Ten years ago when we bought our first caravan the dealer gave us a free awning.We were off to France the following week but thought we should have a practice night close to home.We spent ages trying to put the awning up,someone came over to help us and pointed out that the awning was the wrong size. The awning was at least a metre too long.
Luckily we were only a 15 min drive from dealer, so kept the poles and swapped the canvas part. Good job we had a practice run!
We have had 2 incidents with jockey wheels one with an Esteral fc and the other was with the caravan we have now. Both jumped off the hitch and the safety chain pulled us to a stop. Needless to say we check check again. With a new jockey wheel it seems better as the other was a worn one.
But we had to stop on a pull in off road as oh needed the van loo and he found the cupboard at the back of the van had totally crashed down onto the floor leaving all the muck all over the place.
It has taught us a bit late to not put certain things in there. Well it taught him anyway as he had to clear it up and mend it on site.
We live and learn hopefully.
------------- Chrissie
Be Strong-Think positive.
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Turned up on a summer holiday rally, after a long drive, desperate to kick back with a glass or two of wine. Turned on the pump to fill the hot tank, and water started gushing everywhere, flooding the bunk where our towels were kept. Fortunately our neighbour was a general builder and plumber and carried half of b&q and caravan accessories r us in his car. He came in and replaced a something or other inlet valve and pretty much saved our holiday. We had a one year old at the time and could not have coped for 2 weeks without running water. Needless to say, our neighbour was thanked with a bottle or 2 of wine and happy neighbours!
A couple of years ago my wife forgot to remove a couple of chicken breasts from the freezer part of the fridge. When we went to the van a few weeks later we wondered what the stench was. It took ages to remove the smell from the freezer. Not made that mistake again.
New to Caravaning so I'm sure worse will happen in time:
The front tent (awning) that came with our van was ugly and moldy as the previous owner never used it for the 6 years they owned the van and it was just shoved in a shed.
Anyway turned out the guy down the end of the street had 2 front tents for his due to a mistake on his part which is another story.
We wanted to test fit it to make sure it was ok so I pulled the van to the end of the road where there is a grass area so we did not damage it on the road, this grass area is surrounded by a curb which I pulled the van up no problem at all.
Tent fit and tested all good so 100 euro for a pioneer easy door front tent with aluminium frame, good deal.
Pulling the van off the grass veeeeeeeerrrrryyyy slowly the first wheel of the van came off the curb and the rocking of the van caused the corner steady on that corner to bounce off the curb.
This caused minor damage to the floor of the van in that corner which was easily fixed with new sealant and screws but still it could have been a lot worse
about 20 years ago a horse in the field ate the frill on the front of our awning, we have also had the fridge door fall off and milk spilled everywhere while towing. also in our older van a bottle of cooking oil spilled onto the floor ruining the carpet. And last bank holiday 2 bottles of wine decided to jump out the cupboard that has a very strong clasp and put a lovely dent in the laminated worktop below but thankfully did not break,
We have just cut our holiday short because OH went to help a neighbour push his caravan onto his pitch, slipped on the gravel, fell and broke his arm and shoulder!
When we first bought our van we were assured it had been winterised. The following Easter we found that it had not been drained down completely. The taps in the kitchen and bathroom were easy enough to get at but the shower proved to be interesting.
Having returned from Norfolk last summer I put the van onto the drive and started unpacking in the rain. Took me a while to realise why I was getting wet inside - the roof light had gone. Could have sworn I closed it.