Bongo Fury

Hi there,
just got our first bongo... picking it up on wednesday and heading off to Italy pretty much straight away..
we're not really full-on camping on this trip but will pitch up a couple of nights to break up the trip.

I need to get some basic camping bits and pieces to get started:

- most urgent: clean water tank for a side conversion (pump and everything is in place but need to get a tank- I'm guessing food grade plastic? do they come with some sort of seal on the top that the pump fits through?)
- possibly insulating curtain things for the front windows (is there a proper name for that?)
- some sort of thin mattress or mat for the kids to sleep in the pop top (there is the original very thin foam in at the moment)
- bit and bobs to like a small bin, something to put cutlery in
- mains hook up wire (not urgent- we'll not be in campsites this time)

does anyone know of any shops that supply these kind of things near manchester?
I know i can probably find most of it online, but time is fairly tight and to be honest i fancy having a look round a camping shop and getting tempted to buy gadgets!

new to all this, so all advice welcome!
cheers
chris

Worth looking here:

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/manchester

And coming home past Brum I'd look here:

https://www.towsure.com

Apart from Go Outdoors as Bob says, try https://www.camperlands.co.uk/ who are by the M56/M60 link-road to the south of the city centre and they have everything you need.

Are you sure it's wise going off on a major European trip in the winter without having ironed out the inevitable niggles with the van?

Another vote for Camperlands- its a treasure and a joy just to visit and browse. Got all my stuff there.

Edit: not been for some years mind you so hope they're still thriving!

Muzorewa wrote: ↑Fri Dec 08, 2017 10:52 am Apart from Go Outdoors as Bob says, try https://www.camperlands.co.uk/ who are by the M56/M60 link-road to the south of the city centre and they have everything you need.

Are you sure it's wise going off on a major European trip in the winter without having ironed out the inevitable niggles with the van?

thanks for the advice!

I agree the wisdom of a big trip is questionable, but we need to go (have to visit wife's family, need to go by car because of dog and things we need to transport...)
it was always the plan to go by van, but we were hoping to get it sorted sooner

van should be fully serviced when we pick it up and plan is to get the van checked by a third party when we get back to manchester, make sure we've got breakdown recovery and take it easy...
it is looking like the first time we actually sleep in it is going to be in france, though which is a little worrying!
fingers crossed

Depending on where you are in Manchester area ... Glossop Caravans.

chrisg wrote: ↑Thu Dec 07, 2017 11:47 pm Hi there,
just got our first bongo... picking it up on wednesday and heading off to Italy pretty much straight away..
we're not really full-on camping on this trip but will pitch up a couple of nights to break up the trip.

I need to get some basic camping bits and pieces to get started:

- most urgent: clean water tank for a side conversion (pump and everything is in place but need to get a tank- I'm guessing food grade plastic? do they come with some sort of seal on the top that the pump fits through?)
- possibly insulating curtain things for the front windows (is there a proper name for that?)
- some sort of thin mattress or mat for the kids to sleep in the pop top (there is the original very thin foam in at the moment)
- bit and bobs to like a small bin, something to put cutlery in
- mains hook up wire (not urgent- we'll not be in campsites this time)
chris

Hello Chris and welcome to BF.
A couple of points... most water tanks for Bongos will have their own screw cap to stop the contents sloshing out. Just remove and pop the pump in the tank when you stop, not like the 'Whale' pumps used on caravans which do have a top seal.
To save taking up valuable space with a bin a bin bag tied to the inside handle of the sliding door works well, can be moved to the outside passenger door handle if it's stinky or you're outside a lot.
If you do get an EHU cable to use this trip, be aware that you will need a converter and polarity tester for European sites as euro plugs can be inserted either way round; get neutral and live the wrong way round and at best you'll trip the circuit breakers.
And... bon voyage

thanks markas!
i've not seen water tanks on a bongo close up, but that makes sense!
with two kids in the back some kind of bin is going to be needed to keep a minimum of order!
but agree a bin bag would be better for camping

regarding cables, I've rented vans in europe before, so the question of polarity hasn't come up...
not a problem this time round, but good to know! I've got a multimeter somewhere that should do that...
cheers!

This kind of tester is pretty cheap:

https://www.kenable.co.uk/product_info. ... w8QAvD_BwE