New to caravannning

Jacobspastiche
Jacobspastiche Forum Participant Posts: 5
edited April 2016 in New to Caravanning & Touring #1

Hi

we have just brought our first caravan and decided to have a brand new coachman pastiche ,we also brought a bradcot aspire air390 to go with it .

we had a trial run with the awning today and the elecric pump supplied goes onto the battery which is fine but the leads are about a meter long and the battery is the other side of the van , am i missing something obvious on how to blow this up . i managed to extend the leads with jump cables just to inflate the awning. 

has anyone had the same problem ?

thanks

neil  

Comments

  • KeefySher
    KeefySher Forum Participant Posts: 1,128
    1000 Comments
    edited April 2016 #2

    Use the car battery. Pop the bonnet, inflate awning, park car. Not really a problem. 

    The current draw on the Bradcot supplied pump requires the larger guage wires at short length. Do not be tempted to extend the leads, nor adapt for a 12v cigarette lighter socket. Trust this was explained by the seller.

    We have the Aspire Air 390 too.

  • Jacobspastiche
    Jacobspastiche Forum Participant Posts: 5
    edited April 2016 #3

    Thanks. 

    No advice was given which was annoying really being that it's our first caravan etc . 

    I did read somewhere that perhaps get a motorcycle battery to use then charge when needed. 

    I think the car is the better option it was only that I couldn't get the car near the awning to try.  

    Thanks again 

  • KeefySher
    KeefySher Forum Participant Posts: 1,128
    1000 Comments
    edited April 2016 #4

    We too are new to our caravan. You quickly learn to expect the unexpected and odd things happening!!

    Check where your car battery is, then you know how to position the car/caravan for the 3 minutes it takes to connect / inflate / disconnect. Our first holiday we had a hired Discovery and couldn'y easily find the battery under the various cowlings! The current
    car has the battery rear of engine compartment nearside. Previous car battery was under boot floor.

    Tend to pitch caravan by reversing with the motor mover, it's quicker than reversing hitched up as we proved at Easter as we watched a reverser getting into all sorts of problems lining to the peg. Car is over 5.2mts (17'6') long, so tend to park it angled
    across front of caravan whilst setting up, that gives reach to the awning tube for inflation with the Bradcot supplied pump, you only inflate at one point. Then re-park car on blind side of caravan, or side of awning.

    You now know the footprint you need to work within, it gets easier each time.

  • richardandros
    richardandros Club Member Posts: 2,681 ✭✭✭
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    edited April 2016 #5

    Neil - Don't know if it applies to your van, but ours has a 240v socket on the outside of the van on the awning side.  I bought a 240v pump (from Halford's, I think) - wasn't expensive and has a long enough lead to reach the inflation point on our awning.
    Slight downside (but a good safety feature) is that it's a high volume / low pressure pump so it doesn't quite fully inflate it and I have to use the supplied hand pump to finish it off.

  • Jacobspastiche
    Jacobspastiche Forum Participant Posts: 5
    edited April 2016 #6

    Thanks guys . 

    Much appreciated.  First weekend away in a couple of weeks so I will give your advice a go . 

     

  • karenham
    karenham Forum Participant Posts: 19
    edited April 2016 #7

    Hi Neil, welcome to The Club. Please let us know if you need any help.

     

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
    1000 Comments
    edited April 2016 #8

    Pump it up manually. No wonder obesity is on the rise with all these exercise avoidance gizmos.

  • JVB66
    JVB66 Forum Participant Posts: 22,892
    1000 Comments
    edited April 2016 #9

    Pump it up manually. No wonder obesity is on the rise with all these exercise avoidance gizmos.

    ...CoolEmbarassedDon't cry

  • 1Tracey1
    1Tracey1 Forum Participant Posts: 240
    edited April 2016 #10

    I've got to say it only takes about 10 "pumps" to pump up our air awning.  Easy enough, assuming you are fit and well.

  • DJCT
    DJCT Forum Participant Posts: 8
    edited April 2016 #11

    Did think about buying an electric pump for our air awning, but when I found it needs very few 'pumps' for each of the tubes I decided it would be less trouble and more beneficial to do it with the supplied pump. That pump has a rather fiddly nozzle which
    likes to fly off the pump at the first excuse, so I'll end up glueing it on - but almost 70 now so need a little bit of exercise during these outings!

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