New Cali for us too...

JonathanRevell · Dec 14, 2016

Well, as I posted earlier, we collected our Cali from Lookers at Baillieston on Saturday November 26th.
Good handover from Chris and John at the site.
We left Lookers before mid-day and were parked-up at Loch Morlich, Aviewmore by 7PM. The site is in a great location and has good facilities but is pricey with EH.
No snow but lots of icy paths and road, slept overnight with the heater on the lowest setting. With some idea of what we needed we spent the Sunday morning shopping to make life a bit easier. Sadly back home for work on Sunday evening.
Weekend of December 3rd we visited Inverness, staying at the Culloden site.
Everything worked and we enjoyed a quiet evening.
There are plans for later this year, weather permitting.

Borris · Dec 14, 2016

Your first outing sounds great. I hope that you have many happy adventures ahead. Photos please.

Don't go too mad with the accessory shopping as many owners find that the essentials that they purchased when their vans were new get relegated to storage and left behind on future trips. I am a prime example of that. You will soon discover what you actually need and what you don't. My advice for what it's worth, would be to make do with what you can scratch together from home until you discover what is actually essential and then go shopping.

Good luck.

JonathanRevell · Dec 14, 2016

Borris, yes that's exactly what we decided. Spent a lot of time on Saturday in Inverness looking at plastic storage boxes and bags and other stuff.
We realised that we have stuff left-over from the motorhome, plates, cutlery, plastic glasses and a remoska so needed to manage all the stuff.
And that's how we decided to manage the limited space. It's easier in the dry when you can simply walk round to the back and swap stuff around but it is manageable in the wet too.
All of the eating equipment is stored inside, with drinks and food in the fridge box.
Sleeping stuff in the back in a bag on the bed/shelf.
Clothes in cases / bags and camping sundries in an Ikea bag in the back on the floor.
One essential purchase was a silver-screen. We had used one previously and now we have a new one for the Cali. Have to say the screen and the company are excellent.
The only other major purchase was a large dry-bag to keep the the duvet and sheets clean and tidy when we are travelling.
So we resisted the temptation to spend, now to find the right-sized porta potti and the right place to store it.

Borris · Dec 14, 2016

JonathanRevell said:
Borris, yes that's exactly what we decided. Spent a lot of time on Saturday in Inverness looking at plastic storage boxes and bags and other stuff.
We realised that we have stuff left-over from the motorhome, plates, cutlery, plastic glasses and a remoska so needed to manage all the stuff.
And that's how we decided to manage the limited space. It's easier in the dry when you can simply walk round to the back and swap stuff around but it is manageable in the wet too.
All of the eating equipment is stored inside, with drinks and food in the fridge box.
Sleeping stuff in the back in a bag on the bed/shelf.
Clothes in cases / bags and camping sundries in an Ikea bag in the back on the floor.
One essential purchase was a silver-screen. We had used one previously and now we have a new one for the Cali. Have to say the screen and the company are excellent.
The only other major purchase was a large dry-bag to keep the the duvet and sheets clean and tidy when we are travelling.
So we resisted the temptation to spend, now to find the right-sized porta potti and the right place to store it.

If you have stuff from a previous motor home then you are probably half way there.
When we purchased our new SE last year we had three months to carry out research and go on a buying spree before we took delivery. That was both a good and a bad thing. Good because in that period I avidly read everything I could about both Calis and the various accessories on this excellent forum. So when we got our mitts on the van we were pretty well prepared. Bad because we collected/purchased quite a few items that we have since found are superfluous to normal use. What we have ended up with now is a series of "Really Useful Boxes" packed with various assorted Cali camping items. Before an outing we choose which boxes are most appropriate for the forthcoming trip. It's a bit like Thunderbirds.

As well as rarely using certain accessories we have never filled our fresh water tank, used our sink or sullied the brand new Thetford 335 under the sink. It is not something that I am proud of but we usually use CC or C and CC site facilities. We do use the cooker and fridge though.

Anyway good luck with your new Cali.