A Sorry Tale.................How NOT to go vanning.

[Damian]

Taken from another site so dont know the validity of it, but............

Well where to start - I know a number of you are not huge fans of practical caravan magazine, well read on.

We have just returned from a lovely weekend away to try out the new van.

Opposite and 2 vans up from us wad a coachman amara with a vw tiguan - that's sufficient clues as to which member of PC it was.

Anyhow, they tried to erect an awning yesterday - ended up having to seek help from not only the warden but another group of vanners. Thus is just the start....

After a couple of hours it was up, well up but clearly nowhere near right, flapping all over the shop, no guy lines down all sorts of odd angles..

So guess what happened when the wind and rain ripped up this morning and they left the van - yup, ripped down the side of the van, pulled through the awning rail nearly taking out acwoman walking by.

We told the wardens and said not to touch it in case we are accused of making it worse.

Then the wind really got up and was about to take off heading for a newish van directly opposite. It took 4 of us to get hold of it, try to take it to pieces and stuff it under the back of the van.

Imagine if you were sat I. Your new van and that hit you ???
Then we heard the rear heki rattling - that had been left open and was being slammed against the hinge stops and back onto the roof. The main skylight was also about to start moving.

So we left the van with pegs, empty wine bottle and upturned BBQ by the van.

What an utter disgraceful show of how to do it by experts that are paid to write about how we should all do it. I sincerely hope no one is faced with buying that van after it is returned.....

 

[susanswift]

oh dear thats my idea of a nightmare...

last week was in stratford, not on our usual site and some children were kicking a ball. I didnt want to be a killjoy but sat watching them and our unit (had motorhome then) and two lots of friends, they were booting it as hard as they could to score, i was cringing.

And whinging "were are their parents" when bang they hit a van. Out came the people. Shouting , screaming and going off on one. It only came about that the mother of the boy who owned the ball was in the van he hit. She didnt care about our units, just when he hit hers.

Packed up next day and moved. I dont want to spoil there fun but caravans, vehicles and motorhomes are so expensive these days.

 

[susanswift]

o

 

[Willi-Wonti]

I was just about to copy & paste it myself from the other forum.
ooooopps

 

[Parksy]

How nice of them to mention it, or should I say gloat about it.
As I have mentioned in my reply on that forum, at least one recently joined member of the editorial staff is a compete novice when it comes to caravanning. This person has never tried to pretend otherwise and includes mistakes that are made in articles written by themselves as a browse through recent magazine articles would show.
Perhaps those who write articles might benefit from some advice or practical demonstrations given by seasoned caravanners who work for the magazine, of course the best place to come to for advice is right here on this forum.
It's a shame that the guy who wrote the original post felt the need to gloat over another caravanners misfortune on another forum but sadly I'm not really surprised.

 

[Parksy]

oh dear thats my idea of a nightmare...

last week was in stratford, not on our usual site and some children were kicking a ball. I didnt want to be a killjoy but sat watching them and our unit (had motorhome then) and two lots of friends, they were booting it as hard as they could to score, i was cringing.

And whinging "were are their parents" when bang they hit a van. Out came the people. Shouting , screaming and going off on one. It only came about that the mother of the boy who owned the ball was in the van he hit. She didnt care about our units, just when he hit hers.

Packed up next day and moved. I dont want to spoil there fun but caravans, vehicles and motorhomes are so expensive these days.

I saw the best last weekend!
It was a nice afternoon last Saturday and we were at a rally on the banks of the river Severn in Worcestershire.
My mates caravan was next door to mine, the rally was very well attended with 74 units on the rally field. We have bought a new tv for our caravan so my mate and myself had the tv set on a small table outside the caravan and we settled down with suitable liquid refreshment to watch the England football match.
A guy from almost opposite who we didn't know brought his son of about 12 years old over and asked if the boy could watch the match on our tv and of course we replied that it would be fine, no problem.
The lad was absolutely no trouble at all, he was knowlegeable about the game and we all enjoyed each others company.
Meanwhile the dad, who was in football strip, started to have a kick about with is other son in the space between rows of caravans.
As is always the way, the kick about became rowdier and eventually the dad started to show off by belting the ball as hard as he could.
Until I asked him to stop it!

The cheeky so and so, we were looking after one of his sons so that he can annoy everybody else with the other one

 

[DeliDave_]

Anyhow, they tried to erect an awning yesterday - ended up having to seek help from not only the warden but another group of vanners. Thus is just the start....

After a couple of hours it was up, well up but clearly nowhere near right, flapping all over the shop, no guy lines down all sorts of odd angles.

Well the help and advice from the wardens and vanners couldnt have been much good then otherwise it would have been secure.There are definately some unpleasant people about,my awning damaged the van costing £1600 to put right so I have every sympathy with whichever staff member it was.

 

[Barry Doran]

Hi All,
I have posted a comment on this site about revelling in other peoples misfortune.
Regards,
Barry.

 

[Dustydog]

The Unicorn Madrid Owner who very nastily criticized the novices, who just happen to be a journalist and partner, is certainly not in the spirit of caravanning I have enjoyed over the years.
Come on you Mad Hatter... get a grip and stop gloating at other peoples errors.
That could have been you or me years ago

 

[thursdays child]

I have to say I find this sort of topic very disappointing.We all need to keep in mind that nobody is perfect and other peoples missfortunes could be ours next trip out.There is enough discord in everyday life without taking it with us on holiday. Just imagine the distress of the folks on site when that dreadful fire took hold and they have to live with that so a poorly erected awning seems a minor issue.Well done all those who did their very best to help.
Be nice to one another. Hard I know but just lets just do our best..
Thursdays Child

 

[LMH]

I've just found the thread. I thought it would be that forum. I stopped posting on there when they made 'a little Hitler' a moderator on the site.

That's the calibre of person they like.

Just ignore it. From some of the replies, it seems they'd be the sort of neighbours to watch your house burn down with glee!!

Lisa

 

[NigelDonnelly]

Oh dear. I can see most of you see what has gone on here - one of the PC team has got themselves a bit mixed up over the weekend with their awning and it caused a problem while he was off-site.

I've emailed the chap with the Unicorn (he emailed me to relay what had gone on) and explained that while the whole Practical Caravan team is expected to get out there and enjoy the vans, sites and holidays, it does not mean they are all experts. And nor do they claim to be. Even Doug King doesn't claim to be an expert, although he will concede that he is experienced...

And I'd wager that the person staying in the Coachman has learned a valuable couple of lessons during this trip and will be a better caravanner as a result. He's learned the same way the rest of us have learned - the hard way!

Thanks for your comments and support!

 

[Parksy]

Well said Nigel, we've all made mistakes at one time or another.
Is the person who has learned the lesson lined up to test the next 'caravanning on a shoestring' budget buy from Ebay?

 

[NigelDonnelly]

Why not?

 

[graham_somersham]

At least he was out and about with the caravan. I can recall one journalist (now retired) who used long term test caravans as a temporary greenhouse!

 

[NigelDonnelly]

Now there's an idea!

 

[Surfer]

From what I gather it is possibility that the person who screwed on the nut on the gas bottle could have been the same PC journo who had problems with theri awning!

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Nigel,
Looking at the positives there is plenty of good material for an article to show a novice how it's not done. What pitfalls to look for and not to get too disillusioned too early on.

 

[susanswift]

Hi everyone,

Can I just say when I go in my "van" in September to Bridlington, if anyone sees me struggling. Its my first time.....(waiting for car to come)
I got my van, started buying bits after following all advice on here, got lists upon lists. And I will be the one who`ll be sitting down on a chair with a clip board issuing instructions to OH and eating ice-cream/chocolate.
Hopefully after reading this forum, which I love as people are so helpful I will know something about caravans, cars and awnings.
And hopefully with my awning, tiedown kit and monsoon poles, i should be alright lol

 

[chrisbee1]

And I will be the one who`ll be sitting down on a chair with a clip board issuing instructions to OH and eating ice-cream/chocolate.

If your first trip is anything like mine you will be the one having a heated verbal interchange with your other half when it comes to putting up the awning!

 

[kopite]

There`s a lot on this i can relate too with awnings blowing down as i`ve seen a couple and been helpless to help i do feel for the people must be a nightmare.Now i love footie and playing with kids is great but there`s a time and place,on only our second trip last year we were on a site big field lots of space,yep you`ve guessed it 3 lads and there dad using the side of my brand new van as a goal.So the ball hit it once i let it go,second time i gave a hard stare through the window the third time i went out and asked polietly if they could play where there were no vans hey pressto middle finger and told to do one.At this point i done the only thing a man can do and got the wife she came out,now were not a voilent couple and love peace and quiet but the air turned blue and she said words i did`t even no she knew then i pipe up with ye and dont do it again.what a hero