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 Topic: The argument for folding campers
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14/4/2024 at 12:27pm
Location: None Entered
Outfit: Conway Countryman
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I'm going to post in favour of folding campers!
After a 30 year hiatus from camping, we bought an air tent during the pandemic, which was comfortable and allowed us to have a 'safe' holiday. We quickly realised that the set up and pack up time was not conducive to overnight stops.
We watched some people camped next to us pack up their trailer tent. They took almost as long as we did with our tent! But then we saw people with a folding camper pack up and go - it was a revelation!
We came home and bought a 2008 Conway Countryman. Here are the advantages as we see them:
It's lightweight - we can manoeuvre it around on our driveway which has a slope. One person can put it up easily.
Its footprint is small and it fits on our driveway, it's also low, so it doesn't obstruct our view of the garden or cut out any light.
We can open it out on the driveway - although one side goes over a flower bed and the other side needs chocking up!
It is accepted everywhere we've tried - including sites that won't have tents and sites that won't have caravans.
It's spacious inside, with a fair amount of storage space. The beds are permanently made up once pitched - smaller caravans tend to have beds that have to be assembled each night from the sofas.
We can do a 'quick and dirty' setup for an overnight stop in about 30 minutes and a takedown, including hitching up, in about 45 minutes.
It's easy to tow, it doesn't seem to have any impact on fuel consumption either.
With the cotton canvas roof, it still does have the authentic fresh air camping feel.
The downsides:
The season is shorter than with a caravan, because you wouldn't want to use it in the winter. But it's still better than a tent for the marginal spring and autumn trips.
There are no onboard toilet facilities - but on balance I prefer the idea of having to walk to a flushing toilet, rather than having to empty out a cassette.
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14/4/2024 at 2:32pm
Location: East Herts
Outfit: 1992 Elddis Wisp 450CT + X Trail
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I might have agreed with that when I was younger ukros, but not now. That last one alone would be enough to put me off. When you get to a certain age you find yourself having to get up in the night, sometimes more than once, and the idea of having to get dressed and trudge across a field in the rain to get to the toilet block, or even to a toilet tent, holds no appeal at all. We only use our caravan toilet at night, but I wouldn't want to be without it.
My caravan is easy to tow too, and it doesn't seem to affect fuel consumption noticeably either, but then it is a fairly powerful car in relation to the weight of the caravan.
For us the thing that takes the time in setting up and taking down is connecting up the water and levelling up the caravan, so I doubt a folding camper would be any different.
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Best Regards,
Colin
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16/4/2024 at 10:52am
Location: Northern Ireland
Outfit: Sterckeman Alize Concept CP480
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Over fifty years of camping ... voyaged from one man cycling tents ... to 2 person, 4 person, tunnel, 8 person tents, then to folding camper (Pullman), then to caravan ...
Had the Pullman for seven years (from new) and loved it ... all over Europe with it ... fabulous for the better weather (summer camping only) ... only changed when the volume of ancillary 'kit' we took overwhelmed the carrying capacity (bikes, boats, extra fridge etc etc). Despite having fitted a cycle carrier to the rear oif the Pullman, taken out the folding down cupboard to allow more storage space down the centre of the FC when towing etc. Setting up with full awning was taking about 2 hours ...
5 years ago we switched to a caravan after a tearful farewell to the FC as the new owners towed it off into the sunset ...
We have really enjoyed the caravan ... the speed of set up and striking and the extra facilities ...
But, we still only use it on the Continent (store it over there, as we did with the Pullman) ... at under 200 euros a year (secure and under cover, it's a no brainer) ...
We do, still, from time to time, miss the FC ... nothing like canvas in a hot clime ... or in rain, compared to a caravan ... unless you have an expensive climate control unit ...
So ... unless you carry tons of ancillary kit ... I'd go with an FC ... at least for a couple of years ... then you can always switch to a caravan ... also, second hand, decent FC's may hold their value better?
Whatever you choose ... have a great time!
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