How to Choose Between the Roamer 16, 17, 19 and 21: Matching Caravan Size to How You Actually Travel
Sixteen, seventeen, nineteen or twenty one feet? Picking the wrong caravan size is the mistake that haunts people for years. Here is how to match a Roamer to the way you actually travel.
The scariest thing about buying a caravan is not the price tag. It is the quiet fear that sits in the back of your head at 2am: what if I pick the wrong size, and I am stuck with it for the next ten years? Too small and someone is sleeping on a made-up dinette every single night. Too big and you are white-knuckling a narrow bridge on the Coast Road, reversing out of a DOC site you should never have tried, or paying for a bigger tow vehicle you never wanted.
Here is the good news. Choosing between the Roamer 16, 17, 19 and 21 is not really a guessing game. It comes down to three honest questions about how you actually travel, not how you imagine you might travel one day.
First, be honest about who is sleeping in it
Every Roamer comes in couple and bunk layout options, so the first fork in the road is simple. Is this a two-person rig with the occasional guest, or is it a family rig where kids need their own bed that stays made up all day?
If it is just the two of you plus a dog, a couple layout in the smaller footprint gives you far more usable living space than you would expect, because you are not giving up a third of the floor plan to bunks. If you are travelling with two or three kids, do not try to make a short van work by converting the dinette every night. School holidays are long, and so is the argument about whose turn it is to pack the bed away.
The Roamer 16: light, nimble, and easy to live with
The Roamer 16 is the one for people who want to go more often rather than go bigger. Shorter overall length means easier reversing into tight coastal sites, less drama on winding provincial roads, and a friendlier match for a mid-size tow vehicle. Rear door entry keeps the walkway clear and the living space intact, which matters far more in a compact van than it does in a long one.
Choose the 16 if you are a couple who travels light, if you camp at a lot of smaller sites, or if you want the lowest towing stress possible while you build confidence.
The Roamer 17: the same van, one extra foot, and it shows
The Roamer 17 is our newest model, and it is exactly what it sounds like: the 16, but 17ft. That extra foot is the sweet spot for a lot of buyers. It is where a bit more bench, a bit more storage or a bit more breathing room around the bed stops feeling like a luxury and starts feeling like the difference between a weekend van and a three-week-trip van.
It also comes in three colours: Arctic (white), Onyx (black)y, and Slate (blue-grey). Choose the 17 if the 16 feels close but you keep thinking "just a little more room" when you walk through it.
The Roamer 19: the family and long-stay pick
The Roamer 19 is where bunk layouts really come into their own. There is room for the kids to have their own zone, room for a proper kitchen bench, and room to sit out a solid day of Kiwi rain without everyone getting under each other's feet.
This is also the size that suits people who stay put for a week or two at a time, or who live in the van seasonally. Just check your tow vehicle honestly before you commit. Nineteen feet of caravan behind an underpowered wagon is not a fun trip over the Desert Road.
The Roamer 21: living space first
The Roamer 21 is for people whose travel style is fewer, longer stops. Big family trips, extended stays, or retirees doing a slow lap of the country with everything they need on board. You trade some nimbleness for genuine liveability, and if you are mostly moving between larger holiday parks and serviced sites, that is a very good trade.
Three questions that settle it
What are you towing with, today? Not the ute you might buy next year. Match the van to the vehicle in your driveway now.
How many nights a year, and how long per stop? Lots of short trips favour 16 or 17. Fewer, longer stays favour 19 or 21.
Where do you actually camp? If your list is full of tight, unsealed, out-of-the-way spots, go shorter. If it is holiday parks and serviced sites, go longer.
Size is only half the decision. Spec is the other half
Every Roamer is sold as a base model plus the add-ons and upgrades you choose, which means you are not paying for gear you will never use. Panoramic windows, for example, are an optional upgrade rather than a base inclusion, so you can put that budget into windows if the view matters most to you, or into something else if it does not. Layout, design and decals can all be customised too.
That approach is not an accident. Mad RV designs in New Zealand, ships direct from our factory to depots in both islands, and every design decision is informed by 10+ years of running Mad Campers rental vehicles across this country. A decade of watching how people really use a bench, a door, a storage locker and a wet floor teaches you things a spec sheet never will, and that operational know-how goes straight into how the Roamer range is laid out and built.
There are plenty of good caravan brands in New Zealand and Australia. Where we back ourselves is value through quality construction and efficient systems, NZ-specific design thinking, and the ability to customise the van to your travel style rather than the other way round.
Still torn between two sizes?
That is normal, and it is worth getting right the first time. Walk through the layouts, compare the 16 against the 17, and line the 19 up against the 21 with your tow vehicle and your real travel plans in mind.
See the full Roamer range, layouts, colours and upgrade options at madrv.co.nz, or get in touch and tell us how you travel. We will tell you honestly which size fits.