Caravan Essentials

[Bob]

On Monday my husband had the wonderfully random idea of suggesting we go and look at caravans, so off we went around the midlands to see what was on offer with no real intent of actually purchasing one.

Then for some reason we did buy one, completely spur of the moment and now we're stuck with it.

Hubby likes an easy life, he's not good at stuff around the home and I can see the caravan being the same, he will want to have as little involvement in it as possible once his job of getting it safely to it's destination is over. I saw him try and pitch a tent for the kids once, the tent was no longer fit for purpose by the time he was finished and promptly ended up in the bin.

Being new to this caravan lark and wanting our first outing to go as smoothly as possible I'm appealing to any hardened campers and caravaners out there for a list of vital purchases.

The van comes with the major components - awning, water barrels, toilet gunk etc, and I'm itching to go shopping for the good stuff!

 

[John Marwood]

House bricks

For when you remove the wheels and do us all a favour ?

 

[Katniss]

I used to love camping and caravaning when my children were little but now I like to be waited on in a hotel and I don't think I will ever camp again.

Good luck with it all, my cousin and her husband enjoy taking off at weekends with the caravan on tow and like touring about.

 

[tek-monkey]

Are your appliances gas or electric?

 

[Bob]

I used to love camping and caravaning when my children were little but now I like to be waited on in a hotel and I don't think I will ever camp again.

Good luck with it all, my cousin and her husband enjoy taking off at weekends with the caravan on tow and like touring about.

We've got it for the kids, eldest is 7 so I figure we've only got 5 years a best where she'll be excited about going camping! I used to love it as a kid but went camping with friends last year, which was good fun but I don't like sharing toilets and showers, figured a caravan was just a step up in the luxury stakes!

 

[Bob]

Are your appliances gas or electric?

Mostly electric, cooker has both options.

 

[Glam]

We found Butane gas better for cooking with, please don't ask me why, I haven't a clue.
Do you have a portapotti and tent? Godsend with small kiddies.
A stabilizer bar for towing is a must too, stops a lot of snaking when towing.

 

[BigD]

On Monday my husband had the wonderfully random idea of suggesting we go and look at caravans, so off we went around the midlands to see what was on offer with no real intent of actually purchasing one.

Then for some reason we did buy one, completely spur of the moment and now we're stuck with it.

Hubby likes an easy life, he's not good at stuff around the home and I can see the caravan being the same, he will want to have as little involvement in it as possible once his job of getting it safely to it's destination is over. I saw him try and pitch a tent for the kids once, the tent was no longer fit for purpose by the time he was finished and promptly ended up in the bin.

Being new to this caravan lark and wanting our first outing to go as smoothly as possible I'm appealing to any hardened campers and caravaners out there for a list of vital purchases.

The van comes with the major components - awning, water barrels, toilet gunk etc, and I'm itching to go shopping for the good stuff!

Bob, what next, a CAR to tow the caravan ?

 

[littleme]

My dad has this thing fitted that means he can move it by remote control - it makes moving it a lot easier ... sorry though, I have no idea what its called!

Plastic things & folding things (like colanders) & a rolly-wheely thing for fetching water!

Didn't @proactive purchase one recently?

 

[wmrcomputers]

Regarding the gas, I'd personally use propane. There's a reason why all the gas tanks at a holiday camp are red....

Pro's for propane. It's cheaper, burns hotter (so a kettle would boil quicker etc.) and can be used all year round.
Butane burns cleaner - apparently. However it becomes unusable at temps below 2c so not suitable for year round use.

If your cooker, fire etc. can all operate on Propane, I'd go that option every time. Also - MMS gas power near J12 are the best place to get it IMHO.

 

[Glam]

Regarding the gas, I'd personally use propane. There's a reason why all the gas tanks at a holiday camp are red....

Pro's for propane. It's cheaper, burns hotter (so a kettle would boil quicker etc.) and can be used all year round.
Butane burns cleaner - apparently. However it becomes unusable at temps below 2c so not suitable for year round use.

If your cooker, fire etc. can all operate on Propane, I'd go that option every time. Also - MMS gas power near J12 are the best place to get it IMHO.

Which 1's which colour?
I may have got the one we used wrong?! Me mother was a natural blonde...................

 

[wmrcomputers]

Propane is red, butane is blue.

 

[Bob]

Bob, what next, a CAR to tow the caravan ?

Weve got a very substantial truck.

 

[Bob]

My dad has this thing fitted that means he can move it by remote control - it makes moving it a lot easier ... sorry though, I have no idea what its called!

Plastic things & folding things (like colanders) & a rolly-wheely thing for fetching water!

Didn't @proactive purchase one recently?

It came with the rolly thing, water butts etc, it's just the everyday stuff I need to get, can't find a good downloadable anywhere, don't want to forget to put obvious stuff in, though already purchased an additional corkscrew!

 

[Bob]

Propane is red, butane is blue.

It has red bottles in at the mo, we'll probably just stick with that.

 

[Bob]

T

My dad has this thing fitted that means he can move it by remote control - it makes moving it a lot easier ... sorry though, I have no idea what its called!

Plastic things & folding things (like colanders) & a rolly-wheely thing for fetching water!

Didn't @proactive purchase one recently?

They look brilliant, a motor mover is on my list of things to research!

 

[Glam]

Propane is red, butane is blue.

In that case, scrap what I said originally (I could edit my post, not that petty). We used use the red bottles.

 

[proactive]

We've had ours for nearly a year now. Best extras for it I bought were air conditioning, and the satellite TV and Internet system because it WILL rain and kids need to be entertained.

On a practical note I got one of these http://www.towsure.com/purple-line-enduro-caravan-motor-mover it really does make the chore of manoeuvring much, much easier.

 

[Rikki]

A decent gas bbq would go cadac myself.

A electric hob for the awning, remember you only pay for electric not how much you use. Save your gas.

A plug in electric heater if your van doesn't have electric heating, same reason as above.

Just remember with electric your limited to how much you can have on at once.

Storage units for the awning and something to do food preparation on. Worktop space in caravans is limited, especially if cooking for a family.

A good set of chairs and table for eating outside when nice.

Satellite tv kit for evening and bad weather

 

[hop]

I do not have a caravan, but will just add a few extra points to what @Rikki said about electric.

If you burn gas the by products are carbon dioxide and water.
For butane this is normally 8 parts carbon dioxide and 10 parts water (I don't know how to do sub script so won't bother with the chemical formula)
Therefore I would use electric as much as possible to avoid any issues you might get from large parts of water vapour in the air (mold, mildew, condensation etc...)
If you use a bottled gas ensure you have decent ventilation and airate the space to let the moisture out.