Camping with Children

1
Just wondering if anyone has any experience with travelling long
distances (ie 500kms +) and camping out with a wife & young child
(1yr old approx.) in a Syncro or other camper as summer is on its
way and I am thinking of a trip up the coast somewhere if all things
work out as planned.

I am worried about my daughter waking up in the middle of the night
and deciding to crawl out of the roof bed whilst my wife and I are
asleep. Has anyone got any preventative measures for this issue?

Does anyone have any other sleeping arrangements for children in
their Syncro camper. I have limited other alternatives due to a lack
of floor space due to a sink, fridge cupboards stove & television my
wife's large quantity of clothes etc.

My daughter seems to like the kombi and falls asleep quickly on
freeways - probably due to the noisy engine, but for 2 -3 hours I
think I could be in trouble.

Any advice on what additional precautions need to be taken would be
appreciated.

P.S I am thorughly enjoying the fact that there so many other syncro
lovers around Australia and we may run into eachother on future
travels.

Cheers,

Scott Pitcher
Terrigal
NSW Central Coast
2
--- In Syncro_T3_Australia@yahoogroups.com, "kombi4x427lc"
<kombi4x427lc@y...> wrote:
> Just wondering if anyone has any experience with travelling long
> distances (ie 500kms +) and camping out with a wife & young child
> (1yr old approx.) in a Syncro or other camper as summer is on its
> way and I am thinking of a trip up the coast somewhere if all
things
> work out as planned.
>
> I am worried about my daughter waking up in the middle of the night
> and deciding to crawl out of the roof bed whilst my wife and I are
> asleep. Has anyone got any preventative measures for this issue?
>
> Does anyone have any other sleeping arrangements for children in
> their Syncro camper. I have limited other alternatives due to a
lack

There was an optional childs bed that was placed across the front
seats. Maybe you could make something up.
3
--- In Syncro_T3_Australia@yahoogroups.com, "kombi4x427lc"
<kombi4x427lc@y...> wrote:
Just wondering if anyone has any experience with travelling long
distances (ie 500kms +) and camping out with a wife & young child
(1yr old approx.) in a Syncro or other camper as summer is on its
way and I am thinking of a trip up the coast somewhere if all things
work out as planned.

I am worried about my daughter waking up in the middle of the night
and deciding to crawl out of the roof bed whilst my wife and I are
asleep. Has anyone got any preventative measures for this issue?

Does anyone have any other sleeping arrangements for children in
their Syncro camper. I have limited other alternatives due to a lack
of floor space due to a sink, fridge cupboards stove & television my
wife's large quantity of clothes etc.

My daughter seems to like the kombi and falls asleep quickly on
freeways - probably due to the noisy engine, but for 2 -3 hours I
think I could be in trouble.

Any advice on what additional precautions need to be taken would be
appreciated.

P.S I am thorughly enjoying the fact that there so many other syncro
lovers around Australia and we may run into eachother on future
travels.

Cheers,

Scott Pitcher
Terrigal
NSW Central Coast

Scott,
I did a lot of travelling with lady and two children in a 72 T2.
We slept in the top bedroom because I could never see the point of
having to re-pack everything downstairs just to set up the bed. I
also did a lot of travelling with just the lady and myself and the
advantage of using the upstairs bed was that we could stop
(particularly after a long drive) and literally be in bed and asleep
in five minutes. Just pop the top, pull out the bedboards and
mattress and that was it. (I built my own bedboards that were more
than stong enough for two adults. Many conversions are only rated
for 75kg total.)

When we had the children with us, we made up small bunks downstairs
for them, one on the rear seat and one on the floor. I always
locked the vehicle at night for security and told the girls to wake
us if they wanted to go out. This worked well.

The age of your little one is a different case. If you want to
sleep her upstairs, I suggest that you velcro some cargo mesh at the
entry end of the upstairs bed. Use wide velcro around the entire
length. That is a long way beyond the capacity of a young child to
pull open. Just hooking it on is too much of a risk.

I had camping friends years ago who had a very energetic and
adventurous four year old boy. He let himself out of the van in the
dead of night several times and caused such a panic that they were
going to give up camping altogether. I fixed that for them by
wiring a (switchable) bell into the door light circuit. Open any
door and the bell rang. That brought his excursions to an abrupt
end!

Les Harris
4
Dear Scott,
I've travelled and slept up to 6 of us (4 children) in a T2 Kombi all round Australia.Got decidedly cosy. As the children got older an outside tent was the go but when younger an additional bed was obtained in the driving compartment by having 2 poles supporting a strong calico sleeve stitched each side to slide in and make a full width stretcher. holes were drilled in the front and rear pillars (about 1/4inch) and strong slide out bolts were welded to the poles  to allow the poles to be fitted and removed.On the T2 it was necessary to remove the head restraints, but on a T3 you could probably just recline the seat to clear the stretcher. I also remember buying a similar T2 Kombi in England for the classic Aussie tour of Europe and that had spring loaded telescopic poles to again allow a front stretcher.
Persevere -My kids are all grown up now but regard their friends as positively deprived because they have not been to all the places that my sons enjoyed in our Kombi.
Have just returned home from a trip along the Coorong in Sth. Aust. and the Syncro performed beautifully over the 4WD access tracks across the sand dunes without even letting down the tyres, and took us many places where I would have been digging out the T2. Good luck with your efforts.
Roger

kombi4x427lc <kombi4x427lc@yahoo.com> wrote:
Just wondering if anyone has any experience with travelling long
distances (ie 500kms +) and camping out with a wife & young child
(1yr old approx.) in a Syncro or other camper  as summer is on its
way and I am thinking of a trip up the coast somewhere if all things
work out as planned.

I am worried about my daughter waking up in the middle of the night
and deciding to crawl out of the roof bed whilst my wife and I are
asleep. Has anyone got any preventative measures for this issue?

Does anyone have any other sleeping arrangements for children in
their Syncro camper. I have limited other alternatives due to a lack
of floor space due to a sink, fridge cupboards stove & television my
wife's large quantity of clothes etc.

My daughter seems to like the kombi and falls asleep quickly on
freeways - probably due to the noisy engine, but for 2 -3 hours I
think I could be in trouble.

Any advice on what additional precautions need to be taken would be
appreciated.

P.S I am thorughly enjoying the fact that there so many other syncro
lovers around Australia and we may run into eachother on future
travels.

Cheers,

Scott Pitcher
Terrigal
NSW Central Coast



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5

Thanks Roger, Les and Phill for the advice, Roger if you can travel with four children I’m sure my wife and I can cope with one very adventurous little girl. However, my problem is not just my baby girl, but also her mother who “needs” to take enough clothing to last for 6 months for a two week adventure and she is also planning to take the same amount of clothes for my daughter. Hence the clothing bags tend to resemble two –three additional people in both weight and size.

 

Cheers

 

Scott.

 

From: Roger Bell [mailto:bellrmit@yahoo.com.au]
Sent: Monday, 13 September 2004 1:44 AM
To: Syncro_T3_Australia@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Syncro_T3_Australia] Camping with Children

 

Dear Scott,

I've travelled and slept up to 6 of us (4 children) in a T2 Kombi all round Australia.Got decidedly cosy. As the children got older an outside tent was the go but when younger an additional bed was obtained in the driving compartment by having 2 poles supporting a strong calico sleeve stitched each side to slide in and make a full width stretcher. holes were drilled in the front and rear pillars (about 1/4inch) and strong slide out bolts were welded to the poles  to allow the poles to be fitted and removed.On the T2 it was necessary to remove the head restraints, but on a T3 you could probably just recline the seat to clear the stretcher. I also remember buying a similar T2 Kombi in England for the classic Aussie tour of Europe and that had spring loaded telescopic poles to again allow a front stretcher.

Persevere -My kids are all grown up now but regard their friends as positively deprived because they have not been to all the places that my sons enjoyed in our Kombi.

Have just returned home from a trip along the Coorong in Sth. Aust. and the Syncro performed beautifully over the 4WD access tracks across the sand dunes without even letting down the tyres, and took us many places where I would have been digging out the T2. Good luck with your efforts.

Roger

kombi4x427lc <kombi4x427lc@yahoo.com> wrote:

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with travelling long
distances (ie 500kms +) and camping out with a wife & young child
(1yr old approx.) in a Syncro or other camper  as summer is on its
way and I am thinking of a trip up the coast somewhere if all things
work out as planned.

I am worried about my daughter waking up in the middle of the night
and deciding to crawl out of the roof bed whilst my wife and I are
asleep. Has anyone got any preventative measures for this issue?

Does anyone have any other sleeping arrangements for children in
their Syncro camper. I have limited other alternatives due to a lack
of floor space due to a sink, fridge cupboards stove & television my
wife's large quantity of clothes etc.

My daughter seems to like the kombi and falls asleep quickly on
freeways - probably due to the noisy engine, but for 2 -3 hours I
think I could be in trouble.

Any advice on what additional precautions need to be taken would be
appreciated.

P.S I am thorughly enjoying the fact that there so many other syncro
lovers around Australia and we may run into eachother on future
travels.

Cheers,

Scott Pitcher
Terrigal
NSW Central Coast

 

Find local movie times and trailers on Yahoo! Movies.


6
Oh dear!! Looks like a trailer will be needed - a tandem at least.

Les

--- In Syncro_T3_Australia@yahoogroups.com, "Scott Pitcher"
<spitcher@b...> wrote:
> Thanks Roger, Les and Phill for the advice, Roger if you can
travel with
> four children I'm sure my wife and I can cope with one very
adventurous
> little girl. However, my problem is not just my baby girl, but
also her
> mother who "needs" to take enough clothing to last for 6 months
for a
> two week adventure and she is also planning to take the same
amount of
> clothes for my daughter. Hence the clothing bags tend to resemble
two
> -three additional people in both weight and size.
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
>
>
> Scott.
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Roger Bell [mailto:bellrmit@y...]
> Sent: Monday, 13 September 2004 1:44 AM
> To: Syncro_T3_Australia@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [Syncro_T3_Australia] Camping with Children
>
>
>
> Dear Scott,
>
> I've travelled and slept up to 6 of us (4 children) in a T2 Kombi
all
> round Australia.Got decidedly cosy. As the children got older an
outside
> tent was the go but when younger an additional bed was obtained in
the
> driving compartment by having 2 poles supporting a strong calico
sleeve
> stitched each side to slide in and make a full width stretcher.
holes
> were drilled in the front and rear pillars (about 1/4inch) and
strong
> slide out bolts were welded to the poles to allow the poles to be
> fitted and removed.On the T2 it was necessary to remove the head
> restraints, but on a T3 you could probably just recline the seat to
> clear the stretcher. I also remember buying a similar T2 Kombi in
> England for the classic Aussie tour of Europe and that had spring
loaded
> telescopic poles to again allow a front stretcher.
>
> Persevere -My kids are all grown up now but regard their friends as
> positively deprived because they have not been to all the places
that my
> sons enjoyed in our Kombi.
>
> Have just returned home from a trip along the Coorong in Sth.
Aust. and
> the Syncro performed beautifully over the 4WD access tracks across
the
> sand dunes without even letting down the tyres, and took us many
places
> where I would have been digging out the T2. Good luck with your
efforts.
>
> Roger
>
> kombi4x427lc <kombi4x427lc@y...> wrote:
>
> Just wondering if anyone has any experience with travelling
long
>
> distances (ie 500kms +) and camping out with a wife & young
> child
> (1yr old approx.) in a Syncro or other camper as summer is
on
> its
> way and I am thinking of a trip up the coast somewhere if all
> things
> work out as planned.
>
> I am worried about my daughter waking up in the middle of the
> night
> and deciding to crawl out of the roof bed whilst my wife and
I
> are
> asleep. Has anyone got any preventative measures for this
issue?
>
> Does anyone have any other sleeping arrangements for
children in
>
> their Syncro camper. I have limited other alternatives due
to a
> lack
> of floor space due to a sink, fridge cupboards stove &
> television my
> wife's large quantity of clothes etc.
>
> My daughter seems to like the kombi and falls asleep quickly
on
> freeways - probably due to the noisy engine, but for 2 -3
hours
> I
> think I could be in trouble.
>
> Any advice on what additional precautions need to be taken
would
> be
> appreciated.
>
> P.S I am thorughly enjoying the fact that there so many other
> syncro
> lovers around Australia and we may run into eachother on
future
> travels.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Scott Pitcher
> Terrigal
> NSW Central Coast
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> Find local movie times and trailers on Yahoo! Movies.
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>
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