Good morning and :welcome1:

Lots to consider especially if considering carrying your scooter. Payload, gross and axle weights, possibly your licence categories.

We are touring at the moment and with no wifi this reply is via my clunky Kindle - will reply in more detail when I can connect my laptop

Others may be able to help in the meantime though.

Thank you for info.

Hi and a very warm :welcome3: to the forum.

With regards to your query about which motorhome to choose - we made a list of what we wanted from a motorhome and found one that ticked 'nearly' all the boxes. We changed our minds several times before buying so take your time.

We've got a dog who travels everywhere with us - the pets passport scheme is quite straightforward - have a look on the DEFRA website there's lots of current info on there.

As long as your dog is chipped and has its passport the process of re-entering the UK is very straightforward and there are lots of English speaking vets in Europe to stamp the passport and administer the worming tablet.

Hope this helps a little

Chris

Thank you very much for your useful advice, we will take on board what you said. Again thank you.

We spent two years thinking about and researching motorhomes, including checking out a couple of shows, but the actual serious looking and buying took less than two weeks. We also made a list of essential & desirable features, based on how we envisaged using it. A week of browsing online & various local dealers then gave us a better idea of what we wanted and then the Lovely Man drew up a matrix of criteria and scored the shortlisted vehicles against it.

One stood out (a Swift Kon Tiki, which had been fitted with almost every gizmo known to mankind), we went to see it and purchased it on the spot. That was just over a year ago and we're still pleased with it though it's been a steep learning curve for us as we'd never owned either a motorhome or caravan and the last time I camped under canvas was some forty five years ago in the Girl Guides.

Forgot to say that the best bit of advice we were given was to think about how we wanted to use our motorhome. For example, I like to cook so a decent kitchen area was a priority for me; we intend to travel in the UK (inc a couple if weeks or so in the Isle of Man) where it can rain for days on end so HAD to be big enough to live indoors if necessary; don't want to be making up beds every night but equally didn't want a cramped lounge so looked for flexible living/sleeping areas; we do a bit of wilding as well as sites so a decent washroom & good size water/waste tanks was a consideration, and so on ...

Someone did advise us that once we'd had one for six months, we'd know what we wanted & end up changing it but 14 months on, I'm still chuffed to bits with it.

Apologies for the slow reply, wifi availabilty has been predictably sparse in France on our current trip

Some excellent advice so far :thumbs: . Just to add my 2p...

Deciding on a motorhome can be a complicated business and its worth trying to get it right - it can be expensive to have to change after a short while if your choice was wrong. Ideally layout of the interior will be the most important aspect to consider, especially with a lot of touring in mind so it would be best to visit a dealer (or several) to look around some variations to picture how they might suit your requirements.

Arm yourself with a list of essential requirements, preferred options and definite no-nos. Are you happy to make up a bed each night or would you prefer a fixed bed? If a fixed bed - are you happy with the daytime space it takes up? If not, then maybe a pulldown bed which then steers you towards an A Class or if height is not a problem then maybe an overcab bed. Shower room layouts can be important, some smaller ones are a 'wet' room whereas others may have a proper, or partitioned, cubicle. Are you happy to rely on outside mirrors for rearview when driving? If not, then a layout with a rear window visible from your rearview mirror will be needed etc etc.

Next would be the weight carrying capacity with your scooter requirements in mind. This would either have to go in an integral garage or on a rack at the back so a substantial payload (basically the difference between empty van and fully loaded) is needed and there needs to be enough spare weight capacity for the rear axle particularly when using a scooter rack as these hang well behind the rear axle and exaggerate the weight-load on it.

Larger payloads often mean going above 3500kgs gross weight so it will be necessary to have the right category on your licence which was only automatically included if you passed your test before 1997.

There are so many variations and everyone has their own personal requirements and opinions but as a start you have your budget in mind Good luck with your search and let us know how you get on.

Thanks Neilmac for your advise and insight. We have seen a couple of motorhomes 4 berth, did like the look of Auto-Cruise Peugeot Starspirit and Fiat Bolero 630 Swift. Need to think about the scooter issue and weight. soon as there's any news or we need more advise we'll get back in touch cheers.