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Topic: Winter caravaning trip to forget.

c.kempy

13/2/2012 at 4:28pm
Location: Essex
Outfit: Bailey Orion 440 4

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Hi Just returned from two days at Little Baddow Hall CL site in Essex. Nothing wrong with the site but:
Had a minnor traffic accident on the way to pick up the caravan. Needed to get the headlight replaced before carrying on, third party only.
Powertouch mover was just slipping on tyre with ice on it. So had to maneover by hand.
When on site, Realised i had not brought the right number plate for the caravan and had just driven all the way like it. All the caravan pipes had frozen even though i had drained them all down as instructed. Resulting in no hot or cold water, no toilet flush and degraded fridge cooling. Frozen aqua roll even with a insulated jacket. Blown fuse in toilet due to trying to operate while frozen. Frozen site water supply meaning a short drive to refil.
Apart from that the Whale 2kw underfloor heater and Alutech insulation was just capable of heating the caravan nicely, finally thawing the pipes out.
Would i do it again, Yes of course i would. But i would like to get an onboard water supply first.

realbusdriver

13/2/2012 at 5:02pm
Location: between here & there
Outfit: 2 berth corniche 15 2 x-type jag

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even with all the minor annoyance's , i bet you enjoyed every minute of it, ( maybe not the rtc bit )

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no tin tent outings booked as yet ,just another cruise in Sept' booked so far

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birder99

13/2/2012 at 5:21pm
Location: Cambs
Outfit: Tin tent diddy tent BIG tent

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Just back from 10 days in 'van. No water from Aquaroll for three days - did not even bother to fill it as it was so cold. Rest of time kept aquaroll as full as possible to give a greater mass to freeze and removed pump at night. I found that by standing aquaroll on a block of Kingspan insulation board and wrapping with insulated cover and three layers of bubble wrap all kept in place with my waterproof aquaroll transit bag the water stayed unfrozen when the ground temp dropped to as low as - 7C overnight (two hot water bottles probably helped a bit!).

Biggest problem was waste water freezing and having to dispose of bucket shaped icecubes of waste water. There was no way that I was going to be able to use the wastemaster.

Had to adjust the level of the 'van a few times as pitched on snow and it slowly melted over the week allowing the blocks to sink into the resulting mud.

All good fun and despite using a 6kg bottle of propane every 3 days (only 6A ehu) caravan stayed nice and snug with no frozen pipes.

Loads of long walks in the snow and a bit of birding made it a good break but if I caught the same extreme weather again I would probably try and get a pitch with hard standing and a 16A ehu. Wellies and good thermals essential!

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'A sure cure for sea-sickness is to sit under a tree'

sunshinetours

14/2/2012 at 12:02pm
Location: sunny south east!
Outfit: Coachman

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oops - sounds like it was an interesting trip! Be interested in seeing your review of the CL as have looked at this one before and may plan a couple of nights during this year as pretty close by

Janx

14/2/2012 at 12:47pm
Location: lincolnshire
Outfit: Bailey Pageant Burgundy +Kia Sorento

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Oh dear glad it hasn't put you off.

Always keep some water inside, keep the aquaroll off the ground on some wood/blocks or similar, and if you have the awning up keep it in there at night.

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**********
HAPPY DAYS
**********

c.kempy

14/2/2012 at 1:47pm
Location: Essex
Outfit: Bailey Orion 440 4

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Thanks
The waste water bucket was one i had not thought or heard of, a great idea.

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