Why length matters

[coopermoto]

Simple question really...what are the main disadvantages of having a longer Motorhome?

Also what do you consider to be an ideal length?

Answers on a postcard please...

 

[John Mee]

The ideal length is as short as you can live with to get in all you want - I would have thought.

 

[Langtoftlad]

what are the main disadvantages of have a longer Motorhome?

It's too long .

what do you consider to be an ideal length?

Just long enough .

 

[fireblade2000uk]

Turning! You have to drive imagining that it's your rear wheels that steer and not the fronts! If not you will clip and/or mount kerbs!

Whilst turning, you must look out for the swing at the rear, I've had near missed leaving certain campsites where once clear of the security barrier and attempting to turn, the rear swung out and clipped a bollard. Fortunately no damage done.

However we do like to room in our 8.6m wagon.

 

[Langtoftlad]

Be warned - we can do pages of this stuff

String anyone:
https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/foru...me-string-in-my-hymer-and-need-advice.109611/

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[Larrynwin]

and coopermoto , very much a case of how long is a piece of string.
It’s a personal thing on what you think you want from it. Look and keep looking until you find what fits your needs .
The longest we have had was an American RV at around 34 ft we now have an a class at near on 21ft. We loved them both.

 

[tacr2man]

The ideal length is as short as you can live with to get in all you want - I would have thought.

I would agree with that in my case 12mtr

Realistically anything upto about 8mtr isnt going to make hardly any difference, unless you have a home storage limit .

 

[Podney]

There is no perfect answer.
It depends where you want to go,how much space you need,how comfortable you are driving a long one,where will you keep it,and so on and so on.
Just think about what you will be using the van for,and find a layout that suits you.
There’s always a compromise,it might be comfort,it might be parking difficulties it might be........something else.
Good luck!

 

[Abacist]

There are a whole load of issues to consider!

I will explain mine.

You can see from the note under my post what I've got. It's 7.6 meters and has 2 single beds in a bedroom at the back. The beds need to be 6 inches longer to enable me to fit in one fully stretched out. I'm fed up lying bent or with my feet out over the edge to miss the end wall. The shower and loo on either side are fine. The fridge and cooker are fine opposite each other. That leaves the cab and the seating area. The seating area converts into a small double bed. It's unrealistically small and as a seating area it's not big enough. I also want 2 belted seats in addition to the driver and passenger seats.

So if the bedroom is not big enough and the lounge is not big enough then I need a longer van. I'm thinking it has to be 8 meters minimum.

I don't really want a tag axle as they cost more on the toll motorways in France so it's likely to be between 8 and 8.6 meters as a maximum. I am happy I could cope with that length.

I don't want a lounge that has to be converted to a bed every night and a rear lounge usually means a poor garage. I also want an A class next time.

So you can sort of calculate how long the van has to be to suit according to your shopping list/budget etc.

 

[stewartwebr]

Too many personal preferences and variable to nail it to an ideal which would suit everyone. Current van is 9.4m long and the last 3 have all been around that length. But in the UK none of my vans are ever longer than 8.5m in terms of the CMC membership and booking, I know I will fit on almost all the pitches and saves me a lot of grief. Some times get a comment around how big it looks, but just follow up with oh I think the height makes it look bigger than it is. Once they see I can drive it and squeeze it into almost anywhere they are happy.
We were in Durham a few weeks back and the warden escorted me to the pitch I chose and asked I look out for the electrical distribution junction box which was about 5m from the rear of the pitch. Once pitched up all of the van was still on the gravel and fitted perfect. He left saying it looks bigger than it is.

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[tonyidle]

Too many personal preferences and variable to nail it to an ideal which would suit everyone. Current van is 9.4m long and the last 3 have all been around that length. But in the UK none of my vans are ever longer than 8.5m in terms of the CMC membership and booking, I know I will fit on almost all the pitches and saves me a lot of grief. Some times get a comment around how big it looks, but just follow up with oh I think the height makes it look bigger than it is. Once they see I can drive it and squeeze it into almost anywhere they are happy.
We were in Durham a few weeks back and the warden escorted me to the pitch I chose and asked I look out for the electrical distribution junction box which was about 5m from the rear of the pitch. Once pitched up all of the van was still on the gravel and fitted perfect. He left saying it looks bigger than it is.

Coincidentally we've just had that issue. We booked Scone CCC site and gave our length (truthfully!) as 8.9M. We're travelling with friends and were given a (long) pitch at the opposite end of the site. I asked for a pitch nearer to our friends and after some discussion between the wardens / HSMs we got what we wanted & the van fitted easily on the gravel. Even if it had been a metre longer the wheels would still have been on the gravel. We've decided that next time we'll lie about the length.

 

[stewartwebr]

I always lie about length
Although we were measured once at the CMC at Forfar about 4 years ago. We arrived at Commons Wood site last year and were asked by the female warden what our actual length was as she had viewed our previous bookings and noticed our length changed dependent on site. The discussion got around to what real difference 40cm made as I had put 8.5m due to that being the max length for the site and normally had 8.9m as my default length ( hence defaulting now to 8.5m) She was adamant it was a huge issue and I let it go and selected a pitch out of about 10 which we would have fitted onto. We prefer grass at this site so made no difference anyway.
Later in the day I heard someone being pulled by the male warden about not pitching properly, low and behold it was Mr. Measurement from Forfar so him and his wife both have real length issues.

 

[Jim]

Never had a problem with length. Used to have a 34ft RV towing a 12 ft trailer. It just tends to follow and not cause too many issues, if any at all. Width has always caused us more drama then length.

 

[mfw]

7m is reasonable length for ferry prices and parking but even that is too long to fit in parking bay and jobsworth will probably give you a ticket for not fitting in parking bay properly

 

[Armytwowheels]

Our experience, at 8.3 metres on a tag axle, is that we have a nice big bed, two sideways sofas for lounging, OK kitchen area and bathroom and a big garage for all the toys, all good so far. However, our biggest bugbear, is the length combined with overhang. Whether that's going on ferries, down little side roads to get to that perfect spot, or just some village having it's road dug up and leaving unfeasible large ramps in the road (As we found a couple of days ago in Slovania).

It all depends on what time of motorhomer you are, or going to be. Our trouble is we are a bit too adventurous for our van, which is why the next one will be on a higher chassis and not a tag axle and rear wheel drive. Ideally we would like the new 4x4 Hymer but they don't make them big enough for our long term comfort.

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[Allanm]

If you go abroad and use aires, some state a maximum length, usually around 7.5 m. There are a few aires in the U.K. too, some if these have a maximum length too. We regularly use one in the U.K. that states max length of 7 m because the bays are in a normal car park and cars park close to the end of the bays, however, one of the bays is longer and will accommodate any size ( we parked our 10m RV there once.)
I doubt it matters much if you use campsites, but if you want to park in supermarket car parks, you may have problems with a long van.
A long overhang may also cause problems grounding as you board ferries ( as well as extra cost) and turning may expose your rear end to potential damage. Our RV had an 11 ft overhang, we had to make sure cars trying to overtake us on the near side were well clear if we turned right at junctions.

 

[tonyidle]

I've always found supermarkets helpful if the carpark won't accommodate the van. I park somewhere relatively sensible (fuel station out area, delivery area, recycling area, etc) then ask at the fuel kiosk or store reception desk if it's OK for the next half hour. I haven't been refused so far.

 

[peterc10]

How long do the beds have to be? We have a 7.5m Hymer B678 with 4 seats with belts and two single beds at the back over a large garage. One bed is 6'4" and the other is 6'1". And, being an A class, it has a decent sized drop down bed at the front which is about 5' wide x 6'4" long.

All motorhomes are a compromise. Ours was the compromise that we liked best. Ideally we would have wanted the Tardis, but that was too expensive .......

 

[coopermoto]

Thanks for all the useful replies Funsters...and for all the no so useful

I asked the original question because a long time motorhomer that we already know told me that anything over 6ish metres will be a problem. I won't be able to park it anywhere etc.

I wanted to know if this was a little pessimistic as all the features I want (or at least think I want) can't be had in many motorhomes less than 7m.

 

[peterc10]

Thanks for all the useful replies Funsters...and for all the no so useful

I asked the original question because a long time motorhomer that we already know told me that anything over 6ish metres will be a problem. I won't be able to park it anywhere etc.

I wanted to know if this was a little pessimistic as all the features I want (or at least think I want) can't be had in many motorhomes less than 7m.

Yes it is being pessimistic, and I do not agree with your long term motorhomer. Not sure where you want to park but we have no problem with our 7.5m Hymer. If we want to park in car parks we take up to 2 bays lengthways. If that means buying 2 tickets we do that. Or we try to find bays with a lowish kerb and grass at the rear and we find we can reverse our rear wheels up to the kerb and overhang the grass. As for sites and Aires we have always been able to get in the ones we have used. On some continental pitches, especially in Spain, it may take a bit of toing and froing but we always get there OK.

The greater problem we find is the width, not the length. Means we have to squeeze past things in towns and narrow country lanes sometimes, but we have very rarely had to reverse out, and if we do the reserving camera helps. And also it means we do not want to park on the side of some of the narrower the roads in case the wing mirror gets bashed by some idiotic truck or bus driver (too high for cars to hit it).

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[eddie]

At work we have a ‘car park’ and a Motorhome park

Six motorhomes can slot in side by side

We often get the first van in, say a panel van, parked at 45 degrees blocking everyone else lined up behind them, only to be told, in a very matter of fact way that ‘that RV (mine) is far too long, and you “wouldn’t be able to go anywhere with that “thing”

Oblivious to the mayhem they have caused behind them lol

It’s more about driving ability than length in my opinion

That said when we were looking for our new van we had decided that we wanted to stay under 30 foot as most sites have 10m x 10m pitches

 

[ambulancekidd]

 

[Littlewheels]

Interestingly if you look through the CMC book there are only about 20%ish of sites that accept units exceeding 8.5m which is diabolical, they argue it’s about access and so on but as Stewartwebr states you can actually fit on a large number of Pitches at most sites.
We pay the same Membership Fee and yet we cannot have access to all the sites available to Members that are 8m or less.
I also use the “ it’s high so looks bigger etc” but why should I be made to feel unwelcome and have to appease some jobsworth.

 

[Chocy boy]

I always lie about length
Although we were measured once at the CMC at Forfar about 4 years ago. We arrived at Commons Wood site last year and were asked by the female warden what our actual length was as she had viewed our previous bookings and noticed our length changed dependent on site. The discussion got around to what real difference 40cm made as I had put 8.5m due to that being the max length for the site and normally had 8.9m as my default length ( hence defaulting now to 8.5m) She was adamant it was a huge issue and I let it go and selected a pitch out of about 10 which we would have fitted onto. We prefer grass at this site so made no difference anyway.
Later in the day I heard someone being pulled by the male warden about not pitching properly, low and behold it was Mr. Measurement from Forfar so him and his wife both have real length issues.

My lenth is 8.56. Tried to book a sight at CMC. van to big. Enterd 8.5 my van was accepted. So I entered 8.5 as my default setting with the CMC.
I to went to Commons wood site and when I checked in the lady warden told me my Kon-tiki was 8.56. She must have checked. She fond me a pitch.
She said if a site says you are to large, ring the site in question and ask can they pitch you.

 

[Littlewheels]

My lenth is 8.56. Tried to book a sight at CMC. van to big. Enterd 8.5 my van was accepted. So I entered 8.5 as my default setting with the CMC.
I to went to Commons wood site and when I checked in the lady warden told me my Kon-tiki was 8.56. She must have checked. She fond me a pitch.
She said if a site says you are to large, ring the site in question and ask can they pitch you.

Yes,because you stated the actual Brand and Model so she can check on Google ( another Jodsworth ) you need to list the Brand but the Midel should be one that’s actually smaller. She challenged you on 6mm how bloody ridiculous is that.

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[Bill and Tracey]

Having been to the new Adria showroom in Derby I can say that it's more the internal dimensions that make all the difference. New vans seem to be really narrow where as our van has room to swing a cat without damaging the cupboards. As always: shop around. DO NOT make the same stupid mistake as we did and buy the first one you see. Hello and welcome

 

[bladerunner]

My first MH was a Swift 669 which was 8.49m I think. TBH despite never having driven anything so long I did not have issues and never dinged it.
Present A class is 7.97m, I went for one for this rather than the longer because I preferred the bathroom layout - and saved around £10k. Merc turning circle definitely helps.
Would not want anything smaller when parked up (we go for weeks and stay in ski resorts etc) and not much bigger when driving. There are advantages in being under 8m.
As has been said, width is more an issue, especially as I live in a valley of narrow lanes. Once I've cleared the gates (by under 2cm each side) and reached the motorway 3 miles away I've done the hardest part of most journeys.

One thing I would not want to go back to is 5.5 tonne front wheel drive. Hill starts were an issue in the wet or snow. RWD feels much more secure.

 

[stewartwebr]

Yes,because you stated the actual Brand and Model so she can check on Google ( another Jodsworth ) you need to list the Brand but the Midel should be one that’s actually smaller. She challenged you on 6mm how bloody ridiculous is that.

It seems Commons Wood Wardens are making a real name for themselves, they are obsessed with length. How does she find the time to google all the van lengths?
I have no other details on the CMC site than MORELO no model number etc and it’s not marked on the van. Then again Mr Warden may have his tape measure he had in Forfar.
I have avoided Commons Wood as I really can’t be bothered with the grief and stupidity.

 

[Chockswahay]

Post No 2 gave the best answer. It really is very personal and depends on your needs.

We had a 6m panel van conversion for 3 years and loved it, but now we are looking to downsize! The issue is not really about sites or driving, it is more a case of where and how you want to park and how often. A 6m van can often just be 'shoehorned' into most available car parking spaces ..... but as you get bigger these are less available.

Foe example we used to love visiting cities and towns and nearly always found a convenient place to park (just) but it would have been easier still with (say) a 5.4m van.

We also used ferries and bridges in Norway a lot and the difference in charges for over/under 6m is staggering.

It's your choice at the end of the day. I also agree that smaller is perhaps more compromising but hey ho

 

[stewartwebr]

Interestingly if you look through the CMC book there are only about 20%ish of sites that accept units exceeding 8.5m which is diabolical, they argue it’s about access and so on but as Stewartwebr states you can actually fit on a large number of Pitches at most sites.
We pay the same Membership Fee and yet we cannot have access to all the sites available to Members that are 8m or less.
I also use the “ it’s high so looks bigger etc” but why should I be made to feel unwelcome and have to appease some jobsworth.

In fairness I have noticed the CMC have increased max lengths in a few sites recently, how long is Grenvilles’ new van? (CMC Chairman) is this the reason for change.