Please think of Campervans
This year we have moved from a fixed bed caravan to a Campervan for a number of reasons.
After about 30 nights away so far we are very pleased with our decision as It has met our needs.
On the whole, we love staying at Club sites, much as we did before but have noticed one or two shortcoming re the needs of Campervan users.
One site we stayed at was Black Horse near Folkestone which had a drying room. This facility is excellent for those of us in smaller units for drying towels, coats etc and we would like to see at all sites.
Another shortfall we have found for a small Campervan is the waste water disposal at some sites. There tends to be a big drain cover which you have to remove before letting your waste out. This s fine for motorhomes but useless for Campervan’s unless you want your rear wheel to disappear down the hole too. We have found in France the ground is designed so that an water just flows down into a suitable drain which is much easier.
Finally, if I dare mention it, I think the Club needs to be more flexible re positioning of vans. Our campervan’s Length is only 5metres so surely it should be ok to site it almost anywhere on the pitch without danger to other users?
Campervans are becoming much more popular these days and I really would like the Club to consider their specific needs as well as those of other types of campers. More thought in this area might encourage a wider range of users, including younger people.
What do other people think, especially those with a Campervan?
Comments
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Does my 6m PVC count as a camper?
I find that my needs are met well and once the revamp of the MHSPs is finished, my only gripe - the heavy covers - will be no more. It sounds as if a hose might solve your problem if the drain tap is close to the rear axle.
Drying room? I don’t need one. Coats and towels dry in the van with no trouble if a little ingenuity is used such as pegging items to cupboard door handles.
As for pitching, I’m sure you’re aware that a space of 6m is needed between vans but if you feel you can pitch 'sideways' and maintain that gap then the warden is the one to ask.
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Have you sent the above to head office, its the only way to get their attention.
The waste water drain is awkward and heavy I know as I have to lift them, maybe the best thing to do for your type on vehicle is to carry a short length of hose pipe that your could attach to your drain and then put it down the hole, this way you can keep the van out of harms way. The club is on a programme of replacing all the motorhome service points but it will take time.
Drying room are great but I guess putting them on every site is pretty low on the clubs to do list.
Parking on a pitch can be discussed with the warden, if you wish to park in a different way to that which you have been advised. Providing it doesn't breach the safety margins most wardens are open minded.
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I agree the old fashioned heavy lids to lift are plain daft but it is not only CC sites that have this legacy. A hose sounds sensible as TW suggested.
I can understand why you might feel a drying room helpful in a small van but few sites have one and I have rarely seen them in use when provided on most sites.
The pitching is an issue for the warden. I feel that the most likely answer will be no as on many pitches clearances could be compromised.
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My Ducato based PVC is 5.41m long -- far from gi-normous and, with a dodgy back I developed a simple way of draining grey water.
I've got a 15 inch length of square guttering with a leg & stop at one end. pull along-side the drain, lift the lid , place the guttering & open the valve, then set about topping up the fresh water while the job goes ahead.
It even allowed me to 'dump' cleanly on the system at Thetford where I had to lift the lid then move the van to straddle the hole before placing the gutter. It's even a good topic of conversation
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Katie, hi....I can see all three of your points are valid....sspace is at a premium inside a campervan and perhaps ypu don't want wet coats hanging up inside, dripping all over the place.....we have a large, heated garage with a clothes rail inside, but small vans don't have this type of storage space....do you have a wind out awning?
ive seen manay a camper/MH, small and large, hanging wet coats on one of the wind out arms. they can be sited on the downwind (rain) side to allow drying/airing without getting wet again.
a. awning such as this would provide other advantages, sitting out in shade when it's sunny, or in the dry when showery...
either way, this might be a more all round solution...
re: the grey drains....not much more to say except that we hope the roll out of better ones is kept moving at a decent pace....however, I used the 'revised' one at Minehead recently and it's just a slightly bigger version of the previous sloping effort.....the heavy drains are a pain, irrespective of the size of the van....I have a screw on flexible 2' length of hose which does as others have described.....you still have to lift the covers though, which can be a pain for some...
good luck with the van, enjoy
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You'll find drying rooms on some club sites katieB, particularly the further north you go. I expect they cost money to run and overall provision will add to site prices.
We managed very well with our previous small camper van and the very small ones benefit from an awning more than others. We use our washroom as a drying room in bad weather but if you haven't got a washroom it does make for a bit more problem solving. Maybe other small campervan users can say how they manage?
I think we'll all be glad to see the heavy disposal lids changed to grids, I wonder how far the club have got with this project.
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We have been on several CMC sites now with the new open grid mororhome waste points and they are really good. The only problem with I can see is when you visit a site with the old lifting drain covers they seem worse than ever!!! Even if the Club knotted some heavy rope trough the lifting handles it would make life a bit easier. As to drying rooms I am not sure what decides on a site having them. We have come across them on sites which are popular with walkers, although that doesn't quite explain why Black Horse Farm has one unless of course it's there mainly for the benefit of the tenters?
David
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Very soon after taking up motorhoming ,14 years ago, we gave up the waste-water-dance-around-the-drain! A fellow motorhomer on a site suggested we buy one of these:
and place it under our waste pipe. Empty before it gets too heavy eg every day or so. It only works for smaller vans like yours and ours where we don't use vast amounts of water for showering et cetera. We also use a watering can to top up our onboard water tank day to day as required.Here's the link to just one to be found on line.https://www.camperlands.co.uk/plastic-jerry-can-waste-25l.html
You'll probably get one in your local caravan shop. The container doesn't take up much room ( just 25 litres) when travelling.
p.s. In sub-zero temperatures substitute an open-sided bucket. On our first winter visit to the Alps we ended up with a frozen jerry can which we couldn't empty - 24 hours in the toilet block to unfreeze!
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Hi katieb,
Thank you so much for your post which is very much appreciated. I have forwarded this discussion to my colleagues for their reference and feedback.
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Because the tumble dryers are for clean, wet clothes and not for already worn/used items that have not been washed. That is, they are for newly washed items.
I don’t really want my clean clothes to be dried in a machine that somebody's muddy coat or soaking towel straight from the shower has been in.
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Problem solved!
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If you are unhappy about the position of the waste water outlet, then just modify the pipe run so it goes where you want it.
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Possible solutions for the OP:
When we had a campervan, we had a quick erect toilet tent, one with no 'floor', in which we hung wet coats to drip, and in which we placed muddy shoes. If not in use, we stored it under the van.
Also used a variety of plastic storage boxes with lids which either were stored under van when on site (containing muddy shoes for example), or were large enough to sit outside van - occasionally acting as an impromptu table - and which housed EHU lead, levelling blocks and the like. The large box sat by the sliding door in transit and was put outside van as soon as we pitched up.
If staying on a site a while, we threw up a 'festival tent' and stored stuff in that - we often placed the large storage box in the tent and draped wet stuff over that.
Combinations of these, and how much we took, depended on length of trip, time of year and destinations - 2 weeks / 2 or 3 months; Winter / Summer; UK / Southern Europe.
Like a poster above, we also acquired another means of emptying water.
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I would not like to use the tumble dryer for items that are not just washed - unfair to other users
Rowena - thanks for that - I did try to make my comments another way but not possible. Most people on this forum are not Campervans users but I do appreciate their views. We have now had almost every option available throughiut our lives and can see they all have their strengths and weaknesses.
However, because we currently own a camper van, I am writing from this perspective - it is amazing how the growth of Campervans users has happened in recent years and I do have a slight feeling that the Club is lagging a bit behind. I am not a young person myself but can really see why the Club is not very attractive to those who don’t have large self contained vans. The drying rooms on sites are excellent as are toilets and other facilities - I just feel the Club needs to widen its perspectives a little more - perhaps a few more people in their 30s and 40s on the committees that make the decisions and also, what about a few more women!?
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Katieb, over the years I've seen all sorts of vans on sites, many very small ones including tiny caravans, vintage vans and lots of campervans. Personally I think if you like your van you just find ways to adapt when using the sites you choose. The club provides what it can, some sites are high facility, some just basic.
The issues you've just raised about committees and membership are probably worthy of another thread but if you're interested in influencing the club you'll need to step forward when the club calls for new committee members etc. They often ask for new people to join them or go along to area meetings to put different views forward. I'm sure they'd be happy to hear from you and other potential candidates.
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Whatever size outfit you have, if it's wet then things are difficult to dry for everyone. We have two dogs, we chose to have them and have to cope with soggy dogs so plenty of towels to dry. I do find the microfibres towels dry much quicker than cotton and are lighter in weight too. Perhaps it depends on whether the site is open through the winter months if it has a drying room or not. We did stay on a site in Austria, Camping Grubhof, that has large pipes running along a space behind the shower area where things can be dried, summer or winter. That was well thought out.
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My grey water tank on my camper is emptied via a bucket underneath the drain plug. It's a camper, not a motorhome.
My fresh water tank is filled by a couple of 2.2l water jugs, not a hose from a MSP.
A camper is a thing of minimal requirement supported by minimal need. My loo is a tripod and plastic bags.
Goodness, everything is a trade off. I can get underneath a 2m height barrier, go for miles off road, be totally sustainable in the wildest of terrain and need nothing of life's luxuries,
A camper needs no specific needs catered for. There are no specific needs. The self-sufficiency is what we crave? Surely?
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Over the years we have moved from caravans-to-campervan-to-small motorhome and back to caravans. In that time many changes in designs of (let's say 'leisure vehicles') have taken place. Planning the layout and facilities for club sites is not without considerable cost, and to meet individual visitor/vehicle preferences is no easy matter. And facilities can become less helpful as developments progress.
As shown in the comments of other posters, there do come times when the visitor him-/herself needs to devise ways around particular obstacles.
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