Our first few nights in Milly

[maui2512]

So, the children have christened the van Milly now, and we returned from our first stay in her on Saturday, having had 3 nights (& glorious sunny days) at Hollands Wood near Brockenhurst in the New Forest.

So what worked well? Well, first of all, I felt hugely prepared having read all the great advice on here, which was a great comfort! Secondly, I could not believe how much space we had in the van after packing everything in!! I had been gathering all the bits and pieces together in the living room for a few days, and it was gradually becoming full to the gunnels! One thing I've been really worried about was how we were going to fit in everything for us and the three children. However, once I'd taken the middle row of seats out, brought forward the rear bench and put everything in, there was still plenty of spare space. We didn't need to have anything down by the childrens feet, and even managed to fit in the youngests bike in the boot too.

The really good purchases were:
- the Cali of course - always a pleasure to drive!
- the Atera Strada dl3 bike rack...easy to use, carries 4 bikes with no problems, feels totally secure while driving. Someone came over and asked me about it on the campsite as he was amazed at how quickly i put it on and loaded it up
- the ebags which massively decreased the number of un-needed clothes we took. Each of us had one large bag and that needed to fit everything in it (I was brutal!). It also made it really easy to find our own clothes as we each have a different colour/pattern
- microfiber 'Trespass' towels which dry incredibly quickly and take virtually no room. 5 bath towels would take a huge amount of space for us and they never seem to dry well when you're camping
- the collapsible bucket for putting in all the dirty crockery
- the collapsible colander/steamer
- the big plastic storage boxes from Homebase (with grey clips) which made storing and finding evryehthing very easy (& kept the ponies out of the food)
- Comfortz screen cover and compact topper which fit nicely between the folding seats in the tailgate and I think really helped keep the temperature at a nice level
- Khyam sleeper awning. Amazingly easy to put up and take down on my own and great storage/sleeping space
- The upstairs bed which was surprisingly comfy and cosy
- the children's onesies (not purchased for camping but really the most fantasticly useful piece of clothing when camping!)

The not so good:
-discovering the climabox is more limited than I'd first thought (but thanks James! I now have a solution for our next trip!)
- the downstairs bed which I thought I'd try with just a thermarest mat this time...definitely need a better solution. I am going to try an eiderdown under a sheet next time, and if not may well purchase a Zonesleep at COTF
- worrying about the fumes from the heater going into the drive away awning where my hubby was sleeping...only tried it once and turned it off due to the strong smell of fumes

Things I've bought since:
- Hook up cable and transformer for climabox
- CO monitor
- fire blanket & extinguisher

Roll on the next trip!

 

[maui2512]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[James]

:goodone

You can turn the climabox around so it can still be opened when the bed is down, as others have correctly pointed out this means anyone in the back will run the risk of turning it off if they use it as a foot rest.

Definitely get a mattress, opinions vary, we've got a Comfortz one and find it very comfortable, we sleep better in the van than we do at home lol.

Let me know how you get on with your purchases

And Milly is a great name :goodone


james

 

[cleve]

Sounds great, I was going to post something similar having just got back from our first 2 trips away in our beach. We had a week in Yorkshire then had so much fun that after a couple of days at home we considered whether to watch a film or go camping. 90 minutes later, campsite booked & we were on the road - 5 people & the dog. Need to get the packing time down a bit though!

Our list is similar but I think I need to get seat covers as our next priority purchase with a 1 year old who likes to feed herself!

Have you tried sleeping downstairs with your feet at the tailgate end? It's sooooooo much better! We just have a thin memory foam topper we got online & it seems to be enough. Might get a duvalay to try though.

We didn't take our Khyam sleeper as I too worry about the fumes from the heater. We have a cab bunk meaning all 5 of us can sleep in the van.

What were the drawbacks of the climabox? I was just looking at one on eBay having searched for waeco cool freeze as our halfords coolbox drains the leisure battery pretty quickly!

 

[maui2512]

Sounds great, I was going to post something similar having just got back from our first 2 trips away in our beach. We had a week in Yorkshire then had so much fun that after a couple of days at home we considered whether to watch a film or go camping. 90 minutes later, campsite booked & we were on the road - 5 people & the dog. Need to get the packing time down a bit though!

Our list is similar but I think I need to get seat covers as our next priority purchase with a 1 year old who likes to feed herself!

Have you tried sleeping downstairs with your feet at the tailgate end? It's sooooooo much better! We just have a thin memory foam topper we got online & it seems to be enough. Might get a duvalay to try though.

We didn't take our Khyam sleeper as I too worry about the fumes from the heater. We have a cab bunk meaning all 5 of us can sleep in the van.

What were the drawbacks of the climabox? I was just looking at one on eBay having searched for waeco cool freeze as our halfords coolbox drains the leisure battery pretty quickly!

I'm impressed with your packing time - excellent!! Actually ours is much easier now that I've gathered everything into one storage space instead of spread all over then house, and have my trusty excel sheet to refer to!

Yes, I forgot to add our Jackyards seat covers to the list of positives…I love how they transform the van into something far more individual, and of course are much easier to clean than the original covers!

Which cab bunk did you get? and do you find that restricts anyone get up and down in the night for loo stops etc? actually the kids tended not to need, but I forgot my Kindle one night and had to come back down for it, and would worry about stepping on someone!

the Climabox…I had presumed I could run it off the leisure battery for a couple of days as we don't have hook up. However, it lasted one night and then turned off (even though the battery wasn't drained). However, James has now told me a good solution (see another post) where I just get a standalone hook up and transformer. And then I'll remember to take freezer blocks next time too just in case…!

glad you have had a successful first trip(s) too! Are you going to COTF in July? will be nice to see another family of 5 there!

 

[maui2512]

here's my packing list if anyone new wants a starting point for theirs!!

 

[James]

There isn't a problem with the Climabox as such, more how VW salespeople sell it.

The Climabox isn't Beach specific, it's for any T5 with the rail system in it. Most of those vans won't have a leisure battery, so to save your car battery, it has a cut off system in place. I guess in theory it could continue to run for longer on the leisure battery but it's not a model specific product as VW Salespeople might have you believe. In fact buy a Golf or Passat and you can have a cool box which straps into the boot.

James

 

[sbmcd]

Really enjoyed your "first few nights in Milly" some useful suggestions, I've only had my cali 4 weeks and I'm still finding things I need.

 

[cleve]

Which cab bunk did you get? and do you find that restricts anyone get up and down in the night for loo stops etc? actually the kids tended not to need, but I forgot my Kindle one night and had to come back down for it, and would worry about stepping on someone!

the Climabox…I had presumed I could run it off the leisure battery for a couple of days as we don't have hook up. However, it lasted one night and then turned off (even though the battery wasn't drained). However, James has now told me a good solution (see another post) where I just get a standalone hook up and transformer. And then I'll remember to take freezer blocks next time too just in case…!

glad you have had a successful first trip(s) too! Are you going to COTF in July? will be nice to see another family of 5 there!

We have the cab bunk from Mr Chris http://www.vwcabbunks.com better than another one we used to have as it rolls up neatly but still long. My children like their sleep too much to wake up for night time wees so wasn't a problem for us! We're also a bit strict about not letting them down until the bottom beds are all away to give us a bit of space! My 6 & 3 year old sleep up top, 1 year old goes to bed on the multiflex & then we move her when she's asleep once we go to bed downstairs. It's quite handy to put bedding on when you're putting the bottom bed away in the morning & my 3 year old struggles to climb into the roof without it.

We're not going to cotf as we have a family wedding but I'll keep an eye out for future events.

What do you take for bedding? We've also bought some travel towels which has saved a lot of space but I regretted taking a sleeping bag on our last trip but the first time we went camping we were drowning in Duvets as I was worried about being cold. I'm thinking next time of taking summer tog Duvets & keeping the heater on!