Just returned from our first stay in our Conway Classic that we bought last November. We were staying on a showground, not a campsite and luckily for us my husband's brother and father (thanks guys x) had put it up for us before we got there. It really doesn't look like it's ever been slept in, the mattress covers were spotless, the label was still on the sink, the cooker looked like it had been lit once, a few curtain related attachy bits had broken... but no marks or rips on anything. It's amazing and I'm so pleased with it! We now have an idea of how it works and what we'll need next time we use it, which will be a week in the summer holidays.
We have come back with quite a few questions though (some specific to our trailer tent and some general ones) so if anyone fancies taking the time to read and reply that would be great.
General questions...
- Using inverters instead of EHU. We want to avoid having to use EHU, for several reasons, but we will be wanting to charge batteries, mobile phones and lanterns. My brother in law recommended an inverter run off the car as he has one (which he used in our tent this weekend connected to the EHU plug/4 way thing it came with, to charge his phone) but we wondered whether that would be enough for charging all the things we want, or would we have to get a leisure battery? Do many other people do this or do you all use EHU?
- Toast! What's the best kind of toaster (our built in grill is dodgy) for use on the gas hob? With 3 kids I need to be able to do 2 slices at a time!
- Gas heaters. My brother in law bought one at the show ground, I was initially against the idea because of safety of flames/hot things in tents until they pointed out I'm happy using the cooker! It worked well and kept the chill off but it seems like they go through cartridges pretty quick. Any advice about them would be great.
- Table and chairs solution. 2 adults, 3 small children. Been reading a lot of old threads about the table and chair/bench sets (lots of threads!),don't want one with attached seats but considering the type with moveable benches/stools now I'm not sure whether to get an all in one set, or buy table and chairs seperately as we will also want chairs to sit in in the evenings. Don't have either at the moment.
Conway Classic (trio 2001) questions...
- Grill. Our grill has not been used much but it is 11 years old. The flame burns too orange (not enough air/too much fuel?) and it makes a horrible smell so I don't like to use it, has anyone else had a problem with their grills? Do you replace them with something else?
- Pup tents. Is a generic cheap one (£20-30 on ebay) any good in these or do I need a fancy one?
- Curtains - We go the tent with the curtains set up in it, some of the plastic its have snapped so I made sure they were folded neatly away (and I cleaned all the windows, probably getting very funny looks from neighbouring campers) and put in the drawers hoping they would last longer. Is this right? Or will I wish I hadn't when it takes me ages to get them all back on?
If you've managed to get this far, thank you so much for reading my questions. Any help will be gratefully received.
Post last edited on 30/05/2011 22:29:03
------------- Can't wait to go out for the first time in our Conway Classic Trailer Tent!
Quote: Originally posted by rhiannon134 on 30/5/2011
General questions... - Using inverters instead of EHU. We want to avoid having to use EHU, for several reasons, but we will be wanting to charge batteries, mobile phones and lanterns. My brother in law recommended an inverter run off the car as he has one (which he used in our tent this weekend connected to the EHU plug/4 way thing it came with, to charge his phone) but we wondered whether that would be enough for charging all the things we want, or would we have to get a leisure battery? Do many other people do this or do you all use EHU?
We use EHU so can't answer that one
- Toast! What's the best kind of toaster (our built in grill is dodgy) for use on the gas hob? With 3 kids I need to be able to do 2 slices at a time!
We use the grill but otherwise i'd use a 2 slice electric one
- Gas heaters. My brother in law bought one at the show ground, I was initially against the idea because of safety of flames/hot things in tents until they pointed out I'm happy using the cooker! It worked well and kept the chill off but it seems like they go through cartridges pretty quick. Any advice about them would be great.
I really wouldn't use a gas heater if i could avoid it :( Again i use ehu
Conway Classic (trio 2001) questions... - Grill. Our grill has not been used much but it is 11 years old. The flame burns too orange (not enough air/too much fuel?) and it makes a horrible smell so I don't like to use it, has anyone else had a problem with their grills? Do you replace them with something else?
Wonder if the smell is because its not been used?
- Pup tents. Is a generic cheap one (£20-30 on ebay) any good in these or do I need a fancy one?
The conway ones are wider which is why they are more expensive but if you only want it to sleep a single airbed then the cheaper ones are fine :)
- Curtains - We go the tent with the curtains set up in it, some of the plastic its have snapped so I made sure they were folded neatly away (and I cleaned all the windows, probably getting very funny looks from neighbouring campers) and put in the drawers hoping they would last longer. Is this right? Or will I wish I hadn't when it takes me ages to get them all back on?
I've always taken mine down and both tt's we have owned have had the curtains already off :)
If you've managed to get this far, thank you so much for reading my questions. Any help will be gratefully received.
Sorry that i couldn't answer the non ehu but hopefully someone will be aloing soon to answer those
Glad that you had a good weekend and how nice of your family to have already set it up for you, though i think i'd feel a bit disappointed that i hadn't helped as i still need more practice at erecting it lol
seems to me all you problems would be solved if you went out and purchased a EHU ,,a invertor might drain your car battery ,plus leaving the car running is expensive these days ,so with a EHU you would have
a electric toaster
a electric fan heater
enough sockets to charge mobiles/laptops etc
tables and chairs definetly seperate ones the all in ones can tip over unless your very carefull
pup tents as long as they fit they should be o.k but a makers one is always going to be better
Inverters are very power hungry, so you will be running your car a lot. Do bearin mind you will need a pure sine wave one - very expensive - if you are dealing with any electronics, including mobile phones and laptops.
If you use a cheap inverter or generator, they are known to fry electronics.
EHU 100% necessary ... car link is crazy!
Leisure battery is good if you plan to be somewhere where you can't. get a hook up.
Never, ever, ever, ever use your cooker as a heater. Heavy warnings about this in the manuals! Exposed (uncovered) flames in a 'tent' have lead to horrendous fires ... there's one on a U Tube link in someone's thread a few weeks ago ... a salutary lesson!
Heater ... we use a small oil filled radiator ... and it's excellent ... find fan heaters can be very dehydrating, and radiants pose a greater fire hazard.
We pack away our curtains, inner linings, mattresses and cushions indoors after every season ... what's washable gets done yearly ... mattresses store under beds and sometimes get used if there are more visitors than beds in the house!
For toast we grill ... but don't often toast as on the continent we are usually seduced by croissants et al for breakfast!
I'd strongly recommend getting a certified service agent to check over all your gas system ... it will cost you a bit, but for safety and to ensure the system is A OK, it is the best. Once you've done this you will have a safe, usable and efficient system ... we do ours once a year ... but that could be overkill!
Thanks for the replies everyone. I did say we aren't getting EHU (I grew up without electricity and I refuse to accept it is essential when camping!) so I definitely want an alternative to that so I'll look into the leisure battery thing. We should have room for one if we get a front box. Can I still run battery chargers off that though? When I was a kid we ran a b&w telly and a stereo off a normal car battery, but nothing more sophisticated!
------------- Can't wait to go out for the first time in our Conway Classic Trailer Tent!
Umm ... if you go for a Leisure battery ... that is ... electricity. If you grew up without it and want to pursue that, then great ... but all the clobber you list runs on the stuff, so by going via a less eco-friendly way of getting powered up (batteries), you are probably defeating the object, aren't you?
Anyway, the Leisure battery has to be charged up via an EHU, so I'm not sure how you are going to manage to divorce yourself from it. Charging via the car is even worse for the environment!
LOl sorry I didn't mean no electricity I meant no mains electricity, as I would like to camp places where there isn't any. I would actually be happy to go without the batteries but my husband isn't and I don't think candles in a tent with kids is a good idea! It's nothing to do with the environment.
Surely some people manage to camp without using the EHU? I mean surely not all tents use it as it's optional at most camp sites.
------------- Can't wait to go out for the first time in our Conway Classic Trailer Tent!
You're absolutely right ... lots of campers use no LX.
Be true to that and take none!
Charge phones from the car direct.
Toast with your gas cooker.
Ban all other electrics!
Use a camping gaz light ... they're very good, and cheap.
Hello, Rhiannon's husband here.
To clarify on the EHU matter. All our electric appliances (lamps, torches, phone chargers, possible portable DVD) are very low wattage, therefore we think it would be a bit silly to pay an extra £30 a week when we could be a lot more self contained. The inverter in question is a very small unit, only producing about 300watts max. It is not pure sine wave but as far as I have seen this makes no difference, even to a laptop charger (I know people who have tried this many times with no ill effects).
We used my brother's inverter to charge phones up over the weekend and it worked brilliantly the only thing that bothers me is that a lot of our chargers need to be on for 8hours or more, this is why I am not keen on using the car battery as even though it would probably do it, I don't want to take the risk of not being able to start the car in the morning.
My idea is to use a leisure battery in the TT and run a split charge into the boot of the car so when we are driving around sight seeing, the leisure battery can be secured in the boot and charge as we are going therefore keeping the running costs as minimal as possible. Another idea to add to the confusion (hope you are all keeping up ) is to also use a solar charger to top up either the leisure battery or the car battery, but this would be purely an experiment and I will keep you all posted on the results.
As you may have guessed, we don't always like to follow the crowd on these things hence the questions but it seems the path we are looking at is not something that general campers do. When you look at it on paper I reckon it all adds up, I think it will make an interesting experiment.
As for the grill problem, has anyone ever had one of these grills apart? Something is definitely wrong with this one, the flame is very yellow and produces a lot of soot. It also smells very bad, like the gas isn't all getting burnt.
I've been using a TT for 15 years now, a Conway Camargue for the last nine, and only in the last 5 have I had EHU. Now I do and we have the option of taking it or not but if not I don't have a batterty or any palaver like that. I just go with the easily availible non-electric way.
1) Clean out the grill and use that for the toast. There's probably a spider web or similar grot in it. A bit of compressed air (blow hard, or use an airbed pump!) down the hose is a great help. A good old fashione pipe cleaner and a bit of flexible wire is helpful too. Failing that buy a couple of the flat toaster gadgets that sit over the gas rings. Or do what I do when I'm camping with just a burner and use a pair of tongs to hold the bread over the flame. Works a treat. Mind you I make the family eat cereal or bread and butter for breakfast on site. Life's too short to be standing over the grill making ten bits of toast.
2) Gas heaters. I don't use heaters in the TT, period, but if I did get a non-electric one it would be an ever-reliable Black Cat as they have suitable safety cut-outs and are appropriate for tents. Don't put it on a groundsheet, use a bit of heat resistand board. Don't leave it unattended. Don't let dogs or kids play round it. Don't dry clothes over it or near it.
3) Undertents. I did buy a generic Sunncamp one once and returned it at the end of the day as unfit for purpose. Thin enough to spit peas through and really, barely worth hanging up as it was so flimsy it would let every draft through. I can only assume the ones Sunncamp provide with their TTs are better quality. Anyway, look on Ebay for a proper Conway or Cabanon one. For the sake of a few ££s the decent ones are many times better.
4) Batteries. Charge them off the ciggie lighter in the car. We have a battery charger that plugs in there that can do a variety of batteries very effectively. Phones get charged up direct. We did have a problem with a non-standard camera battery one year but my OH just asked neighbours politely if he could plug it into their EHU. I had a hairdryer back then...I used it in the toilet block. You don't need a leisure battery for any of this.
5) Coolbox. Most ampsites provide some sort of ice pack refreezing service. Buy a good quality coolbox, not a supermarket cheapie. Don't be tempted buy one that plugs into the ciggie lighter or leisure battery as it can drain either in 3-4 hours. Or go the whole hog and buy a 3-way fridge that runs on gas as an option. One of the best buys out there imho.
6)Lighting. I don't like gas lamps in the tent either. Yes you've got a gas cooker but that's in a very stable kitchen unit with heat resistant backs wheras a gas lamp can get knocked over/kids can burn their fingers on the glass. I've used low energy bulb battery lamps for years and 4 D-cells last a week in one of these, so it's hardly expensive. UFO lights from the £ shop for pods and undertents.
We've done holidays of a couple of months abroad without EHU so I know how to do it, belive me. I still rarely bother with EHU for long weekends. However I also think it's a lot, lot easier to have an EHU setup as well for longer trips. I don't take heaters, toasters, electric kettles or even a hairdryer now I have long hair but it's nice to have a good light and the option to charge up anything you like, plus run the fridge on electricity as an option. And last year when we were away the small desk fan I took was an absolute godsend, lol.
If you do take a leisure battery btw watch your noseweight if it's in the front box, and your overall payload as well. From memory the Classic has the same payload as my Camargue, around 100Kg. That can get pretty tight when packing for a family of four or five. Might be better to keep it in the car boot full time.
Oh yes, tables. I have the Conway one that folds up and lies flat in the base of the trailer. Excellent object. I use it as a kitchen worktable though so we eat off one like this and use our normal folding chairs to sit on. I just don't have space to take two sets of chairs.
Curtains. I take them off at the end of the year for washing. It takes less than ten minutes to thread them all back on again. You can get spare hooks from Pennine., here. (Ignore the £15 quoted postage...you'll be given a more appropriate charge for small items if you email them.)
Thank you Val, some very sound advice there
The only thing I don't fully agree with is the gas heater idea. We used my brother's (nutgone) Camping Gaz heater (cartridge type) and found it very safe and effective. Obviously you need to be safe with it so it was put on our aluminium step and away from all canvas, also it was only on when the kids were in bed and the adults were sitting talking in the evening. I would never leave it on overnight or leave it unattended. We are fully aware of the fire risks when camping, we even carry a small fire extinguisher.
Just to let you all know, I sorted the grill. I did ask one of the fitters at a local caravan shop but he told me to have a go myself.
So I took the grill unit off the main kitchen and away from the pipework/valves. I didn't need to disturb any permanent gas fittings and was very careful and gentle in what I did (these things are very flimsy)
The main jet/venturi where the oxygen enters to mix with the gas had what looked like a small feather in it so this was blown out, all soot removed with a soft wire brush and the whole thing was cleaned up then put back together (not forgetting the flame fail thermocouple).
It now works a treat and there will be no excuses when I don't get toast with my breakfast
A couple of quid more than the one with a hose fitting on both ends but this one is a direct replacement for the compression fitting on the bottom of the kitchen unit, simply unscrew the old one (using TWO spanners so as not to damage the copper pipe) and screw this one on in the same manner.
I may well tape a bit of plastic bag over it while towing to stop it getting full of road grime etc.
Thought this may be helpful for other tt owners.
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: Conway Classic - First trip and queries..
) is to also use a solar charger to top up either the leisure battery or the car battery, but this would be purely an experiment and I will keep you all posted on the results.
so this was blown out, all soot removed with a soft wire brush and the whole thing was cleaned up then put back together (not forgetting the flame fail thermocouple).
