At last,have bought a trailer tent!Now proud owners of a Raclet Marathon which we picked up today and is now settling into new home.Children are really excited and want to sleep in it as soon as possible and wont be put off by me mumbling about frostbite.
The actual tent itself is really easy to put up/fold down but the awning.....the guy we bought it from has used it once and so we whiled away a few hours with him taking it down with noone quite knowing where it all went,and because we were amongst strangers OH was unusually polite in his cursing!It all went a bit wrong when the vendor smacked me in the head with a pole during the awning take down and then OH knelt on top of the kitchen breaking the lid.I left the men to it while i looked for a mallet that would do for both of them.
On the way home i mused as to how long it would take us to do the awning by ourselves.'Pah!Piece of cake',he says.'i've been a scout and erected tents,sheds,playhouses....Sistine Chapel,blah,blah!'..Yep,you've guessed it,he's still out there now 3 hours later while i've got the kettle on and offering words of support such as 'its getting dark now'.
After a brief trip in my thoughts over to the Dark Side(caravan)when it was all a bit chaotic earlier am now looking forward to life with a trailer tent!
We had a Raclet Marathon for 3 years. They're fab and you get loads of space. But by god the awning can be damn tricky to put up. On the plus side though once you've done it a few times it will get a lot easier. Happy camping. We were camping in Clumber Park last weekend and there was frost on the tent on Sunday morning. But we were lovely and warm inside with a low heat on overnight and proper sleeping bags. Go for it.
Thanks everyone!And yes Haribo ,will really benefit from some professional help particularly with the awning as we are the Great Pretenders of camping by far.Will choose our pitch carefully,seeking out another trailer tent/camper for expert knowledge nearby so if you see a family of Raclet Marathon owners looking confused near you its probably us.
Aired out the awning indoors last night,woke up to find a miniture zoo of earwigs,ants and other things with legs roaming around on the carpet.Lesson learned:de-bug as much as possible before bringing awning in!
Children wanted to take miniture zoo in for Show and Tell but explained might get a bit complicated as mum would have to answer lots of questions by their teachers.....
Still deciding on Hamble,awning now having a few repairs so not sure when coming back....and more importantly will be freezing!!!!!! But watch this space may venture out onto the wilderness yet(well the campsite)and have a trial run with tt.Will dig out woolly hats and buy a fan heater!
Quote: Originally posted by 5HappyMillsys on 03/10/2007
At last,have bought a trailer tent!Now proud owners of a Raclet Marathon which we picked up today and is now settling into new home.Children are really excited and want to sleep in it as soon as possible and wont be put off by me mumbling about frostbite.
The actual tent itself is really easy to put up/fold down but the awning.....the guy we bought it from has used it once and so we whiled away a few hours with him taking it down with noone quite knowing where it all went,and because we were amongst strangers OH was unusually polite in his cursing!It all went a bit wrong when the vendor smacked me in the head with a pole during the awning take down and then OH knelt on top of the kitchen breaking the lid.I left the men to it while i looked for a mallet that would do for both of them.
On the way home i mused as to how long it would take us to do the awning by ourselves.'Pah!Piece of cake',he says.'i've been a scout and erected tents,sheds,playhouses....Sistine Chapel,blah,blah!'..Yep,you've guessed it,he's still out there now 3 hours later while i've got the kettle on and offering words of support such as 'its getting dark now'.
After a brief trip in my thoughts over to the Dark Side(caravan)when it was all a bit chaotic earlier am now looking forward to life with a trailer tent!
Where in Hampshire are you?
We collected our new trailer tent from Gosport and stayed overnight at Kingfisher Caravan Park.
We bought ours on ebay for £150. All we know is it's a Raclet with a kitchen unit, from the towbar to the front of the awning it is 18 ft.
Congratulations, I'm going to have fun with my Dandy - never put the awning up and never put the main part away (only had a demonstration of putting it up!). Sure you'll be fine and have lots of fun in it.
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: Got a Raclet!!
