Canada

izwozral

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Anyone hired a MH in Canada? Who did you use? Did you buy then sell? Anything that needs to be known other than the obvious?

We are looking to hire for a month, nothing too big or fancy. We hired in Australia from Jalopy Rentals which were great and very cheap, anyone if there are similar companies in Canada?
 
We did 3 weeks in Western Canada in August 2001. Vancouver, Lake Louise, Jasper, Whistler, Vancouver. Great scenery. From what I recalll we left it a bit late booking and ended up with a bigger than needed MH for the three of us. It had ‘Slumber Queen’ written above the cab on the front! This was our very first experience with a MH.
 
We hired for a month last year and did Canada and the US visiting relatives. We went through trailfinders as they got a better deal than we could find on our own. We had a 30ft C class, depends on when you go as later on they put antifreeze type fluids in the water system and you can’t use it. Also most campsites close in October and unless you find one to buy that’s been winterised then they all come with single glazed windows and not much insulation. We were thinking of buying as we have family out there but wouldn’t bother now as it’s easier to hire. Have fun it’s a big place and we only scratched the surface doing 5500km in a month.
 
We hired this one in September 2010 in Vancouver. I can't remember the name of the hire company. We travelled around Vancouver Island for a couple of weeks
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seeing bears, orchas, deer etc. The van had a big V8 petrol engine and did about 13mpg which turned out expensive even given that petrol was much cheaper in Canada than it was in Britain at that time. Go for a diesel van if you can find one!
 
We hired this one in September 2010 in Vancouver. I can't remember the name of the hire company. We travelled around Vancouver Island for a couple of weeks
View attachment 73812seeing bears, orchas, deer etc. The van had a big V8 petrol engine and did about 13mpg which turned out expensive even given that petrol was much cheaper in Canada than it was in Britain at that time. Go for a diesel van if you can find one!
In May 2001 we hired a similar length van, but it was more like a cross between low profile and PVC, i.e. rear body was just a little wider than cab, but it had twin opening SLD, a bit like VW bus, think ours managed about 18mpg.
We spent a short time on Vancouver Island, didn't realise there was so much there and had already been booked on ferry for 'inside passage' up to Prince Rupert, we then meandered a bit north, across to Jasper, down to Banff, head west, then up to Whistler, and back to Vancouver. Four weeks in all.
 
We did 3 weeks in Western Canada in August 2001. Vancouver, Lake Louise, Jasper, Whistler, Vancouver. Great scenery. From what I recalll we left it a bit late booking and ended up with a bigger than needed MH for the three of us. It had ‘Slumber Queen’ written above the cab on the front! This was our very first experience with a MH.
Just found some figures. We did 2,375 km (1,476 miles), averaging 5.14 km / litre (14.52 miles / gallon) at the time fuel was $0.74 per litre.
 
We did the Alaska highway with cruise canada.com. One tip, these companies off season look for people to deliver their vans to pickup points or bring them back to base and they give maybe two or three weeks at very good prices to do so..
 
We did the Alaska highway with cruise canada.com. One tip, these companies off season look for people to deliver their vans to pickup points or bring them back to base and they give maybe two or three weeks at very good prices to do so..

Heard of that in NZ, thanks for the tip.
 
This the one we hired and our first stopover, we joined something called Harvest hosts, a bit like France passion where you stop on peoples property. Could be a farm shop or vineyard or whatever. Certainly some interesting people out there once you get off the main roads.

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Did the same in NZ on the POP sites [PARK on OUR PROPERTY]. As you say there are some interesting characters about! One place we parked was this hippy chicks garden, she was well away with the fairies but very entertaining. Another was on an elderly couples garden along with three other MH's who were regulars, we were invited to join an outdoor drinks and nibbles gathering, five hours later after many home made gins, brandy's and rums we staggered back to the MH - except it was the wrong one we were trying to get into!!:D
 
Did any of you guys use a camping app in Canada, if so, which one? How easy was it to find wilding spots or boondocking as they call it. Any first hand info will be greatly appreciated.
 
Did any of you guys use a camping app in Canada, if so, which one? How easy was it to find wilding spots or boondocking as they call it. Any first hand info will be greatly appreciated.
Ral, we've only camped in B.C and the bit of the states adjoining, but the whole place seems to be RV friendly, lots of free spots many of which have free to use bbq's and wood piles, even honesty boxes for donations. We didn't use an app (it was over 20 years ago) we just jumped in our friends de-mountable and went
 
Thanks Peter. I wonder if things have changed significantly since you were there? Looking on Google there is conflicting information about wild camping, some say it isn't legal, others say it is. I would have thought given the size of the country there would be plenty of spots, maybe getting to them by MH could be a problem?

Just found this which answers my question - I think. https://www.karmacampervans.com/blog/boondocking-and-free-camping-in-the-canadian-rockies/
 
Eight years ago we hired a R.V. in Whitehorse in the Yukon. We travelled around the Yukon for a while then drove down the Alaska Highway to Calgary. We found that wilding was pretty difficult to do despite the remoteness of it all but we did find camping sites by the forestry comm. the most reasonable and sometimes free usually with free logs for campfire. These sites had no facilities except fresh water and woe betide you if you dumped anything(it brings in the bears). Although the R.V.s have much more storage for grey and black waste we had to find a 'proper site' to empty and fill every week. Once we reached larger towns we had to use big sites of which they are plenty. Walmart allowed us to park up for the night. We had a large book I think by The Camping Assoc. of Canada which we gave to the next person (along with the permit to drive through the Icefields Parkway) to hire the van. You will probably get an app from them now. It was a great experience and the reason we sold our yacht (we are getting a bit long in the tooth) an bought a motorhome.
 
Can't say about motorhomes but a few years ago hiring a car and flying to the US was cheaper than Canada
 

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