Q. Do you have any suggestions for stopping my tent carpet sliding around on the tent floor A. A good option is heavy duty Velcro at each corner, we have always used this method and it works well.
Q. When on the campsite, how do I know what appliances I can plug into my Electric hook up (EHU)? A. On every EHU plugging point you will find a red or yellow label, this will tell you the total AMPs you can use. Below is a guide to AMPs and Watts and what your capacity is depending on the campsite: 16 amp – 3680 watts 10 amp – 2300 watts 6 amp – 1380 watts So as a rule of thumb you can use appliances with wattage within the limits of your total amps, for example most small plug in fan heaters are 2000watt, a hotplate griddle is around 1600watt, a small flat screen TV is around 30watt. All electrical appliances have a total watts label.
Q. We are half-way through a week’s camping holiday and our tent gets ripped, what do I do? A. Always carry a roll of good quality tear-aid tape in your holdall, apply sufficient strips of the tear-aid tape to the area, this will certainly get you through, if you do not possess any tear-aid tape use duck tape, this will do the job until you get home.
Q. What is the best way of keeping my tent tidy and free of clutter? A. There are several ways of keeping your tent tidy, one good way is to invest in a small utility tent, in here you can organise your wardrobe, shoes, food storage, bags and baggage. Another option if you have a large tent is to use your spare bedroom (if you have one spare), if not we would recommend the utility tent. By using the utility tent, this will keep your main tent free of clutter. Vango supply handy organisers, these clip to the sky track system and are really useful and keep items of clutter tidy such as mobile phones, keys, magazines etc.
Q. Do you have any good tips for camping in the rain?
A. Try to avoid it if you can, however if you have to go, then we recommend the following:
Use big tarps in areas where you choose to sit out.
Take plenty of large polythene sacks (trust us, these will come in handy) particularly for covering and wrapping items.
Invest in a good quality waterproof rain jacket.
If you have an open tent porch, reverse the car under this for unloading.
Keep the tent canvas nice and tight by using all the guy lines, this will ensure the water runs off the tent and doesn’t pool on the top.
Always ensure that your tent fully covers your footprint and that your foot print cannot be seen once your tent is pitched, exposed footprints will cause water to pool underneath your tent.
Q. How do I stop rain collecting on my tent foot print before I get the chance to lay my tent on top of it? A. This is difficult to totally eliminate, however we do have a few tips. The best way is to cut a thin piece of polythene just slightly larger than your footprint (at home in dry conditions) attach the sheet of thin polythene to the upper side of the foot print using small pieces of duck tape, once attached - roll the foot print and pack it ready for the campsite. Once at the rainy campsite - peg the 4 corners of your footprint. Place your tent is at one end of the foot print ready to roll out, start peeling the polythene off the footprint as you roll your tent out over it until the tent is fully covering the footprint and the polythene is fully removed. This will eliminate a good 97% of rain water on the foot print prior to the tent being pitched on top of it. An alternative option is to take a couple of old dry towels with you and while one person rolls the tent over the foot print, another person dries off the footprint with a towel as you go.
Q. I have accidentally spilt washing up liquid on the flysheet of my tent, will this affect the tent’s performance. A. Yes this may have an impact on your tent’s performance, any kind of soap or detergent will have an adverse effect on any waterproofing membrane within the flysheet material and this may remove the waterproofing properties within the flysheet material. Remove the soap substance immediately with warm clean water, several applications may be required until all the soap has been fully eliminated, then apply several coats of spray on water-proofer onto the affected area, Fabsil universal water-proofer is usually a good choice.
Q. What is a hard standing pitch on a campsite, and can we pitch our tent on it? A. Hard standing pitches are usually reserved for Caravans and motorhomes, however if you have to pitch on these, ensure you have hard ground pegs, cover the hard ground with a thick blanket or foam matting and pitch your footprint and tent on top of this. This method will act as a protection membrane. The hardcore surface often contains little sharp stones that may pierce your footprint and tent groundsheet.
Q. It sometimes gets quite cold in my tent with one fan heater running, can I use additional fan heaters in my tent? A. No. You can only use one fan heater in your tent as your EHU (electric Hook up) will only have the capacity to handle the consumption of one fan heater. For colder nights, use good quality sleeping bags, hot water bottles, warm sleeping clothes, extra thick blankets.
Q. We are struggling for space in our car with all the camping gear we have purchased, do you have any tips on condensing this? A. Yes there are several space saving tips we can share with you, why not use vacuum bags to reduce the pack size of sleeping bags, clothes etc, these vacuum bags reduce the pack size by half. Ensure all your camping furniture is folding and even better for space saving is if you can use inflatable chairs especially if space in the car is an issue. And don’t take what you don’t need. A further option and a good one is to invest in a roof bag, these can be purchased up to 600 litre and can be used if your car has roof rails or not. Imagine all your quilts/sleeping bags, clothes, holdall and luggage stored in the roof bag and not in your car. Quite a space saver indeed.
Q. What is included with a seasonal pitch on a campsite? A. A Seasonal pitch includes the hire of the pitch and access to electric hook-up for the period specified. The joint members and their children up to 18 can then stay in the unit throughout the Season, without paying any pitch fees. Please remember to disconnect your hook-up when you leave site for an extended period.
Q. What is the best way to roll out tent to get it back in the bag? A. There is no set rule to how to roll your tent, we have watched many on the campsites and nearly everyone does it differently, however we will go through how we do it: Lay out your tent bag next to your tent as a size guide, this will give you an idea of the size to roll to. Fold the tent in exactly half, then fold it again, put your bag at the end of the roll and measure it again (this will tell you if you need to adjust the size of the fold). Then proceed to roll the folded tent tightly as you go. Once completed the finished roll should go into the bag. This may not always be exact and sometimes you may have to negotiate it into the bag by sitting on it, however patience is key (it will go in). If you roll the tent too big, don’t try and squeeze it into the bag you will damage the tent bag, just roll it back out and roll it again. We will be producing a tent packing video in due course so watch out for this.
Q. What months are included in the camping season? A. This slightly differs from campsite to campsite, however the unofficial duration of the camping season is usually from March to October.
We hope you enjoyed this blog article and it goes some way to helping you on your camping trips.
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