2015 Conclusions

Following what's likely to be the last camping trip of the season here's the promised round up.

Nights Away

I've been away for a total of 28 camping nights, 18 of these were on Caravan Club sites, 3 each in boatyards and a pub caravan site, 2 in a festival temporary site and 1 each at a watersports centre and a friend's drive.

Of those 3 nights were at no-facility locations, I can certainly manage those for a couple of days.

Viability

There's no question that for me it is viable to have the campervan, but that's largely because I also use Dai as my every day vehicle. On that basis I can discount the general running costs as I'd be paying those anyway. At a quick guess for the 25 nights I paid something for I averaged £15/night which would total just £375. The 28 nights in even a cheapish hotel or guest house would probably average £60 a night before even considering that I do much of my own catering. Add on another £10 for that and I've saved around £1600. Of course I'll only know about depreciation when I sell Dai but typically it will be less that a car would be so I can disregard that. There's been some additional other costs such as the Waxoyl but overall I'm happy with the finances.

Awning

One of the things I wanted to think about this year was an awning, and whether I need or want one. The answer is a resounding no! The only circumstances where an awning would be useful would be if I was on a no facility site for several days (as it could house the larger porta potti) or if I wanted guests stopping. If either circumstance occurs I'll think again but until then I know I can manage without and indeed it would just be a nuisance with little benefit.

I wouldn't mind a sun shade but it would be difficult to fit one on Dai so I'll leave that for the future.

Washing Up

OK, not a major conclusion, but I realised most of the way through the summer holiday that it was silly to be boiling a kettle to wash up after meals if the site has a perfectly good washing up area with unlimited free hot water. They're quite sociable places as well. One tweak to facilitate this is one of the collapsible washing up bowls.

Jobs to Do

There's only one important job and that's to tackle the surface rust on the sills before it gets worse. As soon as I get a fine weekend I'll get on with that. I'm planning to largely empty the cupboards this year to help reduce condensation problems and inevitably I need to give the whole 'van a good clean.

Storage

I think I largely got the storage arrangements right last year. One thing this year though is a tendency to have some of the camper stuff (e.g. the window screens) stored away when I'm driving day to day but then put them in the front footwell when I go away to free up the storage for clothes, etc.

Changing Dai

Barring a major influx of funds I'm definitely planning to keep Dai until mid-2017. This year has proved the viability and suitability of Dai for long holidays. I would like to find something a bit bigger with two particular changes. I'd like a camper that doesn't use the front vehicle seats as part of the bed, the current ones are comfortable enough but they do take a bit of time to make up and take down and something flatter would be better. The other thing is a recurring theme of campervan owners - better toilet arrangements! I just need to wait and see what's available when I start looking, but if I can't find anything I'll just keep Dai for longer.

Never Raced but Rallied

This weekend's trip was to a boat rally, it's an annual event that I've attended on-and-off for many years despite no longer owning a boat. We returned to the pub we've used for several years which has the advantage of a full facility caravan site, better for me but more expensive, £20 a night isn't unreasonable at all but is a bit more than I'm used to paying.

Dai behaved all weekend, as usual. The fan heater did come out, it's getting to the time of year when I'd be reluctant to be away without hookup although it would still be manageable.

As that's probably the last camping weekend of the year I'll be emptying and sorting stuff out at the weekend (weather permitting). Last winter there was quite a bit of condensation in the cupboards so I plan to empty them, give everything a good wash and store it in the house.

I'll do a season's round up and summary in the next couple of weeks but overall it's been a good year.

Dai's First Festival

This weekend was the first Festival I've visited with Dai, in this case Bunkfest at Wallingford. It's a town festival, mostly folk music, but with some other styles of music. There's a main arena, at the Kine Croft, but there are other venues as well. A friend lives locally, and another friend was stopping with her, but I was stopping on the Festival campsite at the local sports club.

This was probably Dai's natural environment, somewhere with all the facilities, including food at all times of the day (and night). Two (fairly friendly) people could easily stop for the weekend, whereas for longer periods Dai is really a one person unit.

I really enjoyed the Festival, some good music (and some not so good), so I'll definitely look for more next year. The only slight concern is that this was partly so good as I was with friends, I'll think about that.

The last two trips I've taken the full set of foil window screens, I shan't bother again. I've decided they take up too much room and frankly I can't be bothered when it's easier to open and close the curtains. The curtains aren't as effective as I'd like but they do work OK. One thing I thought this week that I should have done was get privacy film fitted to the back windows. If I was going to keep Dai forever I'd still do so, but I'm still planning to change in another 18 months or so, assuming I can find something better within my criteria.