question re demountable as claasification as m home maybe a good question for vwalan

[landyrubbertramp]

hi all
hope so one could give me sum feedback re this

im looking for sumthing bigger than my landrover for using in eurpoe mainly spain. im still going to use my landrover pic below in uk for weekends etc



i plan to spend a month at a time over their in between flying back for work commitments . so 0ne month in southern Spain 2 weeks in uk etc etc

anyway ive like the the idea of a demountable camper but having looked at the size of demount able i ca get on a pick up even a 130 landrover it wont be big enough or carry the weight if i plan to wildcamp all the time i.e gas water batteries etc.

example of demountable on a pick up below


i then started looking a 3.5 tonne picks up such as transits as that way the tax insurnace for a commercial is still ok , but again with a larger demountbale the size is just abut ok but the payload is low

example of larger demountable on 3.5 tonne transit


then i thought about a 5 tonne to 6 tonne pick like this with a demountable on top to sole the weight problem and have a bike rack behind

such as this


problem is it becomes a vehicle over 3.5 tone with alot more expanse of taxing mot and an awful lot more on insurnace.


so having looked at the info on how to turn a vehicle into a m home what would be the issuies with just apply for the 5-7 tonne pcommercial chassis and dmounatble as one unit by bolting it down as part of the vehicleas appose to straps and being part of the vehcles load as a demountbale.


for eample are the following vehicles classed and insured as m homes or commercials



thoughts welcome

 

[Robmac]

I would have thought that a fixed down demountable would be classed as a motorhome. If you use a business vehicle for business in the week and then with a demountable in your leisure time, then I would have thought that you would need 2 lots of insurance - don't know for sure though.

Love the vehicles you have pictured, especially the Fuso and the Landrover, but you have p*ssed my missus off as you have got me started on demountables again!

 

[landyrubbertramp]

I would have thought that a fixed down demountable would be classed as a motorhome. If you use a business vehicle for business in the week and then with a demountable in your leisure time, then I would have thought that you would need 2 lots of insurance - don't know for sure though.

Love the vehicles you have pictured, especially the Fuso and the Landrover, but you have p*ssed my missus off as you have got me started on demountables again!

hi rob send my appoloise to your wife then lol im dring my gf mad over this too so your not alone lol

i do like the concept of a demountbale as it can be split if the vehicle gets old or you want to trade up on the demountbale as well as being more versatile.

i like you think rob if its use for just private non comerical use and fixed on with bolts it could be classed as a m home as you know rob sum demounables mainly th usa artic fox and lance campers have acces point to the cab. it makes no mention of the dvla stuff that you have to be able to acces it from the cab.

this is one rob thats been on ebay like forever i spoke to the guy around a month ago to ask weight of demountable etc



. im looking more for a flatbed demountable rather that a pick up type

also rob what do you think of converting sumthing like this its a 7.5 tonne with a demountable body you seem to et a lot of vehicle for your money

 

[Robmac]

I would love to do that! I have been getting damp problems in my motorhome recently and was looking to rip out the linings and put in new sections of frame to sort it out, however, only yesterday I sent an email to a Commercial truck body builder requesting a rough price for a whole new body on my Ducato.
This would allow me to refit the innards from the old shell into a blank canvas and I could alter the layout to suit my own needs.

Price may be prohibitive though - I will let you know when they come back to me.

 

[Robmac]

PS. I spend hours on Ebay looking at commercial vehicles for conversion!

 

[sasquatch]

Have you considered a 5th. wheel?

 

[Robmac]

Have you considered a 5th. wheel?

Love them too. I need about 3 different vehicles before I'm happy!

 

[landyrubbertramp]

hi sas i have considered a 5th wheeler i like them alot alot of space for manoney i even have my ladnrover i could pull it but the big obstacle is the question of how easy is it to wildcamp in it in eurpoe for example are they allowerd on frech aries

 

[Byronic]

Vwalan is your man for 5th wheel advice. Where is he?

 

[landyrubbertramp]

i know bironic thats why i put is name on t=the thread title lol

 

[vwalan]

hi. i wild just about all the time. have used french aires no problem . dont go to france these days i go straight to spain . . but if you get a mini artic similar to mine its easy to wild . tax is 165 quid . mine is mot exempt . because i carry a m,biker in the back it becomes a living van . living vanms upto 3,500kg are not plated and tested . just like a caravan . i lowered it voluntarily from 5 ton . the truck is a 6.3 ton . as an artic towing a living van its exempt .
when away me and my mate with his ex prison truck hate campsites . we just park sensibly . very occasionally police say no camping /parking but very rarely . keep it looking a bit like a truck they park almost anywhere here and abroad .
never had any trouble in uk either . just park wisely .

 

[Byronic]

i know bironic thats why i put is name on t=the thread title lol

No for the 5th wheel nous. reason I added post.

RFL is cheaper for above 3.5t. PLG Motor Caravan
Insurance may not be any more expensive. But less choice.
Breakdown Insurance may be more expensive, and also less choice.
MOT same as for car(Class 4) if PLG Motorcaravan. Limited chioce of test centres, vehicle may be too large/heavy for many. You may need to hunt around
That list is for starters.

 

[paul h]

my truck based camper also costs me £165 a year road tax although its not on log book as camper due to dvla saying its still box wagon but thats another story. You do get a lot more for your money with a truck i had no problems on aires in france and the french camper owners kept asking to look inside .

 

[landyrubbertramp]

hi. i wild just about all the time. have used french aires no problem . dont go to france these days i go straight to spain . . but if you get a mini artic similar to mine its easy to wild . tax is 165 quid . mine is mot exempt . because i carry a m,biker in the back it becomes a living van . living vanms upto 3,500kg are not plated and tested . just like a caravan . i lowered it voluntarily from 5 ton . the truck is a 6.3 ton . as an artic towing a living van its exempt .
when away me and my mate with his ex prison truck hate campsites . we just park sensibly . very occasionally police say no camping /parking but very rarely . keep it looking a bit like a truck they park almost anywhere here and abroad .
never had any trouble in uk either . just park wisely .

hi alan thanks for getting back to me on this , ive read alot of your posts so im preety well clued up on your vehicle. i think the type of vehicle yu drive for the reason you don will be the norm in yeras to come esp the 5th wheelers . i did think that you would have trouble in aries to be honest as i assumed that anything with a trailer i.e m home and car trailer m home and little trailer for camping stuff was not allowerd but it seems that this is not the case which is good. do you think alan the mot exempt stuff with your vehicle will continue or do you think its just a loop hole they will soon fill ??. have you ever tried wild camping in the uk with your set up alan and if you do do you use indudtrial estates to blend in more with the commercial look of your vehicle, many thanks again alan for getting back.

regards lee

 

[landyrubbertramp]

hi david thanks for your post. you 100 percent correct about being able to rent cheap i discoverd this last time i was over thier, but im def looking to keep moving on each few days if only a few miles so for a change of view etc. but thanks david for taking the time to post

regards lee

 

[landyrubbertramp]

No for the 5th wheel nous. reason I added post.

RFL is cheaper for above 3.5t. PLG Motor Caravan
Insurance may not be any more expensive. But less choice.
Breakdown Insurance may be more expensive, and also less choice.
MOT same as for car(Class 4) if PLG Motorcaravan. Limited chioce of test centres, vehicle may be too large/heavy for many. You may need to hunt around
That list is for starters.

hi byronic
your right about the rfl
il check prices for insurance next week
kind regards
lee

 

[landyrubbertramp]

my truck based camper also costs me £165 a year road tax although its not on log book as camper due to dvla saying its still box wagon but thats another story. You do get a lot more for your money with a truck i had no problems on aires in france and the french camper owners kept asking to look inside .

hi paul thanks for your post.

questions
1. if you dont mind me asking how do you insure yoursie living van or m home etc?

2. its good you get no probs on aries do you get much prob with ares of france which have a 3.5 t limit as i ssume you would be over it

many thanks lee

 

[vwalan]

just stop in a place i think suitable . i wild in uk as well. anywhere you can get a m,home i can probably get my truck. remember its only two car spaces long . its only 9inches longer than my mazda bongo pulling my teardrop caravan . mind that used to give the game away if we used the roof tent as well. but have got away with it in all sorts of places .
there was a white paper talking about stopping the exemptions . dvla reckon 40,000 have it now . the mot staions cant cope as it is . so the result was all pre 1960 vehicles mot exempt . http://www.batchedonsite.org/uploads/media_items/hgv-mot-consoltation.original.pdf heres the consultation before the change .

 

[vindiboy]

We had a Demountable for some years,loved it,it was originaly on a Cortina one ton pick up but we updated it on to a Sierra one ton pick up truck, great piece of kit it was too,We went to France a couple of times in it, never had any pay load problems with it as in those days (F reg) we did not know about pay load. The Camper part of it slept four,we had a fridge cooker shower wardrobe and Paloma instant gas water heater.It was very easy to load it on the truck and every Friday when I finished work I would load it on the truck and off we would go for the weekend, unload it on Sunday so my wife could use the truck for her work as a District Nurse, all her patients used to joke that if she found them dead one day she could just pop their bodies in the back of the truck and drop them off at the Crematorium and save them some money. Happy DAYS, Insurance became a problem at one time as Insurance Companies were not keen on Demountables,I can,t understand why Demountables are not more popular as they are multi purpose vehicles and very flexible, when we were in America every second person had them, and also had other body variations to use on there trucks.

 

[vwalan]

i used to have a suntrekker on a vw pick up. it worked ok and you still had a big under pickup bed locker
mind these demounts are getting expensive now .