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Camping

Our UK Camping forum has all the information you need on finding the right equipment for your tent or caravan.

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Original poster

another camper van question

34 replies

ksmum · 03/04/2009 15:09

Ok now the sleeping seatbelts thing is sorted out somebody I work with pointed out something yesterday - namely that if you go camping with tent and car and then want to go out for the day or go to shops etc you just get in the car and go but with a van you have to pack everything up in the awning and put it away and tidy up inside of van. IS this actually a big deal or not - is the awning a bother to put up and down. I am quite a tidy camper anyway so would not have stuff strewn everywhere (though smalls might).

has put me off rather - am thinking is it really that much better than our nice big tent. Main advantage is snugness in wet weather I feel - though somebody else said is colder than a tent to sleep in.

Actually I think it doesn't much matter what I say as DH is going to get it anyway

OP posts:

FragileMum · 03/04/2009 16:07

We go camping quite a bit and have a car, a big van and small and big tents. If it is just the weekend, we take the van otherwise we take the car or the van and the big tent goes up. The van is handy if we are going to arrive late at night as the tent takes ages to put up. If you have a separate awning, then you can drive away without having to pack up. You an always use your nice big tent as an awning and get the best of both worlds.

TheSynOddOneOfWhitby · 03/04/2009 16:13

Would a small caravan be an option or is your DH set on this ven?

TheSynOddOneOfWhitby · 03/04/2009 16:13

Van (dur)

springlamb · 03/04/2009 18:00

Get a drive away awning ksmum. Keep most stuff in the awning, when you're going out you unzip it from the body of the van, zip it up and drive off.
If you were going off for the day, you wouldn't really want to leave your pitch totally clear anyway, as someone might pinch it.
And you have the advantage of being able to brew up or make lunch wherever you stop on your day out as you have the cooker and fridge with you.
What age is this camper? Will it have Propex heating, if you are worried about cold, make sure it has Propex.

trixymalixy · 03/04/2009 18:08

An awning is just like a big tent, you just leave everything in there and drive away in the van.

peasholme · 03/04/2009 18:11

We got a Bluebird awning for our camper van and have found it great. It is easy to work out a system if you want to drive away most days. Or you can bring bikes, Bluebird sell a bike rack for vans too! We have that as well

Don't buy an awning from justkampers, I have heard bad things about them.

bluebird awnings

peasholme · 03/04/2009 18:17

should clarify: bad things about their awnings, not their general business or other products

Original poster

ksmum · 03/04/2009 21:06

thank you very much problem solved - I had thought about the stealing of pitch thing as well.

OP posts:

skramble · 03/04/2009 23:23

My van is handy in that it has 3 seats in the front so you can leave the bed up and still fit three in the front.

If anywhere for a long time I would set up the kitchen in the awning, my kitchen is removable in that my van is more of a camping van than a camper van, so I can have all the rattley stuff set up in the awning anyway.

The key is to have a stand alone awning if you plan to be mobile. Worst case would be an awning you have to dismantle as well.

So really I combine camping with a van so best of both worlds for me.

maxybrown · 05/04/2009 18:58

We don't find it a big deal at all and haven't even got an awning yet, but we will do eventually. I have camped for years (Dad was scout leader when we were all little, so no choice!) and the van is def warmer! We went in Feb, had electric hook up and took a little fan heater, although we have heating in the van too, but uses petrol so used the electric oh and we had good sleeping bags too. Ds loved it

We will def get a drive away awning though, be a nightmare to pack that up too each time. We LOVE our camper

peasholme · 05/04/2009 20:12

maxybrown camping in Feb? I salute you!
Can I ask what heater you use? I haven't found a good one, and at the moment we don't have any heating. Thought it didn't really matter until we had to drive 7 hours in the really bad weather. That was fun! Van is in the garage as we speak and we may crack and buy new heater boxes etc...just in time for the summer!
I think we should have a campervan thread, I am sure we could pool some really useful tips and suggestions.
What do you have? Ours is 1981 T25 in brown/cream with a pop top, devon conversion.

maxybrown · 05/04/2009 20:54

I agree! here here! We had a great time camping, there was only us on the site, bliss! Ds was just 17 months then and was happy as a pig.....

We have a Westfalia T25 1982 pop top in a sort of er yellowy cream (tis original colour but hard to describe!) We have the original eberspacher heater which uses the petrol and then we have a fan heater that I purchsed in my single years for a little bedroom I lived in! lol. It is fab though and warms the place so quickly. I THINK it is just a delonghi (is that how it's spelt??) but it can be used as a fan too. It isn't dead small but compact enough and easily fits under the seat or elsewhere anyway....I'll find a pic of it. It is VERY effective.

We got a little chilly in the night...well nose did anyway, but in the morning we put the heater on and voila! I have to say we were almsot at the end of the Welsh Peninsula and it was very misty too so cold as you can imagine.

Here's to our vw camper thread

Oh she is called Helga by the way......yours?lol

maxybrown · 05/04/2009 20:56

I shall tell my DH yours in the garage by the way....helga needs a trip this week, it will make him feel better!

peasholme · 05/04/2009 21:10

Hello Helga...meet Humphrey.

Ah, a Westy. Good friend has a Westy and I am very impressed by the niftiness of various features...though I am aware of the need to be loyal to my Devon!

So you just use a regular heater then? I think I need to get to Argos! I had been hoping to find somehting which I could run without an electric hook up, eg when at festivals, when campervan smugness traditionally kicks in!

I am considering splashing out on a new interior for the van. Seem to be all sorts of companies which do this, but hard to choose between them. We have the original interior in brown, with brown, against a brown background, with brown curtains. Time to freshen it up I think!

trixymalixy · 05/04/2009 21:11

Propex heaters are good.

maxybrown · 05/04/2009 21:23

hahaha. Well, we have the eberspacher for that not showing off at all....fortunately it is good working order.

Helga is all original, but it does look a little dull I have to say. I found some fab material so am off to get it tomorrow and make new curtains and covers. We'll keep the originals too though. But should freshen her up a bit.

I think you do become loyal as it were! I love westfalia I have to say though.

Have you any pics?! it's nice for ME to chat to someone vw for a change rather than DH!

peasholme · 05/04/2009 21:40

Ooh are you making your own curtains?

Will have a look for a photo.

Think I will pay someone else to do it for me. Very difficult to choose the colourway. Have a stripey pop top and need to pick up those colours somehow. Am all up for matching scatter cushions and duvet cover etc!

(thank god the DHs aren't reading this, they'd be appalled by such talk!)

maxybrown · 05/04/2009 22:21

lol. I probably could do them to be honest if I tried....but I know someone who will do them for me in a jiffy and much better I'm sure! I went to Dunelm Mill yesterday and saw just what I want in the reduced fabric section...yippee! Want to make some seat covers too.

I'll add a pic to my profile tomorrow.

Yes Dh would roll his eyes....he laughed today when i was wittering about curtains and said I just want her mechanically sound and you want her to look nice! I want her sound too I said.....as i wandered off with the tape measure....

musttryharder · 06/04/2009 09:04

Waving my hands in the air with glee, finally a camper thread that discusses soft furnishings also would like to add a vote for drive-away awnings. we've just bought a Khyam Drive-away, and DH joked that it's that big we could park the van in it..we had our first night away with the kids a couple of weeks ago and it was a bit brisk (no heater) but we've got pretty good sleeping bags and other than cold noses we all managed..I'll try and get some photo's on my profile tonight!

maxybrown · 06/04/2009 09:58

Yay! Has your awning got a sleeping space too? We want one but one with an inner tent for just in cases! Off to buy my fabric today. Yippee!

musttryharder · 06/04/2009 10:57

yep, awning has a HUGE living area and a 4 person 'inner tent' sleeping area.. thought if we were to take some of the kids friends with us then we could throw them all in there and have the van to ourselves...

maxybrown · 06/04/2009 18:53

Ah right, do you have to pay for an extra plot as it were? Looks nice, we prob don't need one so big, bu does look nice.

musttryharder · 07/04/2009 07:25

most plots alow for an awning in the price, altough I can imagine having to pay a bit extra on some sites as it is big!

musttryharder · 07/04/2009 07:45

finally got round to putting a couple of pictures on my profile...

maxybrown · 07/04/2009 09:14

Think your privacy settings must be blocking viewing them going to get some up myself today!

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