Intro and advice please

Hello all, complete newbie here… always been the dream to own a cali and after years the stars were aligned and we are now the owners of a fabulous two tone T6.1 Beach 199 with a factory fitted awning… and we are doing our first camping trip in May! My husband needs convincing camping is a wonderful adventure. We have two littles (9 & 11) and a dog.

Essentials what do I need to take??!

And which is best drive away awning?

Thank you so much in advance for help.

Welcome. If you head to search you will find the answer to both these questions in quite some depth.

The short answer to both:

- Everyone has their own personal list of essentials. The fun is creating your own.
- It depends. Size, cost, need, shape are all factors. There are very few “bad” ones. You need to find the one that matches your needs.

Plenty of answers to those questions through the search function

We have camped extensively with two boys now aged 8 & 9. (When I say extensively, over the last 6 years we have probably slept over 500 nights in our T6 Beach).

If the weather is dry *and* you are only camping for 1 or 2 nights, don’t bother with a driveaway awning. Get some side panels for the sun canopy instead. If you peg them out at an angle they can give you up to about 9 sq metres of covered area.

If staying for an extended period we use a Vango Hexaway driveaway awning. It is our indoor kitchen, living room, dining room and storage area. We love it, and I think it is really stylish.

You will also want a fridge. We have a Dometic CFX28 which is probably the smallest you can get away with for a family of four. We can stuff it with sufficient food for four for four nights, but no room for beers or wine until day 2.

We take with us a Campingaz 907 bottle, a double burner stove and a Cadac BBQ. (A 907 bottle lasts us about four weeks: hot drinks for breakfast, and one hot meal per day.)

For bedding you need sheets upstairs and downstairs, pillows, duvet for downstairs and sleeping bags or duvet for upstairs (we let the boys choose).

As you camp more you will be able to gauge how much you need and it is almost inevitable that there are things that you think you need but never use. For example we hauled a fly screen for 40,000 Km around Europe for a full year when the boys were 2 & 3 and never used it once.

Amarillo said:

Get some side panels for the sun canopy instead.

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I’ll second this. The Thule ones are fantastic, take up little space and give some privacy and wind and rain protection.
The latest foam travel pillows are both comfortable and much smaller than your pillows from home when rolled into their supplied bags.
Magnetic cutlery reduces rattles and Yeti cups are great for hot coffee and cold wine, and fit the cup holders.
Amazon packing cubes are great for the wardrobe - a different colour for each traveller helps.
I could go on and on but as said above - you’ll find you own ways. I challenge you to take as little as possible.

Scour your own home first (before buying things). If you find something in a cupboard or drawer you think would do, it probably will!

Don’t rush out and buy stuff until you’ve been away a few times. I would guess most of us have a pile of “essentials“ that didn’t work out! The number of awnings in “For Sale” as an example. We found a Decathlon Base 2 Seconds (or similar) was a far better and cheaper option than a full blown awning but it’s horses for courses.

ArunAlec said:

Don’t rush out and buy stuff until you’ve been away a few times. I would guess most of us have a pile of “essentials“ that didn’t work out! The number of awnings in “For Sale” as an example. We found a Decathlon Base 2 Seconds (or similar) was a far better and cheaper option than a full blown awning but it’s horses for courses

Click to expand...

As others have said, the kitting out really is owner specific. There are lots of posts here to be found by the search facility (provided you are a forum member), also some good YouTube videos such as Will & Sarah's Campervan time* (previously California Time).

Here was my post on my new ownership purchases.:



*

We would recommend the below to make things easier. The trick is is more to pack well and only take what you need.

- waterproof seat covers; Inka or similar.
- Comfort mattress to make the lower bed comfortable.
- Decent sized fridge (Dometic CFX35).
- Slide out boot tray; Handy for Fridge & to put storage boxes on.
- Euro stacking storage boxes. (https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/solentpl...cat=17055390010&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY)
- Vanessa window bags; there are some 2nd hand ones for sale on the forum.
- Twin gas Burner; Ridgemonkey quad connect; runs on small gas canisters so very portable. The Burners are very small and take very little space.
- Yeti mugs / tumblers (keeps your tea hot, and your beers / white wine cold!);
- Brandrup or Thule Side panels for VW awning; creates a dry space for cooking & sitting under. Will store with camping chairs when not in use.
- Ridgemonkey Grilla BBQ ; can be run on small gas canisters or charcoal. Can also be used a fire pit for toasting marshmallows. Folds flat.