Well big hello to all on here and thought i would share my first experiances of putting my new summer home up and down :)
Ok will start by saying its new a NEW unit but its very new to me :) gone from cheap and cheerful tents to something like this is a big jump for me.
So went to pick it up from sister (her old unit) and took it down to a field i have the use of. Took the outer cover offand saw the frame all nice and shinny, only one problem with that having seen a couple of vids i know i should be able to see some of the fram BUT not all of it!!!!
unfold the frame and beds find the canvas all packed neat and tidy under everything....oh joy this is going to be fun! got it all unfolded neat and tidy found the front and managed to get it over the frame by folding and rolling then rolling and unfolding LOL tie it back on to the frame and all of a sudden its looking much better :) all told about 35 mins work on that. tacked it down with a few pegs, put bedrooms up,then the fun really began!
ITS AWNING TIME!
Unpack the poles
managed to work out medium poles were closest cabin, long extending poles in middle then short canopy poles for the canopy. It took me a little while to work out the poles with the little hooks are handed. Next time will take something to mark poles with L R and C (left right and centre). Once i managed to work out the correct position for the poles was relativly easy to assemble, just a case of preparation so thats the easy part done assembly of the frame. Slightly harder part was getting it covered.
Again laid out the canvas and worked out which was front and back unzipped and removed two front pannels.then rolled it all back towards the zip, once nice and rolled up rolled it the other way (made it look like swissroll, so nice and easy to manage. Popped it over one poll unroll a little over the centre poll and then the last side nice and easy :) did the zips up then just a case of slowly unrolling it to the front of the unit. Peg out and stand back to relax :)
did pretty much exact opposite when putting it away other than leaving main cabin canvas on and folding making sure nothing was pinched between the frame or any where else.
total time was about 2.5 hours by myself i was well impressed :) I really do hope i can do better next time LOL
Now sunday comes the real test taking daughter away for a couple of days to holiday park in it :)
me thinks will hide the good old coleman cooker away in it somewhere, gas just doesnt do it for me on the cooking side of things LOL
Going from a blacks tent with fibreglass poles to this is a huge step for me, but i got fed up wondering which poles will need replacing next and have I got my arse facing the wind.
Now for a couple of questions.
As we will mostly be doing weekend camping for the summer can you fold the awning away still atached to the main cabin or should it be removed each time you want to pack up?
Roof liners. other than making it look nice are there practicle reasons for these or are they purley for looks.
Im sure will ahve a few more questions after this weekend but for now, bring on the sun :)
ROB :)
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(='.'=) the bunnies are coming!
(")_(") THE BUNNIES ARE COMING!!!!!
I used to leave the awning canvas zipped to the main cabin canvas on an old pennine pullman I had. It saved quite a bit of time. We used the liners as they made it a lot warmer, gives a gap for air inbetween the canvas and the liner,Insulation? they also made it look a lot nicer. Marking all the poles will make it a lot quicker as well. Have fun.
Conway Camargue owner here. Yes it's fine to leave the awning sections zipped on and fold them back over the cabin between uses, but be warned it does make the cabin poles extremely heavy to handle and tbh I wouldn't recommend this method if there's only one adult putting the TT up. It doesn't actually take that much more time to zip the awning on and off, we've found, and there's two of us. We only leave everything zipped on now when changing campsites.
The roof liners in the cabin are essential for warmth I think. In the awning? They add a layer of insullation against cold or heat but tbh we've never bothered with them. If you want the wardrobe/toilet partition you'd need to use them too.
We've got a Conway Classic and we leave the main awning on when packing away and definetely get the poles colour coded :) Ours came already done and it makes putting up so much easier. The bags for the poles and awnings also came in their own named bags which again makes it easier :) The time it takes you to put it up and take it down will get shorter and shorter :)
We got it just after Xmas and will get to use it for the first time the week after next :)
Quote: Originally posted by ashwellgirl on 28/7/2011
The bags for the poles and awnings also came in their own named bags which again makes it easier :)
We got it just after Xmas and will get to use it for the first time the week after next :)
Thats brilliant idea about seperate bags, going to have another trial run putting it up today and loading a few bits into the trailer (eating things, chairs, table and wind break)
Hope you enjoy your break as much as im going to enjoy mine :) I have the wine central heating all ready :)
ROB :)
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(='.'=) the bunnies are coming!
(")_(") THE BUNNIES ARE COMING!!!!!
Quote: Originally posted by roblade on 29/7/2011 Thats brilliant idea about seperate bags, going to have another trial run putting it up today and loading a few bits into the trailer (eating things, chairs, table and wind break)
Hope you enjoy your break as much as im going to enjoy mine :) I have the wine central heating all ready :)
ROB :)
That's what we thought when we opened it up :) It really does make life so much easier :)
I'm sure we will but will buy the warming stuff once we are there lol :) Have a great time too :)
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Topic: my "NEW" conway conriche TT
