Contraptions (1 Viewer)

[Tincataylor]

The following is an excerpt from our "Tincas on tour.....again" thread on the Continental Touring / Spain thread which understandably not everyone reads. In an effort to find out other peoples observations we have taken the liberty of posting it on Motorhome Chat as well,

We would like to talk about contraptions. By this we mean things that we have seen people using that we would not necessarily consider essential pieces of kit while motor homing given the constraints on space. Is it really necessary to carry a spring tine rake and remove every leaf from one's pitch every morning? Mother Nature will only deliver a fresh batch the next day. Then there is the hoe normally used for weeding that we have seen pressed into service to make a small ditch about three inches deep all around the pitch which apparently will prevent flooding. If only Noah had such an implement he could have saved a lot of time and money bulding an ark. Last, but definitely not least, are the sticks / poles that people fashion to custom fit the camp shower cubicles so that they can wedge them against the tap so that they don't have to keep pressing it every 10 seconds whilst taking a shower. So come on you Funsters, admit it, what unusual contraptions do you carry that you are prepared to share with the rest of us? We admit to only a dust pan and brush, not nearly enough tools to keep us on the road, a squeegie for the windows/our shower walls, a flagpole for our 2 flags (the Devon flag and of course the Funster flag), a small ground sheet for outside the van and a thing for getting stones out of horses hooves.


The Tincas

 

[TUCANO]

My van
bur seriously, a number of empty plant pots with a little peat and a trowel to collect a memory plant, or two

 

[Anthea M]

A little drinks shelf that hooks onto our La fuma chairs!! Totally unessessary but a lovely extra!!(is there a smilie for saddo?)

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[Hollyberry]

I did take my compact Samsung vacuum cleaner with me, but I was full timing with 2 dogs and 2 cats, so felt it was justified really.

 

[Ivory55]

Our friends take a lawn mower with them to mow the grass where they pitch. They use it when in a rally field etc where the grass is long , as they said the grass smells under the ground sheet if pitched for a long while.

 

[Neckender]

Dyson hand held animal vacuum cleaner as our Jack Russell is on constant moult.

John.

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[Malcolm Bolt]

The plastic carrying handle from five litre bottles of water are great for holding on the prestex type of water tap.

 

[Theonlysue]

Where do I start?

 

[Popeye]

Where do I start?

Well certainly not in the bedside Drawer Sue, this is a family site thah-naws

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[Wildbill]

miss read the heading contraception

 

[Popeye]

miss read the heading contraception

You're not alone there Bill, had a double take myself.......

 

[sedge]

Another vote for the dustpan and brush - been de rigueur since the first time we ever went tent camping - it seriously inconvenienced me not having it when we used to go motorbike camping! We invested in a B&D 12v vac some years ago, but the nozzle hose etc being correspondingly small, it isn't an item I want to ned to use more often than c once a week - it always has a 'proper' vac before and after our hols anyway, and the suction on it is brill - have had to retrieve stray underwear and socks occasionally, didn't see it there, see it disappear and turn it off - then go fishing with whatever I can find to retrieve whatever, which makes the job even longer! Aaargh. Probably only fit for the bin anyway by this time.

I am always amazed that folk don't seem to go away without almost everything they own with a plug on it they might only use anyway once in a blue moon when there's an R in the month whilst at home. Why?? This is not home - this is holiday ie a DIFFERENT experience. So - why on earth try and make it exactly the same as if one was at home? What IS the point of doing that? You already have a home - so stay there, if you are going to do that, please - and leave more room for those of us who enjoy 'different' !

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[Mr Ed]

Informative! Stay well clear of sedge when in this mood!!!

 

[Badknee]

Informative! Stay well clear of sedge when in this mood!!!

Yes, what date is it?

 

[Scattycat]

Karcher window vac.
A " why the hell do we need one of those"? purchases
But we've found it great for cleaning, most, of the condensation off the front screen on the mornings when we haven't bothered with the outer covers. It saves having lots of damp kitchen rolls lying around, it's also good for cleaning down the shower.
But we carry all sorts of, "do we really need to take that" things, like a trowel and small rake, just incase we come across a beach where we can dig for cockles etc., a telescopic fishing rod and tackle, a solar shower. I've never used any of them, but . . . . . . . . .you never know. It's all down to that guy Justin Case, the bain of my life

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[Malcolm Bolt]

Another vote for the dustpan and brush - been de rigueur since the first time we ever went tent camping - it seriously inconvenienced me not having it when we used to go motorbike camping! We invested in a B&D 12v vac some years ago, but the nozzle hose etc being correspondingly small, it isn't an item I want to ned to use more often than c once a week - it always has a 'proper' vac before and after our hols anyway, and the suction on it is brill - have had to retrieve stray underwear and socks occasionally, didn't see it there, see it disappear and turn it off - then go fishing with whatever I can find to retrieve whatever, which makes the job even longer! Aaargh. Probably only fit for the bin anyway by this time.

I am always amazed that folk don't seem to go away without almost everything they own with a plug on it they might only use anyway once in a blue moon when there's an R in the month whilst at home. Why?? This is not home - this is holiday ie a DIFFERENT experience. So - why on earth try and make it exactly the same as if one was at home? What IS the point of doing that? You already have a home - so stay there, if you are going to do that, please - and leave more room for those of us who enjoy 'different' !

But we aren't really on holiday, just living in different places.

 

[sedge]

But we aren't really on holiday, just living in different places.

Really Malcolm? My brain says Whoo Hoo! - I'm on my holidays! every time we spend a night away in ours - I don't do that if we're just nipping down to Tescos to fill up and stock up, to do that 'holiday' thing tomorrow though!

The appeal to me, is the fact that there is a difference.

 

[DanielFord]

The amount of things that we carry in the van that my wife labels as 'man stuff' is endless! I think I would have to admit that the most useless contraption is the label maker. My daughter would agree, after I had too much wine and made a label that said 'Daughter' and stuck it on her forehead!

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[Malcolm Bolt]

Really Malcolm? My brain says Whoo Hoo! - I'm on my holidays! every time we spend a night away in ours - I don't do that if we're just nipping down to Tescos to fill up and stock up, to do that 'holiday' thing tomorrow though!
The appeal to me, is the fact that there is a difference.

Sorry I obviously expressed myself badly. For you there is obviously a great difference between home and holiday.. Since we are on the road most of the time we don't differentiate. It feels that we are at home in the van. If we waited to get home before we used the vac we would be falling over the muck so for us it is reasonable to take a vacuum cleaner with us. Simples

 

[makems]

Sorry I obviously expressed myself badly. For you there is obviously a great difference between home and holiday.. Since we are on the road most of the time we don't differentiate. It feels that we are at home in the van. If we waited to get home before we used the vac we would be falling over the muck so for us it is reasonable to take a vacuum cleaner with us. Simples

And for the same reason we lug a washing machine/spin drier around with us. Saves a fortune on laundry on long trips.

 

[MitchandJenny]

I admit to taking a hand powered winch (cost me £12) and we do go into the "bondoo" a fair bit...

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