Pick up next week
Discussion
Hi all,
We pick up our first ever caravan next week. It’s a 2016 sterling Eccles from a well know Caravan dealer in the North of England.
Is there anything I need to look out for or sort beforehand? I’ve bought some towing mirrors and arranged storage. I passed my B+E test last week. I’m going to sort out breakdown and caravan insurance early next week.
We are getting a Vango Kalari II 420 air awning and electric pump and carpet included. They said they will throw in a used motor mover (Powrtouch) for 700 (will have a couple of years left on the 5yr guarantee). They will also source Hitchcock and Alko-locks for us for £150-250. Will also include a starter pack and also a 15 month warranty.
Is there anything glaringly obvious that I’ve omitted or not thought about? To say I’m excited is an understatement
We pick up our first ever caravan next week. It’s a 2016 sterling Eccles from a well know Caravan dealer in the North of England.
Is there anything I need to look out for or sort beforehand? I’ve bought some towing mirrors and arranged storage. I passed my B+E test last week. I’m going to sort out breakdown and caravan insurance early next week.
We are getting a Vango Kalari II 420 air awning and electric pump and carpet included. They said they will throw in a used motor mover (Powrtouch) for 700 (will have a couple of years left on the 5yr guarantee). They will also source Hitchcock and Alko-locks for us for £150-250. Will also include a starter pack and also a 15 month warranty.
Is there anything glaringly obvious that I’ve omitted or not thought about? To say I’m excited is an understatement
Assuming you've got a car suitable to tow it with a tow bar fitted with 13 pin electrics then it sounds like you're good to go!
Was in a similar position last year, picked up our first in March and drove it to the storage in the snow
Be warned though, you'll start to yearn after every conceivable extra to make the whole experience even more fun / luxurious.
I think we started out with this stuff in the starter pack and also had a secondhand motor mover:
Water carrier (Aqua Roll)
Waste water carrier + waste pipes.
Step.
1 x Calor Lite Gas cylinder (6kg Propane)
110 AHr Leisure Battery.
25m hook up cable.
Alko wheel lock.
Leg winder
As mentioned you need insurance and breakdown cover. We registered our with CRiS, cost £15 I think.
Stuff for pick up day:
Mirrors.
Number plate.
(Toilet fluid - if you going away with it)
Stuff we already had from camping:
Torches
Mallets
Picnic bench / table - seats 4.
Windbreak
Cool box (for beer!)
Then all the stuff we bought subsequently:
Pots / pans
Cutlery
Melamine dinner set.
Kitchen tools (corkscrew/bottle opener is essential
)
Caravan kettle (low power) - Aldi
Toaster
5 way phone charger.
Bedding
Kampa Air Awning + Carpet + pegs for hard standing + other bits.
LED light poles (my DIY version of Kampa SabreLink)
Weber Go Anywhere BBQ
Firepit
Kampa Modena XL chairs + foot rests (very comfy)
Cheapy £10 chairs for the kids.
Awning coffee table.
Clothes airer.
Collapsible bin.
Lock n Level air bag leveller.
Chocks.
Decking offcuts for the legs on uneven pitches.
Outdoor toys for the kids.
USB TV tuner for my laptop.
Mains water adapter for Aquaroll.
Selection of drainage pipes for fully serviced pitches (or if you're near the hedge)
Stuff I want this year:
A 4x4 (got stuck in the mud last year so stayed on hard standing after that)
Cadac gas BBQ
Duvalay Memory Foam toppers for the bed (my back starts to suffer after a few nights)
I sure there's loads of other stuff too. Proper home from home now though
Enjoy, it's very exciting, and just take it easy towing. Needs a different mindset, slow and steady, read the road a long way ahead. Google street view is very good for planning you final approach to wherever you're staying to avoid narrow roads where possible.
Was in a similar position last year, picked up our first in March and drove it to the storage in the snow
Be warned though, you'll start to yearn after every conceivable extra to make the whole experience even more fun / luxurious.
I think we started out with this stuff in the starter pack and also had a secondhand motor mover:
Water carrier (Aqua Roll)
Waste water carrier + waste pipes.
Step.
1 x Calor Lite Gas cylinder (6kg Propane)
110 AHr Leisure Battery.
25m hook up cable.
Alko wheel lock.
Leg winder
As mentioned you need insurance and breakdown cover. We registered our with CRiS, cost £15 I think.
Stuff for pick up day:
Mirrors.
Number plate.
(Toilet fluid - if you going away with it)
Stuff we already had from camping:
Torches
Mallets
Picnic bench / table - seats 4.
Windbreak
Cool box (for beer!)
Then all the stuff we bought subsequently:
Pots / pans
Cutlery
Melamine dinner set.
Kitchen tools (corkscrew/bottle opener is essential
)Caravan kettle (low power) - Aldi
Toaster
5 way phone charger.
Bedding
Kampa Air Awning + Carpet + pegs for hard standing + other bits.
LED light poles (my DIY version of Kampa SabreLink)
Weber Go Anywhere BBQ
Firepit
Kampa Modena XL chairs + foot rests (very comfy)
Cheapy £10 chairs for the kids.
Awning coffee table.
Clothes airer.
Collapsible bin.
Lock n Level air bag leveller.
Chocks.
Decking offcuts for the legs on uneven pitches.
Outdoor toys for the kids.
USB TV tuner for my laptop.
Mains water adapter for Aquaroll.
Selection of drainage pipes for fully serviced pitches (or if you're near the hedge
)Stuff I want this year:
A 4x4 (got stuck in the mud last year so stayed on hard standing after that)
Cadac gas BBQ
Duvalay Memory Foam toppers for the bed (my back starts to suffer after a few nights)
I sure there's loads of other stuff too. Proper home from home now though
Enjoy, it's very exciting, and just take it easy towing. Needs a different mindset, slow and steady, read the road a long way ahead. Google street view is very good for planning you final approach to wherever you're staying to avoid narrow roads where possible.
Thanks coffindodger that’s really helpful. I’ve copied and pasted your reply and will print it out so that we can use it as a basis of what we need to buy next.
We’ve got a 4x4 and also a towbar with 13pin electrics. Great shout on using google maps to plan the final approach to campsite etc. We haven’t got a trip away planned yet as I wanted a couple of weeks to play around with the carvan to get used to it. Hoping to get away when weather improves in March though.
Just reading your post makes me even more excited haha. Thanks again
We’ve got a 4x4 and also a towbar with 13pin electrics. Great shout on using google maps to plan the final approach to campsite etc. We haven’t got a trip away planned yet as I wanted a couple of weeks to play around with the carvan to get used to it. Hoping to get away when weather improves in March though.
Just reading your post makes me even more excited haha. Thanks again
Knowing whos job is which helps to avoid the "did you turn the gas off" type questions after setting off.
Remember though, that emptying toilet, fetching water and emptying waste water are all blue jobs. Pink jobs are inside the van usually.
Before driving off, I always pulled forward a vans length and had a wander round the pitch to see what had been forgotton.
Enjoy.
Remember though, that emptying toilet, fetching water and emptying waste water are all blue jobs. Pink jobs are inside the van usually.
Before driving off, I always pulled forward a vans length and had a wander round the pitch to see what had been forgotton.
Enjoy.
Congrats on the new van, don't rush into buying loads of stuff, just take it away for a weekend, see what you need, what you want and what you don't need.
We've had ours a year now, but long time campers and campervanners. We find it great for kids. You need to plan your visit to some places but I find it less stressful than camping as weather isn't really an issue.
Off away in it tomorrow for our first of the year, the weather is ideal for it this week!
We've had ours a year now, but long time campers and campervanners. We find it great for kids. You need to plan your visit to some places but I find it less stressful than camping as weather isn't really an issue.
Off away in it tomorrow for our first of the year, the weather is ideal for it this week!
silly things when packing up & leaving a site - but essential....
ensure all roof lights are shut
Lower the aerial
We leave the leg wonders on the a frame until we’ve hooked up to the car, that way one last check of the legs before putting the wonder away in the locker.
We keep the remote for our mover in the bin in the door - along with spare batteries for it.
Enjoy - we absolutely love going away in ours
ensure all roof lights are shut
Lower the aerial
We leave the leg wonders on the a frame until we’ve hooked up to the car, that way one last check of the legs before putting the wonder away in the locker.
We keep the remote for our mover in the bin in the door - along with spare batteries for it.
Enjoy - we absolutely love going away in ours
Write a list of the things you need to do when hitching up. Keep the checklist handy so that you can refer to it the first few times you go. Things like ensuring gas is off, fridge is set to battery and the order in which to do things. Once you get the hang of it, its still useful just to cross check so that you dont leave a skylight open on the way home. I keep a card in the map pocket on the door of the van.
I would say before you venture far make sure you know how to erect the awning as nothing funnier for others watching the arguments start as tempers fray and nothing better to set up a bad weekend.
Personally we started with a caravan and we just took the basics, to me spending two hours unloading, setting up for a weekend is madness.
We now have a motorhome and we never take a TV, we read, listen to the radio. For me the very worst thing I see now is families who are on site with adults outside on phones and laptops and kids inside doing the same but not talking.
Google maps is a good shout as sometimes following sat navs takes you down very wrong roads. I also use them to have a look before booking a site, use the satellite and you can see if there is a train line, sewage works or main road near etc.
Final thing, always allow more time to get anywhere when towing than you would expect as it always does and nothing worse than arriving at a site and spending the first night in the overnight bay, especially if your van is full of awning etc that you cannot put up.
Enjoy
Personally we started with a caravan and we just took the basics, to me spending two hours unloading, setting up for a weekend is madness.
We now have a motorhome and we never take a TV, we read, listen to the radio. For me the very worst thing I see now is families who are on site with adults outside on phones and laptops and kids inside doing the same but not talking.
Google maps is a good shout as sometimes following sat navs takes you down very wrong roads. I also use them to have a look before booking a site, use the satellite and you can see if there is a train line, sewage works or main road near etc.
Final thing, always allow more time to get anywhere when towing than you would expect as it always does and nothing worse than arriving at a site and spending the first night in the overnight bay, especially if your van is full of awning etc that you cannot put up.
Enjoy
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