First night away in our Cali

[Dan Hargreaves]

Hi - We're hoping to have our first night away soon in our Cali, with our 2 children sleeping in the roof. As we don't have a topper can anyone advise how cold it acutally gets up there with the temperature still getting low on a night - we don't want the kids first experience to be a freezing one!

 

[tuono001]

Upstairs is like a hard top tent, so it is cooler than inside the actual van. We had our two kids (2 & 4) in sleeping bags and decent pajamas in late September, no topper and no complaints. We did keep the heater on low for the night.
We've just bought a topper but mainly for the rainy weather.
Hope this helps, though I'm sure someone with more experience will be along shortly.

 

[GrannyJen]

A warm sleeping bag will help enormously,

It can get cold, as tuono said, equate it to sleeping in a tent.

Heating on will pump a little bit of heat up there but conversely those downstairs may broil until tender.

If it's above freezing they should survive

 

[Hotel California]

Hi , as said above , don't worry , just let them wear a pyjama and maybe a sleeping bag or even just blankets will do...'
The aux-heater can easyly turn a Cali in a Finn sauna...
Leave it on 2 or 3 , only thing will be those sleeping downstairs wil have it porhaps to hot , and the noise from the heater can be annoing , just try out , it' s much a personal preferece

 

[cleve]

We found it's not so much the cold temperature that's a problem as the heater & layers always helps but its the draft from the vents. We bought a silver screen for the roof cheaply on ebay which has been fantastic and still send the kids to bed in onesies. We gave up with sleeping bags as once they wriggled out of them & got cold it was hard to get them tucked in & warm again. Feather duvets have been much better for us as we can tuck them in when we go to bed and if they wake in the night they can pull the covers up themselves but weren't able to untangle themselves in a sleeping bag (aged 4 and 6)

 

[larrylamb]

If you are on electric hookup a small 700w radiator keeps things warmer, used ours last Saturday but we did have a topper, keeps things cosier, drier and less draughty. You could always sleep upstairs and set the kids up downstairs until you get sorted. Let them get to sleep downstairs with you maybe in the swivelled front seats until you retire upstairs?

 

[motacyclist]

Hi Dan, I wouldn't fancy sleeping up there if it was less than about 5 deg C unless I had a really good duvet. You really need a topper in the long term; so you would be as well getting it sooner rather than later. Read up about the pros & cons of internal vs external on here; we've just got an internal from Comfortz and it really makes a big difference.

Suggest you put the kids downstairs in the warm, then you won't need to worry about them. There is actually more bed space upstairs for 2 adults so you won't be squashed!

 

[Dan Hargreaves]

Thanks for all your responses - it's really appreciated.

 

[Dan Hargreaves]

motacyclist, how much was your internal cover from comfortz,ive just looked on their website and cant find it. Can you leave it up when you close the roof?
Thanks all for your advice

 

[motacyclist]

motacyclist, how much was your internal cover from comfortz,ive just looked on their website and cant find it. Can you leave it up when you close the roof?
Thanks all for your advice

As I had been pestering him Nick kindly let me have one of the first made; I think he's doing a few mods from mine and others feedback and they should be available shortly for £300 less the VIP discount. (The Branderup one is about £500)

Suggest you drop Nick an email and let him know you are interested.

Yes, you leave it up when you close the roof - there is a thread on here with more details.

Colin