Essentials advice (1 Viewer)

[Haitchjay]

As it's a couple of weeks until picking up our MH, if I'm not careful, I'll waste money on buying bits for her! Having come from boating, we do have a fair bit that will hopefully transfer over but advice on the really important 'can't do without' would be very much appreciated. (Plus I can appease hubby by not going mad and buying unnecessaries )

 

[funflair]

Some way to fill water, some people use a hose others watering can or aquaroll and pump. A bucket comes in handy for getting rid of grey waste and a variety of other tasks.

Corkscrew of course but you wouldn't have missed that.

A door mat can be handy outside and then if it's wet when you take it up roll it up and stand it in the bucket to drain.

Martin

 

[Minxy]

Hi and welcome to the fun house!

To be perfectly honest what is essential to you may not be to others, as you've already got lots of stuff anyway I'd hold off buying anything until you've had a trip away in it and see what you're 'missing' or need, then go to the cheaper shops and buy it if you can and NOT a motorhome dealers shop where you'll normally pay a premium for the same thing!

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[adonisito]

Levelling blocks. You wouldn't have needed those on a boat.

 

[Gizmouk]

Levelling blocks. You wouldn't have needed those on a boat.

Nautical term for a boat levelling block: Lock

 

[Vanman]

I started a thread like this a few weeks back, but a lot depends on what comes with you're MH from the seller. My final list looked a bit like this

• Electric hook up cable (and adapters if required)
  
• First Aid kit
  
• Gas / gas bottles, Spanner (and adapters if required)
  
• Kettle
• Hose pipe - Food quality & waste (and adapters if required)
  
• Bucket / Watering can
• levelling ramps
• fire extinguishers
• c.o. / smoke alarm
• toilet chemicals or Bio washing liquid (if required)
• toilet paper / wipes
• Maps / GPS
  
• Phone
• 12V Cigarette lighter/USB charger

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[Ex-caravantugger]

HI. Can I add a good quality torch, which I would think you already have? I have a set of 'scruff', old T-shirt, shorts and footwear to wear when it's heaving down and you're emptying waste or you're disconnecting the mains/TV cables. Slip out of them and put on dry clothes to drive away. Enjoy your new MH. Mike

 

[GeriatricWanderer]

A notebook and pen - to make two lists, one of all the things you need to buy for next time you travel and the other all the things that you can happily leave behind next time.
After many years of wandering I still use that notebook system

 

[Riverbankannie]

Some anti slip / anti rattle scraps. You could take some bubble wrap until you find out which cupboards contain the stuff that moves around on the move. I use some silicon cooking mats Ikea or cheap home stores, that can be cut up. Must have is one under the grill pan and one between grill pan and the stand that goes inside it! You can also use tea towels to stuff around crockery.
I am sure you are used to keeping stuff still whilst on the move in your boat, but our roads take on a whole new meaning when in a MH.

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[two]

If you want to enjoy your new m/h, try to avoid transferring anything that you would otherwise have discarded from home or the boat. Get new.
Weight will be more important in the m/h than in a boat but, sometimes, the heavier items are so much nicer to use (glass and china). You'll naturally be enthusiastic to personalise it a bit but try to do so slowly, from experience.
Corkscrews are no longer essential. Select screw-top bottles. Should you want to drink responsibly, screw-tops are easier to re-cork.

 

[Anthea M]

@Vanman wipes down the cassette not advisable they will not break down. Have had blocked sewage drains at home due to neighbours using them.

 

[Haitchjay]

Thank you everyone. How on earth people manage if they don't have this sort of site is beyond me. Am going to spend next weekend going through the boat stuff that is good enough and needed and then make a list. D day is 7th Dec so have time to be organised. May well spend the Friday night in the drive, getting used to her then possibly one night away to get us started.

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[Haitchjay]

If you want to enjoy your new m/h, try to avoid transferring anything that you would otherwise have discarded from home or the boat. Get new.
Weight will be more important in the m/h than in a boat but, sometimes, the heavier items are so much nicer to use (glass and china). You'll naturally be enthusiastic to personalise it a bit but try to do so slowly, from experience.
Corkscrews are no longer essential. Select screw-top bottles. Should you want to drink responsibly, screw-tops are easier to re-cork.

Weight was a worry and one of the deciders in our final choice and I know exactly what you mean re. Sometimes heavier is better. Mind you, the 2 of us, dog and his food alone is heavy before we start on anything else! Would never have thought about weight of things until I found this site and all the useful advice

 

[wingman]

I find that it's the 'silly' things that cost a few pence that make life easier.

For example; a few of those £shop plastic 'hooks' that fit over doors. They are invaluable in the MH for hanging wet coats on AND I always have a few spare in my washing kit for when the site toilets or showers don't have hooks. Just poke one atop the shower door and hey presto, a place to hang your towel and wash bag.

Oh, and buy some cheap microfibre hand towels too. Great for drying a wet hook-up lead before you stow it and 1001 other cleaning/wiping jobs.

The Pound Shop is your friend

PS Enjoy your motorhoming travels.

 

[WillH]

So, so much I could list. Just go, enjoy yourself and pick things up as you go along, our van needs de-cluttered annually.

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[sedge]

Things like crockery cutlery and pans/utensils you'll already presumably have - however of course weight of crockery isn't exactly an issue on boats whereas it can be in a moho so consider whether you really need eg heavy thick bottomed saucepans and although modern melamine dishes and plates are fine - we both hate drinking out of melamine cups/mugs or plastic 'glasses' so don't. And the plates and dishes are thin 'Arcoroc' glass ones anyway - only seem to be available in white now but hellishly cheaper in French large Hypermarket chains if you're going across the channel and eg Decathlon in France itself has a far larger selection of microfiber towels of various sizes if you're thinking of them, than they sell in the UK.

Go through the boat stuff carefully - I retrieved several old odds and sods out of the caravan that I'd intended to lob & get new, cos I found them difficult to replace. But for instance we had a really sturdy coated metal door step for the caravan but it weighs far too heavy to cart around constantly in a moho - so we have a plastic one (B&M ISTR) and a Tescos cheapie 'holey' black doormat for outside. Only had the doormat with our first van since the hab door had electric steps - but beware! - it's easy to forget it when you drive off a site, if those steps automatically retract when you start the engine! It wasn't long before we had to replace it, but the replacement still does duty with the second moho which, having to use a separate step, we never usually forget now.

A short spirit level - not much use carrying levelling blocks if you can't tell whether you are, or not. Not all moho control panels incorporate one of these by any means.

And you know what? Anything you forget - knock on someone else's van or caravan door and ask if they have one to borrow - most campers will help new owners where they can! We were ALL there, once.

 

[WillH]

Aaah, only lost one door mat, wife was sick at the time, as I drove off she had her head in a bucket! Bit of a distraction. That was in Honfleur, dodgy mussels at a restaurant in Dinan.

 

[TJBi]

Thank you everyone. How on earth people manage if they don't have this sort of site is beyond me. Am going to spend next weekend going through the boat stuff that is good enough and needed and then make a list. D day is 7th Dec so have time to be organised. May well spend the Friday night in the drive, getting used to her then possibly one night away to get us started.

Highly recommended. Gives you a chance to realise what you've forgotten and also to check that everything on the domestic side is working - try both with and without electric hook-up! We used to know what to take to the boat and what to check prior to casting off, but for the motorhome it's a case of lists galore! And leave your boating head at home - no nipping to the galley to make hot drinks while under way.

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[DangerMousy]

although modern melamine dishes and plates are fine - we both hate drinking out of melamine cups/mugs or plastic 'glasses' so don't. And the plates and dishes are thin 'Arcoroc' glass ones anyway - only seem to be available in white now but hellishly cheaper in French large Hypermarket chains if you're going across the channel

We also dislike plastic/melamine plates - much prefer "proper" ones. Ikea do a set of plates & bowls called OFTAST made of white tempered glass so they're lightweight but strong (similar to Corelle) and the best bit....they're only 50p each

 

[cliffanger]

Hairdryer (but apparently you also have to have solar panels and an inverter) but still ..... a hairdryer!

 

[Haitchjay]

Any advice on the best insurance companies to use?

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[TJBi]

Safeguard are good in terms of both cover, including breakdown cover, and claims handling. They will take into account no claims on a car policy when quoting.