New Member Questions

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Irvine101
Posts: 8
Joined: October 28th, 2017, 7:41 pm

New Member Questions

Post: # 19831Post Irvine101
November 3rd, 2017, 9:31 am

I am thinking of buying either a demountable or camper van.

I like the fact that the demountable has the option of either being offloaded and left separately on a camp site when staying a few nights or alternatively has the option of being left on the vehicle when touring. Clearly camper vans don't have this double purpose.

However I would be grateful for thoughts from users as to whether in reality they do offload on campsites, or whether they always leave them mounted. I assume this issue comes down to ease of dismounting / remounting. Please advise.

Do electric legs make a big difference and are they an upgrade that is worth the extra money

Any thoughts gratefully received

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zildjian
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Joined: September 8th, 2013, 3:30 pm

Re: New Member Questions

Post: # 19839Post zildjian
November 3rd, 2017, 8:04 pm

The majority of members here come from either a tenting or VW type background or both, nearly all realised the saving made in having a pickup over a camper parked up outside for months on end taking up space and the bonus of paying both insurance,
& running costs,
nearly all of us drop camper off if stopping for a day or so, takes about same amount of time & effort as setting up a caravan,
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powered legs are inherently a little heavier but really not essential and some say its only another aspect could fail when away from home

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sabconsulting
Posts: 269
Joined: July 27th, 2015, 9:49 pm
Location: High Wycombe

Re: New Member Questions

Post: # 19840Post sabconsulting
November 3rd, 2017, 8:24 pm

"nearly all of us drop camper off if stopping for a day or so" - Except me :mrgreen:

OK, my camper is more awkward to get on and off, but even so, even if we are camping at the same place for several days we leave the camper on and like having it there. If we go kayaking or hiking or whatever, when we get back to where we temporarily parked the camper we have a room we can eat, change, sit in, brew a cup or tea or heat up some soup in, and we have all the equipment with us, not frustratingly back at the campsite.

So you might want to demount at a campsite, but on the other hand you might never bother.

Obviously I do demount the camper at home when I need to use the pickup truck on its own.

Demountables have the advantage that our compact pickup trucks are narrower then vans that most motorhomes are based upon, and have higher ground clearance. This counts for a heck of a lot when driving around - my camper body may be 7+ foot wide, but it is only that width from the top of the load bed upwards. In practice that means it is easy to clear many obstacles on narrow roads that regular campers / motorhomes would need to be careful about - low walls, stumps, tall kerbs, rock, etc. So despite its size I can squeeze the camper down roads I wouldn't drive my Fiesta down.

Steve.
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Big Jim
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Joined: February 25th, 2015, 9:19 am
Location: Wolverhampton

Re: New Member Questions

Post: # 19847Post Big Jim
November 3rd, 2017, 11:11 pm

I think it depends on how much you get away .
We tour a lot and never stay in the same place 2 nights so we never dismount, If you go away for 2 or 3 weeks a year and stay on the same camp site I would get a caravan. If we got away more often I would have a van or small motorhome it is harder to justify the expense of a campervan if rarely used at least with a pick up it comes in very useful at home.

Regarding legs I have had electric and manual for me it makes little difference to the time it takes, I prefer manual they are lighter & less maintenance/cost
It is easy to go too mad with electric with manual you can feel the weight on each leg when winding I broke a leg on my Northstar by overdoing it, No battery drain and because there is no noisy motors you don't get so much of an audience on a site .

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Alexd
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Re: New Member Questions

Post: # 21110Post Alexd
March 19th, 2018, 9:37 pm

Irvine, did you decide to go the demountable path in the end?

Irvine101
Posts: 8
Joined: October 28th, 2017, 7:41 pm

Re: New Member Questions

Post: # 21111Post Irvine101
March 19th, 2018, 11:16 pm

We are still thinking about the options, and will be visiting a couple of dealers over the next few months.

keeflester
Posts: 538
Joined: August 24th, 2014, 8:23 pm
Location: Carradale Argyll and Bute Scotland, beside the sea

Re: New Member Questions

Post: # 21133Post keeflester
March 21st, 2018, 7:15 pm

I’ve had three demountable campers and because we tour and wildcamp it was never worth the effort of demounting. The big plus point of having a demountable is If you already own and use a truck for work. If you had to buy a truck just for the demountable it would make more sense to go for a campervan.
Except, many of the pickups available to buy have the added ability to be used off road in 4wd, this makes your camper set-up suitable for all sorts of adventurous activities. On a campervan (conversion) 4wd vans are like hens’ teeth and command a high price.
We recently opted for the campervan route when we found a AWD Transit van for sale. We bought that and set about doing a conversion ourselves. This solution would not suit the majority of users, but it may resonate with your needs. AWD is not as capable as true selectable 4wd and a Van will have less ground clearance, but with suitable tyres it will get you to the ski slopes and down the majority of muddy forest tracks.
One big advantage (to us) is the ability to step from the front seats directly into the habitation area without the need to step out into the weather. ThIs gets to be more important to us as we approach our dotage!
2003 Ford Ranger 2.5 TD 109 Supercab, sold to Simon
Tandy Pony, sold
Northstar 750, sold
K33F-built Penthouse Pee Pod, sold to Simon with the Ranger
Built the lozenge for my wee sister, its now finished and in regular use
Now converting a blue Tranny.

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