Winter

You don't get rid of me that easily,we may have stopped using the van till spring but for the benefit of newer caravanners here is a synopsis of what I do ( or have done ) to prepare the van for winter,you can adapt them for your own purpose or ignore them altogether,it's up to you ( our van is in storage ):-

1.Full draindown of the water system.I use a Floe but not everyone does,I usually get about 200mls out when I use it.

2.Remove wheels and replace with winter wheels,take wheels home and give alloys a good clean,sparay with Autoglym Wheel Protector and store in the dark under a sheet after checking tyres for splits and embedded stones.I am hopefully replacing the centre caps as ours look a bit grubby,more in a future blog post.

3.Remove toilet cassette and clean with Thetford Cassette Cleaner,spray seal with silicone,drain off toilet flush fluid.

4.Spray locks with lubricant to prevent freezing up,don't forget the hitchlock..

5.Either swap battery for a "winter" one or remove battery and put on a good bench charger such as a CTek ( Aldi charger very similar so I read at a fraction of the price ) things may be different if you have an alarm or tracker fitted,apply Contralube or similar to battery posts.

6.Open all cupboard doors to allow circulation of air and avoid damp.

7.Some people take the cushions etc home to avoid damp,we simply have not got the room at hone so I upend the cusions to allow airflow and have never suffered any damp.

8.Position taps half way and leave open.

9.Run fridge and Alde on gas for fifteen minutes or so to burn any crap from out of the jets

10.Cover the Alde gas exhaust with a plastic bag or the like to stop insects crawling in.

11.Wipe the solar panel and do so periodically throughout the winter to make the most of the weak sunshine,it gets surprisingly dirty.

12.Put sink plugs in and close waste pipe flaps once again to keep insects out.

13.If fitted give the motormover  rollers a brush,ours were covered in crud.

14.Give the walls and cupboard doors a wipe down.

15.Remove all liquids that will be in danger of freezing and causing a mess.

16.I remove the doormat and take it home for a good clean.


17.Being a pedant I grease and oil the wheel lock and jack.

18.Apply silicone to all door,locker and window seals.

19.Give underbed lockers a clean out.

20.Our Wastemaster lives in the front underbed locker so I put 5mls of Zoflora ( Poundland ) in it and leave the cap off to let it air.

21.Put protection gel on 13-pin plug prongs,I use Contralube but there are many others.

22.I don't usually clean the van prior to winter as it is Paintsealed so leave it till spring.

23.Make sure the gas is switched off.

24.Leave fridge and freezer door open to avoid mould forming.

25.Remove bedding to avoid getting damp.

26.Make sure 12v is turned off.


There,it seems like a long list but you can knock most of it off in an afternoon.

I have probably forgotten something,so bear with me.

Ian

NEC Show

Last Thursday we went to the NEC for our yearly pilgramage to the Caravan and Motorhome Show and a very enjoyable day it was from our base at CMC Chapel Lane in Wythall.

Managed to stock up on  'essentials' whilst SWMBO was looking the other way


Bailey had a full selection of their vans on show including the new Discovery,the new 8' wide Alacanto and the U4 Black Edition of which there was one on our site which must have been one of the first off the production line.



The Discovery looked a capable van in this important sector of the market to take advantage of lighter tow cars.

I wasn't so impressed with the "round the corner" awning which looked very good but how many pitches are big enough to put it on ?

If I was spending over £1K on an awning I think it would be Isabella,but then I am known to be an Isabella fanboy.

The Alacanto looked OK but it didn't appear much larger inside than a standard van to me,SWMBO however disagreed.

Little to be said about the Unicorn Black Edition as after all it is only a re-liveried version of the present model Unicorn.

I think,and it is only 'think',that the Unicorn 5 should be out next year ( should the Unicorn continue ),which should be interesting.

As usual we gave long thought to swapping the van for a campervan/motorhome and as usual came away none the wiser.

I would fancy a Bailey Autograph single bed model but would need a car besides.

Practicality suggests a VW based campervan to use for holidays but also as an everyday vehicle both the above are roughly the same price at about £60K.

No doubt next year we go through it all again.


This is our last trip in the van for this season,we have a few trips planned over winter in bricks and mortar accommodation though.

Later this week it will full drain down,road wheels off and winter wheels on,battery swap and a good clean inside.

Will still be blogging over the winter though as doubtless I will cause some cock-up worth reporting on.

We have a full list of sites booked for next year,virtually every two weeks so that is something to look forward to.

Ian

CMC Hawes

This blog comes from a very soggy CMC Hawes,serviced pitch of course not in the cheap seats down by the toilets.

Had a couple of visits to the cheese factory of course,purely to check out the free samples for my blog readers.

We also had a magnificent fly past two days running of military aircaraft including a very low flying Spitfire and many passes of what looked like helicopter gunships,it was like M.A.S.H.

Had an inauspicious arrival on site when SWMBO,bless her,wound one of the front steadies down on my fingers whilst I was  guiding the supporting blocks into place.

In case anyone was wondering yes a ton and a half of caravan on your fingers does make your eyes water.

To compound it all when I asked her in a calm and reasonable voice to raise the f*****g thing she wound it the wrong way.


It has taken us over a year but we have eventually worked out how to fit the Isabella Eclipse side panel properly.

If you are not in possession of the above you can skip this bit.

I have been positioning the Eclipse so it is equal on both sides of the caravan centre line,there is an equal amount of Eclipse round the bend of the awning rail on each side in other words.

Sadly this causes the side panel to flap about under poor tension so what you need to do is pull the Eclipse further around the far bend so the end panel is tighter when pegged out.

I have used a marker pen to indicate the position the Eclipse needs to be around the far bend.

There thats's cleared that up hasn't it.


Apart from SWMBO breaking my Isabella washing up drainer,and of course the finger incident, we have had no problems.



I really must bring it to the attention of Colapz at the upcoming NEC show that their peg support system for their expandable waste pipes is absolutely useless on a hard standing pitch.

They just won't penetrate the ground even though I have ground points on them.


Well we will be at the NEC show in a couple of weeks and then that is us for this year.

One last thing,I am now officially an OAP,pension and bus pass, fully paid up.

I must admit the bus pass is great,been from Hawes to Leyburn today,free both ways,can't beat it.

All you workers keep slaving away to pay for it.

Ian