How daft are you?
Yesterday I wanted to set off with the caravan at about 9.50 to travel to the site at Wharfdale, near Skipton. Went outside, took the mains electric supply of the van, turned fridge off mains, shut down heating, loaded steps, wound motor movers onto tyres, took wheel lock off and wound legs up ready to go.
Next car towing mirrors on and car parked on road ready to go. Then came the problem. Switch on remote control for the mover, flashed a few times and then turned itself off. I tried several times and no go. Back in the house to replace batteries in the remote. Still no joy! So out to the car to fetch reading glasses. Switch on PC, search for instruction PDF as 'obviously' the remote has lost synchronisation with mover control box........ obviously!
I find the section on how to set up and sync. 'First switch 12 volt power supply on to mover and control box ...................!!
How daft am I? How daft are you?
Alan
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You think that's bad ET. Last weekend I put the car battery on charge. The battery is in the boot and when charged shut the boot down and left the keys inside. No problem, so I thought, will get the spare keys and get in. Looked in the normal place, not there! Turned the house upside down, even went to to caravan that is stored on a farm to see if they were in the coat pockets....nope. Now I was completely stumped, where were the keys? My wife suggested that they may be in the boot as well? Surely not! Had to eventually call out a locksmith to get into the boot!cYes...you've guessed it BOTH sets of keys locked in the boot doh! 🙄 There my pocket money blown for the next twelve months!
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Or our first site of the season last year and of using the motor mover, pressed the on/off button and green light came on only to extinguish a few seconds later.
Kept trying, scratching of head, then lifted front seat in caravan to check for 12v to unit, all was good then read the fault finding pages in the manual. Happened to read "Press on/off button twice in quick succession to turn unit on"
I just mentioned to my wife that I had fixed it
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count in on the daftness scale. Trying to fill the tank with the drain tap open, standing there thinking why is it taking so long. Standing there at the door controls thinking why is there no electrics then remembering I hadn't set the main switch under the bunk to on. And many others.
It seems that when we, or I'm in auto caravan set mode then it is so easy to miss a step out.
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Ok, another admission when leaving C&CC site Polstead, I wondered why instead of the caravan moving straight back on the motormover it wanted to veer to nearside. It went in a straight line easily when I took the wheel lock off! It would normally have been obvious to see lock left on but I had parked nose in with nearside close to a hedge with just enough room to use steps in order to get shade with temperatures in the thirties
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Mine’s a little like Brue’s. Out on the road and realised I didn’t have my cash and cards. Hell, I’ve left it all back in the van on site! Then remembered we now have a MH and the van is with us everywhere we go.
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Its comforting to know that we all have these moments and its not just me or OH.
Having not long gone back to a caravan we had many similar forgetful moments of how do we do ............ my first one of this season was how do I work the remote for the mover, I'm sure we will have a few more once we get away proper.
Its funny after the fact but not at the time.
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Setting off for a site a few weeks ago, engaged motor mover and positioned the caravan on the road outside the house, ready for hitching up. Connected everything up and pressed the disengage button on the MM remote - and nothing happened. Panic set in as I was blocking the road and before too long an impatient neighbour was bound to want to come past.
On the phone straightaway to Powrtouch and a very helpful chap checked I had all the correct flashing lights etc and then suggested I disengage the 12v master switch in the van and start again. This I did, and then pressed the 'disengage' button. And then it dawned on me....I had been pressing the 'engage' button - and, not surprisingly, that's why it didn't disengage!
Feeling a complete twit, I simply said to him "Oh, that's funny, it seems to be working OK now - thanks for your help - bye (hoping my red face couldn't be seen down the phone!).
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Having a motorhome avoids many of these pitfalls
David
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Ah motorhoming, there's nothing like the sound of an unchecked cupboard lock, fridge or cutlery drawer springing open as you bowl along and the contents emptying themselves with a loud crashing sound. At least with caravans you only find this out when you stop.
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If you get the egg, milk and mushroom mixture right, it makes a damn good omelette though if you forget to lock the fridge!🤣🤣👍
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Very expensively daft !!! In France last year, for some unknown reason I put my car keys on the roof of the car as I was taking off my coat. I have never put them there before. Being key-less ignition and locking I got in and drove off completely oblivious to the keys on the roof. After a few miles I heard a bit of a rattle but didn't really think anything of it, it wasn't the smoothest of roads. When we stopped about 10 to 15 miles further on I felt in my pocket for the keys to lock the car. They weren't there. We looked everywhere in the car to no avail. I even tried starting the car to try to convince myself that they were in the car somewhere. The car started. Then it dawned on me. The rattle had been the keys sliding off the roof and the car started because my wife had the spare set in her handbag which the car had detected. Moral of the story, apart from not putting things on the car roof, is never ignore rattles! My keys are now fastened to me with a safety chain.
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I once lost a car it didn't even belong to me. Busting for the toilet on a long journey I headed into a town, found a parking spot and rushed off following signs to the toilets. When I came out I couldn't find my way back to the car and wasn't quite sure what I was looking for appart from the colour. After some time searching I did eventually find it.
I also lost my own car in a large field being used as a car park, I just could not remember where it was parked in the field. Again it took some finding.
Cannot remember doing anything daft with a caravan or a motorhome but at work if I knocked a hot soldering iron off the work bench I would instictively try to catch it. Ouch.
peedee
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I "lost" my car in a side street in Spain. Lots of little roads that looked the same. Took about an hour just as it was getting dark. We've all done this type of stuff in various forms.
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A few years ago we were staying at a caravan site in Burnham on Sea. At the time our tow car was a green Vauxhall Frontera during our stay I had noticed the family 3 pitches up had a Frontera the exact same colour but I never thought much about it. One day on the way our out we parked at the toilet block while we all went in. On my return I happily got in the car but noticed that the interior seemed a lot cleaner than before and a magic tree was hanging from the mirror something I don't remember before. Suddenly I realised this wasn't our car so I quickly jumped out and realised it had been the other familys car. Luckily they didn't see me but it was still embarrassing. :
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A couple of years ago, when in France, I decided that I needed a new water hose, so I visited a garden centre. They had all types, but the one I chose was a flat one - compact and easy to store. After connecting it between aquaroll and tap I walked back towards the caravan and found I was wet. The hose had tiny perforations along its length. I had bought a hose designed to sprinkle flowerbeds. A change into dry clothes and it was back to the garden centre for a length of "proper hose"!
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Some years ago, we were pitched up on a small site in Cornwall. An outfit pulled in to occupy the pitch immediately opposite to us - a man and wife with a son who looked about twenty. When they got out to set up, the son seemed to follow his mother wherever she moved. So, dad had just positioned the van and unhitched it when mum got out the step and went into the van, dutifully followed by the son. Suddenly the van reared up until the back end hit the ground. dad started waving and shouting for them to move to the front of the van. But they did not move gradually, and then the van crashed down onto it jockey wheel. The jockey wheel was one of those with the built-in weight gauge that fits between wheel and stirrup, so that item may well have suffered some damage. Mum was put to the less dangerous task of carting the aquaroll to fill it with water, again shadowed by the son. Reckon dad must have needed something strong with his evening meal that night!
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Had that happen to me with a small yacht on a trailer once.
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Had a disastrous trip to Chester Fairoaks last autumn. All went well till we came to pitch up. Couldn't find my van keys anywhere. Fortunately OH had her keys but worse was to come.
I normally keep the hook up cable in the front locker when van is stored but because nose weight of my van is rather critical I usually travel with it in the boot. For some reason, a few weeks previous I had removed the cable from the locker and put it in the garage and, yes, we were in Cheshire and cable was still in garage in W. Yorkshire, along with two new, unused cables I have acquired over the years!
Site shop usually has a small stock of cables but sods law, they had sold out. I had to find a dealer near Ellesmere Port where I could purchase a new cable, and this is where "double sods law" comes in. As the pitch we were on was quite close to the hook up point and bearing in mind the two new cables still in the garage at home I bought a short (cheaper!) cable from the dealer.
Back at Fairoaks was I totally peeved (that's the polite version) to find the short cable was exactly that, short, and wouldn't reach the hook up point. Moving the van to a position where the cable would reach meant a breach of the 6m rule between outfits. However, the very helpful warden, who by now must have thought he was dealing with a complete idiot (he was!) directed us to another pitch where the short cable would reach the hook up point.
The rest of our stay went off without a hitch and I now carry the short cable in the spare wheel compartment in the boot of the car as an emergency back up.
Oh, and my missing van keys? When we got home the first thing I saw was my set of van keys staring at me from the small table in the hallway just behind the front door!
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Going back many years, when we had a camper van, we were in Cornwall and visiting NT Trerice. Reaching to get out my NT membership card, I could not find my wallet. At that time my cards all had insurance cover. Finding a phone box, I rang the insurer about the loss, and all my cards were cancelled.
Going back to the CL where we were staying, not far from Newquay, we commenced to work methodically through the camper. After removing all things like chairs etc., from the overhead front bed, I happened to also pull out the mattress and there, right at the front, was my wallet. Using the house phone at the CL (no mobile then) I rang the card insurer but cancellation not reversible. Had to go to Nat West in Newquay and go through a thorough Q&A list to obtain enough cash for the rest of the holiday. Along with worry and aggravation, a whole day lost due to a little bit of carelessness. It was certainly a wine night that evening!
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