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 Topic: campervan vs tent camping
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27/8/2023 at 11:22am
Location: Turriff Aberdeenshi
Outfit: Romahome R30 Dimens
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Like many others, I started off with a tent, moved to a PVC, then to a string of motorhomes, and back to a PVC.
Of these, I like my current van the best. Now that the children have grown & flown, our Romahome R30 suits us fine. Only 5 mtrs long, but fully equipped with washroom, full kitchen, heating etc..
We don't bother with unnecessary gadgets like microwaves, TV, inverters etc.
We don't have the luxury of permanent beds, but we've got setting up and packing up down to a fine art.
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Two drifters off to see the world.
I'm tired of reality, so I'm off to look for a good fantasy.
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27/8/2023 at 11:38am
Location: London
Outfit: Lunar Cosmos 524
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Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 26/8/2023
5 hrs to set up?? That would do me in as well. One of the big advantages of a caravan, camper-van, or motorhome vs a tent or trailer tent is that if you arrive on a site in torrential rain (we've all been there) you can be sitting in the dry within a couple of minutes at most. Peripheral stuff like EHU, water, etc you can set up when it eases off. I can have our caravan fully set up on site in less than 30 minutes without breaking a sweat. It does take longer of course if we take the awning, but for a week or less we usually don't bother these days. There are only two of us now, and we don't even have our dog anymore. We didn't even have an awning when we had our kids onboard in the 1980s, few caravanners did back then.
Yep, DK is not unique, friends spend at LEAST 5 or 6 hours setting up their 'encampment' which consists of a 6 berth tunnel tent with extension and add on porch, pup tent for the kids, and a event shelter as a kitchen with just about every electric appliance imaginable! That's 2 adults and 2 or more teenage girls setting everything up. They have a twin axle goods trailer (bit beyond what you could call a camping trailer!) with a MTPLM close to my 4 berth caravan and probably rivals some micro teardrop caravans in size! They always book an extra day on pitch and leave the day before (late afternoon!), because they stand no chance of packing up and leaving before most site's deadline!
So many of us have said "WHY" to them, get a caravan or MH and stop trying to kill yourselves with that totally OTT tenting set up! They're younger than most of us, still in their 40's, but the chap's absolutely shattered at the end of the day, even at our rally meets where many of us lend a hand, setting up was still an 'all day' task! Packing up in bad weather was the usual nightmare with extra bells and whistles on, SO much kit to pack way, and obviously much of it like all the electric kitchen stuff had to be kept completely dry!
I like camping in a tent (still do it occasionally on our trips to France), but I love my caravan and the ease of set up and break down, even if I do put the awning up, it's nowhere as tiresome as a tent.
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27/9/2023 at 9:29am
Location: Stafford UK.
Outfit: VW T25 Trout Lake 4
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I use a campervan and a good quality tent, thus getting the best of both worlds. As most of my trips are solo these days, I can get all of my camping gear in the van and still have space for a single bed. I only stay on campsites with basic facilities, toilets, showers etc and sometimes electric. If I arrive at a site and it`s raining, I can sleep in the van until it stops. Once the tent is up, I can go anywhere a family car can go and if I travel further afield, I find another campsite for the night. I always keep my toiletries and clothes in the van for this eventuality. A lifetime of camping has taught me to be as minimalist as possible and things are so much easier now as I only have myself to please. Since I retired, time is of little consequence, so I can pitch up and pack up at my leisure. Ultimately, it depends on your wants and needs. Just get out there and enjoy it.
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What ? Me Anal ?
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28/9/2023 at 2:36pm
Location: London
Outfit: Lunar Cosmos 524
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I usually start my packing up the day before departure, for a number of reasons.
I'm mostly a solo caravaner, so I have no one to assist with packing up, stowing stuff safely for towing, either in car or van, takes time. There is not a great load carrying capacity with my van before exceeding MTPLM, so a LOT of stuff has to go in the car.
My van is stored in a yard, best part of an hour from home on clear roads, more like 2 hours at busy times, so pretty much got to clear the van of anything I want at home or don't want to leave in van, so I can just dump the van at the yard and head for home, without the tiresome need to revisit it urgently in next few days to remove all the stuff I left in it.
I like to take the awning down when dry, as not really space at home to dry, so that usually means in the afternoon when the sun/wind has been been at it for a good few hours and thoroughly cleared any early morning dew, let alone maybe seizing the opportunity of avoiding rain.
I'm quite thorough in ensuring car and van are roadworthy, so check of tyre pressures, wheel bolt torque etc., top up washer bottle, check engine oil etc. are all done before departing, and can be done the day before.
The 'last minute' pre-departure stuff of emptying tanks, removing water pump and draining water system, disconnecting EHU and cleaning and stowing all that gear. Turning off gas. Then there are 3 locks to remove and store in their cases, raise corner steadies, check all windows and roof vents are shut and secured, put TV aerial in 'travel' position, hitch up and check lights are in working order, return any security passes/keys, pretty much fills the time until required to vacate the pitch unless it's a rare site with midday departure time, in which case I'll be away well before I HAVE to be!
OK, so I've got a dog, and a dog walk gets thrown into the chores before departure, so maybe 45mins goes there.
If I didn't start packing up the day before, I'd have hours of hard graft starting at probably sun rise before often a 7 or 8 hour journey home, now that just seems stupidly like making life difficult for myself, so a more leisurely approach of spreading the task over two days with only the 'can't be done before' stuff left until day of departure.
I've friends who spend the whole of the previous day and a early start next morning packing up, just about scraping out by 'eviction' time, and there's two of them!
I've seen plenty who do the bare minimum of 'prep' before departure, pretty much just chucking stuff loose in the van (to be sorted later?), never doing any 'safety' checks, probably away within an hour of waking up! I dread to think how much of a mess the van is at the end of the journey, and how many hours they spend doing clearing up before the van is usable again, and obviously the journey was done in 'ignorant bliss' unless maybe an open window/vent got ripped off, a tyre blew or wheel came off, or they got a pull from the police for defective lights! With such a haphazard approach to loading, I'd wonder how stable their outfit was under tow as well!
I've a fairly well practised routine, done with relative leisure and confidence nothing has been missed in the 'panic' to depart, that'll do for me.
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via mobile 27/9/2023 at 9:42am
