Ex Tenters, what made you change to a caravan?

[Christhecaravanner84]

I used to be an avid tent camper and it was a standing joke with anyone who went away with me that I packed everything including kitchen sink. I wasn't someone who was happy with a simple 3 man crawl in job and a Trangia stove, I had the works: Large Coleman family size walk in tent, large CampingGaz double burner and grill, cooker stand, table, chairs 3 way fridge, EHU and anything else I could cram into the car. At the time I was living with my grandmother so used to quite often collar the neighbour to help me lift on the giant roof box I had. One day whilst helping me lift it, he saw all my kit and said "you might as well have a caravan with that lot". He was right really, but at the time I was not in a position to purchase a van or a suitable tow vehicle.

I used to go camping with groups of mates but they all eventually married off and started families. I have remained single and am quite content with it, but continued to camp on my own. Some years ago, I was made redundant from my job and was short of money for a while, as well as being plagued at the time by endless car issues, it sadly meant I didn't go away for a while.
The last camping trip I went on was just awful. I found a lovely site in North Devon, but went during Easter bank holiday. I spent about eight hours in traffic getting there. It took me about two hours to set up, then I discovered that my fridge and various other kit was no longer working. I was exhausted, physically and mentally, also had been wrestling with insomnia and depression at the time, I sat and wept quietly to myself, thinking "this isn't a holiday!" The next morning after a paranoid and uncomfortable night on an airbed, I had a phone around and managed to find a static which was free. It was quite old and not very "luxurious" but the dog and I still enjoyed ourselves and didn't have to stress about broken equipment. or dodgy air beds.

After many years of very enjoyable static caravan holidays, the opportunity arose to buy a touring caravan. I bought my Lunar Zenith back in April and although I've only used it twice so far, I have no regrets. I love static holidays and will continue to have them in the future, but your own tourer gives so much more flexibility being able to go to shows, CLs etc. I have found setting up the caravan nowhere near as time consuming as loading / unloading cars, putting tents up, taking them down. No taking everything including the kitchen sink to make the experience comfortable, it's all there ready to tow away, kitchen sink an' all! I get out of caravanning a lot of the things I used to get from tenting, the fresh air, the comraderie on site, being able to go away at shorter notice than if booking self catering. It's like tenting but more convenient, comfortable and easier, especially for someone on their own. I have numerous short trips planned for this year and I'm looking forward to them.

 

[figbat]

I can answer this in two words: Storm Francis.

We endured the flapping and blowing of gale force winds in a tent whilst enviously looking at the caravans with their warm, dry occupants and have never camped since. We bought a caravan the moment lockdown ended.

To our credit and small pride, our tent survived Storm Francis unscathed, thanks in no small part to constant attention to guy lines, pegs and leaving the main door of the extension slightly open so it didn’t inflate and act as a sail. Plenty of others on the site that day didn’t survive as well.

 

[JezzerB]

We decided to have a dog; a staffy shaped dent in the tent mesh door and displaced pegs on the fabric, and chasing a staffy round the field at 4.30am trying to call him in while being quiet as he chased rabbits, did it for us!

 

[Hutch]

CtC, (Chris the Caravanner84), I do like your posting very down to earth, the only camping I carried out was when I was 18 to 25 on motorbikes, 50 years ago, we would go to motorcyle rallies, most weekends in Scotland , Wales and Down to Cornwall, end every now and again over to France 4 day trips covering maybe upto 500 mile plus on an old 1955 BSA A7 /A10 Depending on what Barrels and piston were fitted at the time. Loved it, in the snow and rain,
Never could afford a caravan until 15 year ago, and needed to go to Europe for tax purposes, so caravanning was great loved every minute, two dogs onlu one now, Mrs H , getting hip problems so have to rethink about life styles, as have our good friend GabsGranddad. .
Well thats my reasons, oh yes and I ilke the sound of rain on the caravan roof and not the tent.

 

[JezzerB]

Totally agree Hutch; we love that sound .

 

[Ferrodo]

For us it was packing up wet canvas. Our pride and joy was a Pennine Pathfinder but we got fed up with constantly trying to second guess the weather so as to not to fold away wet.

 

[Paullus1959]

I can totally relate to this. However, I did start off rough camping in a small two man tent on a mountain somewhere with my Trangia stove and damp clothes. Then when I met my wife to be when we were 18 we still camped but in a bigger, better tent. Then kids arrived and we bought a Continental type frame tent that served us well until we graduated to a second hand trailer tent which we used for a few years. We then decided we wanted to go to France and used Eurocamp for two years before buying a huge Conway Cambridge trailer tent with extension awning, it was like a small cottage. The previous owner was a single mum and she had paid extra to have brakes fitted to the trailer so you could load it up to the gunwales and we did, with everything including the kitchen sink. Then ultimately the kids flew the nest and our camping holidays came to an end when we sold our beloved trailer tent for £250 less than I'd paid for it 12 years previously. Then followed the years where we flew to holiday destinations, took a couple of cruises, rented mobile homes and villas all of which we thoroughly enjoyed but...! We kept on reminiscing about our camping holidays, especially those in France.
So, we decided we wanted to recapture those times and for over a year we deliberated over the caravan or motorhome choice, finally settling for our caravan with exactly the layout we wanted and still suits us perfectly today. It was ordered and six months later in July 2016 we collected it. We had a couple of fact finding holidays to make sure we knew what we were doing and had the things we needed. Then, in September 2016 we went back to France and never looked back. Only Covid has curtailed our visits but we're off to Brittany again in a couple of weeks.
The biggest advantage from a purely practical perspective of a caravan over a tent is the ease of setting up and departing. My trailer tent, in all honesty could take a full five or six hours to set up including tables chairs, cupboard etc. etc. Starting to pack it all away would sometimes begin one or two days before the departure date.
And, as mentioned by Ferrodo, I used to dread packing the tent away wet because that meant it had to be put up again at home to dry out or lose the entire canvas to rot. This had the added disadvantage of restricting what we could do with the garden. We have a big enough lawn that could easily accomodate the tent and its awning but that was it. So, we had to keep the lawn clear for the trailer tent. Since the trailer tent has gone, we've installed raised vegetable beds and a gazebo.
Happy days.

 

[PTA]

Rain and cold!

 

[otherclive]

Rain and cold!

Must admit that the rain is the real downer, but in years past I could live with the cold when I had to spend a couple of overnighters in snow holes in the Brecon Beacons. Surprising how you can keep the cold at bay, but Im not so sure that it would be fun these days as. I do seem more susceptible to cold.

 

[Raywood]

In our case it was getting a bigger company car. When we had a tent we had an 1100 Escort which was not suitable for towing. This was replaced with a 1300 model and that gave us the chance to move on to a caravan, a lightweight Piper and then a Trophy.

 

[Beachball]

Our first outing was in a ridge tent in a field with sheep all round after this we decided to try a caravan first one cost £250 forty years ago then over period of time had many variations of vans and been to many parts of the country .
Having many varying experiences but always enjoyable whatever the weather

 

[Christhecaravanner84]

I had a lovely Coleman DeGama 5 which I sold for a good price back in March. It and it's predecessor was steel poled and much better in the wind than fibre glass jobs. I was never cold camping as most of the time I had EHU and a fan heater. What I always disliked about camping was the 4am sauna effect in sunny weather. I know caravans get hot, but you don't get roasted the minute the sun rises, also with my blinds all shut up I don't get blasted with light first thing. I never liked being in my tent during a thunderstorm.... I would sit in the car if it was severe. You are quite vulnerable to ground strikes if nearby trees / objects are hit.

I saw a really impressive couple of large frame tents on my last trip to Stonehenge, but of course they had a large family to put up and take down.

I had to laugh at Jezza's Staffie.... The first thing my Rottie did when I took him out in the tent was decide to explore the gap between the flysheet and bedroom inners. He ended up getting trapped in there and was just stuck there looking at me with a silly expression on his face as I unhooked the inner tent whilst swearing under my breath.

I just got to the point where tent camping was no longer for me but I'll always be a camper at heart whatever unit I'm in and I would never look down on anyone for their choice of unit. If anyone I know decided to take up tenting I'd give them all the encouragement in the world in their venture. The important thing is that everyone is getting out in the fresh air and enjoying themselves. I love nosing at other people's outfits be they MH, Caravan or tent. I've always been particularly impressed by bell tents with wood burning stoves; I've seen them in use in the dead of winter!

It does amuse me that the first thing caravanners typically buy is a tent to attach to their 'van! But I do find my awning very useful and its nowhere near as much hassle to put up as my tents were.

Now is a new era for me, even though I got fed up of tent camping, I had many enjoyable times and still enjoy the memories. My caravan has enabled me to rekindle my old hobby of camping.

 

[Mel]

Where to start?
Trudging across a field in the rain at 3 am to go to the loo. Porta Pottis weren’t a thing back then. We certainly didn’t have one at any rate.
Trailer tent next. Putting it up in a howling gale in Cromer; several other campers ran to our aid as the canopy became air borne. place was infested with earwigs. Picked them out of sleeping bags every night.
Going to the pot wash in pouring rain one Jubilee weekend, watching the campers opposite going home as their pitch was filling with water; wondering how high the water was going to rise on our side.
But mainly we swapped because we reached a point where we just about had enough money!
Taking daughter and her 4kids camping this summer though. Them in a tent ( first time) us in the van. Still think it is a great holiday for kids.
mel

 

[Hutch]

Where do earwigs come from, I have always had a fear of them.
I have lived in the tropics for most of my working life, Spiders, Snakes, wiggle worms, etc, but earwigs. Ugh. Scare the poo out ofa me.

 

[Christhecaravanner84]

Where to start?
Trudging across a field in the rain at 3 am to go to the loo. Porta Pottis weren’t a thing back then. We certainly didn’t have one at any rate.

An old plastic milk bottle always sufficed for no.1 for me as a male. However things could get interesting if I'd had a few sherbets and was lacking in balance and coordination.... I'll spare you the details. I definitely prefer my Thetford.

 

[figbat]

I had a lovely Coleman DeGama 5 which I sold for a good price back in March. It and it's predecessor was steel poled and much better in the wind than fibre glass jobs.

Our tent that survived Storm Francis was a Coleman Da Gama 6 with extension. We still have it - keep meaning to put it up for sale.

 

[Paullus1959]

I started camping when I was about 8 in a little tent with wooden poles and a separate ground sheet. As I got older the quality of my tents improved. I loved rough camping on the side of a hill somewhere with everything carried in my rucksack. then I met my future Wife and we continued to camp in a Lichfield ridge tent which I got cheap in a fire sale. Then the kids arrived and we bought our first frame tent, a superb Mahler which gave excellent service. Then we bought our first trailer tent which was actually third hand and our camping was transformed. No more sleeping on the ground. We eventually gave that away to my Sister in Law and bought a huge Conway Cambridge trailer tent which we used in the UK but mainly in France. The trailer had a braking system similar to a caravan fitted by the previous owner and I was able to load it up to the max with everything including the kitchen sink. When pitched it was like a small cottage. We had that for 15 years, mainly camping in France until the kids grew up and decided holidays with M&D weren't cool. So, I sold the trailer tent for £250 less than I'd paid for it and started doing the package holidays, city breaks, cruises and villa rentals all of which we really enjoyed. However, and this is the point we always ended up reminiscing about our French camping holidays, but neither of us wanted to go down the camping route in our mid-fifties. So, in 2015 we started looking at caravans and motorhomes and decided that a caravan suited our needs better. After weeks of travelling to different dealers and sitting in dozens of different makes and models, we finally chose the Coachman VIP 575/4. We placed the order for it in November 2015 and picked it up from the dealer in July 2016. After a couple of stays locally to make sure we were comfortable with everything we booked our first trip back to France in September 2016 and, have returned every year except during the pandemic. I've just booked another 24 nights in Normandy in September. So for us, it was missing France that lead us to buy our caravan.

 

[Sam Vimes]

Another thread that's a year old.

It gives us some moderation issues so it's now locked