The Tow Car
Our tow car is a 2016 Ford Kuga Titanium 2 litre diesel 180ps AWD. It has a factory fitted detachable towbar, powershift dual clutch transmission, adaptive cruise control & lane keeping aid. The car has proved to be a very capable at pulling our van so far and averages around 25 mpg when towing.
The Caravan
The caravan is a Swift Expression 584, a dealer special from Michael Jordan Caravans (now Marquis Motorhomes and Caravans Surrey), based on the Sprite Major 4 SB
We chose this model because we wanted a fixed bed and reasonable sized lounge. We had rented the same model for a trial run down to Austria in 2016 and it had satisfied most of our needs.
Electrical Extras
The caravan is fitted with a 120w solar panel and a 1500w inverter to allow 240 volt equipment use when off site.
The inverter will comfortably power our twin tub so we are able to clean clothes anywhere. The machine has exceeded expectations and cleans very well.
Gas Extras
We have fitted a two bottle Gas-It refillable LPG gas system to allow easy refilling on the road.
We have a gas plancha for cooking outside that attaches to the caravans gas point. We have a normal Webber charcoal BBQ too, but we have found that many sites prohibit its use in the summer months.
External Extras
We have a Kampa Air Pro 390 awning to increase living space. It is erected by pumping up the internal air beams and has no poles. It increases the living area considerably.
In July 2018 we also obtained a Thule Omnistor 1200 canopy. This is much quicker to erect as it just rolls out of a sturdy bag that is attached to the caravan awning rail. The only disadvantage is that we have to remove this to use the Kampa awning.
Photography Kit
At the start of the trip most of the photographs were taken by my trusty Canon EOS 450D, coupled with a Sigma 10-20mm wide angle zoom lens, a Canon 75-300mm telephoto zoom lens, and the stock Canon 18-55mm zoom lens. The shots are then edited in Adobe Photoshop Elements.
In June 2018 we purchased a DJI Mavic Air drone to get some aerial shots of the sights we were seeing in Scandinavia. The drone features a fixed aperture 4k camera. Drone footage is post processed in Adobe Premiere Elements.
Just recently, in April 2019, we added a DJI Osmo Mobile 2 stabilised mount. This enables us to get steady photos & smooth videos with our iPhone SE’s.
TV Setup
The TV setup consists of a tripod mounted 85cm dish with Technomate TM-2300 USALS capable dish motor. The dish is connected to a Technomate 5402 M3 HD satellite tuner, also USALS capable. With a little internet research & tweaking this has allowed us to access many satellites and receive channels that we like all over Europe & Scandinavia.
