Things to get to make life very comfortable
Comments
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if the 'gas issue' is weight, then one solution is to have a tiny 2nd bottle (campingaz or similar) that can be deployed on a rainy night when the primary bottle runs out (always a rainy night isnt it....) and then get a replacement for the empty one next morning (or when it stops raining...)
alternatively, a refillable doesnt run out as its filled when convenient, not when empty.
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We have a full awning but it's being repaired at the moment. It has been five weeks but still not completed. In the meantime we're using our inflatable tent for extra storage space.
We use our portable electric oven which has two hobs on top for our cooking as the caravan cooker only has one electric hob, the other three hobs are gas. So we save on gas through all electric cooking. This way our gas cylinder has lasted over a year.
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My comment was tongue in cheek Malcolm
Hinting at the weight saving would allow for more booze to be packed
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This is very much an each to their own case. I've still in my first year, and have a few things that I consider luxury that I have in my caravan.
1. George foreman grill (it's a 3 serving size one)
It's great for making a cooked breakfast. I absolutly love this.
2. Microwave. (700w)
This is something that I use once in a while, but for me it's part of the fixures now.
3. Gas BBQ, with a 5 Kg gas flo bottle.
I've got 2 bottles in my van, one is a SafeFill, the other is the green Gas flo. It's a mismatch, which may present a challange if one runs out.
That said, the little table top gas BBQ is great for doing a cook up outside.
4. 22" Finlux Flatscreen TV with built in DVD player.
This runs from either 12V or 240v.
5. Raspberry Pi, with a 3TB External hard drive.
This one is very geeky, the hard drive is loaded with movies. And the PI runs some media center software. With this I can watch any of the 100's of films I have in my collection, but the whole thing weights less than a typical laptop.
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A Nu Ventures Rio is the smallest coachbuilt motorhome / motorcaravan (?) to have a decent double bed, and shower/loo. We've previously had couple of 25ft motorhomes and an end bedroom Lunar caravan (towed by our last Nu Rio
) where we could take pretty much anything - and we did ..... and it was great! Until we tried to drive down some little back roads (i.e. most of Cornwall). We all make choices and ours now is to have all the facilities of a small motorhome (tea wagon, mobile loo, mobile sofa) in a package that can be driven happily around single-track backroads and parked (well almost) in a "normal" parking space.
As a result we take nothing beyond some food (breakfast and maybe one meal); clothes; kindles & tablet; dog stuff; beer & cider, medication / first aid and nothing else. Our luxuries are the countryside; beaches; footpaths and each other. With a dog, this means even on rainy dark days.
But if we had a bigger vehicle we'd take "stuff" to make life more comfy and all the best to anyone who wants to improve the quality of their leisure in this way......
Cheers!
Martin
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"i.e. most of Cornwall"
Tch, it's only part!
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you have reminded me of what my sisters husband said to me when I got my Romahome ,when I said there isn't much storage space I had caravans and a 23 ft motorhome in a previous life he said the more cupboards you have the more junk you will put in them !!
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Lol
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BB, you are a person after our own hearts. 1st Choice Tempranillo, 2nd Choice Rioja, 3rd Choice Rioja Tempranillo. Unfortunately Aldi does not cover this well anymore although used to do so. Asda are our main poison suppliers now as they do a 2.5Lt Shiraz box often on offer but around £12.00. We love the North Eastern Spanish Vinyards. Maybe share a glass (plastic of course) one day on location.
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Band Girl, as your profile shows what looks to be a Tanglewood Jumbo, I have the same. What are your main influences if I may ask. I dare not say that I carry this on board as well in-case the CC Spetsnaz give me a home visit. Lol.
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When I have regained full confidence, I want to start a thread asking for everyones experiences on Caravanning in France as we would love that very much. However, we know we must learn to walk before we run. Look forward to hearing your experiences soon. LJ.
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Thank god for that. We thought we were the only ones to take more than an hour to put up a full length awning... it took us 95 minutes first time though. Lol.
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Hi all, again. Some great input and thanks to you all. We are due to go on this years first outing at the beginning of June. This will be a interesting as both dogs are coming this time which means all their food (dry), toys and the new canvas cages that I had mentioned are coming with us and gone are the metal cages that we previously used.
I am going to pull the whole rig onto the weighbridge at our local D.I.Y Yard before we go if I have time and try and get a definitive answer to my all up weight just in-case I have to eat humble-pie. When we bought our van, we had waited and waited until the right one turned up. Our van was bought privately from a serious and loving owner who was selling up everything due to ailments and illnesses etc. It came with tons of equipment (and ideas) and includes two awnings; one full and a 3/4 which we have never even put up yet although we have taken it out of the bag. For those of you who have no awning, we may well put it up on e-bay once we have had a look at it against our van but if we think it will suffice our needs then we will keep it as of course, it will be lighter than our full length one with it's Carbon Fibre poles and less material but I doubt it. If anyone is interested I have one review on the CC which was a CL called Plasffordd near Aberdaron in North Wales. Check it out as it was excellent at only £15.00 per night.
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LJ, we only have plastic glasses, too, but if we get a chance to meet, id be more than happy to share one or two with you.
ill note your travels with interest....
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Hi LJ, the picture is not of me, so I'm afraid I haven't a clue what guitar it is. The pic is of one of my favourite musicians, and I do have one of his signed electric acoustic guitars that he auctioned to raise money for Parkinson's Disease (he was diagnosed with the disease at the age of 31 but, fortunately is in remission). It's an Ibanez guitar. Unfortunately I have yet got around to learning how to play. One day, maybe....
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personally I like an off grid site, NO electric toaster, kettle, rice/slow cooker or cables, just a leisure battery and a solar panel, back to how caravaning used to be
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Well nearly end of June and no reply to what was the all up weight on LITTLE JACK'S caravan after he went on weighbridge . So come on and tell us what the outcome was
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Agree there. One of life's necessities when on a longer than 3 week trip. If the weather continues in this hot vain a small desk fan certainly helps one to keep a bit cooler.
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Sorry all. Not been online for some time. Jenny, I'm afraid I never bothered myself to go to the weigh bridge after all so I don't have any stats to share however I have an interesting twist to the tale that solves practically all concerns that anyone might have had on whether or not I was committing high treason. After caravanning in June locally we then went on our Grand Crusade at the end of July for two weeks in Cornwall. We fell in love with the site in question that much and found Caravan storage only a mile from site so decided to leave and store our van down there instead of dragging it home to put back in storage here. The storage site will even put the van on any site within the local area for a small fee and the storage itself is half the annual price of what we were paying up here in Lancashire. Combine that saving with the fuel savings not having to tow it 356 miles each way and we find ourselves in a win/win situation. And before anyone says "What if you don't want to go to Cornwall in the future"....we do and always will do, then maybe Dorset which is only half a County away so we can still collect our van down there then go to Dorset if that was the case. Now the "unproven" excess weight issue has significantly subsided I can now confess that our van came with a great big "air-con" unit on the roof and one of those posers auto erecting/retracting Sky Dishes. We don't use either of these but I didn't dare mention it when I got those responses to my original thread. Funnily enough though, for those God Fearing people who maybe felt I have it coming to me some day, whilst in Cornwall we went to fill up my car at a Filling Station midst holiday and a crazy driver screeched onto the forecourt whilst we were at the pumps and ploughed into the back of my car. It was a bit scary at the time but no-one was hurt, they hit my tow-bar. There was barely any visual damage to my car but her front end was trashed. My insurance insisted that the other party replace my tow-bar as there may well have been stress fractures in the frame or bolts etc so I now have a brand spanking new heavy duty tow-bar. Maybe these things happen for a reason after all. Any, we are just off to purchase a Belling twin oven range cooker to fit in the Awning. Happy caravanning all who read this thread. (I'm joking about the cooker before anyone really kicks off).
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Good luck, LJ. You found the delights of the best county in the UK.
Just one point. Dorset half a county from Cornwall? Get yourself a new (lightweight) map, mate.
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You are of course correct my friend. It is the best County to head for and as we are newcomers to Cornwall, I don't think we will get bored of it for many years to come. I believe Dorset is fantastic too albeit further than my post suggests however we have considered that it would still be cheaper to travel to Cornwall, stay a night or two there then continue to Dorset from there if we so desired. It's still less distance than travelling from where we currently live. My wife is uttering that we may well sell up and move to Cornwall she was so impressed but that would depend on whether I can find suitable part-time employment to boost my pension. Who knows.
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I hope it works out for you LJ but a 700 mile round trip to go to the caravan wouldn't be for me. If fact we did something similar in our previous caravaning years. We had a favorite site on the edge of the Cotswold's (Bridge Villa's) so we changed storage to there but after a year or so we found we were not using it as much as it meant going about 70 miles to either stay in the same place or take it to another part of the country.
Just another thought, are there any insurance considerations seeing as it will be so far away?
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if I wanted it to be like home I would stay at home ........
. . . . or get a motorhome. Oh - wait! You have!
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Most employment in Cornwall is part time and housing costs are high
Think long and hard about that one, LJ, it's not all beaches and sunshine.
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