We got speaking to some Rallying members of the CC who were talking to us about Rallying. We've never really considered anything like that before but it seems like good fun, especially for the children so we thought we may give a weekend rally a try. I know that we would need to have a solar panel bu tis there anything we need to consider having never been non hook up before.
Can't comment on CC rallies, but we have done some rallies with the C&CC this year and really enjoyed them. Everyone was really friendly and welcoming. We had EHU on one site too.
If, by a weekend rally, you mean that you arrive on a Friday and depart on a Sunday (or even Monday) I hope I can put your mind at ease.
I would suggest that you won't even need a solar panel or at least you could try to do without one.
Your leisure battery should be good enough for a couple of nights providing that you don't leave all the lights on and don't watch TV for umpteen hours.
It would help if a couple of your lights were LED's as opposed to halogens but other than that I would just go ahead and enjoy it.
There may be someone along who will try to talk about regimentation and 'doing things by the book' but from my experience rallying is no more or less than going to a place with other like minded people and doing, or NOT doing exactly what you want.
------------- How come when some people visit the fountain of knowledge, they only gargle!!!
Ditto to the above, remember that if it works on 240v only, you will not have it. So no microwave meals
Most vans are 12v for the important bits lighting, water pump and maybe toilet flush, gas for the heating and chilling so you should be fine for a weekend.
Go forth have fun and if you like it, then come back with Solar request
But best to start saving now cos' your going to want one for the longer stays.
------------- Yesterday is already a dream and tomorrow is only a vision, but today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Its well worth trying. We have done quite a few now and it is a really good way for a cheap weekend where you can join in as little or as much as you want. We have done various size rallies and there is normally a village hall or marquee for evening get togethers etc.
Make sure you don't run out of gas as you will need it for your fridge, and take a hob top kettle.
Thank you - of course Hob top kettle thats a good one! Not bothered about tv for a weekend, the kids can take their ds's and charge them on the 12v points. We were talking to two couples, one couple said you will manage fine without a solar panel and the other couple said oh no you need a solar panel so we thought we had better look into it.
We've just been scouring our areas timetable of upcoming rallys and most are fully booked so it looks like its something we will have to try next season - OHs spotted the Golf weekends groan!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Quote: Originally posted by FionaW1971 on 19/9/2011
We've just been scouring our areas timetable of upcoming rallys and most are fully booked so it looks like its something we will have to try next season
If you are also with the C&CC their rallies "generally" don't require pre-booking and dare I say it are every bit as much fun.
My working life never allowed planning a week ahead let alone months so the C&CC system was a saviour.
With the CC you can be put on a "waiting list" and if the Centre plays fair then you could be amongst those who get in following cancellations.
Hi Fiona,when you are looking for rallies with either of the caravan clubs,the best place to look is in their monthly magazines.When looking for a weekend or a holiday rally,there might be a group from outside your locality having a rally near to where you live.You don't have to be a member of that area centre to join the rally,you can rally with any of the centres providing they have space.
We travel around the country doing civil war shows and often are camped from Thurs - Tues on a field with no electric, we have no telly or microwave and only use the lights of an evening sparingly, we have never had a problem with our battery and only use a £10 trickle charger from Maplins as backup, this was only purchased recently as it was so cheap.
------------- "Close your eyes and pretend it's all a dream, that's how I get by"
We've been rallying with the caravan club for a few years now. While some people will say that there are a lot of rules, most of these have not actually been on a rally. The majority of people would not break these rules anyway as they vast majority are simple common decency.
I agree with the earlier post that you do not need a solar panel although a lot of ralliers have them, a lot don't. They are not a great deal of use on a weekend rally this time of year anyway as by the time you arrive and set everything up on Friday after noon there's not much sun and your battery would be full anyway. You would be packing it up on Sunday, so you only have Saturday that it is doing anything for you. During the summer, on longer rallies it is a different story.
You certainly see far more generators on the rally field than you do solar panels, although as solar panels get cheaper and petrol gets dearer, this balance is levelling out.
We normally carry a spare battery, but it is very rare we actually need it. It is primarily there to power the motor mover when we get home if the battery is a bit low as we have to move it up a hill and onto our drive where there is not enough width to swing the car round and reverse it in.
Try and replace as many of your lights with LED as possible. These use almost no power at all, run your fridge on gas (you have no alternative as it only works on 12 volts while being towed)
Don't be afraid to say "Hello" to people. Any new rallier is going to be made welcome, but if you don't make some effort to speak to the others, they may assume you don't want join in. After a couple of rallies, you will soon make some friends and see the same familiar faces.
With a bit of practice you will see how much power you can use before you flatten your battery. If the worst comes to the worst, someone with a generator will probably charge your battery up a bit for you or you may well find someone with a spare battery you could borrow until you leave.
I use a 13 watt solar panel and in the summer, have no problems keeping the battery up indefinately, even watching a few hours TV of an evening.
If you want to know what your local centre are doing, join the centre and you will receive a rally book through the post. They probably have a website too, you should be able to find a link to all the centres from the caravan club website.
I think you have been given a lot of good advice here. We rally all year round mainly with the Cheshire centre of the Caravan Club.
Do you need a solar panel absolutely not, I've got one and think its great. But I don't need one for a weekend away without ehu. All the advice about LEDs light is great as well and once again I have converted all my lights to Led's but I wouldn't bother to start with.
What I think is important to have enough gas the vast majority of Ralliers will always have two bottles one in use and one spare and if you have on a spare battery, but if you don't or have forgotton something ask for help, some one will help you out.
To Rally with the Cheshire Centre you have to be a member of the caravan club, obviously if you want to rally with C&CC for instance you have to be a member of that. If you are a member of the caravan club then you can join a centre for free the advantage to the centre is they get a bit of money from the CC the advantage to you is that you get a rally book which lists the rallies for the year I think Cheshire are running about 125 this year and 136 are proposed for next year so there is a reasonable choice.
The cheshire centre website www.cheshirecentre.co.uk/ You don't have to join your local centre or indeed any centre to Rally just be a member of the club. I'm sure it not for everyone but we have made some really good friends and enjoy it. If you want any specific advice then just ask
We started rallying with the C&CC this year when we got the caravan although I've seen tt's & tents on meets as well. Not having to book is a bonus - we just decide if we want to go away & then check the monthly magazine or website for details of meets. As we take along our 10 year old we like to go on childrens meets because we know there'll be someone for her to pal up with & usually lots of activities to keep her busy. She's made some good friends & although we're not a very outgoing couple we've made friends too.
We've managed 2 x 5 day meets with just gas & battery. Our toilet is manual flush & we don't watch tv much - just a film in the evening .My husband showers every day We take 2 gas bottles & 2 batteries just to make sure we've got power for the motor mover when we get back to storage. Friends recommended a solar panel which we bought but really only to keep my husband happy as he'd seen other people with them - I think we'd have managed our weekends fine without one.
Now we're coming into Autumn/Winter some of the meets have switched to commercial sites with full facilities but the cost of the pitch is still cheaper than booking direct.
Ooh thanks lots to think about - we have two calor lite bottles so thats not a problem - we'd probably need a spare battery in case we need to use mover. Solar panel probably something to think about next spring.
We are members of both clubs and we must have been automatically made members of the cheshire group as I have just found a letter and booklet of 2011 rallies.
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Topic: Rallying?
