First outing

[Dave_T]

We just came back from a first outing in Kent, and I thought I'd share our experiences here.

We stayed at a Caravan club CL which was good. The facilities consisted of a toilet block & electrical hookups, but that's really all we need (and we could have easily lived without the hookups.

Setup was easy... handbrake on, get out, handbrake off, turn front seats around, handbrake on, roof up, coffee on! I did find this tricky until I figured out that you need to push the steering wheel in first as well.

Cooking in the van was fine, although with 4 of us sitting inside, you've got to make sure you get everything out that you need at the same time, or you're forever standing up, sitting down & shuffling about, and everyone else has to move out of the way.

Washing up - luckily our site had washing up facilities - I don't think I'd want to do any serious washing up inside - the sink is just too small.

At bedtime, we put our 2 kids upstairs and they were very happy & slept like logs (mostly!). We then lurked around downstairs with some wine! Coming from a camping background, it's so good to have cold drinks from the fridge!

Sleeping downstairs was ok, although we have now ordered a matress topper to smooth out the lumps:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-Califo...Van-T5-T4-T3-T25-Roof-Westfalia-/170815386388

Packing up in the morning was also much easier - no wet tent to deal with!

The only other things I'm wondering about are:
1. Can you take off the headrests on the rear bench seat? Both are kids are in proper child seats, so the headrests just get in the way. I know you can fold them back, but then they do impact your storage space.
2. Does anyone out there know of some decent extra chairs that could be used with the table? We used the ones from the boot, and the kids used a seperate table/bench set. I'm looking for some extra chairs that fold up as small as possible.

We're now looking at whether we need an awning tent... we & the wife spent about 3 hours researching & talking about it last night. Looking at it, I think Outwell probably do the best one we've found (the Country road would probably be the most suitable one), but I'm not sure. I'm wondering if we can get away with not having an awning at all, and just using a pop-up beach tent for storing excess stuff in when at the camping site (e.g. car seats, bedding etc).

After that we went over for a nose around on the white cliffs of Dover. When we arrived, it looked like it was about to chuck it down, so we just parked up and had a cup of tea and waited for the rain to pass. It's was fine in the cali, but if we were in a car it would have been horrible!

All in all, I'm well chuffed, and we've definitely made the right decision in buying one!

 

[Carrg]

All great info thanks.

We are looking at Cali's and come from yrs of camping.

Any issues levelling the van on the site?

 

[shambly]

We're now looking at whether we need an awning tent... we & the wife spent about 3 hours researching & talking about it last night. Looking at it, I think Outwell probably do the best one we've found (the Country road would probably be the most suitable one), but I'm not sure.

We've recently switched from a Splitscreen to a California.

We have an Outwell Mountain Road awning and would definitely choose the Country Road if we were buying again. Why? I think the porch over the main door with the Country Road is more important than the extra space that the sloping front of the Mountain Road gives you - especially now that I don't have to sleep in the inner tent of an awning!

Though we are planning to switch to non-awning camping for 1 or 2 night stays - with perhaps a just a side for the roll out awning as some protection from the elements if required.

Simon

 

[Dave_T]

Carrg:
No levelling problems as the site was pretty flat! It's a good point though... I reckon I'm going to need to buy some leveller ramps.

Simon:
Thanks for that. That's good to know.


One more thing I forgot to mention earlier - the screen you put in the front windscreen seems a bit rubbish. Is there a cunning way of putting that on?

 

[shambly]

One more thing I forgot to mention earlier - the screen you put in the front windscreen seems a bit rubbish. Is there a cunning way of putting that on?

A few of us use Silver screens or Taylor made screens that wrap around the outside covering the windscreen and both front doors in place of the VW provided inner covers.

The taylor made ones are not insulated but can be screen printed with a design
The silver screen ones are insulated and silver

Simon

 

[Carrg]

So much good info on this site.

Got me looking at the Outwell Country Rd now!! Where is the cheapest place to buy?

 

[Stu]

We use a £25-£30 pop up tent at the moment which is ideal to 'empty' the van on arrival. I think we will investigate drive away's at some stage and I've been impressed with the ease of putting up the Khyam Motor Dome. I've not looked into the Outwell ones.

We have a screen cover from Bromsgrove Auto Trimmers which is excellent and well priced.

 

[MKRW]

One more thing I forgot to mention earlier - the screen you put in the front windscreen seems a bit rubbish. Is there a cunning way of putting that on?

I had trouble initially. If its the new screen style. You need to put both the wind screen visors down. Hook the covers over and then stuff the end in down the windscreen.
Once you get the knack I think it works really well and is fairly easy to put on.

 

[Andy]

1. Can you take off the headrests on the rear bench seat? Both are kids are in proper child seats, so the headrests just get in the way. I know you can fold them back, but then they do impact your storage space.

Yes they can be taken off, don't know how, info was on Cali facebook page but no longer available.
One thing to be ware of is that without them it will probably fail MOT & not be legal.

Why not just fold them down.

 

[Dave_T]

I wanted to take them off, as they just get in the way... if you fold them back, then lay the bench flat, you can't use the storage underneath very effectively.

I think I'll leave them on & manage

 

[Dave_T]

For the outwell country road awning, the cheapest price I found was £293 (inc delivery), from amazon, which ends up coming from Peak Outdoors.

 

[Stu]

If this is it then it's £285 here -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Outwell-Tent- ... _797wt_952

 

[Stu]

I may have a better solution for you.

Outdoor Leisure Shop is £279 + £5.95 Delivery making a total of £284.95 the same as their eBay price.

Go Outdoors sell it and promise to match & beat any advertised price (except eBay etc) by 10% which would make it £256.46!! :barmy

Go Outdoors Outwell Country Road

Go Outoors Promise

 

[Dave_T]

Good stuff! I'm going to order one today. Thanks!

 

[Stu]

Dave if you use Go Outdoors online you'll need to submit their online for and then they email back with a code to quote at time of order.

 

[ejmoore]

I gave up struggling with that windscreen blind, and instead use one of those split-cane roll-up beach mats that they sell at the seaside. It's just the right height and rigid enough to stay in place held on by the visors. In the morning just take it out, roll it up again and stow it down the side of the underseat drawer. Cheap & quick.
It occurred to me that doing the same thing with a thin roll-up yoga mat might give a bit of insulation in colder weather.

 

[Bjohnson]

I gave up struggling with that windscreen blind, and instead use one of those split-cane roll-up beach mats that they sell at the seaside. It's just the right height and rigid enough to stay in place held on by the visors. In the morning just take it out, roll it up again and stow it down the side of the underseat drawer. Cheap & quick.
It occurred to me that doing the same thing with a thin roll-up yoga mat might give a bit of insulation in colder weather.

We didn't find the windscreen blind too bad to use, but I must admit I spent our first evening searching for the poles to go in it!!! I'd already seen in the handbook that the windscreen blind had poles inserted into it so this was what I was expecting and looking for.. Took me a few minutes to work out that VW had obviously updated the blind to hang on the sun visors :headwall

 

[helenherbert]

We have just ordered a Quechua base seconds XL as a drive away awning - does not connect to van but porch goes over the van door. main reasons were size/ease of putting up and not haveing to worry about driving van ito right place and reconnecting all the time.
Even when at a site for a few days we are always popping out in the van so didn't want to connect to an awning.
Will let you know how we get on with it!

 

[Dave_T]

Well, my awning turned up.... ordered on the thursday, and it arrived on Saturday... great service from Go outdoors. And we did the price match thing which worked a treat.

However I have missed a trick here... I think I need to get one of those figure of 8 things & a double beading strip.

On the awning there is a beading strip with I think is the 6mm standard one. So I can use it as a proper drive-away awning I need to attach it to the rail in bottom of the rollout awning that's attached to the van. Looking at it, it seems narrower than 6mm. Is that right?

I spotted this in my googling.. this may be what I need:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004RAJA9Q/?tag=eliteelect-21

The rollout awning on the Cali is basically an omnistor one isn't it?

 

[calikev]

Or 3 metre's of this http://www.bridgendcamping.co.uk/defaul ... ID=KADOR64

 

[Dave_T]

yes, that looks like basically the same thing... the beading & the figure 8 adapter.

Thanks

 

[Dave_T]

helenherbert:

Considered this... although we've heard a lot of stories about sites where if you put one of these up, they'll give you a hard time because it's a tent, not an awning. Other than that, it looks fun. Putting it away could be interesting. We struggle with a pop-up beach tent!

 

[ejmoore]

Brilliant - thanks Calikev, just what I'm looking for to make my own awning (using old bits of tent). Let's see how that works out.

 

[calikev]

Pictures please when you have finished

 

[ejmoore]

Ok, and maybe a video of it being blown away in a storm, or collapsing on our breakfast table! We just want a simple canopy that can be rolled up and stowed in the van when not needed - haven't been able to find one without a cassette thing, so we'll have a go making it.