Ablution Habits of Motor-homers & Caravaners
Comments
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Why do we not have all facilities in the one little room?
Would agree and this is our preferred option when available. We have recently been in France and for first time used a full service, water supply and drainage but still used the site facilities so, for us, the availability of full service pitches will not mean that we will use the van as opposed to the site facilities.
I don't see that one thing rules out another and, as is clear from the responses, there are many variations.
The two main sites we stayed in France had these types of room and they did seem more popular than a shower only cubicle.
We van regularly with two other MH couples and none of us use the van facilities if they are available on site.
I prefer a cubicle to shave and the extra room that a shower/basin cubicle gives is also welcome. And that is the main problem, the room they take up, and can see that for the sites it's a bit of a quandary as to which way to go.
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dont use a service pitch (unless theyre all serviced).
shower in block or van usually depends on a number of factors....the weather (no way walking to a shower block in the rain/cold, but happy to amble along if the sun is shining....)...and, of course, what time we rise.
we are (generally) late risers and have (occasionally) fallen foul of the 'closing times'.....
managing two hot showers in the van is straightforward, but if making the journey to the block, will probably spend a little longer there.
dont use site toilets, nor privacy cubicles....at all.
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can't decide if that a +1 or +0 for us too - as we have never used the shower either
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We sometimes use service pitches but whatever pitch we book we mainly use the onboard facilities. We far prefer the warm carpeted privacy of our toilet compartment for most things although I admit when you have a family on board the toilet block can make far more sense.
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We rally a lot so use the van for showering, which as we have a Lunar Ariva, is an artform for two people of generous proportions. On site, as we are paying for it, we use the shower block. Funnily though, I have never yet experienced having to queue. OH is always up with the lark and for some reason seems to feel I should be too, so it is 7ish when I shower. How we have managed to get to nearly 50 years married, is a mystery, lol. When is the busiest time?
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When we went to Italy last year we had our own toilet and shower on the pitch (we had our own key) - we were responsible for keeping it clean for the duration of our stay and it was then checked and cleaned by the site at the end of our visit before the next person arrived. I sometimes wish the Club would just 'think outside the box' a little and experiment a little more with doing things differently.
David
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"I sometimes wish the Club would just 'think outside the box' a little and experiment a little more with doing things differently."
David, I'm stunned
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I use our little shower room and very ocassionally use the site facilities. On one site which only had three showers I strolled over for a tea time shower. As I left I met up with a forlorn queue of shower hopefuls. Had I been aware of that I would not have enjoyed the shower at all! Happy to stick with "own facs"!
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yes, Brue, we are in 'own san ess' mode for this week, on a couple of THS sites....
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David
Do you think the general membership is ready for outside the box thinking!!!!!!!
Just a thought about the provision of service pitches. If so many members continue to use the on site facilities despite being plumbed into the services is it worth the Club continuing to install service pitches? Alternatively what it should do when the next new site comes along is to just have service pitches and no toilet block
David
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david, a very interesting post and one which might lead the club to 'interesting' conclusions if usage analysis were carried out.....
as you say, the fact that SP get snapped up quickly might lead one to believe that this is to assist with the 'bulk' use of water....most likely for showering etc....thus leading to a view of reduced toilet/shower block requirement...
conversely, feedback that shower blocks are as popular as ever might mean that the investment in many new SP seems unwarranted.
however (and despite our poor attempts at data anlysiswink) it seems that the customer is king and that paying roughly £4 a night is a common enough occurence for the 'convenience', despite still making use of site facs.
seems like a win-win.....customer pays nearly £30 a week and is happy, club makes £30 a week and is delighted to recoup investment so quickly.
however, if my water usage was no different to that when i was not on a SP, Id have to weigh up of this charge is worth it as it, presumably, just saves changing the barrel and waste.
even with showering in the van, we only use around 20ltr a day, including washing up (many nights in fields without connected services soon teaches one to be thrifty with precious resources) so i would be changing the barrel only every two days.....yet paying for the SP daily as it tops up as it goesundecided
similarly, as waste water is always a bit less than that volume coming into the van, we would probably only empty the wastemaster every other day, too.as it happens, we dont use either of these devices (we have a MH with largish tanks) but my point was to illustrate that there are likely to be plenty of members who pay for this service but perhaps arent saving as many trips to the tap as they think.
without showering in the van, our daily usage must be around 10 ltr a day. this would mean a fill/empty routine only being required every four days.
so, even if we had a caravan, the justification for a service pitch isnt there based on our usage.
im sure there are many vanners who get through far more water than we do, but equally there must be many on a similar usage that are paying plenty for a service that may not be as necessary as they feel.
as i said, the customer and choice is king, and 'convenience' can only be 'in the eye of the beholder'.
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Those with young children might use a service pitch and still use the showers for obvious reasons.
Now we caravan with at max two very grown up children, but most of the time it's just the two of us. We still however use a service pitch and we use the site showers every time.
Why? well we use the service pitch so I don't have to worry about running out of water at any time, or have a set routine of checking the aquaroll/wastemaster. And I do find filling and emptying a chore. I know some will say I'm being lazy but I'm on holiday, I have running water and drains at home and want the same on holiday, and I'm prepared to pay for the SP. And while the water won't run out showering the hot might, now I know some might say all you have to do is 'manage' the siltation by taking shorter shower or reucing the temperature. But again I'm on holiday and again I don't want to be thinking about how long to take having a shower.
So it is nothing to do with how much water I use or not. I do service pitches because that's the way I want to spend my time away.
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as it happens, we dont use either of these devices (we have a MH with largish tanks) but my point was to illustrate that there are likely to be plenty of members who pay for this service but perhaps arent saving as many trips to the tap as they think.
In in my opinion that is unlikely. Unless only services pitches are ever used, all caravaners are well aware of how much water they are using and how many trips to the tap that involves. We use one aquaroll a day when not on a service pitch and that is with no use of the shower. So one trip a day. However, as CS says that is not the primary reason for using a service pitch. It is the convenience of never running out, and in my case of also using the shower. The OH does about 50:50. For us it is a SP every time, if available. Yes I could fill the aquaroll and empty waste once a day and save £4 a night, but choose not to.
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We also use the caravan's own facilities - for showering etc and washing up. I prefer not to have to get dressed to head off across the site, only to have to undress. Much easier to wander into the "en suite" and then have the whole of the caravan' s space to dress in.
Nor do we carry pots over to the site's sinks (I know I am missing out on "socialisisng" with other washer uppers).
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Service pitch = Hardstanding which is why we occasionally book them. It makes no difference to water use or whether we use the wash block.
It may sound frivolous but as we have to accommodate giant teenagers in the awning then we want a nice level hardstanding to set up camp beds on a decent groundsheet. We can't do this on grass without lifting the groundsheet every day which is a hassle we don't need. Hence if using a club site we pay the additional cost on top of a significant per person fee to ensure we get what we need
understanding the customers use and requirements is vitally important.
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Not everyone would agree that the club showers and toilets are good. We think that the club's facilities we've seen are out of date, many tired, some quite grim. The club should aim much higher, perhaps aiming for the better sites in Europe. The club should be leading the way, as it did many years ago.
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Very sensible! If only the site surveys asked what you'd really like when you visit. Currently one question is whether the weather effected your stay! Do they think they may have the power to change the weather?? I have tried all the answers and there isnt anyway to tell them how the westher effected yoir stay eg floided pitch, so ridiculous. At least they'd begin to build up a data bank of likes dislikes and expectations of their customers and a basis to change things. 😲😲. Much better use of the rebrand cost and satisfied customers. Whoops I've nodded off again 😂😂😂
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Never been on a CC site that hasn't had very clean facilities. Older doesn't bother me/us but lack of hot water and being dirty most certainly would. What do you mean by Outdated? Surely a safe waterproof floor, private cubicle and hanging hooks/stool don't date that much? They are functional things not fashion items or trendsetters. I don't want costs to increase any more because the facilities block is soooo last year 😲
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Can't comment on service pitches, never used one, seldom used a privacy cubicle. Onboard facilities mainly for us, with occasional trip to shower block to wash my long hair and always used none fixed head shower!
We are traditional campers, enjoying the great outdoors, having to do the waste/water run was and is still an expected part of camping for us, helps keep us fit. Can understand it being more of a chore with families.
Is there anything one can do in a privacy cubicle that cannot be done in one's on board bathroom? Granted if it is full of other stuff then it no longer qualifies as a bathroom.
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which was exactly what i said, customer choice is king.
no inference of lazyness, youre in holiday....
no doubt there are many that dont have a clue how much water (or electric) they use (and why should they, they've paid for it) but we just 'know' from time between fills that, with all services being used, we can last 5/6 days and around 10 if using site services.
so, for us, and possibly other MHers with similar usage/tanks, SPs make little sense, process wise, and probably none at all, financially.
...and this was partly davids point, does the club really understand that the ratio of 'user styles' is likely to change with regard to SPs, a point also raised by Peedee in another thread re pitch/site requirements in a changing demographic and a refocussed club.
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My use of privacy cubicle is referring only to the shower privacy. Neither of us have ever used the wash type privacy cubicle. I didn't make that very clear 😢. We are quite happy to use our own facilities but if we're paying for facilities it's nice indulge in a bit more space and unlimited hot water 😉.
We've never used a service pitch where we've had to pay. Happy to have water closeby saves someone, not me, having to carry over top ups!
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I would think the use or not of the shower facilities provided will depend on the number of people staying in a van and the type of shower room the van has, even on a serviced pitch.
With the "all in one" type washrooms I would expect site facilities to be favoured, the same where there are more than 2 people using the van.
As we have a very good shower compartment, we may never use the site showers, even on a non serviced pitch. Here other factors come into play, the distance to the shower block, the distance to the water filling/emptying, and the weather.
All the above being reasonable, I will use the block while OH will use the van.
On a serviced pitch we always use our own shower.
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It sounds like you've never been on a site with excellent facilities. Small shower enclosures with plastic curtains and tiles with grubby grout. Only recently, the horrendous mops and buckets disappeared. The facilities are useable I agree, but thats just about all. We use facilities like that sometimes so we're not that squeamish, but we'd prefer better. The club was once at the leading edge of UK camping, when our continental friends were way behind. Today the club is barely keeping up with the lower end of the UK standard, and is decades behind the good sites on the continent
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Never had tiling on a club site that I can recall, usually some sort of coated boarding. Yes some shower cubicles are not overly large but adequate. We've used some very nice bathrooms on some sites, where you have toilet whb and shower. Generally on new or recently refurb sites. Basically we look for somewhere to park up to explore an area be that this or the other club CL, CS, private or commercial site. If the fee includes a facilities I expect them to be clean and safe. Considering we supply our own accommodation linen towels etc then pay for the pitch plus number of people I think some site prices are hefty for a space to park ones accommodation and a facilities block. But that is me personally.
I'll comment no more.
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I do agree with you regarding shower blocks, usually the walls are plastic coated something or other and always spotlessly clean, just look at site reviews to see how many times that is mentioned. Certainly no gubby grout that I've noticed. The showers at Troutbeck head are huge, with a large dressing area before the shower.
Like you we spend 15 minutes max a day having a shower then its back to the van or off site.
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