Design Suggestions

[Darren.H]

Here I am nice and clean having had a shower in the caravans end bathroom, whilst in there soaping up the bits that needed it the most something came up!😇

I thought to myself what I need right now is a fan.
Steady, an extraction fan, after all we have them at home so why isn't there one in this tiny space, possibly mounted in the roof light?

After that genius thought I'm left to wonder what other improvements could be made?

 

[RogerL]

They can't make a reliable kitchen extractor fan for caravans so no chance in the damp air of a shower.

 

[otherclive]

I just used to open the roof light which created a nice up draft, and then turn on the blown air system without any heat. That worked well.

 

[RogerL]

I just used to open the roof light which created a nice up draft, and then turn on the blown air system without any heat. That worked well.

Another advantage of blown air over wet heating systems.

 

[Beachball]

We open our caravan bathroom window to let the air circulate it seem to do the job it was asked

 

[Jcloughie]

Ours has a permanent 100 mm ceiling vent in the shower itself. I normally open the roof light after the shower. During if warm enough.. Then there is also the window if needed. But not been that warm for a while.

The last building regs I read on this says bathroom fans are only obligatory if there is no other means of ventilation. But, I agree, we have an over run shower at home which does it’s job.

Works very well despite wet heating.

John

 

[Raywood]

With very little new for the makers to add to the caravan, this could be the next thing if one of the makers has read this.

 

[otherclive]

With very little new for the makers to add to the caravan, this could be the next thing if one of the makers has read this.

I would rather have a robust battery tray that slides out to save aged backs. But more expensive than a cheapo fan though.

 

[RogerL]

I would rather have a robust battery tray that slides out to save aged backs. But more expensive than a cheapo fan though.

How often do batteries need removing? In our case about once every 10 years.

 

[otherclive]

How often do batteries need removing? In our case about once every 10 years.

How longs a piece of string? In my case every time it went into store, for two reasons. One as an anti theft precaution. And “ no I don’t know how many get stolen per year”. Secondly so I can put it on a CTEK charger in my garage.

 

[Sam Vimes]

I suppose there's a number of design ideas for new features all of which would no doubt increase the cost. Personally I'd be happy if the current features were designed and manufactured better. So bit of a rant.......

For instance back in 2006 we bought a new Swift motorhome - numerous snags which resulted in one of their engineers visiting me at home to fix most of them. But three issues stuck have stuck in my mind so I was suprised when we bought our new Elddis caravan last year to see theat two were the same badly designed/manufactured faults.

In the motorhome there were two 13A sockets mounted one above the other. This orientation meant you could only plug in one appliance since, if using the top socket the cable would block use of the bottom. Similarly if you use the bottom, you couldn't plug anything in the top one. I rotated both through 90deg to be able to use both at the same time.

Last years caravan had a 13A socket mount on a panel close to the floor. So close that you couldn't plug anything into it, so the same solution.

Again on the motorhome the bed slats pulled out from each of the bench seats to meet in the middle. There were legs on the leading edge slats but positioned such they were only fixed to the horizontal slat - the vertical suppossedly strengthening slat stopped short. The first time I put the bed up and knelt on the slats the ends broke. I fixed these my self.

Fast forward to the caravan again and while the bed slats have a different orientation the leading edge slat still isn't strengthen at the extreme ends. Result was that the first time I used the bed the slat ends broke. Again fixed them myself.

On the motorhome - but not seen again fortunately - the two gas bottles were secured in their locker by straps that went over the top/bottom of the gas bottles rather than around them. Net result was that the bottles would always come lose. Got Swift to fix this by going back to the regular method of retaining.

On the caravan the waste pipes were configured in such a way that water emptied in the kitchen sink would come up in the bathroom basin and vice versa. Fixed this myself.

Various doors and the fold up table are just secured by swing catches. Net result is that they rattle agains the door surrounds or panels. Fixed this by using some foam draft excluder.......

And so on.....

So, instead of new features, which of your current features could be better implemented?

Thanks
Mr Grumpy