First night out but windy cold conditions forecast

Hi everyone,
This might appear a bit of a lame question?

We have had our Cali ocean for about four weeks and want to do a one nighter on Friday or Saturday, at a campsite in Devizies. Our first overnight trip out. A good way of learning how to use the camper and to snag any issues. Opportunities are scarce at the moment since we have a lovely Labra doodle who is 17 and doesn't have long left. He can only be with close family now and our daughter can have him on Friday and Saturday. Weather conditions are not great and I do not want our first experience to be a miserable (cold) one or damage the pop up roof.

How safe is it to pop up the roof when it is windy? Gusts of 30 -40 mph are forecast for the Friday.

Saturday is a lot calmer but temperatures will drop to 5 C. I assume that this temperature is fine to camp out in?

Probably being a bit over cautious but as a newbie I think it is best to see what experienced campers think?
Thanks
Sebastian

CaliforniaSeb said:

Hi everyone,
This might appear a bit of a lame question?

We have had our Cali ocean for about four weeks and want to do a one nighter on Friday or Saturday, at a campsite in Devizies. Our first overnight trip out. A good way of learning how to use the camper and to snag any issues. Opportunities are scarce at the moment since we have a lovely Labra doodle who is 17 and doesn't have long left. He can only be with close family now and our daughter can have him on Friday and Saturday. Weather conditions are not great and I do not want our first experience to be a miserable (cold) one or damage the pop up roof.

How safe is it to pop up the roof when it is windy? Gusts of 30 -40 mph are forecast for the Friday.

Saturday is a lot calmer but temperatures will drop to 5 C. I assume that this temperature is fine to camp out in?

Probably being a bit over cautious but as a newbie I think it is best to see what experienced campers think?
Thanks
Sebastian

Click to expand...

Temperature wise. Use the Parking Heater. Start it when you arrive and leave on, just varying the Level setting , even when out.
The roof can take a lot. Park with the rear into the wind. Don't park under trees but park downwind of trees, hedges or big motorhomes. If concerned then lower the roof to sleep, just make sure door or window on the downward wind side is open when lowering.

I've survived 40+mph winds in an ice blizzard at -7c parked next to a big motorhome with tail to wind. They lost their windshield cover , I overslept.

A common newbie mistake is to operate the T6.1 parking heater with the remote control or in "heat immediately" mode. Suggest you research this if it is news to you.

yossarian said:

A common newbie mistake is to operate the T6.1 parking heater with the remote control or in "heat immediately" mode. Suggest you research this if it is news to you.

Click to expand...

Indeed - "Heat Continuously" is your friend. "Heat Immediately" isn't likely to make next years Christmas card list

CaliforniaSeb said:

Hi everyone,
This might appear a bit of a lame question?

We have had our Cali ocean for about four weeks and want to do a one nighter on Friday or Saturday, at a campsite in Devizies. Our first overnight trip out. A good way of learning how to use the camper and to snag any issues. Opportunities are scarce at the moment since we have a lovely Labra doodle who is 17 and doesn't have long left. He can only be with close family now and our daughter can have him on Friday and Saturday. Weather conditions are not great and I do not want our first experience to be a miserable (cold) one or damage the pop up roof.

How safe is it to pop up the roof when it is windy? Gusts of 30 -40 mph are forecast for the Friday.

Saturday is a lot calmer but temperatures will drop to 5 C. I assume that this temperature is fine to camp out in?

Probably being a bit over cautious but as a newbie I think it is best to see what experienced campers think?
Thanks
Sebastian

Click to expand...

None of that is an issue. Enjoy your adventures . A few things that may help-
- in a Cali, remember, less is more. Don't carry the kitchen sink, you already have it with you
- as other have said, if possible park with the tail into the wind. If not possible, not an issue. If at any stage you feel you cannot sleep at top, close the roof and move to the bottom (this is where less luggage helps so that you can make the bed easily.
- not sure how it works in the 6.1 but when sleeping, lock and unlock the doors from the drivers door switch
- access to the cupboard may be a bit challenging in the morning so if you want to brew tea, see that things are accessible (I don't work well without my morning tea)
- we also have a porta potti that fits in the cabin, even with the bed made up. Turn around and move the passenger seat far back and you will have sufficient space for the PP.

We have slept up top in -14 and have been absolutely fine. If too cold for you, you may want to consider a canvas insulation, but that is something to determine after your first outing.

... In the end it is determining what works best for you and how organised you can keep the space.

Enjoy and do report back on your experience.

Key - less is more and keep things organised.

I agree with all the comments so far. You should be fine! Take minimum clobber, good sleeping bags / duvets, kettle and tea bags, bottle of wine/beer/ whatever, walking boots and rain jackets to make the most of being outdoors. The roof will stand the wind if you park rear to the incoming wind (we’ve seen gusts to 55mph), but you probably won’t get much sleep from the van movement with the top up, so reckon on sleeping downstairs, roof down. You can always lift the roof to make your breakfast etc. You probably wouldn’t, but don’t be tempted to use the wind out awning, unless you’ve got the storm straps fitted.

We went to Shetland with our T6.1 last summer. Winds up to 50 mph will rock the Cali left to right and can be scary, but the tent turned out to be fine.

Thank you everyone for the advice. You were absolutely right , VW have applied some very strange logic to the heating system. I think we provided quite a bit of amusement putting on (for the first time) the pop top roof thermal cover!

After our first night, all I can say is what a lovely comfortable environment. It is so well designed.

We are touring Scotland and was worried about the wind last week. We had forecast for 40mph gusts. The wind in the north of Scotland seemed bad, with nowhere to hide on the campsite we chickend out and slept downstairs. In the morning, I noticed another California, parked on highest spot on the campsite. It was parked, poptop up, front facing the wind and it was ok after a night of our van rocking all over place (wind, not our love life). It was a hire van, so they were oblivious to the danger of loosing their poptop and deposited. So, with the rear facing the wind would have been fine. Maybe raised my maximum from 40 to 50 now.