Minxy
LIFE MEMBER
- Aug 22, 2007
- 32,623
- 66,460
- Funster No
- 149
- MH
- Carthago Compactline
- Exp
- Since 1996, had Elddis/Swift/Rapido/Rimor/Chausson MHs. Autocruise/Globecar PVCs/Compactline i-138
We decided to have our inaugural trip away in the camper this weekend so set off on Friday afternoon to Withernsea and had a potter on the beach with the dogs, when back at the van and drying the monsters off we noticed that Romy had blood on her neck ... on closer inspection we found that she had a half inch slit/hole just to the left on the front! 
I think it was caused when she slid down one of the large rocks towards Lily at the bottom and got 'caught' by one of Lily's teeth as she was standing there panting looking up at Romy. Fortunately it didn't seem to be painful and she wasn't overly bothered but we were as I could see through the hole to her 'inner self'! A local chap was able to give us the phone number of a vet in a nearby village so we rang and they said they could see her ...
Fortunately the vet thought it was just small enough to heal up on its own so didn't need stitching and prescribed her an antibiotic jab and a week's worth of tablets ... over £60 gone! Less than it would have been if she'd needed stitching though!
Back at Withernsea by tea-time we popped in to see my sister's 'new to her' static caravan which was very nice then went to our usual parking spot at the North end of the beach road/prom and parked up and had our usual 'one pot wonder' tea (tin of mince, spuds and carrots) with bread. After a potter along the prom with the dogs it was eventually time for an early night.
For those with a 'smutty' mind ... no we did NOT Christen it!
On Saturday we had a lovely potter round With' market/shops, then onto the beach again with the monsters who enjoyed 'chatting' with the local pooches. After lunch we went up to Hornsea for more pottering round shops, a quick visit to Hornsea Pottery (outlet shops), and running around on the beach again, before having our lovely fish and chip tea from Whiteheads (can't beat them!) after which we drove up to Skirlington static caravan park and stopped in the car park for the night waiting for the market and car boot sale in the morning. After another quiet night we hit the car boot this morning - a very large one with lots of good 'pickings' including 4 dehumidifiers! Good job we've got a big camper!!!!
We then had a mooch round the market with Tazzy who loves pottering round 'people' (the others don't) but unfortunately she got scared when the band that were doing a turn suddenly started up very loudly just as she was walking by ... then later a blooming little curly-haired dog (possibly a Lhaso/Miniature Poodle cross)got off it's lead and literally flew at her with it's teeth gnashing ... so much so that the owner pounced on it to get it away nearly breaking his leg in the process! Tazzy didn't retaliate at all and was quivering. To make matters worse when we walked through the indoor market there was an Alsation with a muzzle on playing merry hell! To cheer her up we took her to look at the budgies, cockatiels etc in their enclosure which did the trick. We picked up more goodies from the market though, including 6 pressure washers to sell on. Should just about cover the cost of the vet with the 'profit'!
So how did we get on with the van?
It was great! The bed is very comfy and even though we we're sleeping the wrong way round so our heads we're under the taller locker with less space below, rather that the shorter one (more space underneath) we didn't clunk our bonces at all ... although Lily did bang hers! We've got the hang of the sliding toilet/shower door, and just about remembered where everything got packed.
The dogs soon found their 'own spaces' in the van which they were happy with and Romy loved sprawling out under the table and didn't move at all at night ... although Tazzy did decide that the underbed storage area was a good place to explore at 7.00 am this morning and promptly settled down on top of the inflatable canoes!
The refillable gas bottles worked fine (no leaks) and it was nice having the fridge at the higher height although we did buy a couple of pack of 4 ice-cream cones (Tesco) and only just managed to get them in the very small freezer compartment! We soon reduced the 'squeeze' though by having one each later on!
Before we went away hubby decided he wanted to put the reversing/rear view camera on so he ran all the wiring underneath and secured it, then I fixed the camera itself under the rear bumper as a temporary measure as we didn't have time to put it up to the top before we went away. I wasn't sure how useful it would be at such a low level but to be honest it's actually very good! This position made it very easy for parking as the distance can be much more easily gauged than when mounted at the top of the van so its gonna stay there for now and I'll make a cover to protect it from road spray/debris etc and see how it goes on. If hubby definitely wants it to stay low down we'll probably replace it with the one he has that you pop into a hole to set it flush with it's surround which will mean it will be less likely to be damaged but I don't want to drill a hole in the bumper for that until he's sure!
One thing that was very nice when travelling though was the distinct lack of noise from the rear ... it is extremely quiet and certainly the best van we've ever had in that regard.
There are a few tweaks to do with only one major thing to sort out ... to get the table looked at by the dealer as it wobbles something chronic and won't 'lock' in position - fortunately it is tight enough to stay up to make it usable but if we put too much pressure on it, it goes down - it looks like someone has had a go at fixing it previously (we did tell the dealer that it needed attention when we originally signed up for the van) but whatever they did hasn't worked/it wasn't sorted properly.
So far, very pleased with the van and look forward to giving it a 'proper' testing for a week or more to see how it really performs for such things as cooking meals etc.
I think it was caused when she slid down one of the large rocks towards Lily at the bottom and got 'caught' by one of Lily's teeth as she was standing there panting looking up at Romy. Fortunately it didn't seem to be painful and she wasn't overly bothered but we were as I could see through the hole to her 'inner self'! A local chap was able to give us the phone number of a vet in a nearby village so we rang and they said they could see her ... Fortunately the vet thought it was just small enough to heal up on its own so didn't need stitching and prescribed her an antibiotic jab and a week's worth of tablets ... over £60 gone!
Less than it would have been if she'd needed stitching though! Back at Withernsea by tea-time we popped in to see my sister's 'new to her' static caravan which was very nice then went to our usual parking spot at the North end of the beach road/prom and parked up and had our usual 'one pot wonder' tea (tin of mince, spuds and carrots) with bread. After a potter along the prom with the dogs it was eventually time for an early night.
For those with a 'smutty' mind ... no we did NOT Christen it! On Saturday we had a lovely potter round With' market/shops, then onto the beach again with the monsters who enjoyed 'chatting' with the local pooches. After lunch we went up to Hornsea for more pottering round shops, a quick visit to Hornsea Pottery (outlet shops), and running around on the beach again, before having our lovely fish and chip tea from Whiteheads (can't beat them!) after which we drove up to Skirlington static caravan park and stopped in the car park for the night waiting for the market and car boot sale in the morning. After another quiet night we hit the car boot this morning - a very large one with lots of good 'pickings' including 4 dehumidifiers! Good job we've got a big camper!!!!
We then had a mooch round the market with Tazzy who loves pottering round 'people' (the others don't) but unfortunately she got scared when the band that were doing a turn suddenly started up very loudly just as she was walking by ... then later a blooming little curly-haired dog (possibly a Lhaso/Miniature Poodle cross)got off it's lead and literally flew at her with it's teeth gnashing ... so much so that the owner pounced on it to get it away nearly breaking his leg in the process! Tazzy didn't retaliate at all and was quivering.
To make matters worse when we walked through the indoor market there was an Alsation with a muzzle on playing merry hell! To cheer her up we took her to look at the budgies, cockatiels etc in their enclosure which did the trick. We picked up more goodies from the market though, including 6 pressure washers to sell on. Should just about cover the cost of the vet with the 'profit'! So how did we get on with the van?
It was great!
The bed is very comfy and even though we we're sleeping the wrong way round so our heads we're under the taller locker with less space below, rather that the shorter one (more space underneath) we didn't clunk our bonces at all ... although Lily did bang hers! We've got the hang of the sliding toilet/shower door, and just about remembered where everything got packed. The dogs soon found their 'own spaces' in the van which they were happy with and Romy loved sprawling out under the table and didn't move at all at night ... although Tazzy did decide that the underbed storage area was a good place to explore at 7.00 am this morning and promptly settled down on top of the inflatable canoes!
The refillable gas bottles worked fine (no leaks) and it was nice having the fridge at the higher height although we did buy a couple of pack of 4 ice-cream cones (Tesco) and only just managed to get them in the very small freezer compartment! We soon reduced the 'squeeze' though by having one each later on!
Before we went away hubby decided he wanted to put the reversing/rear view camera on so he ran all the wiring underneath and secured it, then I fixed the camera itself under the rear bumper as a temporary measure as we didn't have time to put it up to the top before we went away. I wasn't sure how useful it would be at such a low level but to be honest it's actually very good! This position made it very easy for parking as the distance can be much more easily gauged than when mounted at the top of the van so its gonna stay there for now and I'll make a cover to protect it from road spray/debris etc and see how it goes on. If hubby definitely wants it to stay low down we'll probably replace it with the one he has that you pop into a hole to set it flush with it's surround which will mean it will be less likely to be damaged but I don't want to drill a hole in the bumper for that until he's sure!
One thing that was very nice when travelling though was the distinct lack of noise from the rear ... it is extremely quiet and certainly the best van we've ever had in that regard.
There are a few tweaks to do with only one major thing to sort out ... to get the table looked at by the dealer as it wobbles something chronic and won't 'lock' in position - fortunately it is tight enough to stay up to make it usable but if we put too much pressure on it, it goes down - it looks like someone has had a go at fixing it previously (we did tell the dealer that it needed attention when we originally signed up for the van) but whatever they did hasn't worked/it wasn't sorted properly.
So far, very pleased with the van and look forward to giving it a 'proper' testing for a week or more to see how it really performs for such things as cooking meals etc.
