Caravan - no toilet

Stiofain2006

Looking to purchase 1st caravan. Is it a bad idea to buy one without a toilet. Please bear in mind I have 2 kids under 2. Do most parks not have facilities on site?

paddyp

Stiofain2006 wrote: »

Looking to purchase 1st caravan. Is it a bad idea to buy one without a toilet. Please bear in mind I have 2 kids under 2. Do most parks not have facilities on site?

Its not fun getting up in the middle of the night in the cold and or rain and walking to the toilet block. You can always put a portapotty in the aisle at night I suppose.

niloc1951

Caravans have had built in toilets for over 30 years.
The only way to get a caravan without one is to buy a very old model (which will probably be rotten and unsafe to tow) or one of the 'specials' built without toilet compartments for Travellers, I think Buccaneer did them but they are usually very heavy double axle units with lots of chrome and cut glass in their cupboard doors

BTW, this poster got badly caught with his first purchase over 30 years ago, it had a corner rotten from water penetration, it was misrepresented as being about seven years younger than it actually was, and I paid way too much.
So, if it's your first purchase get someone you can trust and who been through the mill and knows his/her stuff to check anything you think is suitable for faults before you part with your cash and if it looks like an exceptional bargain make sure its not stolen property.

barryfitz

In my opinion it is a bad idea to get one without a toilet especially with kids. We have a 5 year old and it really is great that she can climb out of her bed and use the built in toilet for number 1's in the middle of the night. I would give the following guidelines for usage.

Kids:
number 1s, anytime
number 2s, middle of the night

Adults:
number 1s, only in the middle of the night
number 2s. never

its not the worst job emptying it anyway. keep a box of disposable rubber gloves in the van for this.

killalanerr

Unworkable IMO ,can you actually get a van without a loo ?

Stiofain2006

Thanks for all the good advice. I can see your points - I was thinking of going with the portable option for the kids

This is the one I was looking at - http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/caravans/3825762

alanclarke1975

Stiofain2006 wrote: »

Thanks for all the good advice. I can see your points - I was thinking of going with the portable option for the kids

This is the one I was looking at - http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/caravans/3825762

What is your tow car?

Some sites dont accept twin axles, for several reasons.

btb

These would be very common on the continent as they tend to only use the van for sleeping and use the onsite facilities for all other requirements. Here they would be popular with a certain nomadic people.

Lots of sites will now accept twin axle caravans once they can accomodate the length, the recession has made them a lot less fussy.

niloc1951

You will need a large family car/mpv or an SUV to tow such a large caravan legally.

Remember that the towing vehicle must be heavier than the caravan and if the total weight of the towing vehicle plus the trailer (caravan) is over 3,500kg you must have a B+E licence.

Despite btb's comment a lot of campsites still don't accept such caravans, this applies to Europe also.

The asking price seems very low