Just joined! - thanks for having us...

[Steve_gray2]

Looking to buy a California on retirement early next year - have booked rental of T6.1 Ocean for July 4th and hope things open up then - looking for info and advice

 

[kurienp]

Welcome on board Steve. The best thing to do - hire first. We hired twice before we decided to purchase.

There are two parts to the California experience 1. Driving - the California is a fantastic vehicle to drive and you can do many hundreds of miles in a day and reach your destination still refreshed. 2. The camping experience - for this it is about being organised and figuring out what you will need and if that works for you.

I suspect you will be looking at point #2 first. For that, you don't have to necessarily drive far. Drive to a good campsite nearby and see if that will work for you. Arrive at the campsite during the day so that you are able to experience the camping setup and figure things out.

And keep your phone handy - in case you need to ask any questions - you have this forum always ready to help.

Enjoy the experience. Let us know how you got along.

 

[5i1ver8ack]

We also hired for a weekend. It’s important to find out if it works for you and if you’d enjoy ownership. With this sort of thing I find it’s easy to answer those questions very easily early on. We were immediately taken with the idea, ordered our own and have enjoyed and continue to enjoy ours a lot. But not everyone does. A weekend hire is a much cheaper mistake to make.

 

[sapto]

Welcome here!
Best way: rent it and test it. Even if it is only in your drive. Of course driving gives you a better feeling about the car on the road however all the camper related stuff can be used and tried in front of your house/flat.
What about your camping history? Do you camp or did you camp in a tent, car, caravan? Or new from start? There are plenty of intel here for both backgrounds and it helps if you give a bit more details about what you're looking for.
However: Enjoy your first (?) California day(s)! Share your questions and thoughts. They are always helpful to others doing the same or went through the same process.

 

[Nick.C]

We also hired twice. Once for a weekend in a conversion, we only went along to support our friends who were thinking of buying a van and having it converted and for a day out at the NEC Camping and caravan show. I absolutely loved the experience, taking me back to much loved caravan holidays when growing up. Debra not so much, finding the converted van dark and claustrophobic. I managed to persuade Debra to try a week in a California and it was immediately completely different. We brought our nearly new van a couple of weeks later and have had some great trips in the UK and France over the last year. Probably our best ever buy and can’t wait to get back on the road.

 

[GrannyJen]

Hi Steve

Firstly a big welcome.

Secondly I think one of the best bits of advice you can have is try before you buy and you are doing that. I'm sure when your rental experience is over you will have many questions and this is the right place to come and ask them. You will find us a helpful lot.