Totally new to caravanning & very excited :-)

[sarahlou1]

Hi All,
We (me, my husband & our 2 cavalier king charles spaniels, millie & maisie) have just bought our very first touring caravan. Its a 1993 Lunar Meteor and we are very excited

. We have booked on a caravan towing course as neither myself or my husband have any previous experience of towing & we want to make sure we'll be safe on our first outing and that the caravan will come home in one piece!
Our caravan is in very good condition considering its age, and is just in need of a bit of TLC, can anyone advise me where I could get a fly screen for the front window as this seems to be missing? I am going to have a go at making some new curtains as they are the original curtains I think and seem to be several shade of pink from sun bleaching. The carpet has also seen better days, can anyone offer any advice on fitting a new carpet in a caravan, would lino work? Also, I am not familiar with thetford toilets, what products can I use to clean it given that I don't want to cause a chemical reaction with the chemicals that will already be in it! Any other advice would also be greatly received!
I am really looking forward to being in contact with other caravan lovers (our friends and work colleagues just think we're insane!)
Best Regards
Sarah

 

[Parksy]

Hi Sarah
Welcome to the Practical Caravan forum and warmest congratulations on buying your first caravan.
We owned a Lunar Meteor a few years back, they are excellent two berth caravans, lightweight and easy to tow.
You are doing exactly the right thing by going on a towing course where you will be taught about hitching up, loading, towing so that you will be safe and confident and you will enjoy your trips in the caravan.
Lino would work really well in your caravan,especially with two dogs who forget to wipe their feet, market stalls sell inexpensive carpet squares and runners which you can drop in on top of the lino in cooler weather.
A caravan breakers or perhaps even Ebay should unearth a fly screen and good caravan accessory shops or Halfords sell a wide range of toilet chemicals, try to choose formaldehyde free products.
I'm sure that you will really enjoy your caravan, I hope that you enjoy becoming a valued member of our online community so don't be shy, add posts in various sections of the forum and fellow caravanners will be more than happy to offer advice and opinions.
The only silly questions are the ones that you should have asked, but didn't.
Your friends and work colleagues might consider you to be insane - until you hitch up and go on a Friday evening at the first hint of sunshine when they are stuck at home in front of the boring tv.
Happy Caravanning!

 

[RickStevens]

Hi Sarah

You have definately come to the right place for advice etc. we have only been caravanning for a couple of years, and the advice offered by the members on here has always been great whether its technical advice, or just recommendations for somewhere to stay.

Welcome to the firum

Rick

 

[Beachball]

Hi Sarah Welcome to the practical Caravan Forum i hope you enjoy your first caravan on here ask what you need and someone will give you the answer they are great on here .

 

[sarahlou1]

Hi,
Thank you for your advise, its lovely to be able to ask advise from other people who know about caravans. We love our little Lunar and its nice to know you had thought yours was excellent too

We are really looking forward to the towing course, by which time we should have the caravan in tip top condition and ready for our first break away.
I will defintely be using other areas of the forum for advice, and hopefully in a few years time will be able to offer some advice to other members too in return

.
What a brilliant forum

 

[sarahlou1]

Hi Rick,
Thank you for your message, I am over the moon to have found this forum, its brilliant to be able to ask the experts advise

. I am sure I will be asking lots more questions as we go on our first adventure

Sarah

 

[sarahlou1]

Hi Mark,
Thank you, I'm sure we will have lots of fun in our new caravan

Sarah

 

[Gagakev]

Hi Sarah, welcome to the insane club we are all nuts on here

(only kidding)
As said you have come to the right place especially as our very own Parksy had the same van as you.
He's a wealth of Knowledge so ask him whatever you like.
Welcome and enjoy

 

[sarahlou1]

Hi Kev,
Thank you for your message

, its lovely to be made so welcome. I'm sure I'll fit in really well

Sarah

 

[emmerson]

Hi Sarah, and welcome. You might find getting spares for your van a problem, but as Parksy has said, caravan breakers are a wonderful source of parts. Here in South Wales ( henceforth known as GoC) we have the Caravan Centre, 01495 792700, and they do mail order.
Btw, there is a very strict rule in caravanning which supercedes all others --- you must enjoy yourselves!!

 

[sarahlou1]

Hi Emmerson,
Thank you for your reply, I will try the caravan centre near you, I have contacted a few places without any luck so far

, everywhere keeps telling me its too old to get spare for...its not too old for us, we love it

.
Don't worry, we will definitely be following the caravanning rule

, we can't wait for our 1st big adventure!!
Best Regards
Sarah

 

[Steve L]

Hi Sarahlou.
Cogratulations on starting a new lifestyle.
We started out over 25 years ago and are currently living in our tourer fulltime. You'll soon find caravanning a great society leveller. You never know just who you may be pitched next to but they will all treat you with the same respect.

Don't worry about asking even the most basic questions as we all started out as newbies at some time or other. There's a wealth of knowledge here on the forum and on the pc website and in the magazine.

Good luck with the curtains and floor coverings. I'd use loose mats with none slip backings on the lino and go for a bathroom type lino as it too should have a degree of non slip.

Our chocolate Labrador is much happier in our caravan than in a house.

Don't be afraid to ask fellow caravanners for help onsite either. We all love being usefull.

Have fun and that's the key to many years of caravanning.

 

[Parksy]

Hi All,
...........Its a 1993 Lunar Meteor and we are very excited. ..............

................Our caravan is in very good condition considering its age, and is just in need of a bit of TLC, can anyone advise me where I could get a fly screen for the front window as this seems to be missing? .............

Best Regards
Sarah

Is there a blind fitted to the front window Sarah?
If I remember rightly our Meteor had 3 separate blinds for each of the 3 front windows and the flyscreens were an integral part of the blinds.
You would need to buy the complete unit I think but all that you need is the width measurement. One blind & flyscreen is very much like another so as long as the width is correct a unit from any caravan would probably do the trick.
Try Premier Towing Centre
They are caravan repairers and dismantlers and they usually stock a wide range of used parts available via mail order. They would need the width measurement of the blind that you require, the length doesn't matter as long as you pull the blind down far enough.

 

[Parksy]

p.s. I meant to add that Premier have recently dismantled a 1990 Lunar Clubman which has many parts identical to those on your Meteorite including the blinds and flyscreens

 

[sarahlou1]

Hi Parksy,
Yes,it does have three, there is a blind fitted to the front centre window, and it looks as though there was a fly screen once which was an integral part of the blind, but it has been cut off leaving about an inch remaining and there ae two separate blinds for the other two front windows with no fly screens, although as these are not opening windows I wouldn't have thought that they probably had fly screens in initially.
Thank you for your advice, its really appreciated. I will contact Premier Towing centre tomorrow morning

. I hadnt realised that we could use a blind from another model caravan

, I can widen my search now if Premier can't help.....we will soon have blinds

Many Thanks
Sarah

 

[Parksy]

You're welcome Sarah
Caravans share many common parts because the same components such as window blinds, water systems, boilers, taps, gas heaters and fridges are sold by the parts manufacturer to different caravan manufacturers.

 

[sarahlou1]

Hi Steveinleo,
Thank you for your message. We are thrilled with our new caravan. Wow 25 years of caravanning, thats fantastic

, how amazing to live in your tourer fulll time, that must be brilliant. We can't stay out of our caravan, even though its only on the drive at the moment, there are lots of bits stripped out while we are working on it, but we always have at least one cup of tea everyday sitting in the caravan

and dream of our first holiday (which hopefully isnt too far away now!) I think our neighbour across the way thinks its really funny & has taken to waving to us everytime we are sitting in the caravan!!
Already we have found neighbours in our street who we had never spoken to before have come round and knocked on to offer us advice because they too are caravanners, which is lovely

. I have bought some material and am making up some new curtains and we are going to take Parksys advice tomorrow to try to locate a new blind and fly screen. Thank you for your advice on the lino, we are also off lino shopping tomorrow, so I will look for the bathroom type.
I think our two cavaliers are going to love caravanning, they havent been in yet, (due to the fact that they are at the burying stage and we fear that vital dismantled parts of our caravan could end up under the flowers in our garden!!) but they keep getting excited when they go on the drive with us to look at it (maybe its because we keep getting excited & they can sense something exciting is going to happen soon!!
Sarah

 

[sarahlou1]

Hi Parksy,
Just wanted to say a big thank you. We went to the caravan shop on saturday and although they did not have a fly screen which would fit, we have managed to get a sheet of fly screen and an older blind pull which we have cut down and we now have a fully functioning fly screen

. We are also half way through fitting our new lino

Sarah

 

[Parksy]

That's great news Sarah, with your diy skills and your obvious enthusiasm you will really enjoy caravanning.
Have a look at This Topic
Nigel the editor of Practical Caravan magazine has asked for a few words and pictures from people such as yourselves who are undertaking exactly the sort of DIY improvements that you are doing. Take a few pictures, add a brief description of the work that you are doing and contact Nigel via the links in his topic. The Practical Caravan magazine is a great source of information and it's packed with details about brand new caravans. Many people like yourself wisely opt for a used model, especially when they haven't tried caravanning before and an article from the perspective of an enthusiastic newcomer who carries out some improvements to their pride and joy would be most welcome and refreshing. You might even end up having that first trip away funded by your literary efforts