Motorhome facilities and rules

jb99 replied on 16/09/2021 12:05

Posted on 16/09/2021 12:05

We've just returned from a tour of mid and south Wales in our motorhome.  We stayed at a number different locations: pubs, public car parks, private camp sites and one night at the C&MC site in St Davids.  We have paid our membership fees for many years, but in practice we haven't stayed on a Club site very often, and not since the name change and rebranding.  So we expected great improvements for motorhomes. 

We arrived rather early, but were warmly welcomed by the lady on reception who unexpectedly checked us in before the official time. 

I was rather confused by the parking rules, but looked at the way adjacent vehicles were arranged and tried to imitate them.  Since our motorhome is less than 2.5m wide, versus a car/caravan/awning measuring maybe 7m, it was easy to maintain the 6m separation from our neighbours.  However, apparently I had picked the wrong corner to go next to the white post.  This was explained to me that evening, but since we were leaving the next morning the very friendly warden said not to bother moving.  Fine, I'll be more careful if we visit again.

The next morning, there was a queue of motorhomes at the only grey waste point, so we decided that, as we only had a small amount of waste we would empty the toilet cassette at the service point then just fill up with fresh water and leave.  So, I pulled up next to the adjacent service point and attached my hose connector to the threaded tap.  Shortly after, a  different warden who was maintaining the grass, came along and said that motorhomes weren't allowed to use the service points and indeed there was a notice that said this that I hadn't seen.  He said that this was because filling a motorhome takes a lot of time so other people would have to wait.  I asked why I had to wait rather than other members and although a 100 litre motorhome tank will obviously take longer than a 50 litre rolling caravan tank, there were three other service points on the site.  No! Jobsworth was adamant and claimed that it was a health and safety risk (which is hard to understand). 

According to various comments on Facebook, these is just a couple of many petty rule enforcement incidents that are alienating motorhome owners.  I really think that if the Club wants to encourage this massively increasing sector of the market, they need to learn the differences between motorhomes and towed caravans.

So, the rebranding was clearly just a marketing exercise and we will have to seriously consider whether to renew our membership next year.

JVB66 replied on 25/09/2021 15:36

Posted on 25/09/2021 14:06 by Hja

Those grey water drains are really confusing. Presumably the drain in the road is for emptying your tank. I think we would need to drive with the taps to our left to able to position our drain tap over it. Difficult if one way road or it will stop other vans going past.

Posted on 25/09/2021 15:36

As posted beforewinkthe waste outlets on most M/Cs is of very poor ,we over came the problem by removing the waste outlet tap and making it so much easier to empty by then getting some garden pond pump flexible pipe 2mtrs in our case and fitting it to the waste outlet  then running it using plastic clips along the M/C skirt and refitting the waste tap on the end, which negated any of the "dance" to line up with the drain ,as we could stop near and just unclip the pipe and drop it in the drain,cool

As per most Yanky RVswink

replied on 25/09/2021 15:50

Posted on 25/09/2021 15:10 by Takethedogalong

The MSP at Barnard Castle is similar DK, next door to an SP. if you are on one of the pitches beyond this point on the Site, you have to go back out and through the barriers to fill and empty. Considering how recent BC Site is, this seems poorly considered to us. Confess we don’t know Site well, we only had the one night. 

Posted on 25/09/2021 15:50

I did not think it that recent

DavidKlyne replied on 25/09/2021 16:33

Posted on 25/09/2021 15:10 by Takethedogalong

The MSP at Barnard Castle is similar DK, next door to an SP. if you are on one of the pitches beyond this point on the Site, you have to go back out and through the barriers to fill and empty. Considering how recent BC Site is, this seems poorly considered to us. Confess we don’t know Site well, we only had the one night. 

Posted on 25/09/2021 16:33

We were three pitches in from the MSP at Northbrook Farm and I just reversed back to the point because otherwise I would have had to have driven out of the site and back in again. There seem to be quite a few Club sites where getting to the MSP is not straightforward!

David

SteveL replied on 25/09/2021 16:34

Posted on 25/09/2021 15:36 by JVB66

As posted beforewinkthe waste outlets on most M/Cs is of very poor ,we over came the problem by removing the waste outlet tap and making it so much easier to empty by then getting some garden pond pump flexible pipe 2mtrs in our case and fitting it to the waste outlet  then running it using plastic clips along the M/C skirt and refitting the waste tap on the end, which negated any of the "dance" to line up with the drain ,as we could stop near and just unclip the pipe and drop it in the drain,cool

As per most Yanky RVswink

Posted on 25/09/2021 16:34

The only bad design I’ve seen is the bore of some waste pipes, they take an age to discharge ours is 40mm and empties quickly. The position on the vehicle does not really matter if the MHSP is of the grid type and designed correctly, ie not close to a wall and of adequate width to cope with an outlet on off or near side. Admittedly some CC discharge points are not easy to deal with without a flexible extension. However, that is because they are not proper MH service points, they are just back breaking steel covered holes. Given a properly designed MHSP we don’t even need to exit the vehicle and can dump / be on our way  quickly, minimising any queuing. If I need to stop clear of a steel cover so I can lift it safely and attach the flexi hose, then everything takes that much longer. Hopefully they will very rapidly become a thing of the past. We have only stopped on 5 C&CC site so far but they have all had grids and they haven’t even got MH in their name.

DavidKlyne replied on 25/09/2021 16:42

Posted on 25/09/2021 13:28 by young thomas

We are actually on Northbrook Farm...the facs have (apparently) subsided and are out of use...hence no facs...

BTW...there is a caravan with a Smart car adjacent....Malcolm, perhaps?

Posted on 25/09/2021 16:42

BB

The facility block was built on the cheap, they apparently used a concrete slab rather than proper foundations. The site is owned by Worthing Council and the Club lease it on a revolving short term basis so no hope of it being rebuilt. I had heard that the Council want to build houses on the front part of the site but were willing to sell the remainder of the site to the Club. Can't see anything on the planning portal so perhaps still at an early stage? So either another leased Club site that bites the dust or perhaps the opportunity to develop a small all year site with storage?

As you will know from your time there it is a site that welcomes an unusual collection of visitorswink

David

Takethedogalong replied on 25/09/2021 17:19

Posted on 25/09/2021 16:33 by DavidKlyne

We were three pitches in from the MSP at Northbrook Farm and I just reversed back to the point because otherwise I would have had to have driven out of the site and back in again. There seem to be quite a few Club sites where getting to the MSP is not straightforward!

David

Posted on 25/09/2021 17:19

We were at far end of BC near dog walk, so had to go out and in again. One we don’t bother with using is at YRP, there’s always a queue in the morning, and it blocks the road round the rear part of the Site. I am guessing it had to be there, as it’s up an incline near the rear pedestrian gate, probably so it doesn’t flood. 

replied on 25/09/2021 17:30

Posted on 25/09/2021 16:42 by DavidKlyne

BB

The facility block was built on the cheap, they apparently used a concrete slab rather than proper foundations. The site is owned by Worthing Council and the Club lease it on a revolving short term basis so no hope of it being rebuilt. I had heard that the Council want to build houses on the front part of the site but were willing to sell the remainder of the site to the Club. Can't see anything on the planning portal so perhaps still at an early stage? So either another leased Club site that bites the dust or perhaps the opportunity to develop a small all year site with storage?

As you will know from your time there it is a site that welcomes and unusual collection of visitorswink

David

Posted on 25/09/2021 17:30

A concrete slab is a proper foundation depending on ground conditions

Takethedogalong replied on 25/09/2021 21:02

Posted on 25/09/2021 15:50 by

I did not think it that recent

Posted on 25/09/2021 21:02

It’s one of the last the Club built from scratch I think. Relatively speaking, baring in mind some of the Club Sites are many decades old, this is one of the newer offerings. Probably just before the big push on folks using more Motorhomes though. We were in our MH when we stayed, and it hadn’t been opened many years, so maybe first decade of millennium 🤔

DavidKlyne replied on 25/09/2021 21:22

Posted on 25/09/2021 17:30 by

A concrete slab is a proper foundation depending on ground conditions

Posted on 25/09/2021 21:22

Clearly in this case they didn't do their homework!!! As I understand it the toilet block has been closed for at least 11 years. There is some evidence of subsidence at the Service Point opposite which has a crack down one wall. 

David

Takethedogalong replied on 25/09/2021 22:53

Posted on 25/09/2021 15:36 by JVB66

As posted beforewinkthe waste outlets on most M/Cs is of very poor ,we over came the problem by removing the waste outlet tap and making it so much easier to empty by then getting some garden pond pump flexible pipe 2mtrs in our case and fitting it to the waste outlet  then running it using plastic clips along the M/C skirt and refitting the waste tap on the end, which negated any of the "dance" to line up with the drain ,as we could stop near and just unclip the pipe and drop it in the drain,cool

As per most Yanky RVswink

Posted on 25/09/2021 22:53

Ours is similar, comes out at rear as well, so a lot easier to line up. Or hang a bucket under😁

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