to say, I also did some research on Google. As well during this time, I have been having a myriad of medical tests. The results of these tests so far, do suggest a change is required and believe I will have to find an alternative to my present rig and towing vehicle. A slide on has pretty well emerged as the most logical replacement. We were thinking ; smaller off road van; small motorhome, or slideon. We are both convinced we now need the added convenience of an on board shr/wc. The responses by Nicholstones and Pauline about no flexibility if one of us wanted to stay at camp while the other wanted to go somewhere in the vehicle got us thinking and the only rig that would allow that (barring a caravan and tow vehicle) if we didn't want to tow any more would be a slideon!

So, that's where the current thinking is at the moment, finding a suitable slide on and host vehicle. This is where it gets interesting! I am considering 3 brands of slide on - EscapeRv; Trailblazer, and Northstar. All of these appear to have an average tare weight of round 900 kgs. This means that all the one tonner cab chassis vehicles would not be suitable as the load carrying capacity plus the two of us and all our gear, would exceed the LCC of the one tonners, e.g Navarra, Rodeo, 70 series Land cruiser, etc

The only exception may be a Ford Ranger and or Mazda BT50 which I believe have a LCC of around 1400 - 1500 kgs. So, the current investigation is looking at a SWB Iveco Cab Chassis with 3.0 Lt diesel.

These have different LCC based on the wheelbase (of which there are 3). The SWB LCC has a LCC of 4000 kgs Problem solved! (hopefully). Of course this all depends on selling the present Patrol tug and poptop to help defray the costs somewhat.

Stay tuned for further developments.

Cheers, Scotty

We dont have a shower in the bus we prefer the room, but we have a portable gas water system, a 12 v pump and a pop up shower room..... this is what we'll use when we free camp, if we're in a caravan park we wont need to get it out... but I have seen long wheel based coaster with lovely shower areas in them :) and alot of them have bike on the back.. hubbys thinking of getting those battery/electric operated bikes to put on the back.

Thanks again all,

Yes Elle, I have purposely avoided a fifth wheeler on the basis that we actually have a desire to go smaller not bigger. The older I'm getting the simpler I would like my life to become, at least in terms of equipment. The attraction of the slide on is there is no spare or wasted space. I actually took the floor measurements of one we are keen on and found to my surprise, more floor space than in my present poptop!

But in reality, everything when you come to the nomad life style as far as caravan/ vehicles go is there is always compromise necessary. It seems like some unwritten law that there is never anything 'off the shelf' that suits exactly what you want! Another reason that I had not thought of which was introduced by the Nicholstones, was the obvious lack of the baility to leve one of us at the camp, and the other take the vehicle and go somewhere else. With a motorhome once you take the vehicle somewhere there is no camp for the other to stay at. So this influenced the leaning to the slide on, which can be decapmed and left. So thanky Nicholstones, for your input it was valuable.

Sheba and AmandaJayne, I'm glad you like your rigs, but again we wanted something that was right from day one (as much as you can be sure) and we also, at our stage, don't want to be 'improvising' too much. It was fun when we were younger, but no more. That's the one benefit of age, you get to know what you want. Whether you can afford it is another reason (don't even talk about the economy and my super!) Any way it's all academic for the moment. The health issues that started me on this thread have decreed I need an arthroscopy on my right knee tomorrow. So I off I go to hospital, and am told it should be a quick recovery. But then the doc said 'it depends what we find!' So the game continues. Stay tuned

Regards, Scotty

Hope you have a speedy recovery!

Hope all goes well with your operation

Haven't used it yet Noel.  So far have used Truck-stop showers or Sponge-baths.  Don't start long-term travel for probably 8 or 9 months yet.

Will work it out before I leave.

Cheers,

Sheba.

we have a small baby/child blow up pool (it had those plastic balls in it) and a camping mat for underneath to keep it from getting puctured... in the dry areas we are planning on reusing the water at least once... we have a 20 liter container... the water is pumped from there thro the hot water system... over us into the pool, then pumped back into the container... we have the option to use again or to take to a thirsty looking plant/tree.

Scotty wrote:

---

We have been considering the following alterrnatives which we believe would be easier to travel in and set up. - 1. Light truck or 4x4 ute with a slide on.  Or 2. a motorhome such as an A-van Applause or similar based on some thing like an Iveco Daily, Ford Transit, Merc Sprinter, Fiat Ducato.

snip. . .

I have  thought of a little scooter on a rear carrier as an answer.

---

 I see Sheba has covered the coroners report on the instability of things built on to small utilities. There is still ongoing disputes between the junior police and their superiors regarding their twin cab utes with prisoner capsules built on their rear chassis. The current state of play there is they are not to be used in pursuits or other high speed work.

The weight you add to the rear of a motorhome is just like the weight you add to the rear of a caravan. The further you go out the rear the higher the multiplying effect of that weight on the yaw inertia. You can read the effect in http://www.caravanandmotorhomebooks.com/pdf/vehicle_dynamics_complete.pdf - The effect increases by the square of the increase in distance, it is not a linear action.

Regarding hanging a scooter on the rear of a motorhome. Download yourself a copy of VSI-10 - Carrying bicycles on motor vehicles and VSI-05 - Vehicle dimension limits
- from http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/registration/downloads/vsi/vsi_dl1.html

You will note they both mention the 60% rule. "Rear overhang (ROH):  60% of the wheelbase or 3.7 metres, whichever is the lesser." Most of the units built on European chassis are built with the rear overhang already at the 60% limit. This is to reduce the wheelbase to achieve a good maximum turning circle. You will find that not many of the chassis lengths will provide the opportunity to hang things off the rear. I think the Ford transit is about the only one you will see with a short overhang (but open to advice on others.)

I suggest all members who have motorhomes with additions on the rear do some measurements to check whether they are transgerssing or not.