My First Caravan
Discussion
dirty_dog said:
It gets very boring with MAMs and such especially when you need to stay under 3500kgs. Amazingly our e39 is just the right weight to tow the van and still be under so that's a good reason to keep it!
2002 Elldis Emperor 630 has a MAM of 1650kg.E39 530i Touring Auto KERB weight is around 1720kg.
Which means your car cannot have a higher GROSS weight than 1850kg (1850kg + 1650kg = 3500kg).
Considering your car has a KERB weight of 1720kg then I think you'll find the GROSS weight is a lot more than 1850kg.
For example, my car KERB weight is around 1750kg, but the GROSS weight is around 2400kg.
Unless I have something wrong, I think you should double check your weights
That looks just like our awning.
I always struggle with it - tell me, when you put the fibreglass bendy poles in and then bend them to get the bottom end pin to engage - do you find it easy or a problem?
It ends up taking all of my strength with both hands & really straining & my wife locating the pin. It shouldn't be that hard & I'm wondering why!
The poles are located in the top pocket ok & the pin straps slackened off. Any ideas?
I always struggle with it - tell me, when you put the fibreglass bendy poles in and then bend them to get the bottom end pin to engage - do you find it easy or a problem?
It ends up taking all of my strength with both hands & really straining & my wife locating the pin. It shouldn't be that hard & I'm wondering why!
The poles are located in the top pocket ok & the pin straps slackened off. Any ideas?
Pot Bellied Fool said:
That looks just like our awning.
I always struggle with it - tell me, when you put the fibreglass bendy poles in and then bend them to get the bottom end pin to engage - do you find it easy or a problem?
It ends up taking all of my strength with both hands & really straining & my wife locating the pin. It shouldn't be that hard & I'm wondering why!
The poles are located in the top pocket ok & the pin straps slackened off. Any ideas?
Hmmm.... I must admit I didn't find it that much of a struggle.I always struggle with it - tell me, when you put the fibreglass bendy poles in and then bend them to get the bottom end pin to engage - do you find it easy or a problem?
It ends up taking all of my strength with both hands & really straining & my wife locating the pin. It shouldn't be that hard & I'm wondering why!
The poles are located in the top pocket ok & the pin straps slackened off. Any ideas?
The outer 2 poles were harder than the middle 2, but I still managed to do it OK.
Are you sure the straps are slackened off as much as possible?
Ours is a Sunncamp Ultima 390 Deluxe (the heavy duty acrylic one). It really is better than I thought it would be
The only thing I need to find is a bigger wheel cover for it as I think the one it came with is designed for a single axle.
Here is a picture from the side:
We got rid of the old awning that came with the caravan as that really was a divorce in a bag! Old, canvas, heavy and with poles that didn't match & needed all sorts of crazy angles to get errect (ooh-err!).
Ours is the step down from yours with just 3 roof poles. Ideal for us, we get our 4 year old to sleep and then retire to the awning for food & wine.
Never bother with a wheel cover or side skirt though. We have a heater we can use and some awning carpet - cozy enough even in winter.
I'll try & find some photos of ours & see if there's any detail of the straps - they are slackened right off. Vaguely wondering if it's to do with the height of the awning rail not giving us enough headroom as it where.
Old, canvas, heavy and with poles that didn't match & needed all sorts of crazy angles to get errect (ooh-err!).Ours is the step down from yours with just 3 roof poles. Ideal for us, we get our 4 year old to sleep and then retire to the awning for food & wine.
Never bother with a wheel cover or side skirt though. We have a heater we can use and some awning carpet - cozy enough even in winter.
I'll try & find some photos of ours & see if there's any detail of the straps - they are slackened right off. Vaguely wondering if it's to do with the height of the awning rail not giving us enough headroom as it where.
Pot Bellied Fool said:
Ours is the step down from yours with just 3 roof poles. Ideal for us, we get our 4 year old to sleep and then retire to the awning for food & wine.
Snap, 3 pole version, but we just put her to bed and retire to awning, otherwise she would chat all night long.Awning cost buttons from ebay, and after 5 outings last year and one this, still looks like new.
No problems with the pins here either.
Is it equally tight on all poles?
Had to buy rock pegs and a proper lump hammer though, when we arrived on the site last weekend.
We bought our first van as an experiment, end of 2012.
We thought our little girl would love it, and she does.
Wife is still managing to wangle two separate weeks in the sun though, so the idea of it saving us money has gone clean out the window. All the caravan breaks are just on top.
Anyway bought a lovely clean 2003 Elddis Avante for £3,500 with all the kit, with pretty low expectations.
Turns out wife enjoys it too, but her only gripe is the small bathroom (She dislikes even the cleanest site facilities).
So we went out looking at newer (new) caravans at the weekend, hoping to find a layout that suited us, with a proper shower cubicle, that wasn't huge.
Well we found them all right, but at £16,000 to £19,000.
For what? a few LED lights, slightly less dated trim and a slightly bigger bathroom?
Common sense prevailed...
Our good old first caravan is going to be enjoyed for a good few years yet.
We thought our little girl would love it, and she does.
Wife is still managing to wangle two separate weeks in the sun though, so the idea of it saving us money has gone clean out the window. All the caravan breaks are just on top.
Anyway bought a lovely clean 2003 Elddis Avante for £3,500 with all the kit, with pretty low expectations.
Turns out wife enjoys it too, but her only gripe is the small bathroom (She dislikes even the cleanest site facilities).
So we went out looking at newer (new) caravans at the weekend, hoping to find a layout that suited us, with a proper shower cubicle, that wasn't huge.
Well we found them all right, but at £16,000 to £19,000.
For what? a few LED lights, slightly less dated trim and a slightly bigger bathroom?
Common sense prevailed...
Our good old first caravan is going to be enjoyed for a good few years yet.
Not cheap are they!! Well i decided to get more use out of mine! I took it last week to Bosham, to a beautiful campsite. So nice, I decided this bank holiday I should stay too! So the lovely campsite owner told me to leave it all set up, and I'm heading back up Friday night, for three days off beers and BBQ's. The fact that four friends of mine and their partners have all in the last two weeks bought caravan's, and are joining me, should make it a hoot!!
Had a result last week - ordered a towing cover for our caravan from Protec Covers.
Including delivery it was £135.00
Had a phone call on Thursday from Protec. They had my desired size and colour in stock, but unfortunately it had a small 1" tear in the top corner which happened during manufacture.
It has been fully repaired with a stitched 2" square patch in matching material.
Would I still be interested? Would it be OK if you paid half price for it?
Errrr... yes!!!
And it turned up on Friday, and you wouldn't know there was anything wrong with it. Result!
Including delivery it was £135.00
Had a phone call on Thursday from Protec. They had my desired size and colour in stock, but unfortunately it had a small 1" tear in the top corner which happened during manufacture.
It has been fully repaired with a stitched 2" square patch in matching material.
Would I still be interested? Would it be OK if you paid half price for it?
Errrr... yes!!!
And it turned up on Friday, and you wouldn't know there was anything wrong with it. Result!
Yeh, twin axle, A/C on the roof, big old gal!! I think mine is slightly shorter than yours, not much though!
Size doesnt fuss me, I thread a artic trailer through our yard at work, that people panic with Transit's in. Size isn't the issue, and its max laden is 1580kgs, my car, will tow 1600! Result!
Size doesnt fuss me, I thread a artic trailer through our yard at work, that people panic with Transit's in. Size isn't the issue, and its max laden is 1580kgs, my car, will tow 1600! Result!
Now dont forget to add photo's of the exterior,and interior and model details to the caravan layout thread http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Mind you decision to privately educate daughter might have put a hold on the caravan buying for a while!
Mind you decision to privately educate daughter might have put a hold on the caravan buying for a while!
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