Hands up who uses their caravan bathroom?!!

[chelsea1]

Just curious as we are new to caravanning and just back from 1st trip out. We have a large end bathroom in our Bailey and one of the reasons we bought it was because its so spacious to shower/loo in etc.

Suprising on site at the weekend that EVERYONE in our area of the site used the toilet/shower block and we seemed to be the only ones using our own facilities and using the chemical toilet disposal!!

just wondered if this was the norm, or if eventually the novelty of the new caravan with us will wear off and we will trot along to the shower block same as everyone else!!

 

[MARILO_5113069]

Hi Sarah!

I don not know if in the U.K it

 

[Allyson]

Hi Sarah

We use are toliet if wthe children get caught short in the night, and the children and myself use our shower. Hubby normally goes down the toilet block.

It saves have to queue at high Season.

We also have an end bathroom at present, but are long to change to a fixed bed and toilet either at the back or on the side of the van.

 

[JimC]

Hi Sarah

We also have an end bathroom. The shower is nice but we have only used it a few times.We find that the facilities at most of the sites we have visited are excellent and the shower cubicles are much bigger than the ones in caravans, and of course you dont have to fetch water and empty it as often.

Regards Jim

 

[richard_5113073]

HI Sara we have been caravanning for 30 years and have never used the showers in our vans even if the showers had more room in them it still means fetching and removing the water it is much easier to use the site showers

And we only use the loo for emergencies

 

[chelsea1]

thanks for your replies....its seems we are in "novelty" mode at the moment..as i thought, most of you experienced vanners use the on site facilities!!

 

[Allyson]

Hi Sarah

Have you tried the fully serviced pitches yet?

We have a hose pipe which is connected to the tap constanyly and the other end in the Aqua Roller.Every now and again we just top the roller when we walk by it.

We have a larger waste pipe which just drops down in to the pitches own waste, which is normally situated quite close to the caravan.

It's heaven, the kids think it's great to no going for water, after all we are all on holiday.

These site sometimes have an aerial socket to so remember to take coaxle cable with you and the male and female connectors.

 

[Dave_5040181]

I very rarely use site facilities. The luxury of using your own shower and bathroom, getting changed into something comfortable. pouring a drink and relaxing.I hate public changing areas, damp feet trying to put dry clothes on. Hanging around waiting for your turn. Plodding across the campsite for all to see.

And as for the loo..... can't beat the privacy of one's own !

The effort of carrying and emptying is no more than trecking to the toilet block.

Mind you if I had kids I guess it would be a different matter.

 

[chelsea1]

no havent tried one of those yet - but definetly will! sounds great....especially for longer week/s stays!

i will tell hubby about the technical stuff above so he knows!

thanks

 

[chelsea1]

I very rarely use site facilities. The luxury of using your own shower and bathroom, getting changed into something comfortable. pouring a drink and relaxing.I hate public changing areas, damp feet trying to put dry clothes on. Hanging around waiting for your turn. Plodding across the campsite for all to see.

And as for the loo..... can't beat the privacy of one's own !

The effort of carrying and emptying is no more than trecking to the toilet block.

Mind you if I had kids I guess it would be a different matter.

i agree dave!....why is it aswell that your clean socks always fall into the wet area of the shower!

Im glad we're not the only ones who use our vans bathroom....was beginning to feel odd one out on site!

 

[Guest]

To each his/her own, as they say. One factor that has been aired for discussion on this Forum already is the size, or otherwise , of the hot water tank. Certain comments regarding how the first in, gets the best shower has been mentioned. Even technical discussions regarding the flow rate of hot water as per the output of certain pumps has also been discussed, so at the end of the day, the choice is yours. I do agree that it does seem parsiminonious of manufacturers to put in large washrooms, but only put in a hot water tank holding a gallon or so of actual hot water. With 2 or more kids it must be impossible, or do they share?

My wife and I do the 'trot' to the showers. Use shorts and flipflops and you don't get too much wet. Anyway, caravanning is supposed to be a gregarious hobby isn't it?

 

[manjr]

My wife will only use the shower and toilet in the van, I use both ours and the site facilities. We invariably use CL's so have to use our own facilities. As far as having to fetch and carry water I thought that was part and parcel of caravanning, seriously though, a shower if used properly uses only about 10 to 15 litres of water so I don't think thats a big deal. We are in the process of changing our van and one of the must haves for the new one was an end bathroom with a proper shower.

 

[chelsea1]

we didnt find the fetching a problem...part of the novelty i suppose at the moment.

We are about to experience our 1st CL this weekend, so have no choice to use our own bathroom.

 

[David.O]

sarah

be interested to see how you get on at your Cl. and what you would be prepared to pay to have a loo and shower provided on site.we do not have these on our Cl and to provide them would need us to invest some

 

[busman1]

taking a walk to the shower block or to the water points gives you a good chance of meeting someone and having a freindly chat it's surprising what you can find out on these short trips

personally we only use our loo after bed time and we use the showers on site although I always shave in the 'van

 

[joeby]

we allways use our van facilities ,i like to know its cleaned the way ilike it ,you see some people going to the shower block and coming back 2 mins later with the same clothes they went up in

 

[JohnJ]

We only ever use our own end washroom in our van,Its warm,cleaned to our own standards and we know who used it last.Also the wardrobe is in there so you can get dressed while your there as well.We never see inside the site facilities,and on our swift we can shower one after the other with no problem of running out of hot water,if your on a fully serviced pitch its even more convenient, no fetching or carrying,although I dont really mind that I just think its all part of it.Having said all that I did'nt much like using our old all in one side washroom which is why we went looking for the end washroom one we have now.

JOhn J.

 

[Wendy-Norfolk]

We have been caravanning for many years, and have always used our own on board facilites rather than using the site showers and loos.

Personally, I suppose you can call me rather phobic, but I do like to know who has been there before!! Unfortunately, we do not all share the same standards, and to see the residue of somebody else having used a loo, really turns my stomach.

 

[JohnI.Stephen]

Hello Sarah : We too have a nice Bailey but we use the bathroom for late night / early morning 'number ones' (NEVER, number twos!) and use the site facilities for showers and toilets. Why? Well it's just much better to have lots of hot water for the shower and have a decent sized loo.

Hope that helps !

John

 

[CliveV]

Having only had our caravan a few years having had tents before the sheer luxury of your own shower and loo is still the greatest thing we enjoy in having a caravan!

Yes it is a bit of a bind dealing with the waste cassette and filling the water containers but waking up in our comfy bed, having breakfast out in the awning, then having a nice hot shower, shave etc is a fantastic way to start the day.

Mind you we go to the incredible Land Rover show at Billing Aquadrome each year where the number of people is huge and the queues for the showers in the morning is just not funny!

The rest of the time we use CL's rather than large commercial sites with all the facilities. Like Marilo, we enjoy camping without the need for electric hook up and are incredibly impressed with how well the caravan works on a couple of leisure batteries.

The fridge on gas ended up freezing the milk because we wrongly assumed gas would not be that effective and so turned it up too high!

Each to his own, but why buy a caravan with a large bathroom if you are not going to use it?

 

[cris_408518]

In our previous van we never once used the shower in all the years we had it. We've used the new vans shower twice, all though quite spacious at around 6'6' it is not that spacious to me. Even the end bathroom jobs weve inspected are somewhat cramped and the curved sliding dor kind of pod models are like a torture chamber to me.

The shower is a backup to us, I would rather have living space than tow around bathroom space that is used rarely.

 

[trevor123]

Hi Sarah, In all the years we been Caravaning we use our shower in our van, and use C.L. site to keep the cost down more money in our pocket, The only time we use the club toilet and shower is at Christmas time, if you feel comfortable useing the club toilet or your van, the choice is your, Happy Caravaning. Trevor

 

[joanne38]

we have 6 berth sterling eccles elite trekker and i must admit we do have a saying about our bathroom first wees last wees no poos and we do tend to use site toilets and showers with us two and three kids on board we would not have much water in thetank or we would have rather a pongy van

 

[Merve_5103671]

Hi Sarah,

This is a very good point you raise. I have been caravanning for about 17 yrs and I wouldn't change a moment of it but I have had one constant throughout that time and its this. Why have space in the van you don't use? Now, to avoid the avalanche of comments and critism that I will attract, let me say straight away that this is my opinion and I am not critising anyone who does it differently. We own an Avondale 650/6. The rear dinnette area has been converted to a bedroom. It has a separate shower and a sepate toilet and washbasin which is perfectly adequate for the purpose and in which you could not swing the proverbial cat around in but thats fine with me because the van reflects the amount of time spent in each area. 8 hrs sleep, 15 hrs in lounge or awning (on a rainy day) and lets say 1 hr for various ablutions through the day. Can't see the point of a huge washroom! very nice to have and to see but thats about it! I prefer sleeping and living space. AND, yes, there is always the facilities on site anyway if you would prefer. Good point!

 

[Merve_5103671]

In our previous van we never once used the shower in all the years we had it. We've used the new vans shower twice, all though quite spacious at around 6'6' it is not that spacious to me. Even the end bathroom jobs weve inspected are somewhat cramped and the curved sliding dor kind of pod models are like a torture chamber to me.

The shower is a backup to us, I would rather have living space than tow around bathroom space that is used rarely.

I'm with you Chris. Vans are cramped enough!