Rookie mistakes

[monzer]

No need to thank me but I have recently made some basic errors purposely to highlight to any motorhome beginners what not to do while away in the van.

Firstly - awnings in rain. To demonstrate what not to do here, last night I was sitting out under the awning reading a good book. I was just outside Tallin and there was some rain forecast but of course I went to bed not worrying about it. I woke up and opened the curtains to see the awning legs all buckled. Seems approximately 20 000 litres of rain water is a bit to heavy for the legs and canopy to cope with. So my point here is either take your awning in at night or leave one leg shorter than the other so the rain gets a good run off.

Secondly - After I had waterlogged the small campsite I made hastily for Tallin docks car park. I parked up and walked the couple of km's to the KGB museum in the viru hotel, booked myself on the 1pm tour then remembered that I had 'purposely' left the fridge powered off the car battery. Now you obviously don't want to do this as it could flatten the battery meaning a walk around some Germans or Finns in the morning asking for jump leads to get going. A quick taxi ride back to the van to change over to gas then back to the hotel in time for said tour.

That's all my demonstrations for now although I am due to fly back to Scotland tomorrow and wont be back until Sunday so given that there is no obvious places with MH facilities here my next demo could be 'why not to leave a cassette full of faeces and urine too long' with out emptying.

Class dismissed.

 

[tonyidle]

Left toilet for 7 weeks in france in garage when I emptied it it was not much different than a couple of days the Lidl bio washing liquid worked

Done that many times & I'm parked on my drive. I tend to remember when I'm filling the water tank the day before our next trip. Bio works for me too.

 

[GSD]

I've never actually driven into a too low bridge etc but I have got jolly close. Once in a French city (i forget which one) the dual carriageway suddenly went into a tunnel. There was a warning but in free flowing but heavy traffic no opportunity to stop or divert. The height shown was about the same as the van. we got through but perhaps with millimetres to spare. On another occasion at a Spanish supermarket the signposted entrance to the carpark (round a corner) was narrow and constrained by high kerbs on either side. It was only once you were round the corner that it became apparent that it was an underground car park. Absolutely no option but to reverse and nether did the cars behind us. In 2015 in L'Aquila (the Italian City which had the earthquake in 2009) we went into the Carrefour supermarket and parked in a far away corner of the carpark. The shop was brand new and one of many new post earthquake buildings. On completing our shopping we drove out or rather tried to. There was a height barrier at the exit (but not the entrance). Clearly we needed help in the shape of stopping the traffic at the entrance in order to drive out there, not least because in the the busy car park the driving was.........err... Italian.
Eventually we found an English speaking security guard who came out shrugged his shoulders and went away. So we just got out of our van which was at the barrier and locked it. it didn't take long for mayhem to ensue and the guard returned and directed us out the in gate !

 

[PepnKook]

No one is stupid enough to do that are they?


In my defence it was my wife's fault for failing to keep a proper look out or alternatively the sat nav's fault for getting us lost in Rouen in the first place.

Rouen! That bloody place did me to! Let me guess, sat nav said go under the road instead of across the roundabout.....big metal cylinders overhead as height warnings.....clang!

 

[138go]

So my point here is either take your awning in at night or leave one leg shorter than the other so the rain gets a good run off.

Thats the advice I was given many moons ago so when we were in France last year I was not to bothered when it started to rain. In the middle of the night the rain was really pounding down so I got up and looked out. Everything was fine and water was running off the awning very quickly. In the morning everything was still standing BUT the material had torn at the end. No much about 50mm but enough to let it flap in the breeze. It is possible to repair it using the Fiamma Repair kit and it has worked very well. I did have to pull the canvas out from the front so I could get to it and wrapped the repair tape round the damaged bit and threaded it back in again. The plastic repair patch is very sticky and I did round the corners of the patch off before fitting.

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[Wellington]

Makes mental note to avoid Rouen and measure the van. The previous van had a lovely laminated sheet with all the info on the sunvisor made by the previous owner. Dealers don’t provide those!

 

[Glas Robin]

Always check the obvious before surrendering and reading the instructions.

Fiamma awning, used about a dozen times. Wouldn’t retract fully at one end this morning by about 6 inches, after a night under some trees.

Spent an hour winding it in and out, researching on t’internet, adjusting various bolts, etc. Then smallest gene puddle points out again that there are leaves and twigs on top getting wound in with the canopy.

Remove those from one end, and hey presto it winds in evenly again...

At least the Memsahib wasn’t right and I hadn’t bent something leaving it open in a slight breeze.