Offside habitation door?

[Wessexwanderer]

As we enter our second year as "newbie" motorhomers and having tried a Bentley (great build quality but got fed up with converting the lounge every night) and a Bailey 540 (dropdown bed seemed a better idea but the rattles drive me nuts) we are now going to upgrade to a fixed bed Moho. However, the lack of units on the second hand market is leading me to look at continental builds with the habitation door on the "wrong" side. Grateful for any feedback from fellow Funsters on the pros and cons of a "cack-handed" unit in the UK?

 

[simsy56]

We have had all of our RVs with the hab or only door on the off side. Never a problem. I have never had to park on a busy road in the UK to exit into the traffic.

Craig

 

[Puddleduck]

Never been an issue. I just say we have an off side hab door when checking in and ask how they would like us to park, nose in or out.

When at a club site that can sometimes flood they suggested a pitch we could reverse into and situated so our hab door faced away from the neighbour.

It's a non-issue.

When parked where the hab door might be hit by oncoming traffic we use the passenger door to alight.

 

[Reallyretired]

Never found it a problem, and when parked on my drive, if the hab door was on the UK nearside, I wouldnt be able to open it as it would be against a wall.

 

[GMLS]

Had 2 continentals and another on order with one British.Never given it a moments thought

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[Wessexwanderer]

Club sites can get sniffy. We used to park nose in which sometimes worked for a view but sometimes didn’t.
We are going back to a UK spec Moho as we spend a lot of time on UK sites.

Interesting... I've heard that some club sites simply wont accept vans with the door on the "wrong" side. Ever encountered this prejudice?

 

[L' Hobo]

Interesting... I've heard that some club sites simply wont accept vans with the door on the "wrong" side. Ever encountered this prejudice?

Never! How do they know until you arrive and you have already paid?

 

[sedge]

I quite like it when we rally in the uk because we're actually pleased to talk to our neighbours in British Mohos or caravans. We know a lot of em by now anyway and if it happens that we don't, we soon do!

 

[Rapido925M]

OK. I will break the consensus. But my comments would be equally valid if I had a UK van on mainland Europe.

My hab door has been on the offside for 16y and I worry about leaving my retractable step out at all times, especially when parking on busy roads . I appreciate that most drivers will give me a wide enough berth but I am concerned about some idiot being so close as to crash into it. They will also probably remove my mirror but that is a more obvious protrusion and they might think that they will pass underneath it.

So far it hasn’t happened but I do get neurotic about it. I check carefully out of the rear window before deploying it and I wind it back in as soon as I can.

Other than that I worry that a strong wind or passing vehicle would suck the door out of my hand and cause damage.

Has it spoiled my enjoyment or my experience? NO!

Gordon

 

[ManTheVan]

I agree, a small one but still one.

then there are the wardens at check-in...OH you're continental..I say you're continental.. you'll have to reverse in......yeah OK mate ...

but never any major problems

That’s one reason we tend never to use club sites. I don’t go on holiday and pay over the odds at a campsite to have some wassock tell me which way around I’m allowed to park.

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[Roby2008]

Deleted : Had a smart a*sed comment that wasn`t funny when I read it back.....

 

[jockaneezer]

Deleted : Had a smart a*sed comment that wasn`t funny when I read it back.....

I admire your self regulation, I need to practice some more, and it's one of the reasons my wife won't let me join Facebook !

 

[Pausim]

Interesting... I've heard that some club sites simply wont accept vans with the door on the "wrong" side. Ever encountered this prejudice?

Simply not true, probably misinformation spread by dealers of UK motorhomes who are losing business to Continental manufacturers. There is no wrong side, just different sides.

 

[funflair]

OK. I will break the consensus. But my comments would be equally valid if I had a UK van on mainland Europe.

My hab door has been on the offside for 16y and I worry about leaving my retractable step out at all times, especially when parking on busy roads . I appreciate that most drivers will give me a wide enough berth but I am concerned about some idiot being so close as to crash into it. They will also probably remove my mirror but that is a more obvious protrusion and they might think that they will pass underneath it.

So far it hasn’t happened but I do get neurotic about it. I check carefully out of the rear window before deploying it and I wind it back in as soon as I can.

Other than that I worry that a strong wind or passing vehicle would suck the door out of my hand and cause damage.

Has it spoiled my enjoyment or my experience? NO!

Gordon

I do wonder why you are parking on "busy roads" I am not sure I would be that keen and even less so on getting out of the van if traffic was that close that I was worried about the step or mirror.

 

[Rapido925M]

Living in the depths of rural Norfolk, my definition of busy roads may be different from yours

Gordon

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[Jonno1103]

Club sites can get sniffy. We used to park nose in which sometimes worked for a view but sometimes didn’t.
We are going back to a UK spec Moho as we spend a lot of time on UK sites.

There's a site down in Corfe which doesn't allow motorhomes or PVC's with an offside habitation door. They won't allow owners to top n tail either.

 

[pagey]

Do they have a hissy fit if you park across the back of the pitch?

In my limited experience they are beside themselves

 

[Pausim]

There's a site down in Corfe which doesn't allow motorhomes or PVC's with an offside habitation door. They won't allow owners to top n tail either.

The site I use at Corfe had no such silly rules when I stayed there a year ago.

 

[nicholsong]

The only possible problem is if you park on a busy road with passenger door on the kerbside, which would be the normal direction to park, then you will be stepping out if the hab door into the traffic.

A small inconvenience that I rarely come across.

I once had to stop on the hard shoulder of the M6. I was opening the door cautiously when the draft of an HGV tore it out of my grasp. No damage.

Hold on tight.

 

[Roby2008]

There's a site down in Corfe which doesn't allow motorhomes or PVC's with an offside habitation door. They won't allow owners to top n tail either.

Well that´s all us johnny foriegners excluded then.....

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[Jonno1103]

Well that´s all us johnny foriegners excluded then.....

I won't use them out of principle. We're a social diverse community which, for me, is a huge attraction. Their loss not ours.

 

[Pausim]

It is my right to have a differently orientated door and all forms of discrimination are abhorrent to me.

 

[VXman]

I once had to stop on the hard shoulder of the M6. I was opening the door cautiously when the draft of an HGV tore it out of my grasp. No damage.

Hold on tight.

As said by an earlier poster, just use the passenger door.

 

[Reallyretired]

There's a site down in Corfe which doesn't allow motorhomes or PVC's with an offside habitation door. They won't allow owners to top n tail either.

I find it hard to believe any site owner would deliberately exclude a high proportion if not most of their customers. Still their stupidity only harms themselves.

 

[cyberyacht]

If you're worried about 'privacy', then a campsite is not the place for you. I park the way to suit me either from levelling or sun orientation considerations.

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[dna]

When we had young children travelling with us it was easier to manage the mob if parked with the habitation door away from traffic. Maybe larger dogs would also find getting in via the habitation door easier(especially if the dog is getting old!).

I’ve had vans with the habitation door on left or right side and got used to parking so the door was on the best side.

 

[The Wino]

Interesting... I've heard that some club sites simply wont accept vans with the door on the "wrong" side. Ever encountered this prejudice?

I don't think club sites ban all foreign registered vehicles! That would be the logical thing to do if they didn't like hab doors on the other side. I could just imagine the uproar if all of continental Europe banned accepting motorhomes with hab doors on the UK side on sites!

 

[hja]

Never had a problem. Only used the van in the uk. Never been told which way to park except on one Fun rally. Ours is a pvc, and we are careful exiting the hab door if parked at a lay-by for example, becaus of passing traffic, but not a problem. I had some correspondence with Haven on one occasion because in their small print they say something about not allowing “continental” vans on some pitches. Upon asking what was a continental van I didn’t really get an answer, seemed to be more about which side the electric socket was than the door?!?! But having explained, had door offside, electric socket near side they said we were fine. Certainly wouldn’t hesitate to have a van with offside had door again. One big advantage for us is that we reverse our van into position at home and the hab door is directly opposite the front door, really easy for loading and unloading.