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Hi, sooooooo excited, we've just bought our first caravan (Bailey Ranger 460/4 2008) after quite a few years under canvas.  I was just wondering how much (if any) warmer at night a caravan is compared to a tent......we've always used sleeping bags before and me being a bit of a lush have the biggest, thickest, warmest bag you could ever hope for.  I would like to have proper sheets/duvets for our fixed bed and wondered if I'd need a thicker duvet or a thinner less tog one?  Is it generally warmer in a van?

We don't pick up the van for a couple of weeks so I wont get any sleep until then and I can't wait to use it.......I've always wanted one so it's a bit of dream come true for me even when we were in our other units (and we've done them all; tents, folding campers, pop tops and recently back to tents again!) I was always in envy of people turning up with their lovely caravans and relaxing soon after pitching (our last holiday in the tent took hours to pitch!) and not worrying about a wet pack up.

Anyway,excuse my rambling......as I said I'm so excited.  Thanks for any advice.

Jules

Congratulations on the new van. We will be joining you soon after some years in a tent. I plan on buying those 4 season duvets. The ones that consist of summer quilt and a Spring/Autumn quilt to velcro together and make a Winter quilt. That way I will be covered for all seasons.

Carol

Hi Jules (and Carol)

Congratulations on your new 'van.  I am always cold but have never been when camping or caravanning because i sleep next to my human radiator lol.  My dd says she gets cold in the van so i always keep a radiator on her end so that she doesn't get cold but because we are in an enclosed space it does get really warm very quickly with all of us in the 'van too.  If you go away in colder weather you can always put the heating on so probably won't need to worry about getting cold.

Hi Jules & Rich,

  We're the same as you, we collect our first van on Saturday, a Coachman Laser 590/4, and I'm sooooooo excited I can hardly sleep. We're taking the same as when in our tent - 12 tog duvet + 2 fleece blankets and we've always been very, very toasty in the tent so I don't think it will be any different in the van. We don't have a fixed bed but we're hoping to kill 2 birds with one stone so I can still feel as though I'm camping. We're putting an annex on the awning and will be sleeping in that. Not straight away though as we've had to order both awning and annex.

Thanks everyone!  Yep mzzy - you should see my shopping list already-everything just has to match!!  Have fun in your new vans Marilyn 51 and Carol!

Jules

Hi, Congratulations on the new van.  We did exactly the same as you at the end of last season - we were fed up of having to put away wet tents and then get them out again to dry!

We bought one of those 4 season quilts and so far have only caravanned in cooler weather.  Despite this we have been really cosy in the 9 tog half of the duvet and when it was frosty we had the heater on very low through the night.

We're looking forward to a summer in France and plenty of short breaks in our van - we love it!

Have fun.

Hi,

Congratulations on your new vans. I can assure you after years of a tent you will find a caravan warmer.   The heating in the vans these days are brilliant home from home.  We too are enjoying our new van and it just so nice to be warm and dry!!!!!

Yorkie