[Closed] I've just bought a caravan......

a nightmare?

Reversing a trailer is easy once you've done it once (a caravan is just a bigger trailer with less visability).

Enjoy. And dont drive anywhere near where I live!

It's easy peasy, even I can do it 😀

Depending on when you took your test you might need to do a trailer test before you're allowed to tow.

LOL, welcome to the club, I have a caravan and i ****ing hate pulling it, went down to st ives last year from yorkshire, took us 9 bloody hours to get down there, NEVER AGAIN :evil:.

Dont forget a stabilizer or your caravan might end up going in a different direction to your car.

Dont even bother with reversing it, that is a nightmare.

Good luck you will need it.

Cheers Squiff..that's put my mind at ease 🙂

There is a lovely site just about to become available, very near to Basildon, Essex.

I've got a stabilizer yuo could have, for a nominal fee. Bulldog one I think.

Our new caravan has a stabilizer in the towing hitch but our old one didn't.

Email me if interested and in the NW. probably too heavy to bother posting to be fair.

Towing is simple enough. most caravans get out of shape and then crash towards the bottom of hills. Simply take it steady down long hills.

Reversing is simple but it may be prudent to practice in a large empty car park a couple of times. It doesn't take long to get the hang of it.

We love our caravan , now on our second one after buying a relatively cheap pone to see if we liked it.

We were in France this summer with it and had an excellent holiday. cheap too.

Good time of year to buy so sure you probably got a bargain. Enjoy.

You'll be fine.

Take it easy, start turnign in later on corners etc.

Reversing is a bit of an art but practice in an empty car park for a bit to get the hang of it. Don't try and reverse up hills if you can help it - the smell of burning clutch can get quite strong.

If you're near brighton I've got waste and water container thingys plus a mains lead for 'not much'.

Thanks for the advice, I think the caravan has a stabiliser fitted (Al-Ko?) I'm a bit nervous about the reversing, the empty car park sounds like a good idea...I might see if I can get on a course (my reversing without a van is not great).

Proper excited about it though...I can't wait to get way with the family. I'd always wanted a folding camper, but once you accept the idea of a caravan, it looks a lot more practical.

Anybody got an suggestions for good family campsites in the midlands / Shropshire?

first time, pick somewhere that's very close to where you store the van - you want to spend the time getting the van setup and making sure you understand how all the gubbins inside works, not driving for hours.

pah THIS! is where caravanning is at 😉 [img] [/img] just wondering if i can fit a towbar to my bike 😀

[img] [/img]

Dont even bother with reversing it, that is a nightmare.

Is it heck. If you can't reverse one, you shouldn't be towing it in the first place.

Reversing is easy, just a knack you'll learn in a short time.

Really though why have you bought one?

My idea of hell.

Reversing is easy - just remember you are pushing the caravan back using the towbar on the car. So you need to position the car to push in the right direction on the towbar.

You can practise with a toy car and trailer - it gives you the idea 🙂

Re towing - make sure you read up on correct loading - it really is key.

I really want a new one in the Autumn sales. And for all the 'why bother' folks - it's far more comfortable than a tent and far far cheaper than a motorhome - simple. You don't have to join the caravan club and go on rallies and all that stupid crap.. it's just portable accommodation 🙂

Bought one in June, by October half term we will have had 42 nights in it! So much better than a tent and I haven't a clue how to reverse it! Towing is easy. Good luck!!

We have had several and I hated the towing and my stress levels increased as we approached the site- especially when in cornwall as the roads are so tight and the walls are usually made of a very hard material- and there was always a tractor coming the other way (or so it seemed)

Once on the site loved it but the stress just made me think it wasnt for me

oh and if you have an awning be prepared for outright war with the missus when trying to put it up!

As long as you get a good weight match to your car and load it up properly (not too much weight at the back is the most important bit but read notes on Caravan Club site) you will be fine. Take it easy go a bit wide and steady around corners.

The reversing just takes practice, I would say that I was well in to my second year of towing when I could decide exactly where I wanted to put the camper (folding camper) and reverse it there.

You can now stay in some of the most wonderful places in the UK and Europe with views and access to beaches etc that fancy hotels could only dream of.

We have clocked up over 300 nights in our campervan and laterly folding camper over the past seven years or so.

Hate towing, can't reverse for toffee, it's a right bastard to get it on and off the drive, but love it when we're actually there caravanning

would echo the advice to try a quick weekend close to home - you can always pop home then if you;ve forgotten anything major.

as for shropshire, we stayed on a caravan club site just outside of Much Wenlock - 'leccy hookup but no shower / toilet block, so only £10 a night, it was great

caravanning veteren,
if you have an alko stabaliser make sure the two bar isnt greased it wants to be bone dry ( so the stabaliser can grab it)
save up for a mover.. no reversing ever best thing ever invented better by miles than sliced bread.
driving with it behind you.. if your cars half up to it you wont know its there. do use a supplementary wing mirror though.
join the caravan club we dont go on rallies or owt like that but the sites are all safe clean and tidy with electric tv water waste points showers loos etc all the sites are bookable on line and you dont pay till you turn up..( and you get a nice magazine every month)
get a simple awning with fibreglass poles use it like a porch and for keeping the bikes in.. job done
go some where local for your first time just a dozen miles or so, ask advice / help from anyone and you ll pick it up easy you dont need all the top dollar stuff just what you want
enjoy..

oh and if you have an awning be prepared for outright war with the missus when trying to put it up!

Only if you're both useless 🙂

I have a mover on my van, and I STILL reverse it backwards up the driveway within a few inches of the house on my second or third outing - it's just easier 🙂

Anyway - OP, what's your new van like?

Welcome, welcome..pleeeese sit down..

[img] [/img]

Phah..

[img] [/img]

What's your caravan called then? They always seem to have completely inappropriate names like 'Crusader' or 'Adventurer' or 'pillager' or something.

My knowledge of the crusades isn't encyclopedic, but I'm fairly sure nobody ever uttered the phrase

would echo the advice to try a quick weekend close to home - you can always pop home then if you;ve forgotten anything major.

😉

Luv caravans, we used to go to one nr Cromer for holidays when I was really small, loved being all snuggly in a sleeping bag with the gas heater roaring away and the rain pounding on the roof LOL.

Agree with emsz.. kids especially love caravans, all my holidays from the age of maybe 3 or 4 were in caravans 🙂

Binners - agree about the stupid names but that is pretty much in the past now. No-one ever went marauding in a caravan so they had to change them. Now they are called things like Olympus which, depending on your knowledge of Greek mythology could be even more of a stretch 🙂

Then there's 'Ambassador' which is possibly the daftest.

"Ah, your excellency, welcome to our country. Here is your accomodation..."

binners - Member
What's your caravan called then?

kids especially love caravans

I lived in one till I moved here and settled down.

Loving the 'Ambassador' molgrips. Its conjuring up some appropriate imagery.....

[img] [/img]

😀

Away this weekend in the Peak, local and good riding from the door!!

MF - go to a dealer, let your kids inside one and watch their reaction.. especially one with fixed kid bunks 🙂

Trekster - Fendt.. Euro van.. always found them ugly on the outside but the insides on new ones look lovely.

[i]one with fixed kid bunks[/i]

+1

draw the curtains across the bunks and they'll spend the weekend in there given half a chance.

My Mate bought a 5 berth with fixed bunks, his kids would sleep in it on the drive given half the chance

Ohhh, we're gonna love you

[img] [/img]

And here's an accident with no caravan:

[img] [/img]

It's a Bailey Assraper 540-5. Grips - good idea about the use of models. I agree about the kids with bunks, they loved them...esp as each bunk has it's own lightswitch. 🙂

Reversing is easy just hold the steering wheel at the bottom with your left hand them move your hand in the direction you want the caravan to go. Take it steady and correct early, try to avoid reversing up hill unless you have a 4X4 with a low ratio box or the stink of the clutch will linger for days.

Have fun.

lodious - Member

It's a Bailey [b]Assraper[/b] 540-5. Grips - good idea about the use of models. I agree about the kids with bunks, they loved them...esp as each bunk has it's own lightswitch.

WTF is a Bailey Assraper? We have a Bailey Ranger, but never seen an Assraper!! 😯

It's actually an Orion...the Assraper was dropped from their product protfolio 😯

try to avoid reversing up hill unless you have a 4X4 with a low ratio box or the stink of the clutch will linger for days.

People having trouble reversing up hill is usually to do with the trailer brake coming on, some have a mechanism you need to active to stop this, once this is sorted reversing up hill is no different to driving uphill.

Reversing:

Seriously, go and find a quiet car park and a few traffic cones, once you get the knack you will be shooting all over the place. Your stress levels will go through the roof when you are on narrow roads and are worrying in case you meet something and need to reverse with an audience waiting. Once you have it sorted, meeting an artic will just be an excuse to show off your skills.

If you have a helper, they should only tell you if you are going to hit anything, if they start telling you how to turn the wheel things will go downhill as you won't be making your own decisions. If the caravan starts going the wrong way, they should just keep quiet and you'll sort it out!

Someone has already mentioned keeping the tow ball clean...any grease whatsoever and the stabilizer will be useless. Also ensure the ball isn't gouged, as often happens when cycle carriers are clamped to them.

Narrow gaps...most towing mirrors will be wider than the caravan...once you've checked this, you'll know if your mirrors clear 'that' tree/brick wall, and the van will follow through fine if you keep the wheel vaguely straight.

Descending hills, never descend faster than you can climb the hill. This rule doesn't really work if you have a powerful car though...common sense has to take over 🙂 So if you've be ragging the car up the hill in 3rd at 45 mph, you should also descend at 45mph, not 60mph like everyone else. This will avoid the chances of making a mess at the bottom of the hill when a coach overtakes you get a bit of a wiggle on.

Finally, reverse gear is higher than first, and even if the brakes are well adjusted, its still very easy to smoke the clutch if reversing uphill. Just try and plan around it. Only old caravans will have a manual reverse catch, all recent ones (yours included as it has a relatively modern alko hitch) are auto-reverse as standard, although you still see heavy trailers with a manual over-ride to help get the trailer moving backwards if needed.

do you have the correct licence?