Parking a Basecamp
After seeing the new Swift Basecamp at the NEC in October, we ordered one there and then. We're still waiting for the big day when it will be on our drive. Mid November has been and gone, it's now been promised on 9th Dec.
Whilst waiting I got thinking about the best way to park the van/awning at a site pitch. With having the awning and door at the back, should I reverse park or drive the car straight onto the pitch, or even across the pitch.
"Just a thought"
Comments
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Congratulations on your new van. They do not usually come with a battery. When you get to sites you will be instructed about how to park, but some wardens will never have seem a basecamp settup. It might be a good idea to have an illustration of the setup
to show them.0 -
The battery is usually down to the dealer to supply and can be part of the haggle factor.
The Basecamp is an unusual configuration so I can see wardens being a bit flummoxed. I would contact the Sites Dept of CC and try to get something in writing from them.
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from the brochure....
• Through the floor battery box with separate mains inlet (battery not included)
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I cannot see a problem unless you take a non awning pitch where the rules are not clear regarding this. Basically I would suggest pitching towards the front of the pitch leaving enough room to get the awning up behind. It might be a bit dificult lining up with the peg but possible. You then have both sides free for the car and sitting out.
On a non awning pitch you should be safe as the awning is behind you rather than at the side but I would check with the club first and keep the reply in case any warden is not sure themselves.
Hope you enjoy the new caravan. Must admit it looks impressive.
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Congrats on your new caravan. Very interesting design.
Going to cause some head scratching when you book in!
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Thanks to the above two replys. Will contact the Sites Dept.
I don't have a broucher...silly me. thanks for that.
Does anyone on here have a Basecamp. If so, how do you plan to park yours? The traditional way would mean the awning stuffed in the hedge at the back of the pitch. Handy for the water though
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Can't help on the parking issue but very good suggestions above.
If you're new this thread may be interesting before you hand over the balance
There's plenty of great advice on CT, search engine's not so good but if you can't find something ask, someone will point you in the right direction.
Enjoy your new purchase and report back
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The base camp has an overall length of 16'9", body length of 11'. Can't find info on the size of the awning, but images suggest it's shorter than the body so you are probably close to a twin axle caravan length. You may want to put your unit length once
known ie basecamp + awning in your unit selection in your booking form when booking online with the CC.Book an awning pitch and you can go in forwards to the rear of the pitch and park the tow car on the right. Or go backwards with the tow hitch at the front of the pitch and put tow car on the left. Booking a non awning pitch may give rise to confusion amongst
the roolz concious wardens and membership
A pragmatic approach will be required on the part of wardens and members who might not comprehend modernity
A good supplier of leisure batteries in Tayna.
Enjoy your new toy, but go through it with a fine tooth comb before paying. If it's like the flagship Swift group product it looks good with lots of gadgets but may not have been thrown together by the assemblers very well. Forewarned is forearmed.
Take
off the rose timted glasses and wear the magnifying ones to spot the poor assembly quality, jest ye not0 -
I like the Basecamp. We have had several Swift family caravans and they have all been excellent. The van is not particularly long so I would have thought that having the awning at the rear of the pitch should not be a problem. You may just need to explore
the site before pitching as they often vary in length. Hope you enjoy.David
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Some really useful advice. Parking with nose close to front of pitch would be my first choice though not considered slap bang in the centre of the pitch. Good idea but may make parking tow vehicle a littie tight.
Thanks for all the replys.
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What a great bunch of replys from some very knowledgeable folk. How useful is this CC site.... A*.
You're right, take the rose coloured glasses off when we collect and have a good look around before handing over the balance.
Good advice.
Will post WHEN it's sat on our drive.
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Some really useful advice. Parking with nose close to front of pitch would be my first choice though not considered slap bang in the centre of the pitch. Good idea but may make parking tow vehicle a littie tight.
Thanks for all the replys.
Gary, I may have missed it but I'm not sure that the pitching arrangements on CC sites have been made clear. Each pitch bears a marker peg and we are instructed to pitch with either the offside rear corner of the unit to the peg, or the nearside front corner
to the peg. It's all about maintaining the required distance of 6m between facing walls of caravans/MHs and 3m between cars/awnings/other equipment. This might have some bearing on your thoughts for pitching.0 -
When staying at the Banchory site last year we saw a similar van to the Basecamp (might have been dutch) with the door at the rear of the van. The wardens there at the time assisted the owner siting it toward the front of the pitch, that is the A frame to the front, the couple + dog sat towards the rear and one side of the van. There would on this site have been ample room to put up and awning to the rear without breeching the fire rules. I would think on some sites like Rowntree that might not be the case.
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On the majority of CC site pitches I would look to putting the "A" frame/hitch into the far end of the pitch so the awning faces the roadway.
I say this as I don't think looking slap into a hedge, an EHU bollard with strewn EHU cables or worse 3 metres from the slab rear end of another van, with possibly its waste container, offers a lot of charm.
I would much prefer sitting in the awning with a view out.
To achieve this will mean manhandling the van in and out, or if too heavy the fitting of a mover.
Away from the CC with its strictures I would use the pitch to optimise the pleasure of being there, even going sideways if that is needed to achieve that aim.
It does raise the point that the 3 metre end to end spacing provision does not then work as a fire break, and pitching must in this van's case be 6 metres end to end when a rear awning is being deployed. I wonder if Swift and the CC spoke to each other on these issues before developing the product?
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Morning. The thought of how will wardens react to a van with a rear door, awning and wether or not it's lining up with some pegs never entered my head when ordering the Basecamp. If I encounter problems when booking a CC pitch I may use more CL sites with
less strict rules. To be fair, it may all be ok.0 -
Morning EasyT. I'd always book an awning pitch, an awning is a must in our house. Talking of which - now we don't have a Lunar Clubman Si, we have a full length awning for sale if anyone's interested. As said previously, Im sure it will all be fine.
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Great caravan design. The future of caravanning. Within the next 20 years as the aged vanners finally give up vanning, the days of huge caravans pulled by massive chelsea tractors will be over. Caravanners will choose small vans able to be towed by
small engined cars.Cheers..........:K
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As the Swift Basecamp blurb says it's for "Life's adventurers, who want to get away from the crowd...", I doubt if you will see many of them on Club sites.
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I agree with Keefysher re the build quality of Swifts. I bought a new Challenger 480 in July and have been extremely disappointed. I'd advise you to check windows for cracks/crazing, edging strips falling off drawers/doors, handles that won't catch, misaligned
doors, cracked shower tray, hinges that pull straight out and have to be glued back in because the screws won't bite the MDF, external lights that won't work because bare wires are shorting, defective oven switch that makes it very difficult to light the oven!!!
We wouldn't accept this with a new car so how on earth do caravan manufacturers get away with it? Hopefully mine was a 'Friday afternoon' model, but as previously stated it pays to give your new van a really thorough examination before you drive it away. I
wish you happy caravanning!0 -
There are plenty of CC sites out there that have decent size pitches with a fairly large area of grass at the rear of the pitch. With this type of pitch you can easily park to the peg, have the rear of the van towards the back of the pitch and use a bit
of the grass if needed for the awning. Not all pitches have a hedge or the rear of a van at the back of them. Maybe this is going to be one of the cases where having a word with the warden prior to arrival is advised. This way if the site doesn't have many
of that type of pitch I described the warden could put a cone on one for you
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I agree with Keefysher re the build quality of Swifts. I bought a new Challenger 480 in July and have been extremely disappointed. I'd advise you to check windows for cracks/crazing, edging strips falling off drawers/doors, handles that won't catch, misaligned doors, cracked shower tray, hinges that pull straight out and have to be glued back in because the screws won't bite the MDF, external lights that won't work because bare wires are shorting, defective oven switch that makes it very difficult to light the oven!!! We wouldn't accept this with a new car so how on earth do caravan manufacturers get away with it? Hopefully mine was a 'Friday afternoon' model, but as previously stated it pays to give your new van a really thorough examination before you drive it away. I wish you happy caravanning!
Caravan assemblers, I refuse to give them credit as manufacturers, have got away with it for years due to buyers not rejecting bad quality in case they upset those awfully nice people that sold them the poor quality common parts thrown together by said assemblers.
The buyers focus appears to have been on getting the new model in time for their holiday regardless of how well assembled the common parts are, and not to worry will buy another one soon enough and its part of caravanning to put up with it, stiff upper lip, chest out and carry on caravannng.
The items you describe are common, as we have found. Our heap of crap is being re-assembled once the last remaining part arrives at the dealer. It's on a long list of other poorly assembled caravans being re-assembled at a specialist repairer on Swifts account.
Until buyers stand up and reject poor quality there will be no incentive for assemblers to improve. The recent LV survey showed 23% of LVs with problems, that's more than a Friday's throw 'em together. There is obviously too much fat in the price to enable that level of poor quality.
As you only got yours in July you are in a better position to reject it, be bold and do so. Ours is a year older so rejection options are limited.
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