Hello all,
I've just joined, so decided to do the polite thing and introduce myself.
I've been caravanning all my life. When I was growing up, we had a Sprite Musketeer. It didn't have a toilet or shower, it didn't have hot water. You had to manually pump the water by pumping your foot up and down on a bellows on the floor. It had gas mantles for lighting inside (although we only used the 12v lights). It was very basic, but we have great memories of touring all over Ireland at a time when most of my friends hadn't even been further than the next county.
After the Sprite, we upgraded to an Abbey Cambridge. It was a slightly smaller caravan, but slightly more modern (it had an electric water pump that was activated by a pedal switch). I didn't travel much in the Abbey because I was in my teens by then and preferred to stay at home with my friends than go on holidays with my parents. The last time I went away in it was with my parents and younger brother after my final year in college.
In 2009, when I had been working for a few years, I decided to buy a caravan myself. I bought a 1989 Lunar Clubman 475/4. I was surfing regularly at the time, so my only requirement was that it had a shower. I got great use out of that 'van and traveled all over Ireland, and made one trip to Wales with it. When surfing, I used to wild camp at surf locations and found that I much preferred this to staying at caravan parks. A few years later, the caravan suffered a leak which caused a lot of rot inside. I repaired the damage myself and got another few years of use out of it. I haven't caravanned much over the last few years and the Lunar leaked again while it wasn't in use. This time, I decided it wasn't worth repairing.
Last weekend I bought a 2006 Coachman Pastiche 520/4. My wife and I are on our first trip with it this weekend, in county Cork. . We're wild camping, as usual. We love the caravan. It's so well built and so much better than the older caravan. It's a heavy caravan, but it tows very well, and the weight doesn't bother me as I'm towing with a 3.2 Ford Ranger Wildtrak. I believe all caravans are a trade-off and in this case we're trading off weight for solid build quality.
I've just joined, so decided to do the polite thing and introduce myself.
I've been caravanning all my life. When I was growing up, we had a Sprite Musketeer. It didn't have a toilet or shower, it didn't have hot water. You had to manually pump the water by pumping your foot up and down on a bellows on the floor. It had gas mantles for lighting inside (although we only used the 12v lights). It was very basic, but we have great memories of touring all over Ireland at a time when most of my friends hadn't even been further than the next county.
After the Sprite, we upgraded to an Abbey Cambridge. It was a slightly smaller caravan, but slightly more modern (it had an electric water pump that was activated by a pedal switch). I didn't travel much in the Abbey because I was in my teens by then and preferred to stay at home with my friends than go on holidays with my parents. The last time I went away in it was with my parents and younger brother after my final year in college.
In 2009, when I had been working for a few years, I decided to buy a caravan myself. I bought a 1989 Lunar Clubman 475/4. I was surfing regularly at the time, so my only requirement was that it had a shower. I got great use out of that 'van and traveled all over Ireland, and made one trip to Wales with it. When surfing, I used to wild camp at surf locations and found that I much preferred this to staying at caravan parks. A few years later, the caravan suffered a leak which caused a lot of rot inside. I repaired the damage myself and got another few years of use out of it. I haven't caravanned much over the last few years and the Lunar leaked again while it wasn't in use. This time, I decided it wasn't worth repairing.
Last weekend I bought a 2006 Coachman Pastiche 520/4. My wife and I are on our first trip with it this weekend, in county Cork. . We're wild camping, as usual. We love the caravan. It's so well built and so much better than the older caravan. It's a heavy caravan, but it tows very well, and the weight doesn't bother me as I'm towing with a 3.2 Ford Ranger Wildtrak. I believe all caravans are a trade-off and in this case we're trading off weight for solid build quality.
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