Tips on storage
We are about to move to a flat so we have to put our van into storage at a farm about 30 mins from home. Any tips on setting off or returning to storage would be appreciated. For example is it best to bring the van home to load up or to just chuck everything in the car and load it all at the farm? What do folks do about battery charging, cleaning, checking before a trip? All helpful tips gratefully received!
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Hi
We store our motorhome at a farm about 15 minutes from home
We load our car drive to the storage, pull the motorhome out of its space load it up, park the car in the space and away we go
On return we do it in reverse
This works very well for us and we can off load the car and be away within 10 minutes
We are very lucky our storage has electric hook up so we can go the day before and turn the fridge on if we need to
Cleaning can be done why parked up, charging is easy on hook up, our storage even has an excellent wash bay facility which we use to clean the outside of the van
We love the extra security if offers and the fact it is not obvious at home that we are away because the motorhome is missing
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We store our caravan and just load car/support vehicle at home and then transfer when arrive at our destination site, and load car the same for return journey ,we have not had a problem with a flat battery, (we do go away a lot) check with owner about cleaning, also remember to tell your insurance company where you now keep your van
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Geoffeales we store away from home too. As above, just load the car, pick up the caravan and unpack on site. It means a bit more work when you get to your destination, when others are already sat out having a drink, you'll still be emptying the car. 😕 But it becomes a quick routine on unpacking and packing up.
We don't have access to electric in storage but the farm owners allow us to have it professionally cleaned, as we asked their permission first. Only fair when it means a third party coming onto their land.
We always set the alarm in storage and never had problems with the battery. We do try to get out at least every other weekend if we can. We insure through the caravan club and made a point of telling them that it wasn't stored at home but they weren't interested. They said the only difference to them, from storing at our home address would be if it was in a cassoa rated storage site. If we want to load things the night before a journey, I just email the farm to let them know we'll be moving about just out of courtesy.
We are lucky to have a great relationship with the farm and have found that if we want to collect the van to go away, we need to allow more time at the farm because we're bound to get talking to somebody whilst trying to hook up and get away! 😊
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Our caravan is stored on a secure site 45miles from our home.
We keep as much as possible in the caravan, so generally we only have to transport food, clothing and bedding to/from the van.
I installed a roof mounted solar panel on our van that takes care of the battery charging when the van is in storage and when we go off-grid.
I carry a long-handled mop which I use to wash our van, something I do when pitched on site.
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I think that a lot depends on how you use the caravan. We store at home but it is always ready for the off. We don't go away for short breaks and so emptying is the fridge and dirty clothes. There are always clothes in wardrobe and lockers. When we go we put the washed clothes back and fill fridge emptying the one at home.
When I used to weekend it was similar except the clothes for washing were fewer and no need to fully empty home fridge.
I did store about 80 miles from home and work for a few years when living on my own with youngest away at college. I rarely had to pick the caravan up and go though. The site that I used had river fishing on a salmon and trout river and there were several places to fish nearby. I had a lot of leave and would go up for a 4 or 5 night stay a couple of times a month. When I left it was dump contents of fridge into a cool box and a few days dirty washing into a pillow slip and drive to work. Even if going on a two or three week holiday when youngest was off college and would join me for part or all of a tour the effort for me was just the same. Pillow case of washed clothes and fridge contents into a cool box. Keeping around 10 days of clothes and everything for touring (including fishing tackle) always in the car or caravan made for simplicity and less faff.
We are fortunate in having two cars. The X-Trail always has chairs, tables, drill for steadies, towing mirrors, wheel lock, motor mover bits, box of diet cokes, tool box and cool box in the car along with a few coats. Our 19 year old Yaris alway has back seats down and a cover ready for trips to the tip or shops and is our daily drive. Keeping the car and caravan loaded does make life easier.
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thanks for help so far, when we told insurers about the site being CASSOA it started a Dutch auction with another company and we pretty much halved our premium! Useful tip about the solar panel, will look into that one. Keep them coming!
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The same as above for us really. We load the car and then transfer to caravan at storage site. This does sometimes involve a couple of trips as we don’t leave anything, bedding, food, or clothes in the caravan. Washing the caravan is more of an issue as our storage has no water supply so we take a full Aquaroll, bucket, sponge, etc. when it needs cleaning and that does the job.
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Mine's in storage as well.
Best thing to do is ask storage yard owner what you can, and can't, do.
Mine allows washing, servicing, etc, etc. Like others I have a solar panel so the battery is always topped up (VERY handy if you have a mover).
My storage doesn't have a water supply either so it's a full 25 litre container, and telescopic ladder, in the boot & the job's sorted.
When going away I just load the car with food, clothes & off I go.....van, nowadays, never comes to the house (all that's doing is advertising I'm going away!)
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