Basically I’ve never had one and know nothing about owning one or using one, so advice on that would be good. Also how much do they cost to insure roughly? I’m 38, and only looking to get a cheap 2 person camper van type thing.
B licence motorhome under 3.5 tonnes GVW or C1 licence LGV motorhome under 7.5 tonnes or C licence motorhome over 7.5 tonnes 
ROG:
B licence motorhome under 3.5 tonnes GVW or C1 licence LGV motorhome under 7.5 tonnes or C licence motorhome over 7.5 tonnes
I didn’t even think of a big one needing a ridgid licence. Not that that’s a problem. I just want a small one, maybe even get rid of the car and get a decent day van. For touring I could cope with just the basics I.e somewhere to sleep, and grabbing showers at services.
Tris:
Basically I’ve never had one and know nothing about owning one or using one, so advice on that would be good. Also how much do they cost to insure roughly? I’m 38, and only looking to get a cheap 2 person camper van type thing.
Got a big camper - £350 odd a year to insure to insure @ 33 (one i have is 6.5t max, 4litre converted merc vario based) £165 Road Tax
my means of decent day van I think you will need van insurance can’t be on camper insurance (cheaper) unless it has Motor Caravan on the V5
Got a self converted 1979 10t Dodge commando lambourn bodied ex mobile blood unit, pay £300 a year fully comp with full European breakdown cover. If your good with wood fit one out yourself…
terratology:
Got a self converted 1979 10t Dodge commando lambourn bodied ex mobile blood unit, pay £300 a year fully comp with full European breakdown cover. If your good with wood fit one out yourself…
Thats the way to do it, step frame horse box type bodies are great, strong enough at the arse end to fit a Smart or tiny Japanese Kei car in the boot, with accommodation above that, much better than towing a car behind, use that tiny car for work when not using the camper.
Wish i had that DIY skill, they make big money when you come to sell on.
We’ve got a Swift Suntor Motorhome, On a Fiat Ducato Chassis 2ltr 5 speed, does around 23mpg (unless I tailgate a wagon all the way down from Scotland [emoji6])cost £272 to insure & £230 to tax, MOT has cost me 2x £60 (I get our yard mechanic to run it up) Funnily enough, I’m busy loading it up today for a few days away to the Forest of Dean tomorrow.
It’s got everything you need 4 Berths (only Lady V & Me) so plenty of room, kitchen, cooker, fridge, shower, toilet, hand basin, gas heating, dining table, Awning, electric hook up, 2 bike rack.
We’ve had it for 2 years & love it every time we go out, been to Scotland (going again this October) Norfolk, Wales, Anglesey, France, the Severn Bore, a few local places (Midlands) & a couple of Motorhome Shows. Wild camped (for free [emoji6]) a few times & stayed on numerous sites.
We try to stay away from Camping & Caravanning Sites, find them too fussy, expensive & generally a Pain in the Arse. We joined it for the first year but only used a couple of their sites, so it wasn’t worth the fees, you can stay on their sites as a non member (just costs a bit more) but don’t put your Awning up or they want more money off ya !
Most sites cost between £12 & up to £30, depends what you want, we tend to go for basic, no entertainment, just use it as a base or an overnight stop/replenish. We can generally go 2 days before we need to empty the toilet cassette & top up with water, so if your touring Scotland, every 3rd night you need to stay on a site where you can service the MH & leky hook up to charge every thing.
Some out of town pubs allow overnight parking, you usually need to use their bar or restaurant but most don’t charge.
As a HGV driver, you probably know a lot of Commercial Vehicle overnight stops, personally I’d stop anywhere that I’d park the wagon up, but Lady V gets a bit stressy sometimes & insists on paying someone to sleep on their grass [emoji57], we Wild Camped in the middle of Scotland once & woke up surrounded by ‘Well Hard’ Looking Inquisitive Highland Cattle [emoji1]
It works out quite expensive buying a Coach Built Motorhome (basically a Caravan on a Van Chassis) but we’ve enjoyed every minute of owning one, just point it in any direction & end up somewhere nice [emoji6]
Just been to look at a few vans. I’m now sure this is the way to go. VW T5 transporters look nice. Was chatting to the bloke who sells them and he will fit windows for £120 each. Then I can just do little bits as and when to pimp it up.
I thought you were meant to rest when on holiday , having to drive round / cook / not being able to drink half the time / wash up etc doesn’t sound like much of a holiday to me , and never mind buying the thing .
Get a hotel , fully inclusive , sunbed / ■■■■■■ up/ sun bed / ■■■■■■ up , that’s a holiday ( Mrs may not approve though )
dozy:
I thought you were meant to rest when on holiday , having to drive round / cook / not being able to drink half the time / wash up etc doesn’t sound like much of a holiday to me , and never mind buying the thing .
Get a hotel , fully inclusive , sunbed / ■■■■■■ up/ sun bed / ■■■■■■ up , that’s a holiday ( Mrs may not approve though )
Will still do that, but at least with one of these we can go to places when we want and not have to fork out for hotels and b&b’s. Be cool to get on a Ferry to France and then go where I feel like, with no need to plan.
The wife and I do enjoy a bit of camping now and again (steady this is one of me clean posts), and have often thought the natural progression was to look into caravans or camper vans.
The best way forward looks like buying something that needs doing up and making a project out of it.
I do love all inclusive Holidays abroad but it would be nice to explore more of the UK even stay in a different spot everynight.
Might feel like I’m just taking the wife to work though.
dozy:
I thought you were meant to rest when on holiday , having to drive round / cook / not being able to drink half the time / wash up etc doesn’t sound like much of a holiday to me , and never mind buying the thing .
Get a hotel , fully inclusive , sunbed / ■■■■■■ up/ sun bed / ■■■■■■ up , that’s a holiday ( Mrs may not approve though )
That sounds about as interesting as staying at home, buying a carry out and watching a holiday program on the telly, half the fun of touring is the driving, pitching up and all the other things you mention. I can spend most of the year boozing so it’s nice to stay sober for a couple of weeks or so and not wake up in the morn feeling like crap ! 
We looked at the small ones like the VW Transporter ones and it became obvious very quickly that it would be miserable to be out in one for more than a day or so. We ended up buying a larger one with a fixed toilet/shower, one bed over the cab type.
Conor:
We looked at the small ones like the VW Transporter ones and it became obvious very quickly that it would be miserable to be out in one for more than a day or so. We ended up buying a larger one with a fixed toilet/shower, one bed over the cab type.
Not on trampers wages I bet, does your wife have a well paid job ?
Leaning towards a Mercedes Vito van now, the VW transporters really hold their value so £ for £ I can get a 61 plate Merc for the same price as an 05 VW. Sell on value isn’t important to me, I want something decent to have from the start.
Is this what you are looking for 
Conor:
We looked at the small ones like the VW Transporter ones and it became obvious very quickly that it would be miserable to be out in one for more than a day or so. We ended up buying a larger one with a fixed toilet/shower, one bed over the cab type.
We used one of the old aircooled VW’s for 21 years, me/the missus/two dogs/the cat and a parrot and didn’t have any problems. It was cosy! Finished work friday afternoon or saturday lunchtime (sometimes took friday afternoon off as I took the job on condition that I could have time off when I wanted within reason as the gaffer never worked weekends and didn’t expect me to!) and then off in the camper to the Yorkshire Dales or similar until late sunday, we also had three weeks touring Scotland in it plus many other holidays and weekends over those years. When the wife became more disabled and needed more space we went for a touring caravan as there was no way we could afford one of the larger motorhomes, alas now she is virtually housebound but for 40 years camping was our way of relaxing and getting away from work and the neighbours! At that time a motorcaravan was one of the cheapest vehicles to insure as theft’s were very rare and annual mileages usually low.
Pete.
ROG:
Is this what you are looking for
Nice.
See you’re in Leicester, not far from me, was looking at this one, bit more than I ideally wanted to spend but like the spec and the colour, could part ex my car in and use it day to day. Have you heard anything good or bad about the dealer?
My mate had a Mazda Bongo, that was really good as a small camper, he used to stay in the yard most weekends in it. Personally, if I ever went down this route I would buy an ex- mobile library off of ebay and convert it as they are already well insulated, have heating etc.
Tris:
Just been to look at a few vans. I’m now sure this is the way to go. VW T5 transporters look nice. Was chatting to the bloke who sells them and he will fit windows for £120 each. Then I can just do little bits as and when to pimp it up.
my old gaffer bought a T5 panel van new for £30k
easily spent £15k again fitting it out and the only amenities it had were a 2 ring burner and crappy sink and taps!