Put a deposit down on a new vehicle on Wednesday. Nothing too exciting and very slow under it's own power. You 'shed deniers' will hate it !
Me and 'er were away last weekend at our regular campsite near Middlewich in Cheshire. Several niggly faults manifested themselves with the caravan...well, it is a 1999 model. We ended up with a wet carpet 'cos a coupling had failed under the sink. Various other things happened, like the front window blinds falling off 'cos the wood above the windows seems to be rotten in places and won't take screws. A bit of silicon sealant has sorted that now.
Any road up, we got to talking and made a trip to Glossop Caravans where we bought this one from 6 years ago. They have a good website and you can take a virtual trip round any van you fancy. We noted some we liked the night before. One was reserved, just our luck that it was the one that would have been best for us being only 6'8" wide. The current van is 7'2" and only just goes between the house and the fence to park round the back.
Looking through the stock we lighted on an Elddis Odyssey 17ft 2 berth with an end washroom. This replaces our Elddis Broadway 17ft 2 berth with end washroom....don't like change ! The new van is 6'10"........great !
Mint condition, we won't get it 'til early August due to workshop time being unavailable to remove my motor-mover and fit it to the new van. I fitted the old van myself but I need the mover to get it out of the drive and I'm not removing it in the road outside the house ! Shame really, have to use the old van for our holliers in a couple of weeks !
Whilst away, we bought a new awning.......an inflatable one. Fit it in the awning rail, peg out the fpur corners and pump it up....seemples. No more struggling with wet bendy carbon fibre poles. Got two awnings to sell now !
Expensive week, speshly as me specs failed as well....ah well......spending kids inheritance !
|
Well done Ted, good for you!
Those inflatable awnings are the dogs doodahs. I love ours and well worth the money too. They stand up to the windy weather far better than one with poles.
There's some fun to be had getting the air out and getting it back in the bag though;)
Just off this morning back to Cornwall for a night to fetch our van back after family have been in it for a week. Hoping to miss the mad holiday rush by leaving at 4am and back tomorrow but how early we'll get away after tonight's end of holiday celebrations is anyone's guess!
Pat
|
Me and 'er were away last weekend ... ended up with a wet carpet 'cos a coupling had failed under the sink.
Ambitious! Maybe some of what we hear about caravanners is true.
}:---D
|
Sounds good Ted (the caravan I mean, not the coupling under the sink).
We have the same sort of requirements for storage, we wouldn't easly get our Eriba goo.gl/zNnzxT into the garden without a mover even though it's quite handy compared to most sheds.
It would irritate me to have to store it elsewhere, but of course a lot of people do.
6'10" we could manage. Mustafa look at an Odyssey, though I like the lower height of the Eriba too, so we'll probably keep it indefinitely. Being metal framed they have a lower propensity to leak etc and tend to last a long time.
Last edited by: Manatee on Sat 5 Jul 14 at 08:15
|
Nice vans...the Eribas. We looked at them when we had a smaller car...Mk 1 Punto 1700 Diesel. The van dealer had just taken in a 12ft Coachman so we plumped for that. It turned out to be free. *I gave him a cheque for $4K and said ring me when it had cashed. He duly did and I collected the van. A month later the cash was still in my account. Phone calls unanswered, a couple of months later I went down to the dealers...some 60 miles,,,it was all shut down and derelict. Plenty of post behind the door, I often wonder if my cheque was amongst it !
The Punto towed like it had a pair.......and returned 45mpg doing it !
Finished the jobs today, the roller blind frames have stuck back well with silicon...being clamped overnight. No leaks now.
I suggested coupling under the sink to SWM but she still prefers the top of the wardrobe !
|
I had a look on that Glossop Caravans website. Having a Volvo I looked up the max towing weight and thought...Nah! I'd rather get to where I want to be and pulling my pooh home in a cassette to extricate on arrival back home just didn't hit the sweet spot for me.
Hotel will do for me and when Mrs gmac wants to scratch the camping itch we'll go static for a week and be done with it, no sinking £10k in a mobile hut. There are limits to Volvo ownership.
|
>> There are limits to Volvo ownership.
You might be coming out the other side gmac. I had two Volvos consecutively, but I'm really over it now, it was a very long time ago and I haven't had a relapse since.
Take heart, it can be done. Takes years off you. ( and you never have to wear another cardigan, anything made by Clarks, or anything beige ever again. )
;-)
|
.......and you don't take your poo home. Discharge it on site and hose round the container.
After all, you don't want ploppy liquid all over your kit in the van if someone rear ends you. (ahem)
|
Haha ! Made me laugh Horace. Never been rear ended outside of a car accident and no intentions of.
Humph: C'mon ! I don't do Cornish Pasties:
www.retrotogo.com/2010/01/clarks-originals-reissues-1970s-rambler-shoe.html
and cardigans are something for the humour cupboard. I was bought one for my 40th birthday. It made it to the bonfire before my 41st.
As for coming out the otherside I'm cured of my silver star itch. Crap dealers have made me see the light. Subaru it is. I feel a WRX coming on. No baseball cap required. I'm old but can appreciate the finer (engineering) things in life.
Last edited by: gmac on Sat 5 Jul 14 at 17:33
|
A half-full chemical bog slopping about in an unstable, lumbering, top-heavy vehicle seems to me to be asking for trouble. A hole in the ground is the best thing when you are camping. One tends to feel a bit exposed though. If you never have felt exposed, just try a huge flat desert.
My first boarding school had earth closets emptied daily by low-caste coolies when I first went there, but while I was there water closets were installed with a proper cesspit in a vast concrete box.
No longer could our kind and loving dormitory matron, a Goanese Catholic, inspect our faeces with cries of 'Ayo! That is like a rat's motion!' (or 'Patak's mixture!' according to case), so that she could dose us with castor oil or kaolin as the case might be... She looked after us very well and was a good sport.
|
>> A hole in the ground is the best thing when
>> you are camping. One tends to feel a bit exposed though. If you never have
>> felt exposed, just try a huge flat desert.
>>
>>
Why would that leave you feeling exposed ? It's not like you wouldn't see anyone coming, unless it was a scorpion waking up to you dumping on its head which it might take exception too.
Only other surprise might be a 'murkin drone but I guess they weren't around in your day.
|
I don't think they became 'murkins until 1776......probably after Lud's schooldays !
|
|
I'd be interested to hear your opinions on the Odyssey. After my experience about 5 years ago (documented elsewhere) I have avoided Elddis. At least yours should be past "teething troubles".
|
This will be our third Elddis, Telb. We had a Tornado in the late 70s when vans still had glass windows. I think most caravans seem to use the same suppliers...Whale, Carver, etc. I wasn't particularly looking for an Elddis but the width clinched it. My drive past the house is very tight. There's about half an inch on either side at the ' road ' end for a 7'2" van like the current one.
I take the windows off to gain a little more. The Odyssey has flat windows flush with the sides...a bonus for me.
I'll let you know, but it'll be later in August before we get to use the new one !
|
Don't caravans have great names? "Tornado", "Odyssey", "Marauder".....
Fairly ironic really.
;-))
|
Ours is called a Troll.
I'll say no more.
|
a few more"
Surely naming a caravan maker "Swift" was taking the mickey.
Swift Elegance - surely wrong on both counts!
ABI Ace Pioneer - first to visit Mablethorpe?
ABI Highlander
Clubman Lunar - that's oxygen not gas
Crystal Sprint - Interesting meaning of "sprint"
Eldis Firestorm - dodgy stove?
Eldis Jetstream
Swift Conqueror
Swift Challenger - Do they mean challenged?
Swift Baronette - Delusions of grandeur
Sprite Quattro - I really wanted an Audi
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Sun 6 Jul 14 at 17:31
|
|
My mate down the road has a 'van that's at least 25 years old, bought for £250 I think in the local market auction. It's an Elddis Cricket, if I remember correctly.
|
|
Does he take it for runs?
|
|
Just for a spin now and again.
|
|
The problems we had were build quality rather than component failure in the main. I agree that Elddis did build good vans in the days of the Mistral and other winds, but fear that accountants took over the company and fired the quality controllers about 10 years ago. That said, the aftersales staff at our dealer were the best I've known - I cynically put it down to plenty of practice :-)
|
New vehicle - Pat
