Such excitement! After a great deal of research – many, many lengthy evenings poring over back copies of Practical Motorhome magazine and firing questions into online forums – we sacked our savings accounts, figuring that we needed the fun now, not later, and bought our first motorhome. I'd been working for Leisureshopdirect.com for a few months by then and felt confident that there was a handy online store supplying any
motorhome spares we might need, as we were buying a pre-loved, rather than a new van, which would inevitably require some TLC over the years. Our family being relatively small – 2 adults, a young child and two ageing Labradors – we opted for the smallest van we could comfortably fit into, a
Knaus Sports Traveller. Adventure here we come!
Buying it in October gave us a few months to get the ‘van ready for the spring. Feeling brave (that overhead cab seems huge once you’ve got to negotiate narrow Devon lanes with overhanging branches!) we headed out for a few single night stays in the local countryside ostensibly to learn how everything worked in familiar surroundings. Was the weather kind to us on these initial forays?
Was it heck… storms raged, rain lashed, the ‘van rocked even when stationary and celebratory wine bottles threatened to roll off tables. In hindsight, though, December and January camping forays were useful ways to test out whether the ‘van was as well winterised as it claimed to be. It also ensured that we trialled some of the more technical equipment in the ‘van before we headed out on any longer trips further afield.
The first overnight stay was on Bonfire Night – we planned to drive the van onto Dartmoor and park it above our local town to watch the fireworks display from afar. Any concerns that the dogs might be frightened by the noise of the explosions were set aside when we realised that the rain lashing against the side of the motorhome and the wind roaring across the bonnet would drown out the sound of the fireworks… indeed, even lighting the fireworks in the deluge that descended on Dartmoor that evening was going to be a challenge.
Fine – we weren’t going to enjoy a chilly sunset on this first evening in the ‘van. But, we’d be cosy. It was time to turn on the heater and get warm. Having spent years camping, I was astonished at how quickly the ‘van warmed up. We popped the radio on, cooked some supper on the stove and ooh-ed and ahhh-ed out of the streaming windows at the fireworks that did manage to light. All seemed well.
But, what was that smell? A hot, dusty, burning smell was emanating from the cupboard at the back of the motorhome…ominously, the cupboard that houses the water heater. The smell increased and, before the fire alarm could go off both adults in the ‘van took evasive action, leaping simultaneously it seemed to turn the dial of the water heater to 0. Too good to be true and sods law being two hymns of my childhood, I was immediately convinced that the heater was faulty… perhaps the thermostat had broken…the cupboard housing the heater had got far hotter than it should, surely…when a water heater over-heats, does it explode…should we take cover? Both adults in the ‘van reached for their respective phones and logged on…my husband to one of the caravanning and touring forums looking for answers to the mystery smell, me to the
caravan gas safety alarm pages of Leisureshopdirect.com and then to the
gas spare parts for your caravan section to work out the cost of replacement thermostats and, if the worst came to the worst, a replacement water heater. Needless to say my inclination towards doom was overstated as usual and the forums came up trumps…
dust, my love, just dust burning off the top of the heater in its first usage for months. Ahhhh – and relax!
Although all of the major equipment on the ‘van worked well, November-January saw us sorting out some more minor teething problems. The blind on the lounge window had been damaged in the past and ruched up every time we tried to use it – we decided that it needed replacing. The catch on the Dometic Fridge door was dodgy and didn’t always lock. With two greedy Labradors constantly on the lookout for food, this required attention, so we replaced that too using the Leisureshopdirect
caravan cooling device spares section to easily find the part we needed.
It’s now March and we have booked our proper trip out – that’s far enough from bricks and mortar for us to be independently touring. We’re heading to West Wales for the Easter weekend…hopefully we’ll get some sun!
