Bongo with 5 yr and 2 yr old boys

For bongoing parents to discuss issues re: travelling & camping with children.

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scuffe
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Bongo with 5 yr and 2 yr old boys

Post by scuffe » Wed Jun 29, 2016 4:54 pm

Hello Bongo owners

I am new here and don't actually own a bongo yet but we have about £10k to spend on a campervan and after about 4 months of browsing I keep coming back to the bongo. Our (my wife's) main concern was size but I am thinking of investing in a 6 man tent as well as the bongo.
My wife and I both work full time and our boys and currently 4.5 and 18months so we thought a camper for spur of the moment weekends/nights would be great and also a trip into Europe (if they still let us) camping in the summer/Easter breaks. I am also partial to the odd festival and fishing.
I would love to hear your thoughts on the size for the 4 of us and the types of conversions that may work best for us and if anyone has been away camping for a week or two at a time in their bongo/tent/awning

Many thanks in advance
Shaun
Bob
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Re: Bongo with 5 yr and 2 yr old boys

Post by Bob » Wed Jun 29, 2016 6:39 pm

Hi Shaun

Very warm welcome to the Forum. :D

Plenty of families travel in a Bongo and get on very well with it. A six berth tent is a good idea as it will give you loads of living space and keep your pitch when you go out.

We have a caravan for the same reasons and Bongy is a great tow car.

Site fee will be the same as its now a car and tent rather than a camper.

Before you spend big money on a conversion take a look at as many possible and see what would suit you best, with the tent unconverted may work well and will give lots of seating and carrying space.

You can always add a conversion later.

Remember you can call at any of the Meets as a day visitor for free and ask advice from anyone.

Folding kitchen unit and a portapotti you're away. :D
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sotal
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Re: Bongo with 5 yr and 2 yr old boys

Post by sotal » Wed Jun 29, 2016 7:23 pm

We love our Bongo and find we have plenty of room.

We have 2 children (4 and 8) and a dog. The Bongo has a mid conversion. So has the 2 front seats and the rear bench right at the back.

We carefully pack the small space behind the seats at the back as well as the cupboards in the conversion and have boxes which fit under the rear bench seat.

We also have 4 larger boxes which we pack all our stuff in which become the bed base, and they become bench seats for in the awning.

We use a drive-away awning rather than a tent. You can get inner tents for these for sleeping in. We just use ours for living space, it clips onto the Bongo in seconds and detaches quickly too.

Our dog (medium sized) - sleeps on the drivers seat. Then usually 1 adult and 1 child sleep in the roof and 1 adult and 1 child sleep in the main part of the Bongo.

We have a swivel seat fitted which gives extra room when sitting inside, and we have a large long narrow roof box.

We had caravans before and much prefer the ease of the Bongo, we certainly won't be going back to a caravan. If we really struggled for space as they get older then I think the most we would go to is a teardrop trailer with a double bed in it. Would hope to just use a tent though!
scuffe
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Re: Bongo with 5 yr and 2 yr old boys

Post by scuffe » Wed Jun 29, 2016 7:43 pm

Thank you for your warm replies.

The Bongo from time to time will be used by myself only for the odd festival and fishing nights so would like the facilities of a conversion. I think sleeping in the bongo for a night or two with the 4 of us would be ok and this would probably be the main use to have the freedom to go away at any time. The issue would be if we drive to Spain or France for a week or two as we fortunately live near Dover so this would be easy for us to do.

The six man tent was an idea but being a novice I have no idea of pitch sizes/awnings etc...
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sotal
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Re: Bongo with 5 yr and 2 yr old boys

Post by sotal » Wed Jun 29, 2016 8:14 pm

The 4 of us spent 3 weeks in the Bongo last year in the Summer holidays with the dog too. Then came home for a few days and went off for another week. No problems at all - just lots of happy memories!

We were planning on going to France this summer but the ferry cost is a bit more than I'd like to spend and I haven't got round to looking into pet passports etc. So think we will tour the South East of England instead as we've not been down there much.
scuffe
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Re: Bongo with 5 yr and 2 yr old boys

Post by scuffe » Wed Jun 29, 2016 8:34 pm

Blimey Sotal how do you manage to sleep with the children , I struggle to get a good night when one is in my bed as he fidgets so much :shock:

Did you buy your bongo and get it converted after ?

Do you pre book the camp sites or do you just stop wherever in the summer holidays ?

Also how does the roof box work with a pop top ?

Sorry for all the questions
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sotal
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Re: Bongo with 5 yr and 2 yr old boys

Post by sotal » Wed Jun 29, 2016 10:57 pm

scuffe wrote:Blimey Sotal how do you manage to sleep with the children , I struggle to get a good night when one is in my bed as he fidgets so much :shock:

Did you buy your bongo and get it converted after ?

Do you pre book the camp sites or do you just stop wherever in the summer holidays ?

Also how does the roof box work with a pop top ?

Sorry for all the questions
We bought the Bongo from Ian Taylor in Stoke-on-Trent, it came with a Southern Bongos Mid Conversion:
http://www.southernbongos.co.uk/midconversions.html

We booked one site and ferry on the Isle of Arran. We stayed their for about 5 nights, the rest of the trip was adhoc. I just found somewhere to go on the internet on my phone, phoned up and went.

The genuine AFT pop tops have 4 mounting holes for a roof rack. The box then just mounts to that. The box has to be emptied before the roof can go up and with the empty box on I have to give the roof a bit of an extra push as it reaches the top.

Always sleep really well! Sometimes the kids both go in the roof but then it is a bit tight for 2 adults down in the Bongo. The roof tent is plenty big enough we've even done 1 adult and 2 kids in the roof tent. The bed in our Bongo is made up of the rear bench folded flat and 2 panels which go in the middle. The front seat can also be dropped flat. This gives you the length from the glove box to the rear door. We've always found it to be plenty of room. Originally the bed panels came with an alloy frame which went underneath but I've recently changed this for 4 'Really useful' plastic boxes (http://igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/view ... 40#p678940) - so all our clothes etc are stored in there.

The drive away awning really helps with day-to-day space / moving around etc. especially if it rains.
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mountainmummy
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Re: Bongo with 5 yr and 2 yr old boys

Post by mountainmummy » Thu Jun 30, 2016 6:56 am

Hi

We've had our AFT van (unconverted) for over four years, our two were 3 and 5 when we bought it and it's been fab. If we were to ever consider a conversion (and we probably won't bother) it would be a rear conversion so we could still have a full width bed.

There have been occasions when it's too windy to put the roof up so we've all had to squish together downstairs. This has been fine as we can put all the seats down to make a huge (if bumpy) bed. I wouldn't want to lose this option.

Good luck with your search. Why don't you try hiring one first to see if it fits what you want.

They're bijou but brill.

Sara
Why, oh why did I chose such a naff forum name????
Alan2016
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Re: Bongo with 5 yr and 2 yr old boys

Post by Alan2016 » Thu Jun 30, 2016 7:32 am

sotal wrote:The drive away awning really helps with day-to-day space / moving around etc. especially if it rains.
Lots of encouraging info. What awning do you have and how do you attach it to the van, figure of 8?

Thanks

Alan
scuffe
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Re: Bongo with 5 yr and 2 yr old boys

Post by scuffe » Thu Jun 30, 2016 8:13 pm

Thanks again for the useful information
I would hire one but I'm in Kent near Dover and cannot see anywhere local in which I could unless anyone knows different ?
Sara what do you do about cooking etc .. ?
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sotal
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Re: Bongo with 5 yr and 2 yr old boys

Post by sotal » Thu Jun 30, 2016 9:51 pm

We have a "Royal Traveller Annex" Awning. It has proved to be ideal for the job.

It can attach with figure of 8, but I'm not a fan of figure of 8. I use the other option which is there is a pole which goes in a pocket at the end this can then be put in front and behind the hooks inside the ATF. It is much quicker to do, more secure and gives a few inches extra headroom (it also gives a better angle to the roof and stops puddling)


To give a bit more information on cooking. Ours has a 2 burner hob inside but we rarely use that when camping. We having a camping kitchen stand which folds up in the boot, and a 2 burner portable hob and grill which goes on top. This goes in the awning by the exit door and we cook on that. We have a mini oven for when we have EHU.

Our Bongo is used as a daily commuter, a holiday vehicle and a day van (my wife has equestrian interests!)

It is used as a Day van a couple of times a week and the 2 burner hob inside is then used to boil the kettle etc. If it wasn't for this use, I doubt we'd use the kitchen much. However having the kitchen made it a Motor Caravan which then drastically reduces the insurance premium. It was £187 fully comp with modifications declared.
scuffe
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Re: Bongo with 5 yr and 2 yr old boys

Post by scuffe » Fri Jul 01, 2016 4:44 pm

We have decided to go bongo searching this weekend so will drive to a few places that have them for sale and have a look - can any one recommend anywhere ? we are in kent but dont mind traveling for a few hours
scuffe
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Re: Bongo with 5 yr and 2 yr old boys

Post by scuffe » Sun Jul 03, 2016 12:24 pm

Well after our visit to a forecourt yesterday we are totally for the Bongo but decided a side conversion is out as we will be too cramped. We will only be boiling water, cooking bacon, eggs and the odd chilli (not a full on Sunday roast) so the facilities only need to be basic but we would like a fridge.
We have seen a few traders which are listed on here if anyone can recommended a few?
We don't mind travelling or paying the bit extra if it means peace of mind.
Please Pm me if you cannot name them on the forum as I do not know the rules, we have one in mind which is in Worcestershire naming no names :wink:
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sotal
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Re: Bongo with 5 yr and 2 yr old boys

Post by sotal » Sun Jul 03, 2016 3:30 pm

Given your requirements then, I would go with an unconverted (but keep in mind that insurance may well be a lot higher).

We had ours from Ian Taylor in Stoke-on-Trent. He is well respected on here and has provided us with great service. They're not the cheapest ever but do come with a 3 year warranty.
scuffe
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Re: Bongo with 5 yr and 2 yr old boys

Post by scuffe » Sun Jul 03, 2016 7:25 pm

I think we will go for a rear or mid (as previously mentioned) as we would still like the facilities of a kitchen and I may use it alone for fishing etc..
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