Touring with a big rig?

Gemangi · Member

Touring with a big rig?

moamajohn · Guru

Gday Graeme ,Your questions may bring on a multitude of answers.That is to say folks with smaller vans consider them ideal and conversely those with larger vans favour theirs.However this is all about you and Angie so if the 25 ft is what you desire ..so be it ! Clearly if you decide that after a trip away its not for you then the choices are many .I am on van no 7 and I bet I,m not Robinson Crusoe. Now your tug can tow anything so that can get put aside.With regards to the length,I can only speak for myself here but I had a 24.6 ft van and it was never a problem. Some parks with various size sites often ask you prior to parking [Broken Hill ]. I still often go in and "suss" a park if in doubt .Anyway good luck with your adventures.

deverall11 · Guru

Gday Graeme. Pretty much what Westy said. It is entirely up to you. What ever floats your boat. In this case your caravan. We have a 21'6 full size van. Many parks will ask you how big you are. This is because some parks, especially older ones, have limited space for big vans. Main Beach C/P on the Gold Coast is one that comes to mind. Some caravan parks accommodate 5th wheelers. Some are not bigger than a big caravan.
What has happened over the years is van have gotten bigger but caravan parks have not. In days gone by, a 17' van was considered big. You may find at times it may be difficult to find a caravan park that can accommodate you. Having said that, we are looking at swapping our current van for a 24'.

What ever size you choose, bear in mind fuel consumption.
Larry

-- Edited by deverall11 on Friday 11th of April 2014 02:40:15 PM

PeterInSa · Guru

Hi Grame,
One thing to watch is the Gross Combined Mass ( GCM) to me your proposed ute has a GCM of 6000Kg and with a 3500Kg van you would/may have say 350Kg on the tow ball, ie 6000-3500 ie 2500Kg for the vehicle, and the ball weight of the caravan up to 350kg on the rear of the ute , ie ( 2500-350) 2150Kg for the tare of the vehicle+ You + wife + fuel + gear which should not exceed the GVM of the vehicle.

www.ford.com.au/commercial/ranger/specifications/spec-options

Just my off the cuff thoughts, which may be accurate/or ina..........

I personally would be looking at a second 100 series Landcruiser/or......... or a shorter van.

Peter

Meredith · Senior Member

We have a 20 ft van and have found a few caravan parks that we only have just fitted into, so no, you wouldn't get a 25 ft van into ALL caravan parks. That said you would fit into the majority and with a little bit of forward planning you would normally be ok.

I personally wouldn't want or need a larger van than we have, but its all personal choice. Do watch the total GCM as Peter said, depending on the weight of the van you may find yourself overloaded even though the towing allowance is 3500kg.

gwb · Senior Member

Our van is 24 ft close enough and as we spend a lot of our time travelling we enjoy the extra space. Have yet to be told we cannot fit into a caravan park but we daresay that day will come. If you feel comfortable with a van of that size you should go for it.
Geoff and Bev

bluemoon2 · Senior Member

Hi, we have a 40ft bus and car behind. Overall we are 60feet and find it difficult to stay at parks and free camps.

Gemangi · Member

Hi Folks! Thanks for the input and opinions it is most welcome.
I can see we are going to have some fun on this forum with like minded people.

Regards, Graeme (Gemangi)

grae and deb · Senior Member

hi graeme , deb and i have been on the road for some 16mths now ,towing a 26ft 6 van behind our trusty troopy , all the comments are positive and so is mine , we have found only one tight c/park we were booked in at , but the owner was more than helpfull and we fitted on another site easy .
we toured tassie for 12 mths and if you drive according to conditions and are carefull there wasnt many places we didnt get too
so enjoy and maybe we,ll see you out there one day

Gemangi · Member

Hello Gra & Deb,

Thanks for your input. It is good to read information and advice from members of this forum. How did you go cornering with the large van, and what was the fuel economy like?

The caravan we are looking at is 25'7" and its weight is 2500kg and it looks like we need a Ford Ranger 5cyl 3.2 diesel to tow it. They have braked towing 3500 kg. I'm thinking we may have to go for a smaller van (20-22ft) and perhaps get a Navara for towing. My problem is that we are going to live in the van fulltime as we will never afford a house again and we need to get the size and weight of the van right, so we don't drive each other nuts! Which even happens now sometimes. LOL.

Regards, Graeme