I find myself living in my caravan and loving it. I've had to overcome a few practical problems to make myself comfortable and now, after a year, I'm settled in.
My caravan is a Bailey
My caravan is a Bailey
Loving it
- Thread starter Davidaryder
- Start date
We lived in our twin axle caravan for 2 /1/2 years and enjoyed every minute. Sadly due to ill health had to move back into bricks and mortar.
Sorry, pressed the wrong button, so this is still me.
My caravan is a Bailey Unicorn Velencia, 2014, with a Ventura awning from Atlantic Camping.
The caravan is very comfortable and the awning has stood up to some serious storms for a full year. I'm feeling a lot more confident starting my second winter.
I've had to sort out a few nuisance problems. The first was closing the door when it's being held by the external catch the prevents it swinging in the wind. It was a real nuisance to have constantly to step outside to reach the release lever on the catch. The second was to prevent the Heki rooflight from being blown open violently in high winds.
My caravan is a perfect hide for watching birds. I have two bird feeders, on at each end of the van and they bring all sorts of tits and sparrows, a regular woodipecker, one or two magpies and crows and a squirrel.
I just love living here - and I've even made devices for releasing the door. Heki rooflight jammer is next.
My caravan is a Bailey Unicorn Velencia, 2014, with a Ventura awning from Atlantic Camping.
The caravan is very comfortable and the awning has stood up to some serious storms for a full year. I'm feeling a lot more confident starting my second winter.
I've had to sort out a few nuisance problems. The first was closing the door when it's being held by the external catch the prevents it swinging in the wind. It was a real nuisance to have constantly to step outside to reach the release lever on the catch. The second was to prevent the Heki rooflight from being blown open violently in high winds.
My caravan is a perfect hide for watching birds. I have two bird feeders, on at each end of the van and they bring all sorts of tits and sparrows, a regular woodipecker, one or two magpies and crows and a squirrel.
I just love living here - and I've even made devices for releasing the door. Heki rooflight jammer is next.
Mel
Moderator
Welcome along.
Be interested in any issues you have with the caravan, and your methods to solve them - living in it full time must really highlight any shortcomings.
Also love the bird feed ideas and the wildlife they attract.
We stayed at a site in the midlands last year and parked the caravan under some trees.....the squirrels used our rooflights as target practice with what sound sounded like 500lb bombs - otherwise known as acorns.
Keep us posted on how you get on.
Thanks
Steve
Be interested in any issues you have with the caravan, and your methods to solve them - living in it full time must really highlight any shortcomings.
Also love the bird feed ideas and the wildlife they attract.
We stayed at a site in the midlands last year and parked the caravan under some trees.....the squirrels used our rooflights as target practice with what sound sounded like 500lb bombs - otherwise known as acorns.
Keep us posted on how you get on.
Thanks
Steve
Bird feeders near caravans are bad news unless you do not midn cleaning your caravan every few days.
We've never noticed that as a problem - the feed that goes into bird feeders is better than the purple berries they eat in the wild as far as "residuals" go.
You also have the issue of vermin coming to the bird feeders as we found out to our cost! At home you can put down traps etc, but in the countryside you cannot do that as it would not be ethical.
In over 12 months of putting hedgehog food at nights close by the bird feeder we never ever saw a rat at night or even in daytime. Had we done so then we would have taken action.
Squirrels are the main pest as we live one house away from a woodland nature reserve. But we have a solution.
Squirrels are the main pest as we live one house away from a woodland nature reserve. But we have a solution.
On a caravan site, our feeder isn't up long enough to attract vermin - not even on 3 week stays - at home, we use a cone shield to stop the squirrels climbing the feeder pole.
Not had a problem in 12 months but our birds are only tits, chaffinches, sparrows, and a woodpecker plus a squirrel.
There are magpies and crows but they haven't caused problems
Almost but not quite. I regularly stay with my partner but am in the caravan at least half the timeAre you living permanently in your caravan?
I found a number of minor problems and solved them. First of all was closing the door when it had swung back into its retainer. Every time I wanted to close it, I had to stretch to find the release lever or step down to find it. I can now release the lever from inside. I couldn't imagine now, not having the release device.
My Heki rooflight blew wide open a couple of times in strong winds, so I made a device to keep it safe when open. Last week, I also solved the problem of keeping comfortable when working in the awning in freezing weather. I bought a polytunnel for around thirty pounds and erected it in the awning. It is 7 x 6 feet. It works perfectly. A small spaceheater, set low, makes it comfortable to work in, even in this week's freezing weather.
Now I can work on some other ideas.
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