Newbies
Hi we are Lee and Sue and are new to the caravan/motorhome club. We are picking up our 2019 Bailey Advance 59-2 on Saturday. We are new to motorhoming as we were both caravaners before. Our first main trip will be for 2 weeks to do the North Coast 500 at Easter. Any tips would be great
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Hi Lee and Sue
We have the Bailey Alliance 66-2 so just a little bigger than yours. Hopefully the dealer will give you a good run through when you pick the van up but I found, when we got our first motorhome, I had forgotten most of it by the time I got home!!! However like you we were caravanners before changing to a motorhome about six years ago. Fortunately there is a lot of similarity between the equipment so you should feel at home. The 59-2 has a good pay load but that is always something you need to pay attention to. If I were you I would try and get away for a weekend so that you can get used to everything. Hope you enjoy.
David
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Welcome to the club, hope you enjoy your new motorhome.
My tip would be to book ahead for the NC500, the sites fill up and parking spots can get busy too. As DK suggested try out your motorhome ahead of a long trip (unless you can sort it all out at home first.)
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Easter is in Mid April next year, so get at least a w/end in first to check all facilities are up and running. Global Warming / Climate change is fine on paper, BUT it can be darned cool in those Northern Reaches at that time of year, and that blooming white fluffy stuff ain't unknown as I'm sure you are well aware.
P.S. Welcome to the "Dark Side "
Brian
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It might be worth videoing your handover so that you can review it later. I moved to the dark side a couple of years ago and haven't regretted it thus far.
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It worth having a few days away immediately on picking up if possible. We switched from caravan to MH at the beginning of March and took it straight from the hand over to Clumber. We didn't have any major problems, most things worked very much like the caravan, just that the water and waste tanks were inside. We managed to leave the waste open, Oops! The heating of course, if a different system to the one you had, is always a challenge. Also in our case was locking the doors at night ( not really covered in the hand over). It was complicated by the alarm we had fitted, which we set off a few times.😂We also discovered at one stage we were not actually locking it.☹️Worth testing with someone outside. However, perhaps the best reason for taking it immediately away at this time of year (if not being stored at home and heated) is to drain it down properly. Ours has a couple of additional little stop cocks over and above those in our caravan. These were pointed out at handover and I did have a phone a friend with a similar van which helped.😀
I hope you enjoy your switch to a MH as much as we do. We certainly have no regrets.
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We picked up our Swift Escape 612 on 14 November and managed to get away for just one night to try it out before going on (already booked) holiday to Lanzarote the week after. Many things were familiar as we had a caravan in the past, but there were lots of things we didn't remember from the handover. (Handover completed in pouring rain)
Made a big mistake when I accidentally released water from the intake tank when I was trying different things to get the heating on. Didn't want to unhook so had to keep walking to the water tap on site to fill a kettle. Just as well we only really needed cups of tea. Eventually sorted problem with heating simply by reading the Truma instructions more carefully.
Thoroughly recommend CC site at Moreton in Marsh even though we only stayed one night.
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Didn't want to unhook so had to keep walking to the water tap on site to fill a kettle.
We found carrying a water can and a collapsible bucket useful. Particularly on small municipal sites in France, where MH facilities were poor. We generally only used the watering can for a top up, as there was usually a tap available for the initial fill. However, the bucket proved invaluable for decanting the waste to a convienient drain on several occasions.
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Collapz bucket and watering can all in one highly recommend it . As previously stated not cheap but good quality and collapses down to approx 3 inches in height.
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