vacuum bags and camping...does it work?

[hels71]

Hi
We have always been fine for luggage when camping as DH (Very luckily) has had a large company car. However his new company car is much much smaller and I can't see how we can fit everything in. He suggested vacuum bags but how would I vacuum them to come home? Have I missed some fairly obvious solution here? I can't take the vacuum!!!
Or are there other solutions for taking less crap? It's clothes/shoes/towels/sleeping bags that fill the car. (I am not known for travelling light so may just need to cut down!!!)

roof box?
trailer?
sleeping bags piled on back seat for dc to lean on?

we have small lightweight camping towels

Can electric pumps not be 'switched around' to sook air out? I'm guessing here as don't have one but if they don't then manufacturers are missing a trick!!

I took my winter weught very bulky 15tog king size duvet with me last year. I used a gigantic vacum bag. I was holidaying with some caravanner friends who did take a small vacum that I was able to use for the homeward journey packing. It was also good fir for vacuuming out the tent before packing up. Not that I am encouraging you to add a vacuum to your packing list .
I also don't travel light and would say tjus about using them. My vacuum bags were £12 each due to size abf fairly goid quality. You need to be very careful how you store them whilst camping because obviously one small hole and the bag is useless. They also came with little plastic lids on the valves. Again there is a risk these could fall off rendering the bag useless as well.
I used the bags fir bedfjng towels and even dirty washing going home. It creases everything so no good for clothes.
Also be aware that one you have sucked all the air out of your bedding etc. It becomes rock hard and a weird shape. You can no longer squish these on the parcel shelf or next to the kids. They are so solid they would be lethal loose in the car in a crash/sudden braking incident, so you do have to think about where you pack them in the car.
Unfortunately I must have snagged the bag with my gigantic duvet in whilst loading the car. The good news was I had already wedged it in on the back seat strapped the seat belt around it before it started to slowly expand - it did tend to take over the back seat but dd used it as a pillow about an hour into the journey home as it engulfed her.

There are ones that you roll instead of vacuum, though they don't go quite as small they are pretty good.

We also have microfiber camping towels, normal towels take up so much room.

Thanks. Liking the idea of travel towels...our towels are just so huge and we end up with ones for swimming and showering and the beach (I may have just spotted a way to cut down!!)

Doris...the duvet slowly expanding made me smile!

I may try the roll up vacuum bags...I can not see DH agreeing to taking a hoover..although it would be handy for cleaning up at the end!

We may think about a roof box. DH has to check that is ok with the car....they can be a bit fussy!!

Oh I would LOVE to have a Hoover for cleaning up

We have quite a big estate, but we couldn't do it without a sizable toolbox.

Doh roofbox.

Toolbox autocorrect lols

I'm seriously considering taking the dustbuster this trip.....

It's very simple with a bed blower upper :)
On the side there will be somewhere that sucks the air in so it can be blown back out again. If you attach a small length of white waste pipe (the stuff that runs from your plug hole to the drain) to this orifice you can easily use the sucky in action rather than the blowy out one.
'Twas a revelation and one for which I cannot believe DH has not received at least a CBE for services to harassed camping wives with small cars :o

Yes, the battery op pumps can suck as well as blow.

We took our duvets and pillows to France in vacuum bags last year because they don't pack down very small. But as we did a lot of one night stops we got fed up of packing them up every morning and stopped bothering. We just put them under heavy stuff in the car to contain them.

Have you got a roofbox? If not try to borrow one, then you only have to invest in the compatible roof bars for your car.

If you did want to buy, we have found a roof bag like this rather than a box easier when camping, mainly because it is easy to stick in the boot of the car or somewhere in the tent, once you arrive. Also it is easier to store at home than a box.

gobblers it says it's waterproof but is it safe to chuck bedding etc in? I have yearned for one of these for a long time but DH manages to borrow a box usually- all well and good unless the lender needs to use it the same weekend as us :o

Lots to think about! Thanks.

The only place we have had ours leak is from the little holes in the base, and then only in torrential rain. Tbf dp has admitted that it did come with some kind of stoppers to fill the holes (they are there to make some of the fittings adjustable to different roof bars iyswim), but he didn't know what they were so he threw them away . Other than that we have had no problems whatsoever, you can get a lot in it too.