Caravaning at Electric Picnic Newbee...

oo7tk

Ok so i got soaked on the last day of E.P. last year and have decided not to do it again... So went searching for a decent tent, then thought to rent a camper but its pretty costly and would be afraid to get it damaged and the deposit it costly so i went lookin at caravans....

Now i know nothing about Caravans a complete newbee.. So i spotted something like this..

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/caravans/2202064


4 people about 200 a head and get something like that, take out the price of the camping equipment for 4 people and its not a bad price really.... And save us 3 trips to the car dragging loads of gear....


So im wondering can you really get something this cheap that would do the job im lookin for??? Do lights and cooker work on gas or will i need a generator?? And advice for caravaning for dummies???

Cheers Tom

spaceHopper

First thing is are you allowed bring them into the EP. Think it's campers only.

Has a battery saystem so if the one it in is shot get a new one. 120 quid ish. Cooker is gas but you would need to get a cylinder, they are 70 bucks new but get on at a bring center and get a refill for about 33 or if you get a small one for 22 ish

elaverty

If everything works in that as it should,you would be geting a bargain there,,,Avondale are a good make,as i said if it does what it says on the tin and theres no damp and you can sqeeze it a little bit,and see if he has a awning with it,,,,its the job,,,You can always shift it on after for much the same money when your done,,,

longhalloween

I really dont think they allow caravans. Only campers AFAIK

Neonjack

http://electricpicnic.ie/faq

---

Q: Can I bring a caravan?
A: Yes, you can park caravan in the campervan park. However once positioned you will need to unhitch and park your car in one of the car parks. Note: a campervan ticket will need to be purchased for caravan.

spaceHopper

Neonjack wrote: »

http://electricpicnic.ie/faq

---

Q: Can I bring a caravan?
A: Yes, you can park caravan in the campervan park. However once positioned you will need to unhitch and park your car in one of the car parks. Note: a campervan ticket will need to be purchased for caravan.

In that case check with your insurance, should be OK and go for it, worst cae you loose 200 quid on buying it, best case you have a ball can keep it for next year or could rent it out next year

Buford T Justice

If ye're all prepared to pay that much to get it, then I would. You'll need a separate battery to power the lights in it, and there'll be gas in it too, but you'll need a cylinder for that. Other than that, I'd have a ball if I were you. As other posters have said you may shift it on again for as much or hire it out. no reason why you wouldn't get a few years out of it.

oo7tk

Fingers McGee wrote: »

If ye're all prepared to pay that much to get it, then I would. You'll need a separate battery to power the lights in it, and there'll be gas in it too, but you'll need a cylinder for that. Other than that, I'd have a ball if I were you. As other posters have said you may shift it on again for as much or hire it out. no reason why you wouldn't get a few years out of it.

But the thing is we wont be payin that much.... 200 a man is all will cost, O'Connor caravan sales told us he would take them back off us, probly 200 or 300 but sill is good.... so just say 500 or 550 for a weekend.... Would defo cost at least 150 for tent, sleeping bags and all that!!!!!

Could even make a saving!!!! :D

Would a 4 berth caravan really sleep 4 adults comfy????

elaverty

oo7tk wrote: »

But the thing is we wont be payin that much.... 200 a man is all will cost, O'Connor caravan sales told us he would take them back off us, probly 200 or 300 but sill is good.... so just say 500 or 550 for a weekend.... Would defo cost at least 150 for tent, sleeping bags and all that!!!!!

Could even make a saving!!!! :D

Would a 4 berth caravan really sleep 4 adults comfy????

I assume yous are gonna be full of drink,,,so therefore it would sleep 44 very comfy,,,,and whatever you do,dont start playing hide and seek in it..:):)

oo7tk

elaverty wrote: »

I assume yous are gonna be full of drink,,,so therefore it would sleep 44 very comfy,,,,and whatever you do,dont start playing hide and seek in it..:):)

Well you do have a point, but ya just cant do that 3 nights in a row maybe 2.... I would be noce to get a couple of good hours sleep a night and when you go to bed at a festival the sun comes up, have you ever been in a tent when the sun comes up????:eek::eek::eek:

Will be nice to get a couple hours sleep and then sit in comfort have a few drinks to get ya back in form....


But the best part of all is that you dont have to drag all your gear to the camsite, last year it was 3 trips for me and by the end of it was was well and truly pissed and wrecked...

Macy0161

You'd probably want to check that the bunks can take adults - depend on the size of the adults I guess too though! Two doubles might work better, if it was an option - 5 berths tend to be two doubles, with a bunk over one of them.

Buford T Justice

oo7tk wrote: »

But the thing is we wont be payin that much.... 200 a man is all will cost, O'Connor caravan sales told us he would take them back off us, probly 200 or 300 but sill is good.... so just say 500 or 550 for a weekend.... Would defo cost at least 150 for tent, sleeping bags and all that!!!!!

Could even make a saving!!!! :D

Would a 4 berth caravan really sleep 4 adults comfy????

You shouldn't have too much trouble fitting four lads in a 4 berth. You'll still have the floor in the worst case scenario. Remember, you'll need to have blankets etc with you too. and If you want to organised water etc..... thats a different story.

Be prepared to break stuff in it though. Four lads beered up who aint used to a caravan and after a bit of craic are bound to break things...

If they will only give you 200 or 300 back on it, then Id consider selling it privately. Chances are you'll get more for it and they'd end up selling it at the same price again anyway.

Buford T Justice

Macy0161 wrote: »

You'd probably want to check that the bunks can take adults - depend on the size of the adults I guess too though! Two doubles might work better, if it was an option - 5 berths tend to be two doubles, with a bunk over one of them.

Its a four berth, Two double beds. you can see it in the pic.

oo7tk

Fingers McGee wrote: »

You shouldn't have too much trouble fitting four lads in a 4 berth. You'll still have the floor in the worst case scenario. Remember, you'll need to have blankets etc with you too. and If you want to organised water etc..... thats a different story.

Be prepared to break stuff in it though. Four lads beered up who aint used to a caravan and after a bit of craic are bound to break things...

If they will only give you 200 or 300 back on it, then Id consider selling it privately. Chances are you'll get more for it and they'd end up selling it at the same price again anyway.

Well ill be well organised alright, have a generator and will be lookin to plug phones, kettle and maybe do a bit of cooking..... Have a warm shower would be nice too... Does the gas warm the shower water??? Would you even get a shower out of it???

We are well prepared to break a thing or two these things happen, i would be delighted to get 300 for it after the weekend as i dont really have anywhere to store it.....

spaceHopper

oo7tk wrote: »

Well ill be well organised alright, have a generator and will be lookin to plug phones, kettle and maybe do a bit of cooking..... Have a warm shower would be nice too... Does the gas warm the shower water??? Would you even get a shower out of it???

We are well prepared to break a thing or two these things happen, i would be delighted to get 300 for it after the weekend as i dont really have anywhere to store it.....

Charge the battery well and leave the generator at home, everything will run off 12V or if you bring the generator, run it during the day to charge the battery - you won't be popular if you run it at night

If you look in the first pic just above the wheel arch that's the vent for the water heater - it runs off gas

Buford T Justice

Yeah, there's a gas water heater in it. I have the same one in my van, and even though I might have it on for an hour in the morning it still will only give me enough hot water for a sink full of dishes. Not sure if its my boiler or what, but I'm not too pushed, as I don't have a shower in my van.

As for a kettle, don't bother with an electric one. they'll use too much power on 240V and are too slow on 12V. best to use the gas hob to boil the kettle. As for phone chargers, as said if you have a 12V battery then make sure you have the right connections to adapt to it. Caravans have 2 separate supplies in them for electricity

The 3 pin plugs that you see in the van will be powered by 240, which most likely won't be available on site, and so normal chargers will be useless, without a gennie.

oo7tk

Fingers McGee wrote: »

Yeah, there's a gas water heater in it. I have the same one in my van, and even though I might have it on for an hour in the morning it still will only give me enough hot water for a sink full of dishes. Not sure if its my boiler or what, but I'm not too pushed, as I don't have a shower in my van.

As for a kettle, don't bother with an electric one. they'll use too much power on 240V and are too slow on 12V. best to use the gas hob to boil the kettle. As for phone chargers, as said if you have a 12V battery then make sure you have the right connections to adapt to it. Caravans have 2 separate supplies in them for electricity

The 3 pin plugs that you see in the van will be powered by 240, which most likely won't be available on site, and so normal chargers will be useless, without a gennie.

Cheers this is all usefull info, i will defo bring a gennie to charge phones and all that lark and have the battery charged for the night.... So the battery would really just do the lights and a tiny bit of water....

Would the gennie keep the water warm???

Buford T Justice

oo7tk wrote: »

Cheers this is all usefull info, i will defo bring a gennie to charge phones and all that lark and have the battery charged for the night.... So the battery would really just do the lights and a tiny bit of water....

Would the gennie keep the water warm???

Battery will / should power the lights inside, water pump, toilet water pump, that sort of stuff. It'll also do the fridge too, but you can run that on gas either, or alternate to 240 when the gennie is on....

The gennie won't keep the water warm no, as its heated by gas. Lift the seat its under and see if its insulated. Should keep it a bit warmer for longer, but its not a massive tank.

This is the size of it

spaceHopper

Get a car charger for the phones, you will have 12V to charge them.

The gas will heat the water, I've the same heater and get piping hot water but not much of it.

For the fridge, make load of spag-boll and freeze it do the same with a weeks supply of sausages food for BBQ..... Cool all the beers in the fridge at home load up before you go. Or bring a large gardening bucket and fill it with water and ice for cooling beers, can you get ice at EP. If you can get a cool box full of blast frozen ice it will last 3 days.

Bring lots of loo role and baby wipes as well.

You will need to get a gas cylinder, go to a bring center and get one for free then get a refill that will save you 50 bucks

oo7tk

Crap i thought the battery would at least keep the beers cold??? You see ya cant leave the jeep with the caravan so it wont be near the caravan... So really i need to use the fridge for the weekend, lights a bit and then ill have the gennie for cooking, charging phones and that sort of lark.... Would this work?? Hopefully whoever im buying the caravan off will show me...

Buford T Justice

oo7tk wrote: »

Crap i thought the battery would at least keep the beers cold??? You see ya cant leave the jeep with the caravan so it wont be near the caravan... So really i need to use the fridge for the weekend, lights a bit and then ill have the gennie for cooking, charging phones and that sort of lark.... Would this work?? Hopefully whoever im buying the caravan off will show me...

You can use the Gennie during the day to charge the battery and run the 240 stuff, and you can always run the fridge on gas and leave it on gas, providing its a 3 way fridge. Not sure how heavy it'll be on gas though I only use it occasionally.

doomdog

Fingers McGee wrote: »

You can use the Gennie during the day to charge the battery and run the 240 stuff, and you can always run the fridge on gas and leave it on gas, providing its a 3 way fridge. Not sure how heavy it'll be on gas though I only use it occasionally.

As far as I know the 3 way fridges use about 1 kg of gas a week

Buford T Justice

doomdog wrote: »

As far as I know the 3 way fridges use about 1 kg of gas a week

Is that 24/7 use?

Macy0161

If you had the fridge on the gennie during the day, would you really need it on the gas during the night anyway? If you minimise opening and closing it should keep it fairly cold.

We use an electric coolbox in our van, which is switched off at night (the fan is nosier than you'd think) and everything is still cool enough in the morning.

In my opinion, if you are running the fridge on gas (or probably anything else), invest in a carbon monoxide alarm, given the set up isn't new and you probably won't know about the maintenance. There's portable ones available for a little over €20, which will do you for holidays and that even if you don't keep the caravan. Actually you should probably get a smoke alarm thinking about it - or one of the combined Smoke/CO alarms.

oo7tk

Macy0161 wrote: »

If you had the fridge on the gennie during the day, would you really need it on the gas during the night anyway? If you minimise opening and closing it should keep it fairly cold.

We use an electric coolbox in our van, which is switched off at night (the fan is nosier than you'd think) and everything is still cool enough in the morning.

In my opinion, if you are running the fridge on gas (or probably anything else), invest in a carbon monoxide alarm, given the set up isn't new and you probably won't know about the maintenance. There's portable ones available for a little over €20, which will do you for holidays and that even if you don't keep the caravan. Actually you should probably get a smoke alarm thinking about it - or one of the combined Smoke/CO alarms.

Yea suppose if i had it on for a few hours during the day it would be ok, keep the cans cooler than in a tent anyway.... Thanks...

spaceHopper

oo7tk wrote: »

Yea suppose if i had it on for a few hours during the day it would be ok, keep the cans cooler than in a tent anyway.... Thanks...

It's made for running with out a mains hook up - the cooker is gas, the fridge is 12 240 and gas, the water is gas - stop worring and buy the dam thing before it's sold you don't need 240V. Charge the battery, bring a torch and if the beer is warm do what it's still wet.

doomdog

Fingers McGee wrote: »

Is that 24/7 use?

Not too certain, i read it on a camper forum! I dont think it was for 24 hour use though, i think it was backed up each day by a few hours each day travelling. either way a standard gas bottle should more than last the weekend!

oo7tk

spaceHopper wrote: »

It's made for running with out a mains hook up - the cooker is gas, the fridge is 12 240 and gas, the water is gas - stop worring and buy the dam thing before it's sold you don't need 240V. Charge the battery, bring a torch and if the beer is warm do what it's still wet.

Well the reason im worring about it is cause i have never done it before and this is the reason i put up a post to get the info... I dont want to spend the bones of a grand on something and then find out when i get there that i cant have, water, fridge, cooker for the weekend, may as well be in a tent in that case.....

Buford T Justice

Using the taps and water etc... isn't a problem so long as you have a 12v battery and a gennie to charge it if you are using other stuff.

Getting the water and disposal is another matter though. Carting a drum of water, chlorene tablets etc..... You'd need to be mechanically minded though as chances are something won't go according to plan on the first outing so you might need to improvise if you know what I mean,

If you could get a test run of it first for a night or something you'd be better fixed at the festival.

Malta1

Fingers McGee wrote: »

If you could get a test run of it first for a night or something you'd be better fixed at the festival.

Defo do a trial run for 2 night before you head off......park it up on th edrive at home and live in it. Report back on things that didnt work out and we will try point you in the right direction

elaverty

This is starting to sound like alot of hassell,,are you sure you want to go atall