Really stupid things you should know but sometimes forget

[Flood51]

Everyone knows that when you turn off a household fridge you wipe it out and prop the door open with a folded towel, but it's taken me four outings to realise this on the Cali. Each time I open it up before turning it on I have to clean it out before reusing it because I left it shut.

 

[Hotel California]

When i am on a trip i clear the water out frequent using some paper whipes.
When i arrive at home , empty the fridge and use the kitchen towel we carry in the Cali , wipe the fridge clean and towel in the wash....
And put something between to keep the lid a slightly open to ventilate.

 

[2into1]

I wedge the lid slightly open with my washing-up sponge, to leave an air gap even though the lid is 'down'.

 

[BerndRos]

I wedge the lid slightly open with my washing-up sponge, to leave an air gap even though the lid is 'down'.

'Snap'

 

[MattBW]

I always remember to tell the rear seat passengers where the door handle is so they dont drop the table out when trying to leave. I only forgot to do this once and damaged my table.

 

[Herrie]

Countless times I forgot to really close the lid of the external mains connection, only to see it waving to me when I look in the mirror when driving on the highway.

 

[Kmann]

The one with the hookup lid is really annoying ;-) did that a couple of times this summer …

Almost forgot to lower the mattress BEFORE lowering the roof …

The fridge thing. But only once …

Almost rolling down the ramps, withe the awning still out …

My worst nightmare is to drive of without removing the cable. Never did it, always go a round before driving away after hookup for the same reason.

To loose the key on a remote camping …

This one is funny. On our first wild camping, we had some wine and went to bed upstairs. My wife woke me after a short sleep, totally in stress – fighting a lot of mosquitoes – they were everywhere! And it seemed they where increasing in number. After a while I had a look downstairs and well, then replied to my wife: "Honey, maybe you should close the tailgate …" (she went to bed as the last one). We had a great laugh about that, and the mosquitoes just rushed into the van as she turned on the light to fight the few.

 

[Flood51]

My worst nightmare is to drive of without removing the cable. Never did it, always go a round before driving away after hookup for the same reason.

When I was 22 something at school in Dallas Texas we pulled into a gas station. There were two of us and My colleague went into the store. I hooked up the gas and left it in and walked back to the passengers seat and sat down and proceeded to doze. In the US you could click something on the handle and it just filled without you needing to hold anything. My colleague walked back from the store started it up and proceeded to drive off until I woke and shouted stop. You have no idea how long the pipe can stretch. Even our English accents didn't get us out of that one.

 

[WelshGas]

The one with the hookup lid is really annoying ;-) did that a couple of times this summer …

Almost forgot to lower the mattress BEFORE lowering the roof …

The fridge thing. But only once …

Almost rolling down the ramps, withe the awning still out …

My worst nightmare is to drive of without removing the cable. Never did it, always go a round before driving away after hookup for the same reason.

To loose the key on a remote camping …

This one is funny. On our first wild camping, we had some wine and went to bed upstairs. My wife woke me after a short sleep, totally in stress – fighting a lot of mosquitoes – they were everywhere! And it seemed they where increasing in number. After a while I had a look downstairs and well, then replied to my wife: "Honey, maybe you should close the tailgate …" (she went to bed as the last one). We had a great laugh about that, and the mosquitoes just rushed into the van as she turned on the light to fight the few.

You get an alarm if you switch on the ignition whilst plugged into the Mains.

 

[bigmac77]

To charge the batteries when your using it less frequently. A month just flies by.

 

[Glyn]

Countless times I forgot to really close the lid of the external mains connection, only to see it waving to me when I look in the mirror when driving on the highway
I don't feel too bad now, I've forgotten to close it lots of times. My wife normally points it out to me as we are flying along the motorway, she can see it in the side mirror, and I have to pull over before any damage occurs.

 

[alstevens]

lighting the gas on a cold morning with the kettle on top of the ring ..........whoosh, singed hair/ eybrowas and a couple of hours with a large bottle of autoglym trying to get rid of the smoke stains....

 

[GillianC]

Did that last weekend!

 

[Deskman]

We stopped on our last day of the holiday on a river bank. Nice spot - although it was raining.
Mrs and kid: Don't forget about the rock, tomorrow...

The only luck I had was that I had hit the towing eye first. But I should have known better.

(it's hard to believe but behind the steering wheel the rock was invisible)

 

[MattBW]

Ouch ,

 

[BikerGran]

Driving off without turning off the gas - not usually disastrous but it could be if we were involved in a crash, and annoying because I remember a short while after driving away and have to find somewhere to stop and deal with it. After 4 months ownership, I have a notebook for writing addresses and postcodes and wild camping spots, and a page that says GAS which I leave in front of the speedo.

 

[Days out]

With reference to worrying about driving away with the electric hook up attached I always leave the bag that the cable lives in in front of the speedo and instruments to remind me to unplug it. But an earlier post mentioned the Cali beeping if you turn on the ignition whilst plugged in. That's useful to know. I think my way is a definite reminder as there is no way I'd drive off with my instruments obscured.

 

[vmaxkiddy]

With reference to worrying about driving away with the electric hook up attached I always leave the bag that the cable lives in in front of the speedo and instruments to remind me to unplug it. But an earlier post mentioned the Cali beeping if you turn on the ignition whilst plugged in. That's useful to know. I think my way is a definite reminder as there is no way I'd drive off with my instruments obscured.

The beep only happens if power is being supplied. If the non van end is plugged in but the socket switched off, no beep. Similarly if van end connected and other end is not connected, no beep.

 

[Days out]

Thanks for the info about the beeps. I will keep going with my "fool-proof" methodology for now by using the power hook up bag as a reminder.

 

[Kmann]

The beep only happens if power is being supplied. If the non van end is plugged in but the socket switched off, no beep. Similarly if van end connected and other end is not connected, no beep.

HAHAHA … I can imagine to drive down the MW with a 30 mtr. cable behind ;-)

 

[Days out]

I wonder if the end result would be like in an episode of scooby-do when the Cali stretches the cable then pings backwards like the cable rewind feature in a hoover including the sound effects!

 

[WelshGas]

The beep only happens if power is being supplied. If the non van end is plugged in but the socket switched off, no beep. Similarly if van end connected and other end is not connected, no beep.

But at least you won't pull the plug out of the van or the bollard, just trail it down the road after you.