Well guess we shall see what Burcroft after sales and handover care is like very shortly. We were very impressed with their apparent honesty when we were looking and they were happy to point out issues (damp on one for instance) that I may not have seen
Also depends what stock they have in at the time obviously as I know they have sold a fair bit recently - pick ours up tomorrow
By the way you can work on gas equipment providing you are a "competent person" so you don't require any qualifications , but you do require knowledge of the rules and obviously to have necessary equipment. Speculation of peopel dieing in fires due to faulty DIY is in fairness nothing more than sensationalist reporting IMO, not that I condone anyone doing work they are not comfortable or competent to do of course
Good luick with your ongoing search - if you are near Burcroft then try Tony Wilds at Woburn Abbey as won't be too far away either
I was under the impression that to work on gas installations you had to be registered and that 'competent person' status required recognised training/qualification.
I didn't say that people die in fires because of faulty DIY, I said that it is reported that fires are so often as being started by electrical faults, which is not the same thing at all. The reporting of such things may be sensationalist in style and I find the almost glee with which the media like to present every story in a sensationalist manner just to try and grab your attention, at best, quite distasteful.
The real problem is that there are lots of people who think they are capable and competent to carry out work on electrical, gas and mechanical systems, but when being viewed at work or when looking at some of their previous handywork they are quite obviously not! We all know at least one bodger surely? No? Maybe I just notice them!
Never heard of anyone taking their camping stoves and canisters for a service and the caravan/folding camper is not really more than a slightly larger version of that.
I have yet to hear of a fire in a FC or TT that has not been casued by silly human behaviour, rather than clapped out unserviced systems. Though I agree some people should never go near electrics, many people are actually perfectly capable of standard tasks. OH did wire in the pump for the toilet and has wired in a radio too, (something he has done on his own cars many times) and I do not feel that there are any risks.
It is about knowing your limits really.
PS without other half there are still a lot of things I could do (despite being an academic!) though getting the wheels off would be beyong my strength rather than my understanding! Using manuals and help on here I usually work out how to sort the various things we need to on the FC and then tell OH what to do lol
isn't that the truth! Thats exactly what i mean. The real danger is that people don't realise how potentially dangerous their actions are - the person who keeps reusing nylock nuts, the person who takes off the brake drum, cleans it out and on reassembly straightens out the split pin to reuse it - just like they have several times before. Both actions that have the potential to cause serious accidents, just because the wheel hasn't come off before doesn't mean it won't this time!
I know this all sounds like scaremongering but really it isn't, its just about being aware and minimizing risk.
I think personally a lot of it comes from the ever growing "nanny state" we now live in.
Risk assessments are every where in life now and problem is that over regulation does remove people's own inbuilt intuition that was once called "common sense".If you don't know how to do something you either research it properly or you get someone who does know how to do it to do it for you
As Andcow correctly says most accidents or incidents are undoubtedly down to "user error" rather than "equipment failiure" There will always be candiate for Darwin awards however you regulate the world - some might say its natural selection at work!
To put that in perspective however there were over 150,000 deaths from Cancer in 2008 - figures can prove nothing or everything I am afraid unles you take figures or stats in context
Ultimately I am sure we agree above anyway that only competent people (however you wish to define that) should undertake work on electrics or gas or vehicle maintenance
150,000 cancer deaths - but how many of them went to Hospital for treatment and how many went to see a friends wife who used to be a nurse to get their tumour treated, no wait, that should be how many cancer survivors had their treatment carried out by a retired nurse in her kitchen ;o)
Regarding servicing..I used a local mobile caravan service.. the guy fully checked the braking system removing wheels, replaced the gas hose,serviced handbrake and jockey wheel, checked all lights etc. Basically everything he could without me opening the camper for about £80.It was worth it to me as I couldn't have done any of that!
I have an awning extension that I use with a basic camping toilet (really just a bucket witha seat and a lid) but you can get really posh cassette type ones. I only use it at night as I always hate the idea of leaving the kids (even though they're now teens) alone while I go off into the night to traipse to the toilet block. The awning extension keeps the toilet away from the main cabin but near enough to use in the dark.
Hope it helps
this is what i use.We put pine wood cat litter in it.No bad wiff's either lol.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: toilet dilemma!
