Touring

Today we picked up our new caravan from Catterick Caravans. We had a detailed PDI which went well, the only fault to note was the front nearside lower locker door which wasn’t closing properly, an easy fix for later under warranty. The Mammut mover had also been fitted along with our change of fabric (Mazurka).

Time to hitch up and take our new van on it’s first journey! Thankfully the new towbar and electrics all worked as they should, mirrors fitted and we were off – well off to storage anyhow for now!

I have to say I had read some stories about snaking, lorries passing, overtaking, high winds etc. all causing problems towing, but the tow to the storage was very easy to my relief! I was over-taken a couple of times by articulated lorries – nothing. I over-took a couple of times, not a wobble in sight. The van has ATC fitted and this coupled with the hitch stabiliser must be working wonders on overall stabilisation. So if you’ve never towed a caravan before like me, if you’ve got ATC and the hitch stabiliser fitted, you won’t have a problem at all!

At this stage I haven’t checked weights, I know I can’t be over the MTPLM as the van is empty! I need to check the nose weight, but I’ll do this on the first outing when I’ve loaded the van with kit.

After a couple of weeks of searching around for caravan storage, we have finally signed up today at a site which meets our requirements, namely 24hr access with good security. So our caravan now has a home! Roll on next year!

Well after many months of magazine reading, website browsing, local dealer visits, we finally narrowed our choice of caravan down to 3 models. We decided the best option then would be to visit the International Caravan & Motorhome Show at the NEC in Birmingham and make our final choice there.

Well we went to the NEC today and made a purchase! The winning van in the end was a Lunar Clubman ES.

We purchased it from Catterick Caravans, as this was the best dealer in our area we felt. Why the Lunar Clubman? Well we decided that a double side dinette with rear bathroom was the layout for us. Obviously a few caravans have this layout, but the ‘feel’ of the Lunar was just right and it has a specification which ticks all the boxes, what with: Alde heating, ATC, Phantom Tracker, Wheel Lock, Spare Wheel, LED lights, 6′ 5″ height / 7′ 6″ width, Good Kitchen Area, Spacious Bathroom, the list goes on!

We take delivery in February, we can’t wait! Just need to sort the storage out next.

Phase 1 of our migration to caravan camping. The purchase of our new tow car, a Hyundai Santa Fe!

After weeks of research, we finally narrowed down the choice to either the Santa Fe or a Kia Sorento. We viewed a few Sorento’s, but they weren’t quite the correct specification we were looking for. Santa Fe’s were few and far between, but we finally viewed one on Saturday gone and am pleased to say it is a smart example of a great car, so the cheque book came out!

Just need to fit a tow bar now!

The 3rd Generation of 'Moose'