Compact Roof

Mini-Sized Caravans – Are They Cheaper To Run?

In Great Britain, it is exceptional to glimpse the mega motorhomes that U.S. drivers are accustomed to seeing on the road. The UK country lanes and tight city streets make it awkward to move these monsters about and bring a sweat to the brow to consider the amount the motorhome insurance quote would be! And consider, if your preference run to the smaller touring caravans that are much easier to drive and tow across the Europe and the UK, your selection is as big as those available in the larger models. Depending on your financial plan, it can be from a few thousand quid to ten times that amount!

In Europe the common style of caravan is the ‘white box’. Depending on the towing limitations of your automobile, these are sensible caravans, which suit the less spacious pitches and sites at UK caravan parks. They do not have the stretch frames of the Airstream trailers and using a standard saloon car or 4×4 you clearly are within the legal rules for towing a caravan on British roads. But, very few people could consider them stylish or design classics.

The smaller ‘teardrop’ design touring caravans are becoming more popular. These mini caravans are best for a small model car to tow and even if they would not suit family holidays they are just right for two people to journey on the open road and for beginners, they are an easy induction into the caravan touring.

These teardrop caravans are roughly 4’ wide and high, about 8 feet in length, they contain a bed big enough for 2 persons, and the galley section is under the back hatch. There are additionally micro shell, pod style and two berth mini versions of the standard white box touring caravans. Whatever your choice they all have the following pluses in common:

• Less expensive, most are sold for less than ten thousand pounds.
• Lighter weight, this makes them more fuel efficient to tow.
• Neat, less mess can mount up and the storage facilities are cleverly designed to make the most of the smaller space.
• Smaller chassis length and height means that you can store them in a standard garage and they easily fit within a drive.

To finish, there is the foldaway caravan. First designed in the 1970s in Great Britain, these caravans are about 50% of the normal height when folded down, but once at the site, all you do is unclip and push up the roof to its normal height and then push up the side sections. There you are, your caravan is ready for use and because when folded down it is half the height of a standard caravan the drag is less, so more cost-effective to tow. Gets rid of the risk of being dragged across a highway in blustery winds!

FOAMGLAS compact roof – application on corrugated steel deck