Oh and I should have added that I will need to buy a new vehicle as well, whichever way I go - my 10 year old Hyundai Elantra won't quite do the job

Hi Rex ? , I guess its personal preference , I prefer a motor home but I can see the advantages with a caravan or 5th wheeler , I think the motorhome is more travel with short stays and the others can be set up for a longer period because you have another vehicle to use , I guess available cash , what use you have etc will determine your choice , plenty on here will advise you also , and welcome .

-- Edited by exa41 on Saturday 17th of January 2015 08:48:43 PM

One important factor in this equation is age, we started with a camper trailer, when we were younger it was OK, but it got to the stage where there was too much work to set up then pack up and move on, we have the same decision as you, and since you're the same age as myself, the same conditions apply.
I have chosen the path of getting a fifth wheeler, and here is why:-
First and foremost I wanted comfort, a comfortable chair or lounge to sit in at night or early morning. Most vans do not have that.
I wanted the shortest towing length possible and still have the room.
I wanted safe and stable towing ability.
I did not want to pay the earth for a suitable towing vehicle.
I wanted to be able to un-hitch and go down town with a vehicle that was easy to drive about.
I wanted a rig that was easy to hitch up and to back.

If I was the kind of person who had the notion to circumnavigate Australia in the shortest possible time, I probably would have chosen a Motor home, But the bed lowers down on top of the lounge, and its a big vehicle to take down town shopping. Besides you can't really use the vehicle for anything else, even using it as a work vehicle would be a hassle. So that was out.

I have only sat in two caravans that have comfy lounge chairs and they were looooog. Caravans have weight and stability issues. And the towing vehicle can be rather expensive.

In the middle of all this is the fifth wheeler. However I did not want the big Yank Tank (sorry guys) nor did I want slide-outs and other things that go wrong. Apart from that I was looking at the utes of today, relatively cheap, great towing ability, comfort of a basic car. so I have been looking at Fifth Wheelers made in Aus. These range in length from 18 ft ---up. If you read any article it will say that because of the different way that weight is distributed, the towing of a Fifth wheeler is safe and stable. Because the van is hitched over the back axle, i.e. no draw bar, the towing length is shorter, so a 22ft 5 wheeler is the equivalent of towing a 18ft caravan.
When at your spot, you can un-hitch the prime mover to sight see or go shopping. Back home you have a vehicle that can be used for other things.

One issue with a fifth wheeler is access to the area above the goose neck, the company that I am negotiating with, has over come this problem by not catering for the owners of well-body Utes, and by using a tray top ute, has made the difference in height of the floor of the goose neck as little as possible. Access is now not a problem.

I will finish now, but if you require any further info I can help out.

Depends on your level of "commitment" and where you want to go.
I suggest that the older that people are, the more that they choose motorhomes and that the more time people spend travelling, the more they choose motorhomes.
For the maximum living area in the smallest package, the motorhome is without peer.
If you want to go off the bitumen, the tougher the country gets, the more you are likely to finish up choosing a motorhome.... That is unless you want to leave the comforts behind and go back to a tent. Where we prefer to go, we see very few caravans, quite a few camper trailers and an occasional tent.
If you want to take anything but the smallest of boats along, the motorhome is the only answer.

It is curious that in Australia there are more caravans than motorhomes. The same applies in England.
In the rest of Europe, caravans are relatively rare, by comparison. Most free camping is for motorhomes alone and caravans are required to use caravan parks. I think that this is because motorhomes can fit into smaller spaces than caravans.

Motorhomes will typically get better fuel consumption than a caravan and registering and insuring one vehicle will probably be cheaper than two.

A motorhome will have a tighter turning circle that a caravan or 5er.

We are not biased at all, of course.....

 

Cheers,

Peter

-- Edited by Peter_n_Margaret on Saturday 17th of January 2015 10:18:37 PM

Stability - Big caravans are not particularly stable compared with the smaller ones. If you want comfort that means going big. This narrows the field down to motorhome of 5th wheeler.

Hitch/unhitch - By far the more involved can be the motorhome (if you require a toad.) If it's on a trailer then there are lots of parks where you can not have the trailer with you (particularly when they are busy.) You have to unload the car, park the trailer, which can be difficult (as you are parking a shortie with a long tug) and then drive to your site. You can get around the trailer parking by A-frame towing but then I am reliably informed that you can't reverse when you have a toad on the A-frame.

Next in involvement would be the van. With large vans you have the added complication of the WDH (unless you are a Richard Cranium and don't use one.) Then when you have the van levelled you have twice the number of steadies to lower after you have your van levelled.

The easiest to handle would be the 5th wheeler. Semi trailers are easier to reverse than pig trailers. When you are on site you take the weight off the tug with the front steadies, disconnect the umbilicals and drive away. You use the front steadies to level the van fore and aft, not a jockey wheel. The front steadies/stands are generally electrically operated. You then finish the installation with the two rear stabilisers (many consider 5th wheelers stable enough without the rear ones down.)

The above descriptions may be more or less involve by some changes in design but that's what is involved with the most common builds of these vehicles.

When on your trip to Tasmania it's the total length of van that is rated for the vehicle fare. 5th wheelers are 2 - 3 meters shorter than regular vans with the same living space. With motorhomes, if you are A-framing the wife drives the car and you drive the motorhome, it works out cheaper that way.

 

iana wrote:

---

rexboggs5 wrote:

 Iana - I would like to investigate fifth wheelers made in Oz. Which ones do you suggest I look at?

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 This is the company that I am negotiating with, http://www.southerncrosscaravans.com.au/, I would suggest a visit, since compared with me they are just down the street for you.

It really depends on what life style you want. I intend to set up base and relax for a while in each area. If I need to move on the next day with the least packing up then go for a motor home. But remember if you need to go down town for supplies, then your camp site may be taken when you get back.

As I said a fifth wheeler is a good compromise between the two.

Have a look at my post, General Forum " anybody with 5 wheelers out there" there is another web address that shows a very good Aussie design.

---

 Check out Winjana fifthwheelers in Toowoomba. 

www.winjana5thwheelers.com.au

-- Edited by Phillipn on Sunday 18th of January 2015 12:08:51 PM

-- Edited by Phillipn on Sunday 18th of January 2015 12:10:26 PM

Thanks for all of the very informative and very helpful responses so far. One point of confusion - Peter N Margaret said that a motor home has a smaller turning circle while I have read elsewhere that a 5th wheeler does. So that needs further investigation. It may well depend on _which_ motor home and _which_ 5th wheeler.

rexboggs5 wrote:

---

Thanks for all of the very informative and very helpful responses so far. One point of confusion - Peter N Margaret said that a motor home has a smaller turning circle while I have read elsewhere that a 5th wheeler does. So that needs further investigation. It may well depend on _which_ motor home and _which_ 5th wheeler.

---

There are so many variables, of course a small motor home will have a better turning circle that a 5 wheeler, but I was watching TV and saw motor homes as big or bigger than those land-liner buses that travel interstate, they wouldn't be able to turn hardly at all.

Then it comes to design and the vehicle you are towing it with. If you choose a four door ute, and want to have the weight of the hitch over or as near to over the back axle, then the turning ability of the rig will be reduced, because when "Jack-knifing" the rig, the corner of the van will likely hit the cab before you gain the best tight turn ability that could be got.

That is why I have brought a ute with the Crew, or extra, or Free-style type cab, its a two seater with two dicky seats in the back. two adults comfortably, four but very cramped in the back. But I can mount the hitch over the back axle and also fully jack-knife the rig to get maximum turning circle.

On a further note, with the D'Angelo type hitch you can get them mounted on rails, so that when max turning is required when, with a dual cab for instance, one can pull a release pin and slide the whole hitch aft, which will then allow the rig to be fully jack-knifed, but not damage the cab of the ute.

For those who want an eye popping experience with turning circle, keep an eye on B-Double trucks, they can turn on a sixpence.

Thanks Iana and Peter. Whichever way I go, I would like the set-up to occasionally fit 4 people, as I have invited my sisters and their hubbys to travel with me for a while, and I would like to have some friends along at times. So I need a motor home that will legally seat and sleep 4 folks, or a dual cab ute with a 5th-wheeler that sleeps 4. That D'Angelo type hitch mounted on rails sounds interesting, as it appears that it would allow for a dual cab ute and still have a good turning circle.

Re motorhomes - Peter, yours looks like you can go anywhere. But most motorhomes seem to have a small clearance and seem to be more suited for staying on paved roads, or well-graded gravel roads. I am interested in photography so at times I may wish to venture off-track. So I am considering flat-towing a small 4-wheel drive if I get a motorhome, at least on my longer ventures. I will need a new car soon anyway, and a small 4-wheel drive would be good.

Again, I very much appreciate everyone's input into this discussion.

Iana has said it all very well
I am a 5th wheeler fan when we decided to get a van there was no debate there was only one van style to chose
motor homes were out didn't want to be packing up just to go get milk for breaky
Standard caravan is just too unstable for my liking however for me it was simple as I have had a semi licence since I were 19 and fully understand the semi / 5th wheeler setup
Easy to htch /unhitched
Great turning circle
Excellent handling on road
Weight distribution is almost irrelevant as there the weight allowance on the tug is huge compared to a car tow ball
For me it's a no brainer
But that's the great thing about this place you are free to make up your own mind
Continue your research and do what's best for your situation