Hints & Tips
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Category's required
- Buying - the pitfalls and how to avoid them
- Towing - How to load a van, safe weights
- Wiring - Those pesky light problems
- Why Your Unit Suites You - What made you Buy, Are you Pleased with your choice
- General Tips
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General Hints & Tips
Buying Tips
E-mail your tips to camper@campsitereviews.co.uk
During the winter its a good idea to empty and take the canvas off your
folding camper. This cuts down the chance of damp and mildew getting
to it. Its a fairly simple and quick job, just remember how it all comes
to bits (draw diagrams if it helps) as it may be a few months before
you put it back together again.
When putting the canvas back on the unit make sure the poles are put
on the correct way round. If you have an awning then the frame may have
holes in to insert the awning poles. On the pennine these do not go
all the way through the frame, meaning it has to be the correct way
round. We got it wrong, never gave it a thought until erecting the awning
on site. We then realised the holes were on the inside which resulted
in us having to strip it down on site and reassemble the right way round!
If you find that your struggling with your awning getting stuck in the
awning track of your caravan try spraying it with wd40 it will slide
a lot easier and it soon evaporates so it wont stain your awning
From John McDonagh
If you think WD40s good, try Dash Shine or anything with silicon in
it.
I bought a one litre Aquachem which is more expensive to buy but is easier to handle and more economical, because of that niffty measure in the top.I found that by pulling a thin plastic cable tie through the hole in the tube up the middle of the measure to form a loop, small enough so that the top still goes on. I am now able to pull the tube out with the awning peg puller and refill the bottle using the cheaper 2litre bottles, and no it's not a messy job as long as you rinse the measure before you start.
From Gary Connelly
Hi All
I bought my last new caravan in 1996, checked all that I could think
of
nothing seemed to be amiss apart from the small minor things that were
put right. It was a 4 berth van and we use it as a large 2 berth. The
van is a Lunar with the "L" shape seating at the end.
One night I tried out the double bed, the seating was sprung but the
back rests used as part of the matress was firm foam, (the one thing
that I hadn't checked). You can guess what it felt like.
So buying new or used vans check that all seating and backs are made the same if used for beding.
John at Worthing
Outfit:
Swift Conqueror 640 Salon (4berth) &
Shogun 2.5Tdi LWB - both '93 vintage.
Some history:
In the early '70's I cut my caravanning 'teeth' with my parents in their
'new' Sprite Musketeer 14'. Part of the CI (Caravan International) group
with three other marques including Eccles & Europa the Sprite range
had very thin walls, aluminium window frames and basic creature comforts
(all gas lighting, no oven and no water pump).
When on sites my father & I would take the dog for it's walk which
would allow us to scrutinise the other vans in the area. We would often
comment on the engineering that went into some of the models, the ideas,
designs and inventions owners and manufacturers employed. The basic
premis that with quality came weight was stronger then than now with
fewer 'hi-tech' materials then available. Many makes have come and gone
since then but one which always appealed to me - but at the time was
out of our reach for reasons of price and tow-ability, was Swift.
To me they appealed because of their superior build quality, styling
and equipment levels. They always seemed to have quality vehicles (the
bigger Rovers, Range Rovers & Jags) parked next to them - which
was probably right 'cos nothing much else had the guts to pull them!
19 years later....:
August/September '99 began doing the rounds looking at 'local' (within
a 30 mile radius) 2nd user vans/ex trade-ins. Initially found a 1994
16ft Garland Champagne(?) which was clean & tidy with the asking
price of nearly £9k. At the time, with the vehicle we had (&
still do) - 'tow car of the year' for 1983-4 ('ish) VW Passat/Santana
GL5 Estate I knew it was within our scope. However, still thinking we
could do better we scour various other avenues & spot an advert
in the Exchange & Mart. A call was made.
On explaining our response was due to their ad, we are asked
"...your not Gipseys are you?". Somewhat taken aback - we
put the vendors mind at rest and made arrangements to view. It transpired
that certain vanning enthusiast friends of the vendor had had problems
attracting the unwanted interest of 'travellers' for their vans. Pressure
and strong arm tactics had apparently been applied to get the owners
to part with their vans for silly money. Our vendor was understandably
initially concerned.
The inspection:
When we arrived, the van , an impressive looking beast, some 24' long
with twin axles was sited lengthways in front of the vendors' house.
Suitable heavy security was evident. The exterior appeared well polished,
as far as could be seen the underside was clean - no evidence of rot
etc. the moulded windows were unscratched and the tyres were in good
order. The interior (early '90's dusky pink) was mold-free, clean &
well appointed. We were told neither the shower nor oven had been used
(the oven baking tray was still in its brown wrapping paper!).
We were invited indoors to negotiate the deal over a cup of tea....which
to me was the clincher. This young family explained some of the history
of the van and during this short time of chatting, I was able to see
how they treated their property. In this way I beleive you can always
tell those who take little care of their possessions. Even though they
both smoked, had two small children and a small dog there were no signs
of this sort of use in the van itself. After test driving the Shogun
we agreed on a mutually acceptable figure for both units (he'd just
lost his job with the local council & needed to realise the capital
tied up in them) and made arrangements for picking it up.
Getting it home:
The journey although only 25 miles was both nerve racking and enjoyable.
The rig, already being a matched unit, behaved impeccably - even when
overtaken at 60 on the M40 by trucks. The twin axles playing their part
in the stability. the Shogun, though not being the quickest of motors
being a deisel, gave the impression that there wasn't anything on the
back of it. The nerves started when I was deciding on the best route
to get home once I'd left the relative wide expanse of the open motorway.
Roads which up to that point I hadn't given a thought to - regarding
their width, were now having to be discounted. No way was I using my
usual route to squeeze that thing through!! So I took a longer - wider
- route.
Having pulled up outside the house the next problem loomed. The space
I'd earmarked to park the van on, required me to reverse it in so far
then unhitch it to push it sideways then pull it forward behind a screen.
#### Does anyone know of a cheap Mr Shifta being offered? ##### ! ! !
The plus side of the twin axles' stability now turned against me when
trying to manually manouvre the thing. NO WAY.
A couple of hasty phone calls to some of the local farms and a temporary
place to store it was found. We've since (checking acceptability with
the neighbours first) returned it to out front but now the garage is
innaccessible so I still need that Shifta! At least it enables easy
maintenance having it out there.
Closer inspection & living with it:
- the pale grey window gasket on most of the windows has reached an
age where they to stick to the windows themselves (apparently not uncommon
for the age) replacement is available from most good dealers' workshops
25mm = £4.50/m, 32mm = £6.50/m and is now black. Window
fittings/catches are also black.
- the van has an on board 9 gallon water tank which uses a sender unit
to activate a water level meter on the control panel above the kitchen
area. This meter had failed but investigations enabled me to obtain
a direct replacement from the original manufacturer 'Plug in Systens'
in Hull(tel 01482 652 523). I could've used something from RS but considering
one of these would not have had the white stensilled word "water"
inside the sealed unit I decided to go for the original which was ready
to solder straight in.
- The bath sealant around the plastic shower 'tray' needed pulling out
and replacing - straghtforward.
- the strip light above the sink had a dodgy connection - sorted
- one of the plastic (cable tie) supports for the brake cables had sheered
- sorted.
- a couple of bulb holders had oxidised connectors - usual for this
age van: sorted
- The axles appear in need of a little attention - some rust which'll
get rubbed off and liberally painted over with Hammerite.
- On the whole there was no damp, no delamination of the floor around
the shower area, no scratches on the windows, no signs of heavy use,
no signs of misuse, tyres were good, hitch was fine, cabinets &
catches all ok, battery good, floor, ceiling and walls all sound and
all the ancilliaries operated.
Plans:
We intend using the unit mid April for our 'honeymoon' (yes I know,
how romantic). Later in the year we plan to try a jaunt to Eurodisney
- there's a reasonable site 15-20 mins from there which is well priced,
plus I quite enthusiastic about towing abroad - though I'm still not
quite sure why! Next year ambitions are to get down to Bilbao/St Andare
(sorry if mispelt!) to return to our favourite hols destination Spain.
There are still a few niggly things to do - it's a case of holding down
a full time job (while trying to change to a better one!), maintain
a house, 3 cars, a family AND the van! (No peace for the wicked eh?).
Overall:
Although having limited experience in such matters and often reading
the advice to think small to medium and THEN work upwards - our experience
has so far been very positive. Okay so the whole thing is over 12 meters
long and this may restrict our access to certain sites. If however,
like me you are 6' 4" and built like a rugby Scrum Half, and your
partner has the (rather nice )dimensions of an Amazon, then many of
the alternatives we'd seen would not have given us as much potential
for comfortable, enjoyable caravanning- which after all is what we are
all striving for isn't it? (I can't speak for others, but deliberately
'roughing-it' doesn't appear on our menu).
Summary:
So (thankfully) so far we feel we've been lucky to find a clean and
well priced setup which will do us for at least 5 years. Having attended
the last Earls Court show (Nov '99) all the '2000' vans don't seem have
many more quality fittings and gizmos than were fitted to our model
6 years earlier. I only hope those in the same 'thinking of buying a
caravan' situation we were in 6 months ago, have as much success as
we did.
Whatever your budget, abilities, restrictions and desires - happy touring!
(PS has anyone found me a 2nd hand Mr Shifta yet?!)
Sent in By Colin
I had a twin-axle Swift Conqueror and it was a smashing van for living
in and towing but once on the rally field it was hell getting it level.
You needed a forest of blocks and if you didn't run it up ramps to level
fore-and-aft, you put a strain on the jockey wheel mechanism to the
extent
that it would easily strip the threads.
Me, I have gone back to a single-axle. Stability is fine as long as
you pack the van properly and stick within towing limits. As for large
vehicles passing: when I see them coming I pull over the right by the
white line and then as they get up to me having themselves pulled out
a bit, I then pull
over to the left white line. This leaves a bigger gap!
Sent in By Tony Wise
If you have a 4x4 with a spare wheel fitted to the rear door and you
are
thinking of having an Alko coupling/stabilser fitted, beware of the
following possible problem.
The Alko coupling requires you to raise the stabilser lever fully vertical
before you can raise the coupling lever. On my Terran the spare wheel
is over the towball (even the extended Alko ball supplied) to the extent
that the stabilser leer cannot be raised. With the outfit in the "straight
ahead" position or even with a slight righthand bend, this lever
can be raised if the door is open. Shutting the rear door then is a
problem as the extended jockey wheel handle gets in the way! Next trick
is to take the jockey wheel off after its all hitched up.
Now comes the fun :-(
After bringing the van into its storage pitch, the outfit has a left hand bend! Put on the jockey wheel, can't open the back door far enough to lift the stabiliser lever. Answer is to remove the spare wheel. What a pain. Wish I hadn't bothered. I might add that the Terrano's rear door opens with its hinge on the right. Fortunately I change the car soon, another rear door but hinges on the left and the towball is further back in relation to the spare wheel - I've measured it! No problem of course with an ordinary car.
Sent in By Tony Wise
This may sound an obvious tip but if you are upgrading your folding camper and thinking of putting it in part ex.. WAIT, think about selling it privately, it may be a little more hassle but it can mean a huge difference in the price. Having just part exchanged a 1998 pennine pulman for a top of the range pathfinder we found it being resold for £700 more than we had been given, so think twice, I wish we had!
Sent in by Lorraine Black