First trip in the Nomad

[loriusgarrulus]

The dogs and I went to Newbiggin Farm in Cumbria for a few days. First trip in the Nomad Camper. Everything worked as it was planned to on the camper. No trouble with the drive with weight of everything including the kitchen sink packed.
The weather report was a bit up and down, but it looked more promising on Thursday so I decided to go.
It was nice and bright when we got there and set up was easy. Fortunatley by the time I set up the utility tent and the camper after the drive I was tired, so I decided to leave the sheet awning till the next day. Had a good night and next morning took the dogs for a walk round the large camping field by the estuary. There was only me and chap who was a fisherman camping and out most of the day, so the dogs could have a run off lead.
The weather report was a bit iffy for next evening so I decided to leave the awning off.
The next night there were 30mph plus winds till 4am, so I didn't get much sleep. Fortunatly the dog fence and utility tent were pegged well down and stayed put. The camper was rocking a bit and I wondered whether to try and put the poptop down.
After looking on various forums the consensus was up to 40mph winds were doable
so I left it up. I could feel the poptop pistons through the vinyl top and they were not moving at all when the winds were gusting and all was well, so very impressed with the Nomad build.
Despite the cool nights I didn't need to put the gas heater I bought on, as with the thick insulated walls we were plenty warm enough.
The trip was useful as it helped me think of a few ideas to try out before the next outing.
I know I need to improve the pegging out of the dog fence base as Brenne the chihuahua squeezed out under it a few times. Eventually I stopped him by fastening an empty 5 litre water container on a cord to his harness, much to his disgust.

[zildjian]

Tethering dogs,
we found you can't tie them off at vehicle or camper end as they just find something to wrap themselves around and pull over.

I have a favourite cliff top site on south coast we visit and on occasion I've had to hook camper back inside truck for a bit more piece of mind, in terms of warmth both pop top and hard side warm up and retain heat quickly,
especially with a few warm bodies vying for space inside

[loriusgarrulus]

Having multiple dogs it can be like maypole dancing or spiders web. Tying them up near each other is a no go as it involves ages of unravelling afterwards.

[loriusgarrulus]

I made the fence using nylon balcony screening off Amazon.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0C ... =UTF8&th=1

This comes in various heights, lengths and colours. It comes with tiewraps too. It also has eyelets top and bottom.

I used the plastic electric fencing posts as they are cheap, lightweight come in different heights and are designed to stick firmly in the ground. I put the spike of the post through an eyelet into the ground then put tent pegs through the base eyelets between the posts. I didn't get it tensioned enough to stop a chihuahua wriggling under though.
The ground was very soft and I found a place where a couple of pegs were out behind the utility tent no doubt dog aided. It either needs a few more posts or bigger pegs.

(I did wonder about adding some electric wiring along the base and plugging it into the Jackery. )

Despite not adding guylines to it, it was all still upright in the morning after the 30mph winds, so I am impressed with the fence posts. After use it all rolls up and travels in a tent pole bag.

I have 1x 2m low section which fits under the tailgate and 2x 6m sections. I overlap the ends of the 6m sections to make a gateway and use removable, reusable tiewraps to fasten posts of each section together.
This won't keep a big powerful dog in who is determined to escape, (even sheep need the electric wires) or a determined chihuahua escape artist, but works for most of mine.

After use once home it can be put up sprayed over using dilute biowash and hosed down and left to dry.
(This is a good plan if you have dogs rather than bitches as it is bound to get christened)

[loriusgarrulus]

Decided as the fence was rather muddy to put it in the washing machine. Then realised it was attached to the existing posts with tie wraps that are not reusable. Cut them all off and ordered a pack of reusable ones for the reattaching. Ordered some more posts to try to make the fence more dog proof.

[zildjian]

Think we've travelled with three as a maximum, was indeed difficult to stop them ending in a massive knot