Loading our Terrano
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wildbri
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Hi duck cant find your picture? Visited Holland last spring on our way to the Adriatic. Camped in Amsterdam woods and a wood near Arnhem where the last battle Of (bridge to far ) took place. very good museum in the battle headquarters and a very moving cemetery. You might be turned away from some sites in France with you double axle caravan I think its to stop travelers moving on site............. and your very nice caravan is the make the travelers use!.... but anrnt all us caravaner's travelers? regards bri......
Hi duck cant find your picture? Visited Holland last spring on our way to the Adriatic. Camped in Amsterdam woods and a wood near Arnhem where the last battle Of (bridge to far ) took place. very good museum in the battle headquarters and a very moving cemetery. You might be turned away from some sites in France with you double axle caravan I think its to stop travelers moving on site............. and your very nice caravan is the make the travelers use!.... but anrnt all us caravaner's travelers? regards bri......
J
jace
Guest
i would say everything but kitchen sink but caravans already got that! thats an impressive load mate
Thanks guys, glad you all like the outfit the Terrano made easy work of it. Haven't worked out the mpg yet (I want to enjoy myself :smile: ) hey bri it's not a travellers caravan over here it's just a german Dethelffs caravan :smile: anur d this site has free wifi and internet access (so make sur you behave yourselves whilst I am away :smile: .
G
gadgetsyd
Guest
Hi Duck.
Nice rig, a chip makes you smile, Gadget Syd.
Nice rig, a chip makes you smile, Gadget Syd.
J
jace
Guest
so are the hobbys and tabberts etc but ol bill dont seem to worry about them you get more caravan for your money buying german van in uk!
jace said:
I have a 2006 UK spec Burstner S-Class S500TS (230cm wide & UK layout, they only made them for a couple of years), so I know what german vans are about. I did consider buying a wide bodied one, but didn't buy one as I'm never likely to own a vehicle that I can legally tow it with in the UK (OTOH - if I ever do decide to buy a Unimog for laning .... ) - and didn't want to take the risk that 'ol bill' would have a crack-down and put me off the road. I didn't fancy having to buy one and then upgrade it to UK spec either - too much hassle. Insurance was a problem too when I enquired.
At Easter in 2006, I was pitched next to a chap with a Nissan Patrol and a big wide-bodied Hobby. A nice van - the extra few inches width really make a difference. The van itself was cheap when he bought it, but very basic and he spent quite a bit adding stuff that would be standard on a UK spec van. I'm not sure it's possible to bring the gas, water and electrical systems up to UK spec.
I took my Burstner into MG Caravans in Todmorden to be serviced on Saturday morning (first time I've towed it with the Patrol, its brilliant!!!) - and noticed that he'd no new UK spec Burtners for sale. Apparently, Burstner have stopped making UK spec vans and now only import continental layout vans into the UK - which are a few thousand cheaper. Most folks don't seem to like the layouts and they don't sell, so MG Caravans aren't going to stock their new vans any more. Oddly he did have a humungous Burstner twin-axle for *only* £13000 new - 2.5m wide and 9.6m long which he's offering as a "pseudo-static". So if you want one .......... he's probably open to offers as he's had it in for nearly a year now.
Personally, I think it's a stoopid law and well past the time that towing law was harmonised with EEC law. It's just daft that a saloon car registered in Europe can legally tow a wide bodied van in the UK, but that I can't with a Patrol that is way heavier and massively more capable.
Cheers
Andrew
J
jace
Guest
there was one of those online petitions running started by chappie selling "h066y" number plate on ebay asking for rule change it may have finnished by now.
isnt it required that you use a 3.5t vehicle to tow them (hence most travelers have transit!) legally in uk,im hoping to site mine permently save towing it all time!
i paid £2.5k for this 03 hobby not pristine but with three kids and three dogs id be mad to buy new lol
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/WARSTAFFS/Hobby650UkSpecial
just a thought but uk law is second to eu law maybe a loophole?
isnt it required that you use a 3.5t vehicle to tow them (hence most travelers have transit!) legally in uk,im hoping to site mine permently save towing it all time!
i paid £2.5k for this 03 hobby not pristine but with three kids and three dogs id be mad to buy new lol
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/WARSTAFFS/Hobby650UkSpecial
just a thought but uk law is second to eu law maybe a loophole?
jace said:
It doesn't matter whether it's a commercial vehicle or not. To tow a caravan that is wider than 230cm legally in the UK, the towcar has to have a gross vehicle weight of more than 3500kg. As an aside, only the largest twin wheeled Transits (which travellers generally don't use) have a GVW over 3500kg. Most of the travellers will be illegal towing with Transits. The 'bill don't generally bother pulling them because they have no fixed address, so short of incarcerating them and confiscating the tow vehicle, there's not a lot they can do
I've seen a few wide-bodied Hobby's on seasonal pitches on sites. That might be another option - so you only need to tow it twice a year and it gives you the option of siting it somewhere different each year.
Nope, sorry. UK law isn't subservient to EU law. UK adopts the bits of EU law that it chooses to. Towing is one place where they differ.
If you look at the MG Caravans advert for the wide bodied Burstner I mentioned, you'll see he says you must tow it with a vehicle over 3500kg GVW. Nice van (looks absolutely monstrous when you stand next to it!!!) - the advert says ............
2007 BURSTNER BELCANTO 690 TS (new) Twin Axle 5-berth semi-static Price: £13,000
Flyscreens and Blinds, Heki rooflight, Hitch Head Stabilizer, Inboard water tank, Oven, Blown air heating, Cooker, Double glazing, Freezer, Fridge, Grill, Mains electricity hook-up, Shower, Toilet. Length 9.6m, Width 2.5m, 5 Berth, In Britain this caravan should be towed by a vehicle with a gross weight of more than 3.5 tonnes. £13,000
Amazing value ..........
Cheers
Andrew
J
jace
Guest
i was told on navara forum that hids conversion to headlights illegal under uk law but as new navs pathfinders etc come fitted and aproved by eu, uk law has to give way,just made me wonder if we could try the angle if worst ever came to worst!
jace said:
No, it isn't a matter of UK law "giving way". Post98 new vehicles sold into the UK are EU type approved (by UK law). Conversions will be illegal unless they were part of the type approval - but new Navs & Pathfinders will be type approved with hid lamps on them, so that's OK.
The situation's a bit like it is with towbars. Some towbars are type approved with spacers - e.g. the (new) Witter bar on my Patrol comes with a spacer (about 10mm thick), which I can either use or remove. If I'd bought a towbar that is type approved without a spacer, it would be illegal for me to buy one and use it. Similarly, I cannot fit a drop-plate (not that I need one) because the bar wasn't type approved with one fitted.
Cheers
Andrew
Thomas-the-Terrano2
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quote
I've seen a few wide-bodied Hobby's on seasonal pitches on sites. That might be another option - so you only need to tow it twice a year and it gives you the option of siting it somewhere different each year.
so isnt even towing twice a year towing it at all?? so still illegal.
as i recall, you will invalidate your motor insurance doing so. perhaps not a worry to those who are not insured.
saw a polic camera action type programme other day stolen disco towing wide body van, probably a hobby. it did look too big for the tug but i suppose if you have decent mirrors and weight ratio is correct it could be ok.
as said i once had a hobby booklet which showed the 2.5m vans being towed by bmw x5 and vw t5, both considerably under 3500kg.
is it legal for someone from mainland europe to tow a big 'un here with a car?
I've seen a few wide-bodied Hobby's on seasonal pitches on sites. That might be another option - so you only need to tow it twice a year and it gives you the option of siting it somewhere different each year.
so isnt even towing twice a year towing it at all?? so still illegal.
as i recall, you will invalidate your motor insurance doing so. perhaps not a worry to those who are not insured.
saw a polic camera action type programme other day stolen disco towing wide body van, probably a hobby. it did look too big for the tug but i suppose if you have decent mirrors and weight ratio is correct it could be ok.
as said i once had a hobby booklet which showed the 2.5m vans being towed by bmw x5 and vw t5, both considerably under 3500kg.
is it legal for someone from mainland europe to tow a big 'un here with a car?
Yes, you're right - towing even once with an illegal vehicle is still illegal - but I guess you're less likely to get caught.
I don't know - maybe. It's something that I assume folks who tow wide bodied caravans, whether Hobby or otherwise, would have checked.
It could be reasonably OK safetywise but not legally. The LWB Patrol, Landcruiser Amazon and Disco 3 all have maximum gross weights of around 3200kg - and they're about as big and heavy as it gets for "normal" offroaders in the UK. Driven sensibly, they should be reasonably safe with wide-bodied vans with a MTPLM of around 2000kg - but not legal.
Yep could be - but presumably they would not recommend that in the UK as it is illegal.
rbrt said:
If it's legal where the car is registered then my understanding is that it is regarded as OK here.
Cheers
Andrew
J
jace
Guest
i run on traders ins so would just say its a recovery from breakdown,as for insuring actual caravan caravan camping club have no snobbery so long as usual wheel locks fitted!
jace said:
When you insure a caravan, you don't have to tell the company what you are going to tow it with. It isn't illegal in the UK to tow a wide-bodied van, it's just that the towcar has to be over 3500kg - so maybe companies will insure the van, at a price. Whether they would pay for repairs to the van if you had an accident and it became clear that you'd been towing it illegally is another matter - that I guess you'd have to check with them.
Cheers
Andrew
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