These are only our opinions on why we thought about switching vans.

Do you share our view?
Have you moved from large to small motorhomes or even the other way round?
What were the reasons that made you think of changing?
What do you think now?

From this.............
To this...............

Do you think we have made the right choice or the wrong choice?
What would stop you from changing?

I would welcome your comments and if your comments were to help someone else make an informed decision then so much the better.

What sort of Motorhome do we require now we are downsizing?
What process do we go through to find a new motorhome?

OK we have now decided that we are going to down size our motorhome.
So where do we start?

Firstly lets do lots of talking to each other to try and get a thorough understanding of what we both want from our motorhoming experiences.

After many discussions we have agreed that in reality we actually want to put the fun back into motorhoming. To this end we have decided we would like a motorhome which we can use on a daily basis if we decide to go out for the day, or we can use for a week holidaying, or we can continue on our rallies with it. All this and it has to be able to fit both of us plus the dog. We need to be able to set up on site and also drive out for the day. So first requirement is that any motorhome we buy must have an awning. Not only that but it must be at least a 3 ½ metre awning so we can continue to use our Foxwell safari room. Add to this any motorhome we buy must fit the drive away awning we already own but have never used (it was too small for the Kontiki). So in short we have decided on a panel van conversion. There that didn't take too long did it.

Only about 3 – 4 days of discussions. So what conversion van would we like? Well next job is spend the best part of 4-5 days just reading motorhome magazines looking for anything that refers to panel vans and conversions. There are a lot of these types of vehicle out there and at the end of the day when you are spending in excess of 20k you sure want to buy right. So we went through just about every MMM, Which Motorhome, Practical Motorhome magazine we had ever bought. We must have had about 30 in the van anyway. So that kept us quiet for a while anyway.

Once we had decided to go for a conversion we would look at the coach builds in another light. They looked very nice but they seemed to lack the bit that said “Hey come here, lets go out and play...” they seemed most upright and proper if you get my drift.

They say size matters well it sure does in this instance.
When you are looking at motorhomes size will be one of the very first things you will need to consider.
Can it fit the driveway?
Will I feel comfortable driving it?
Will my partner feel comfortable driving it if required?
How much internal living space is there?
Can we enhance the space by adding on rooms (awnings etc.)?
How many people will be travelling in the van?
Are there enough seatbelts for all travellers?
Do you have to consider height restrictions where you live?

We started to look at the 20` plus conversions.
Tribute and La Strada can come out in excess of 20`.
What about width of the van?
Now this is where I was surprised. Did you know that just about all coach builds and larger (Fiat Ducato, Mercedes Sprinter, Renault Master) conversions are about the same width. There may be a inch or two in it but not much. This is because most vans are measured from wing mirror to wing mirror and as the wing mirror is the broadest part of the van then they are all the same sort of width. Obviously coach builds have a slightly wider living area but not that much considering that they always seem to look a lot larger.

These are some of the dealers we visited on our travels to find the right van for us.
Chelstons
Martins Exeter
West Country Motorhomes
Dolphin

So here we are, at Dolphin Motorhomes based in Southampton, it's Sunday and 09:45am in the morning.
We think this place is good, they must have at least a dozen panel vans, some new, some old.
This should give us the chance to have a look at plenty of vans and see what really is on offer.

Even more, still to come...

The Adria Twin.............
Swift Mondial...............
Tribute 650 and 550...............

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