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Coming from a tent background and recently ordered my new Conway countryman. I was wondering if anyone would recomend the blown heating system (factory Fit) and what is a feasable camping season with or without it. bearing in mind i have a 2 year old daughter..

Thanks

I would say absolutely essential - but I dont like being cold ha ha !!!

Hi we bought a new Crusader last year and did not get the blow heating and i think that is the only thing we regret. Also having children ourselves i think it is safer to have factory fitted heating and for another five hundred i wish we had got it fitted. It can be chilly early/late in the seaon.

Theresa

In my old Dandy I had an underfloor heater. This was good but I could,nt risk it with young kiddys. The plate got just too hot !!!!. Ever since I,ve never bothered with any extra heating. I did concider a fan heater once but did,nt bother in the end.

I know all people are diffrent in thier tolerance to cold. But I,ve never really felt the need for anything. If it does get a bit nippy I just put the kettle on. You get a nice hot drink & the gas ring boiling the kettle warms everything up nicely.

Once you are snuggled up in bed I find any cold just goes anyway !!!!!! Then again this advice is coming from someone who used to camp out on the yorkshire dales in Dec & Jan in the snow !!!!!!! And enjoyed it !!!!!  

Regards THUMPER.

Hi,

Based upon my experiences of owning a couple of "almost" brand new caravans and the niggling hassles and expense associated with getting things fixed when they fail, when I bought my folding camper, I opted for the base options with a view to kitting it out with easily removed/replaced accesories, so no fixed fridge.

I bought a £40.00 fridge from Halfords and if/when it fails Ill chuck it and buy another.

Ditto for heating, Ive had fancy blown heating running off either mains or gas in caravans before(which kept playing up) but found a cheap (£12) letter box fan heater a much easier option, again when it fails I chuck it and simply buy another...its the moden way!!!!

Ive just bought a pair of electric blankets at Aldi...£12 each.

With all of that, I guess that should keep us pretty warm for early and late season camping..not that we plan to do much -  but for the total cost of all of those items it isnt going to break the bank. You also tend to find that these expenseive options also seem to have virtually no value when it comes to change.

Hi,

I'd say it really depends on whether you'll be camping away from an electric hookup.  If you have mains, then all of the above cheap replaceable options must be better value - your only headache is child-proofing them.  I used to have a camper van, and enjoyed the freedom of 'rough' camping, but I wouldn't even have considered it without the on-board gas-fired blow-heater.  As an adult you can cope with the odd chilly night (recommend dark rum and hot blackcurrant), but coping with a child having a cold sleepless night is really tough!