Hi
I was after a bit of advice. My partner and I were planning a camping road trip round the north of Scotland in the next couple of months. We have a large tent set-up, which suits us well if we base ourselves in one place for several days. However, we used to have a camper van, and I miss the sheer get-up-and-go approach to trips away. Simply pack the van and head off, rather than the process of setting camp. We don't have budget this year to purchase a van, so I have became curious to the concept of car-camping. We have a VW Passat estate, and I reckon if we were to find the right sort of tent, we could fully utilise the rear of the car. Has anyone out there used such a set up? I'd be keen to hear of experiences, tent brands, pros, cons, or anything else. Many thanks
Try www.caranex.com (also .co.uk which has slightly different content) - it goes over the tailgate. Advertises in the C&CC magazine. The website opens with a photo of a Passat. There are some YouTubes about it too. Centuries ago, we used to car camp but slept on the front seats, wound down. Not comfy!
We've seen quite a few smart, modern looking ones, used with the likes of Berlingos etc
.. eg http://www.khyam.co.uk/detail.asp?p=1225
(the caranex, always strikes me as being a bit "old fashioned" and heavy looking now)
To be honest, apart from maybe being able to sleep in the car when the seats were down, I'm not sure just how much of an advantage over a (much cheaper!)stand-alone tent they'd really be...?
Of cause, one problem with a tailgate awning, is filling it with fumes every time you start the car up..
Quote: Originally posted by Fiona W on 22/3/2016
Try www.caranex.com (also .co.uk which has slightly different content) - it goes over the tailgate. Advertises in the C&CC magazine. The website opens with a photo of a Passat. There are some YouTubes about it too. Centuries ago, we used to car camp but slept on the front seats, wound down. Not comfy!
We have a Berlingo. Seen all sorts of clever things you can put inside or add on but once I've seen through the ingenuity & novelty, a standalone tent & regular gear has always struck me as fitter for purpose & more versatile.
I would have thought a small 2 man tent to sleep in would only take a few minutes to pop up and down. An umbrella style gazebo for sitting under and cooking under if needed.
That leaves the car to store stuff in and use by day if you want to.
VW Passat estate, so much room. When we used to camp everything was laid out in an area of the garage so when the time came back door open everything chucked in and we where off, no problem. We then got a camping trailer which was left fully loaded so hitch up and off. Then we went trailer tent, same thing left fully loaded. Then we bought a caravan, BLISS.
We did this a couple of years ago, I built a chuckbox to have the kitchen permanently set up in the rear of the car and used a tarp over the tailgate in wet weather.
As there were four of us we couldn't sleep in the car so we bought a quick erect tent that we could have completely set up, beds in etc within 20 mins and we each had a holdall with our own clothes, toiletries, books etc.
It worked really well, we did 12 days stopping at 5 different sites, one of the best trips we've ever had.
I have gone car camping although I'm still tweaking my set up, and I replaced my Estate (407) with one of the last Lagunas and it's a hatchback.It does have fold flat seats with a clear 2m of space so I can't see why it wouldn't work for me. What I did before was use a tarp over the opened boot which gave me room to cook under (in bad weather). I used a Coleman Mini table for keeping the stove on and used a soft coolbag for holding all my 'catering' set up (plate, mug, nesting pan set, gas cannister, single folding stove etc etc).
I prefer to split things in to kits. So I have a 'personal' kits which is a bag with clothes, towel and toiletries (including meds) and then the 'Catering' bag - as above. The Extras bag then a torch, a first aid kit, ear plugs eye mask and book, phone charger etc.
I would advise keeping a set of jump leads under one of the seats as sometimes you can go too far with charging the phone, or other devices and run the battery down. It isn't likely to happen though, it's just in case.
I think if you are looking for a quick erect tent for travelling around you couldn't go far wrong with a Quechua Base Seconds from Decathlon. A lot of people use these for camper van awnings. You can buy an inner for it to turn it into a sleeping tent. It's stand up height throughout and 2.5m squared.
I use one as a utility tent.
Here's some additional info about sleeping in a car from a blog (American - sorry!) but good pics 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: Car Camping
