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Hello Roaming raclet, any update on this - how has it been with the first month. Garage now clear and awaiting delivery from France (slightly delayed - not sure if that is due to the elections over there?) Anything that you have learned?

We went away for Easter bank holiday, it rained most of the time we were away, so I'm glad I didn't waste time hosing it down beforehand.

The main cabin went up like a dream, I did it on my own as the idea is that, because I'm a teacher, I can take the girls away on my own in the holidays, so I needed to practice. My husband just stood and watched...bet other campers thought he was really mean, lol. It took about 10 minutes, including zipping, and pegging the 2 bed skirts.

On the first afternoon it was dry so we decided to put up the awning...it took me, and our 13 year old over an hour, we were doing it alone for the same reason, and we wouldn't usually put the awning up for a weekend anyway. Alot of that time was spent working out what went where, so we should hopefully get alot quicker. We also found the awning VERY heavy, so we've now zipped out the front and side panels. We are hoping that'll make it lighter, and therefore easier...I'll let you know. It certainly made drying it out after packing away wet easier...we just laid out one piece at a time in our dining room.

I've taped a small square of silver duct tape to the top of the door, to mark where the kitchen sits on the door when travelling. I want to make sure the cooker doesn't knock the door we swing it in, or out.

We've not been away since Easter, because my Mum went into hospital and only came out this weekend, but we'll be away again next weekend. I can't wait.

I really love our Quickstop. It's not as luxurious as other makes of FC, but that doesn't bother us at all...we could afford a brand new Quickstop, whereas we'd have had to buy 2nd hand if we had chosen another make. The quality of the canvas is obvious, and that is very important to us. And it was quick.

Our toilet lived under the bed skirt during the day, and sat in the middle, behind the door at night. This system worked fine for us.

I have noticed there are no guy rope points on the main unit, or the awning. I'd be interested to know if yours is the same?

Hope yours arrive soon, along with some sunshine!

Hi Jules,

I think I left it unzipped as I folded it out, but zipped it up before I pulled out the poles in the bedrooms. I know that once it was all set up I had to pull the velcro tight along the bottom of the canvas part, where it joins the door.

Does that make sense?

Does yours have guy rope points on the main unit?

Becky

Glad all went well. Make sure that you zip back in the doors and windows on awning before you peg out if that isn't obvious otherwise you may struggle to fit them back in. Don't forget in any sort of decent wind you will need the doors and windows all zipped in if you are leaving the awning up otherwise it will act as a big sail!

Also maybe try next time with the awning, zipping it to the main unit and then throwing it over the main bodyroof, set up awning poles to half height and then pull across the awning canvas over these poles

Enjoy!

Thanks for asking, it's good to know we're not missing vital guy rope points. We also have the straps, which are stored in the front box, to use in high winds. We have had 2 very wet, and a bit breezy trips so far, and found the unit to be very stable. We don't use the tensioners for the bed boards because we were told we didn't need to if using the bed skirts.

We are also hoping to get away from the Tuesday to Friday following the Jubilee bank holiday. Really hoping to try out a dry pack up...the last 2 trips have certainly proved it is waterproof, so it would be nice to try camping in sunshine!

Read all the tips above, and on other threads about putting up the awning. The main unit is definitely Quickstop, but the awning should be named Slow and Heavystop! Thankfully we won't need to put it up often!

Enjoy your first trip...tell us all about it, we can learn together.

Ours leaked along the main zip that connects the awning to the unit, but it was user error...there is a narrow strip of clear plastic that you have to make sure is covering the zip, and ours was folded the wrong way in places. It's awkward to check because it's on the outside of the roof, so we ended up doing what we could reach from a step at the edges, and then opening up the canvas from the inside at the middle and poking our fingers through to pull over the narrow strip of clear plastic. The only other place we had a slight problem was near the pole by the door, but I think that was because we adjusted it so much during construction, that the pole had touched the canvas in too many places.

Really glad yours held up to the strong winds well...that did worry me a bit because of the lack of guy rope points, so you've put my mind at rest on that score.

We didn't go in half term, because I didn't want a 3rd consecutive wet pack up, but I have serious withdrawal symptoms now and need to get away soon! When is Summer arriving again?!

Becky