What has happened to us?

[Steve_374332107]

The sight of a caravan on our drive still freaks me out!

The arrival of our 'little one' (18 months old now) led us to the search for a convenient, child friendly way to holiday and straight into the world of caravanning.

I collected our 5 berth van a couple of weeks ago and so far we love it. We're looking forward to our first outing next week.

van: Sterling Eccles Amethyst

tug: Audi A6 1.8T saloon

 

[mealsonwheels]

Welcome to the wonderful world of caravanning and the forum, Steve.

Good luck with your first outing!

 

[lukebfox]

Hi Steve welcome to a fantastic hobby,as a relative newbie myself i know your going to find this forum very helpful and the people who post on it even more so. I hope you enjoy your outing next week best of luck Luke

 

[Chaps]

Welcome to the forum Steve.

We've only had our caravan since October and we all love it but Claire is addicted. It's stored at Rob's parents bungalow and she uses every excuse in the book to spend a bit of time in it. Just returned from our second outing and still learning lots of little tricks (block of wood under the jockey wheel when on wet grass or gravel is the latest one). We made a setting up/leaving checklist and we'll use this until things become second nature just to make sure we don't forget anything. Have a great first trip and let us know how you get on.

Cheers

Claire & Rob

Geist AK495 and Vauxhall Zafira cdti

 

[GaryH]

Welcome to the forum Steve.

We've only had our caravan since October and we all love it but Claire is addicted. It's stored at Rob's parents bungalow and she uses every excuse in the book to spend a bit of time in it. Just returned from our second outing and still learning lots of little tricks (block of wood under the jockey wheel when on wet grass or gravel is the latest one). We made a setting up/leaving checklist and we'll use this until things become second nature just to make sure we don't forget anything. Have a great first trip and let us know how you get on.

Cheers

Claire & Rob

Geist AK495 and Vauxhall Zafira cdti

Hi Claire & Rob!

Crikey you two are busy on these forums...

I picked up our first caravan yesterday (don't ask about the reversing!) so I read with your interest about your set-up checklist. I don't suppose you have an electronic copy you could share with us do you? If it's just scribbled down, don't worry about it.

Cheers,

Gaz'n'Mands

 

[GaryH]

Hi Steve and welcome!

Our thoughts exactly.

We picked our first van up yesterday, a Sterling Trekker for the wife, me, 2(going on 3) year old Sam and baby Ben.

Good luck with your new adventures and let us know how you get on, as we're in the same boat (or should that be van?).

Cheers,

Gary & Amanda

 

[Chaps]

Claire's a bit of a saddo - if she can't be in the van she wants to talk about it, albeit online!

On son's laptop at the moment but when we fire up the desktop later we'll copy the checklist onto this posting. Don't claim that the list is extensive and it's a work in progress but happy to share it. We got most of the info from 'The Caravan Handbook' by John Wickersham which is published by Haynes and costs about

 

[GaryH]

Claire's a bit of a saddo - if she can't be in the van she wants to talk about it, albeit online!

On son's laptop at the moment but when we fire up the desktop later we'll copy the checklist onto this posting. Don't claim that the list is extensive and it's a work in progress but happy to share it. We got most of the info from 'The Caravan Handbook' by John Wickersham which is published by Haynes and costs about

 

[Chaps]

As promised to Gary H, here's our setting up and leaving guide. We've only been away twice so it's a bit of a work in progress - sure some old hands on here could add more advice. Hope it helps.

Setting Up

 

[GaryH]

As promised to Gary H, here's our setting up and leaving guide. We've only been away twice so it's a bit of a work in progress - sure some old hands on here could add more advice. Hope it helps.

Setting Up

 

[David_from_Ashby]

As promised to Gary H, here's our setting up and leaving guide. We've only been away twice so it's a bit of a work in progress - sure some old hands on here could add more advice. Hope it helps.

Setting Up

 

[Chaps]

Good points David!

Like we said, it's a work in progress and we're still learning new tricks and adding them to our copy. We'll add the jockey wheel part to our list (haven't forgotten to do it yet but you never know!) and shuffle round the chocks part as you have a very valid point re roll back. Know some people also check that the nuts are tight on the caravan wheels - does everyone else do this and how often?

Cheers

Claire & Rob

 

[Steve_374332107]

Good points David!

Like we said, it's a work in progress and we're still learning new tricks and adding them to our copy. We'll add the jockey wheel part to our list (haven't forgotten to do it yet but you never know!) and shuffle round the chocks part as you have a very valid point re roll back. Know some people also check that the nuts are tight on the caravan wheels - does everyone else do this and how often?

Cheers

Claire & Rob

Just got back from our 1st outing (Ripley, harrogate). Weather was v poor with heavy rain to start then, just as we worked out how to put up the awning, the wind got up. A real baptism of fire! The van was great and everything worked as advertised. The 'little one' loved it and when the weather improved we did too. The whole baby vs bunk issue was very easily solved with a temporary screen and a Baby Dan bed guard. Looking forward to the Lake District next month. Maybe it will run a little more smoothly now we have a little more experience!

 

[Steve_374332107]

Just got back from our 1st outing (Ripley, harrogate). Weather was v poor with heavy rain to start then, just as we worked out how to put up the awning, the wind got up. A real baptism of fire! The van was great and everything worked as advertised. The 'little one' loved it and when the weather improved we did too. The whole baby vs bunk issue was very easily solved with a temporary screen and a Baby Dan bed guard. Looking forward to the Lake District next month. Maybe it will run a little more smoothly now we have a little more experience!

 

[angel3]

Hi Steve, well done on surviving your first outing! We've just picked up our van today but are yet to use it. don't know if you're aware of my current obsession with keeping my toddler in her bunk (as posted in the newcomers forum!) but I'm v interested in your success with a babydan. Did you just use that alone or in conjunction with anything else?

ps Think your checklist is great Claire and Rob, I've printed it off (I'm v well prepared, just need to actually use the caravan now!)

Angel

 

[Chaps]

Hi Steve, well done on surviving your first outing! We've just picked up our van today but are yet to use it. don't know if you're aware of my current obsession with keeping my toddler in her bunk (as posted in the newcomers forum!) but I'm v interested in your success with a babydan. Did you just use that alone or in conjunction with anything else?

ps Think your checklist is great Claire and Rob, I've printed it off (I'm v well prepared, just need to actually use the caravan now!)

Angel

Happy to help!

 

[frank_374357141]

go for it folks, you will love it. Enjoy your first trip,good luck, frank

 

[Jimbob1]

Hi Claire&Rob.

Reading your setting up comments very carefully,we have caravanned for 30yrs plus and one of the main things you DO NOT Do is to curl up your Eh lead(cable)as during the peiod of use the cable gives off heat which could start a fire.What you should do is uncurl all of the cable, by if you like,making a zig-zag type of pattern so that the cable keeps reasonably cool.Other than that your set up programme is fine.Enjoy your caravanning.Jim

 

[Chaps]

Thanks for that Jim. Got the tip about loose coils from the Caravan Handbook by John Wickersham! Will do it your way from now on. Cheers!

Claire & Rob