Forum Discussion

marramwaveice's avatar
Oct 15, 2021

Family cammping

Hello everyone. I plan to surprise my family with camping. I want to rent a caravan and go camping. Since I don't have much experience, can you recommend me good caravans for a family of seven?
  • A family of seven is a lot of people in a very small space. RVs (aka caravans) routinely overestimate the number of people who can sleep comfortably in them.

    For example, an RV that is advertised as sleeping 6 people will likely consist of:

    1 dedicated bed that will fit two adults of average to tall height;
    1 couch that will fold out and will fit 2 pre-teen kids;
    and 1 dinette that can be converted to fit two adults of average or less height.

    In practicality, having to convert the dinette every night to a bed and then every morning back into a dinette can be annoying.

    You indicate you want to go camping. If you have some older kids, I would recommend getting a tent or two. The older kids can sleep in the tent(s) and that would make the RV a bit less crowded at night.

    A couple things to consider when looking at options:

    1. Are there enough seatbelts for all the passengers.
    2. If you have younger kids still using car or booster seats, does the RV have appropriate places to place those seats (for example, you don't want to install a carseat on backwards facing RV seats.

    You might look at a bunkbed option if you have younger kids. Some bunkbeds are a bit small for older boys.

    A class C with a cabover bed can provide more sleeping options. The cabover bed can usually hold 3-5 younger kids easily or 2 adult-sized people.
  • If your family is new to camping start out modestly on distance and abundantly on flush toilets and showers. Make meals simple too.