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I've finally put my Vermont L on ebay, mainly 'cos we're converting to a caravan. Now it's done I'm feeling sad, it's been a good tent and what doesn't help is that we had a cracking weekend in it last week. It was so warm and sunny. Really wish it had been rubbish weather so we would go "yeah, made the right decision".

Now, i was going to sell all the stuff for it (ehu, wardrobes, kitchen stand etc) but how long do you think before we get a wee weekend tent for nipping away? Thats my big problem, do I sell everything or keep them - just in case?

Help, not sure i want to cut all ties with camping.

We sold our big tent and all the equipment last year and I have to admit I felt quite sad.  We did keep enough equipment and the small tent to get some weekends away and although OH is very wary about camping following last years trip, he is now talking about 2 or 3 nights away.  It might not sound much, but it is a major breakthrough where camping is concerned! 

If you have room to store the essentials, it might be worth keeping on to them for a short while - just in case.

thanks for the advice, have just been talking to husband about keeping some of the stuff, he thinks that once we are caravanning no one will want to go back to tenting. His solution is to get an awning and I can sleep in there if the camping urge takes me!

We sold our big tent - Vango Diablo 600 - about 4 years ago when we bought our first caravan and thought we'd never go back to camping.  We didn't do anything with any of the rest of the gear, just stored it in the loft.

We're very happy caravanning (now we've got the right layout of 'van for us) and all main holidays will continue to be in the caravan for the foreseeable future.  However, it's a half hour drive north-west to get the caravan out of storage before we can go anywhere and we usually take it south-west so we're paying for miles before we feel we're going where we should.

So, on Wednesday, I ordered a Vango Carrera 600 polycotton tent!!  With that, we hope to be able to enjoy some last minute weekend trips away and there are some places we want to go that either don't take caravans or would cost too much towing.  For example, for his 40th next year, OH wants to island hop the Western Isles.

There will be two couples, one car and two tents - much cheaper than taking the caravan so, by all means, get rid of your big tent but don't completely close the door to camping!!

Good luck with the sale, if I'd only known about this last week before I bought a Coleman Mackenzie 6! You are just up the road from me.

Enjoy the caravan.

Ian

I can't imagine ever going back to tenting now that we have a caravan.  But we are lucky in that we can store our 'van at home.  If i had to store it further away i'm not so sure i'd be as keen. 

Where will you be keeping your 'van?  If it's at home you will find it a lot easier to get away in it for weekends.  If you have to store it somewhere else then you might find it easier to keep a weekend tent and all equipment for quick getaways?  What kind of equipment do you have for camping that you are thinking of selling?  If it's storage of any kind then i'd keep it as we store quite a lot of stuff in our awning when we are away for a long holiday.  I find it easier to store stuff in the awning than under the seats in the 'van. 

I still love the sound of the zip going up and down even on our awning lol

Hi Fifer55

I'm sorry you're feeling so sad but am sure you'll love your caravan. We've camped a few times and have decided to take it seriously so we're just about to get new kit...probably some of the things you're selling! I'll message you on eBay about it!