MH suggestions and hints pls for a family

SmithsInFrance

SmithsInFrance

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My son has 3 children aged 8, 4 and 1 and wants a MH so he can take them away for weekends, holidays etc. No partner at the moment but lives in hope (!) so would like a 5/6 berth. Only has the basic driving licence currently but would take the extra test if necessary. I think he needs bunk beds.

He likes the A-class type. We saw an ideal one in France, a McLouis Nevis 22 but don't think they have any UK dealers so even if he imported one there would be warranty etc issues.

Any ideas pls?
 
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I think the test would be useful especially if/when he finds a partner as they seem to come with a lot of shoes and bags, kid's bike etc etc all start to add up.

He needs to make sure that 5 berth has 5 belted seats.

Martin
 
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Not easy to find one with 5/6 seat belts and certainly in an A class will be well over 3.5T so will need C1 licence. There are lots of McLouis about, I believe they are an Italian budget brand (even though they don't sound Italian).
 
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It'd be quite a big m/h for 5 seatbelted people (or 6 with a new partner's child?) even though they're not all full size. One of the main advantages of a m/h is that you can tour, move on, stop more or less anywhere (wildcamp or at Aires/Stellplatz etc) which have minimal facilities.
I feel that a m/h could be a real challenge to one's sanity on a few wet days (and maybe on dry days too), never mind a new relationship. A new partner may have sprogs too......
Driving the excited/bored/tired/hungry kids around to find a parking space in town or near the beach etc. with a large m/h could be tiresome. A m/h would need a generous payload as well for all the 'stuff'.
I appreciate that this doesn't answer your question but your son may have little practical experience of travelling with a m/h and 3 kids but if it were me I'd seriously consider a caravan with a decent sized annexe for wellies, wet coats, buckets and spades, windbreaks, chairs etc. and as a 'play room' / second bedroom, moving on infrequently and using the car for excursions.
I know it's expensive to hire a m/h but he'd be well advised to do that for a week before committing serious funds to buying one. I wish him well.
 
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SmithsInFrance said:
My son has 3 children aged 8, 4 and 1 and wants a MH so he can take them away for weekends, holidays etc. No partner at the moment but lives in hope (!) so would like a 5/6 berth. Only has the basic driving licence currently but would take the extra test if necessary. I think he needs bunk beds.

He likes the A-class type. We saw an ideal one in France, a McLouis Nevis 22 but don't think they have any UK dealers so even if he imported one there would be warranty etc issues.

Any ideas pls?
Click to expand...

Rimor do one that is 7 berth but would definitely need uprating & C1 test as well. One for sale on here via @Terry
at the moment. @Ralph-n-Bev also used to have a 7 berth but I'm not sure what model ? CI ? possibly

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Totally agree with @Spriddler ’s assessment. Young children like to “play out” and make friends on campsites. They don’t like moving on every day or couple days.
Especially going anywhere in school holidays, very difficult to park up with a large Motorhome in suitable places for children to safely go outside on their own unless on a campsite.

A caravan gives much more room and then there is still the car for a trip to beach or other attractions or just to do the shopping. No need for expensive extra vehicle to maintain and insure and no need for £1K for C1.
 
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Spriddler said:
It'd be quite a big m/h for 5 seatbelted people (or 6 with a new partner's child?) even though they're not all full size. One of the main advantages of a m/h is that you can tour, move on, stop more or less anywhere (wildcamp or at Aires/Stellplatz etc) which have minimal facilities.
I feel that a m/h could be a real challenge to one's sanity on a few wet days (and maybe on dry days too), never mind a new relationship. A new partner may have sprogs too......
Driving the excited/bored/tired/hungry kids around to find a parking space in town or near the beach etc. with a large m/h could be tiresome. A m/h would need a generous payload as well for all the 'stuff'.
I appreciate that this doesn't answer your question but your son may have little practical experience of travelling with a m/h and 3 kids but if it were me I'd seriously consider a caravan with a decent sized annexe for wellies, wet coats, buckets and spades, windbreaks, chairs etc. and as a 'play room' / second bedroom, moving on infrequently and using the car for excursions.
I know it's expensive to hire a m/h but he'd be well advised to do that for a week before committing serious funds to buying one. I wish him well.
Click to expand...
Agree with the above.
My daughter and husband have 2 kids ( plus an older child from his previous marriage, who used to holiday with them. ) They have a caravan, with awning with a "sleeping pod" for oldest.
Friends of theirs had 2 or 3 kids ( can't remember) and a motorhome.
My daughter says wet holidays can be hell in the caravan but they can leave all the wet stuff in the awning and disappear off in the car to a museum/ play centre/ whatever and know they'll be able to park.
Friends with a motorhome found that moving entailed putting every last thing away--- every toy, shoe, book, bike, trike, pushchair, while having kids under their feet. Then when they got on the move it wasn't always easy to park because of the size of the motorhome. Not so much a problem with just adults but with kids crying they wanted to go into the cinema/ play centre etc .. it can be miserable. They sold the motorhome after a couple of years.
I think your son might find a caravan easier, and a cheaper option. Perhaps pick up a cheapish caravan at the end of this summer and try it out. A one year old especially has a lot of luggage including nappies, pushchair, car seat, endless clothes. And he'd also have to have 2 child seats in the motorhome--- where to put them when they're watching TV, eating etc..
 
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Thanks for all the suggestions, I think if it was a wet weekend he'd probably just stay home - but you can't do that in the middle of 2 weeks in Europe I suppose.

We changed from a caravan to a MH and just find it so easy - no faffing around putting down legs etc and that would be even worse in the wet with a grizzling toddler under your feet...

Then the thought of a new partner with even more children, don't think I can even go there!!!

The one advertised here looks interesting, have forwarded it to him (along with all your suggestions) and waiting for more photos.

Thanks all
 
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Riverbankannie said:
Totally agree with @Spriddler ’s assessment. Young children like to “play out” and make friends on campsites. They don’t like moving on every day or couple days.
Especially going anywhere in school holidays, very difficult to park up with a large Motorhome in suitable places for children to safely go outside on their own unless on a campsite.

A caravan gives much more room and then there is still the car for a trip to beach or other attractions or just to do the shopping. No need for expensive extra vehicle to maintain and insure and no need for £1K for C1.
Click to expand...
Riverbankannie said:
Totally agree with @Spriddler ’s assessment. Young children like to “play out” and make friends on campsites. They don’t like moving on every day or couple days.
Especially going anywhere in school holidays, very difficult to park up with a large Motorhome in suitable places for children to safely go outside on their own unless on a campsite.

A caravan gives much more room and then there is still the car for a trip to beach or other attractions or just to do the shopping. No need for expensive extra vehicle to maintain and insure and no need for £1K for C1.
Click to expand...
Doesn't a 6 berth caravan require a C1 licence?

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Did the tour of a couple of MH dealers today, which helped to crystallise a bit. Decided that a 4-berth is fine for the moment (sigh of relief from Mum) and probably going to hire one a couple of times first to test layouts and practicalities.

He's tempted by big A class to have the room for all the children, but then sees the practicality of something smaller and more manoeuvrable. Thanks for all your input :)
 
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It might be worth him looking at a smaller RV with a slide out as this would give a lot more "room" than a equivalent length narrow euro MoHo. It would almost certainly require him to uprate his licence tho.
 
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I motorhome with 3 kids, plus my other half, so am in a fairly good position to advise! Plus we have a McLouis - it is indeed a budget Italian brand, but ours is one of their top end models and is well specced. We've had it 3 years and are happy with it. They're not imported into the UK any more though, so you won't see any right hand drive examples later than about 2008. Importing a left hand drive is of course an option.

There was a very similar thread to this a while ago, in which I said:-

Our experience is that rear bunks are a good idea with kids - but watch the layout - when I was looking around it seemed that bunks that went widthways across the back of the van were a decent size, but ones where the bunks were in the back corner running front to back were nearly always very small, no good for older kids. They grow up quickly - my daughter, at age 12, is already 5'5", not sure she'd fit in some of the smaller bunks now!

The other thing we found, which it looks you've already realised, is having somewhere for the adults to sit in warmth & comfort once the kids are in bed is paramount. 5 of us fit in a 7 berth just nicely - we have a 2x2 double dinette and a 1x1 single dinette opposite each other at the front of our van - so it's the 2 eldest kids in the bunks at the back, Mum & Dad in the overcab bed, and the youngest offspring in the single dinette, folded down to make a small single bed. I've put a curtain around that to screen it off, so we sit at the double dinette once the kids are all in bed.

Some 6 berths have 3 x doubles, which look pretty useless if you have kids like ours who couldn't share a bed, and with one double bed each for your kids you'd have nowhere to sit - plus be careful because I've spotted that quite often converting the dinette seats into a bed on vans means extending them sideways and blocking access to the ladder to the overcab double........

Ours was plated at 3.5t when I got it, which was hopeless - a trip to the weighbridge empty with just me and one of the kids in and it was over 3300kg! So I've replated to 4t, which to be honest we still struggle to stay beneath, but it's as high as I could go on the chassis that I've got - and that was with fitting air assisted rear suspension, without that it would have been 3850kg. I passed my test in 1990 though, so I've got C1 automatically.

The thread is here:-

https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/buying-1st-motorhome.143112/page-2#post-2161481
 
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Thanks @Feltwell that's really interesting. Having had a look at a few on Monday he's now considering the practicalities of it all and I think he's decided to wait a few months as he is likely to be moving house, he needs to take the C1 test, plus work out where he would actually keep it...

But it has been really useful to have such great feedback from everyone, many thanks
 
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A bit of a different perspective to those proposing caravans (heresy! ;)) as well.....

Our van is 7.5m, and I don't think we could comfortably get away with anything smaller. Being out & about when on holiday with kids in a van is great - you've always got a loo with you, you can always stop somewhere for a drink or a bite to eat, you've always got ice creams! We started when my youngest was four, but with a tot in nappies I can see the appeal of always having somewhere to change them and wash your hands as well. If you're down by the beach you've got your own clean facilities and somewhere to change as well - I rinse the sand and salt off the kids outside by putting the shower hose through the bathroom window, who needs an exterior shower connection!

Downsides - size of van when out & about - yes, it makes life a bit more difficult than with a car, but we've never yet failed to find somewhere to park. If you're going to somewhere that is an "attraction" they'll often wave you into their coach park, at worst you just go to the far side of the car park and take up 2 spaces. Packing all the stuff up every day - yes, a bit of a pain, but it does at least force you to be tidy!

Our holiday style tends to be to spend up to a week on a site, but no more, and then move on. We'll usually arrive, have a rest day on site, then go out every day usually in the van. Staying off sites isn't really an option - we'll use aires in France and Germany for overnight stops when travelling, but to stay in one place the kids need room to run around in safety and also a big part of the attraction of any sort of campsite is there are nearly always other kids to make friends with.

I've no regrets getting a motorhome rather than a caravan, although in truth I'm sure the kids would enjoy either.
 
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Thanks @Feltwell, you've exactly summed up his approach to how he sees a MH working out and why it would work better than a caravan. Great to hear it works so well for your family. He's quickly realised that he needs at least 7.5m and doesn't anticipate the size being a problem as he drives a Transit around London all the time (and loves it). I've just warned not to go too big though... Will let you know what happens in the end.
 
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