What would you take touring?

[malexthekid]

Would love to see this make it to Australia and check it out...

Practicality may be a bit difficult though

 

[MAS4T0]

Would love to see this make it to Australia and check it out...

Practicality may be a bit difficult though

We'll see.

Usually anything is possible if you spend enough. I've been planning the route and I may need to go over Europe and Asia first and then loop back across and travel down through Africa, I can have it shipped over from Port Elizabeth to Perth.

The regions overall I want to explore are:

1. Europe (France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Denmark, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Finland)
2. North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt)
3. Pacific Rim (Japan, China, Korea, Tibet, Taiwan, Malaysia, Phillipines, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore)
4. Australia/ New Zealand
5. North America
6. South America

They're in no particular order and I've only really looked into a few key places for now. I've figured out shipping routes and costs for the parts that have to be traversed by sea so I'm now looking into licensing, visas and vehicle registration requirements.

It's quite a lot of work!

 

[aboynamedsuita]

Don't know how I missed this thread earlier, but this sounds like the trip of a lifetime! I think you mentioned it already but I'd definitely look into the regulatory requirements for vehicle weights and dimensions in the different regions you plan on visiting. Here in Canada it varies from province to province, but governments have been working to harmonize them (don't ask me how I know )

 

[MAS4T0]

Don't know how I missed this thread earlier, but this sounds like the trip of a lifetime! I think you mentioned it already but I'd definitely look into the regulatory requirements for vehicle weights and dimensions in the different regions you plan on visiting. Here in Canada it varies from province to province, but governments have been working to harmonize them (don't ask me how I know )

Thanks!

I think the bigger issue will be the dimensions.

I'm going to confirm the overall size and weight limits in each country, but it will be pulled by a commercial semi-truck and will be around 20 tonnes overall, I think that should be smaller than commercial hauliers in most places and as this will be articulated it should fall under the same legislation. In the UK I'll need to get 'movement orders' whenever I move the trailer as it's slightly larger than the maximum allowable width; this doesn't cost anything but it's more a case of agreeing a time with the DVLA when the roads should be less busy and getting authorisation, the countries I've checked so far have similar things in place.

Here's an example of something similar (for reference), it's shorter overall as the garage at the rear is only half height (so there is sleeping space above rather than a full height bedroom). This one also has a deck (and hot tub!) on the roof rather than a patio deck at the rear:

I'll also have a mini and a couple of motorcycles in the garage at the back for using around towns and exploring while we're parked up.

 

[aboynamedsuita]

That looks petty cool and the requirements sound somewhat simialr here as well, although they do charge a nominal fee for a permit if required. With the one pictured all I could potentially see resulting in a permit-able situation is an overweight rear axle if fully loaded, and perhaps width; that said, most manufacturers design equipment to work for various regulatory requirements and should be able to provide such information (presumably they want your business after all)

I'll send you an email this week hopefully… I'm actually covering over-weight/over-dimension approvals due to vacation schedules at the moment, so could pass on some info as it relates to my part in Canada (which I believe is harmonized to provinces to the west as well)

 

[MAS4T0]

That looks petty cool and the requirements sound somewhat simialr here as well, although they do charge a nominal fee for a permit if required. With the one pictured all I could potentially see resulting in a permit-able situation is an overweight rear axle if fully loaded, and perhaps width; that said, most manufacturers design equipment to work for various regulatory requirements and should be able to provide such information (presumably they want your business after all)

I'll send you an email this week hopefully… I'm actually covering over-weight/over-dimension approvals due to vacation schedules at the moment, so could pass on some info as it relates to my part in Canada (which I believe is harmonized to provinces to the west as well)

Awesome! Thank you.

As it'll be a custom rig, I can potentially add extra axles if required. I didn't realise when I put it up that the one in the picture I linked is only a twin axle, most of them are triple. I was initially looking mostly at US manufacturers, but I'm tending more towards German options. The issue is that I don't speak a word of German so it's not as easy to research them.

I just stumbled across these ones by "Visibly Loud" and they have full-length slide-outs (as opposed to the partial ones on the US models), so the floor-plan options are a lot broader. They're also slightly narrower when going down the road, so it would remove the need for a movement order in the UK and possibly in other places.

[video=youtube;sOU-QJLcE_A]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOU-QJLcE_A[/video]

 

[Matus]

That looks pretty awesome! Considering the maximal allowed size/weight - I am rather sure that the regulations within EU are consistent. I found an entry on German Wikipedia here. Please let me know if you need more detailed info on the topic for Germany - I can check it out.

Should you be interested to visit Slovakia then let me know and I can collect some information for you - it is my home country

So - when do you plan to start? My grinder will be finished sometime in September

 

[MAS4T0]

That looks pretty awesome! Considering the maximal allowed size/weight - I am rather sure that the regulations within EU are consistent. I found an entry on German Wikipedia here. Please let me know if you need more detailed info on the topic for Germany - I can check it out.

Should you be interested to visit Slovakia then let me know and I can collect some information for you - it is my home country

So - when do you plan to start? My grinder will be finished sometime in September

Thank you for the info!

I'll be researching for another few months and commissioning the unit in October if all goes to plan.

This'll mean it's most likely too late to be helpful for your grinder, sorry about that.

 

[Matus]

No problem I was half joking anyhow as I did not expect you could get all preparations finished so quickly. But I still do hope that you will pass by Aalen

 

[zetieum]

Definitively, in EU, all regulation are the same. That goes also for insurances: one insurance will cover all EU country. UK may be a bit different though: they drive left.
I live in Germany but I am french. I travelled a lot in Europe with an old VW bus (T3). It is much smaller, but the the issue are more or less the same. Do not hesitate to contact me if you want traveling tips about regions that are cool to travel to with such a thing. In particular in France, there are a lot of great traveling opportunities. For instance, by law, in every city of more than 5 000 inhabitants, there is always a place where you can park for one or two night while sleeping in your vehicle against a super small local tax (less than 3$); this come with places where you can empty your waste water/fill for free.

 

[MAS4T0]

Definitively, in EU, all regulation are the same. That goes also for insurances: one insurance will cover all EU country. UK may be a bit different though: they drive left.
I live in Germany but I am french. I travelled a lot in Europe with an old VW bus (T3). It is much smaller, but the the issue are more or less the same. Do not hesitate to contact me if you want traveling tips about regions that are cool to travel to with such a thing. In particular in France, there are a lot of great traveling opportunities. For instance, by law, in every city of more than 5 000 inhabitants, there is always a place where you can park for one or two night while sleeping in your vehicle against a super small local tax (less than 3$); this come with places where you can empty your waste water/fill for free.

That's awesome, thank you for the information!

I'll definitely be in touch in the future if you don't mind.

Do you think it'll be hard to find sites in Europe which can accommodate something of this size?

I'm happy to hire multiple plots side by side for it to occupy, but I'm thinking of going over there first for recon to see if the campsites and parking areas are going to be impossible due to obstructions.