Newbie Tramper requires tips and advice

Sooorrrrrry! :blush: :unamused:

animal:
Kitchen roll
Toilet roll
wash kit
clean clothes
cooker
kettle
mug / cup
cooking utensils
chopping board
cutlery
torch
spare gas for cooker
water
food
tea/coffee/sugar/milk
wet wipes
towel
tea towel for drying
washing up liquid

and a partridge in a pear treeeeeeeeeeeeeee ā€¦ sorry i couldnt help it ā€¦ :blush:

Thanks guys, thereā€™s some great advice and tips here. They donā€™t pay for parking unless itā€™s high value load, so the majority will be laybys etc. Cheers everyone and happy trucking. :wink:

All of the above listed is the usual,if you have all that main things to get started then add to it as you think and require over a few weeks,i like the pasta n sauce packets,quick and handy on the stove half a pint of milk and a bit of chicken through it makes a handy quick healty meal on the stove,also some of the flavoured dried rice packets a drop of water on the stove and a few prawns threw in is another handy one,or a few bits from the hot food counter in Tesco etc and a chip or few bits of salad are handy too,you dont always have to eat crap and unhealthy because its fast and in the truck!!!

hunna1977:
Thanks guys, thereā€™s some great advice and tips here. They donā€™t pay for parking unless itā€™s high value load, so the majority will be laybys etc. Cheers everyone and happy trucking. :wink:

Then tell him to stick it and stay on day work.

If they donā€™t give a ā– ā– ā– ā–  enough to pay parking, where you can go for a ā– ā– ā– ā–  without having to use a carrier bag, then Iā€™ll go home thanks.

We all get stuck now and then, traffic and loading times and delays etc catch everyone out now and then, but to actually say ā€œyou will park in an industrial estate or laybyā€ or whatever is IMHO a ā– ā– ā– ā–  take. They have access to a toilet when theyā€™re done for the day, I want to too.

Much the same as what the others have said, I work for the company that shifts Radius pipeā€™s competitors products (no prizes for the first one to guess!) If your on pipe and coil haulage make sure you have a good set of waterproofs and a change of footwear so you donā€™t drag half the site back into your cab every night.

Ask other guys from the firm where they would stay if you catch them when loading up, donā€™t be afraid to ask or youā€™ll never know.

The good thing with the pipe/coil job is that a lot of the drops will be on industrial estates so youā€™ll pick up good knowledge of them. Another good tip is one that I think Jessicaā€™s Dad mentioned a few months agoā€¦as you drive around keep scouting out industrial estates and well sheltered laybys and adding them to the list.

If your on the pipes and want to know anything else feel free to give me a shout. Itā€™s a different job than general haulage or RDC stuff but on the whole itā€™s good fun and takes you to some nice places with breathtaking scenery every so often when you go to pipeline projects or treatment works out in the countryside.

Good luck and if you see me on a site, itā€™s the wagon with Sparky on the numberplate.

hunna1977:
Thanks guys, thereā€™s some great advice and tips here. They donā€™t pay for parking unless itā€™s high value load, so the majority will be laybys etc.

.
Avoid dark lay-bys, they are the natural haunt of Diddycoys, and nobody likes to wake up in the morning to find their diesel has been magicked away overnight.

Park at customersā€™ premises whenever possible, if thatā€™s not possible then try to park on an industrial estate somewhere even if it means a detour, diesel thieves instinctively avoid anywhere with lighting and CCTV.

Personally i eat out alot as cant be bothered to cook
But a good 1500 watt invertir good investment mine was around Ā£160 for 2000 watt

Run a Ā£25 asda/tesco microwave tv kettle toaster etc
Laptops etc toaster is dead handy use that more than microwave

I prob got more in truck than at home
Babywipes a must spare towell
Tea coffee etc fresh milk
I tend to get cravendale as will keep longer til back in uk hopefully

Condoms but dont tell the wife lol

Saaamon:
Iā€™d say theres quite abit to learn when tramping, one of the best things to do is ask the other guys, your doing the right thing starting off doing a couple of nights to start with. If you can stay in services at first and then when you start getting the hang of it start sleeping on ind. estates then laybys. Wet wipes and a double duvet are probably the biggest musts.

It is quite simple what to have in the lorry when you are what is known these days as ā€œtrampingā€ - long distance driving as it used to be. (Incidentally is tramping another one of those bloody awful amercanisms that seem to continually corrupt the English language?)

Back to the point - anyone can be uncomfortable and live on crap food. With a little imagination you can eat and sleep well. On the subject of sleeping, whilst UK service areas are far from ideal, they do have toilet and wash facilities, where as laybys and industrial estates dont. If you park on the services your boss should pay, its his bloody truck after all, why should you rough it becayse he cant price a job properly?

Hombre:

Saaamon:
Iā€™d say theres quite abit to learn when tramping, one of the best things to do is ask the other guys, your doing the right thing starting off doing a couple of nights to start with. If you can stay in services at first and then when you start getting the hang of it start sleeping on ind. estates then laybys. Wet wipes and a double duvet are probably the biggest musts.

It is quite simple what to have in the lorry when you are what is known these days as ā€œtrampingā€ - long distance driving as it used to be. (Incidentally is tramping another one of those bloody awful amercanisms that seem to continually corrupt the English language?)

Back to the point - anyone can be uncomfortable and live on crap food. With a little imagination you can eat and sleep well. On the subject of sleeping, whilst UK service areas are far from ideal, they do have toilet and wash facilities, where as laybys and industrial estates dont. If you park on the services your boss should pay, its his bloody truck after all, why should you rough it becayse he cant price a job properly?

My boss doesnt pay parking but thats fine with me, iā€™ll only stay in services if theres no where else to park or if im there for a long period ie 24hrs

If your boss doesnt pay parking you should teach the tight ā– ā– ā– ā–  a lesson, park it somewhere not too nice and go and stop in a B&B for the night. Then see whats left in the morning! its his bloody truck and he shouldnt expect you to be an unpaid security guard and at the same time not to have access to basic facilitities.

To addā€¦
I use a Comfort conditioner bottle as itā€™s got a wide neck, got 2 just in case :smiley:

I donā€™t watch much tv, so use a laptop and a ā€˜3ā€™ dongle powered from 12v socket with a regulated adaptor
from Maplin [12vdc to 20vdc]

ā€¦and a 24v electric kettle [i run the engine for this ,boils faster]

206doorman:
To addā€¦
I use a Comfort conditioner bottle as itā€™s got a wide neck, got 2 just in case :smiley:

A 5 lt water bottle has a wide neck as well buy 1 use water then re cycle the bottle simple

schrodingers cat:

xfmatt:
Type it in the search facility and you will find hundreds of posts relating to this.

:unamused: another know it all :unamused:

So ngetting on to the fact that this is a forum for asking questions (even if theyā€™ve been asked before :wink: ).

A lot will depend upon what the company you work for will pay. If they pay parking then you shouldnā€™t need too much, entertinment a must, night time pee receptical definately (depending on your age :laughing: ). If they donā€™t pay parking then you will need cooking facilities + stuff to make a brew and stuff to eat off (and stuff to eat0.

The more basic stuff should be washkit, and sleeping kit.

If you cab hop then keep it all to a minimum, if you get your own wagon then start with the basics and build up, basically if you have it at home and it will fit in your cab, theres no good reason not to have it (dishwasher and shower is a no-no :laughing:).

Another good idea depending on your knowledge of the hours regulations is to keep an upo to date copy of the regs, so that you can work out your hours to keep legal and, if possible get you home on a friday.

At the start, as long as you can eat drink and pee you should be ok, then you can build up.

Itā€™s not a bad life good luck!

Why am I a know it all? I just thought he would find more out by running a search rather than waiting for people to reply.

Hombre:
If your boss doesnt pay parking you should teach the tight [zb] a lesson, park it somewhere not too nice and go and stop in a B&B for the night. Then see whats left in the morning! its his bloody truck and he shouldnt expect you to be an unpaid security guard and at the same time not to have access to basic facilitities.

I work for a farmer, he wont pay parking lolā€¦ But because heā€™s a farmer we get excellent trucks with loads of power and all the toys so its kinda swings and roundabouts. The only thing i need services for is a crap, other than that im completely self sufficient.

animal:

206doorman:
To addā€¦
I use a Comfort conditioner bottle as itā€™s got a wide neck, got 2 just in case :smiley:

A 5 lt water bottle has a wide neck as well buy 1 use water then re cycle the bottle simple

If your the sort of guy with some girth buy some lube so your bell end donā€™t get stuck in the top as its not big or clever trying to pull it off your old boy at 3am in the morning :wink: :smiley:

Thetaff:

animal:

206doorman:
To addā€¦
I use a Comfort conditioner bottle as itā€™s got a wide neck, got 2 just in case :smiley:

A 5 lt water bottle has a wide neck as well buy 1 use water then re cycle the bottle simple

If your the sort of guy with some girth buy some lube so your bell end donā€™t get stuck in the top as its not big or clever trying to pull it off your old boy at 3am in the morning :wink: :smiley:

ran out of socks have you Taff? :open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

This helps to

www.hgvparking.com

:smiley: :smiley: Yep the pound shop ran out fatty I was not amused :laughing:

xfmatt:

schrodingers cat:

xfmatt:
Type it in the search facility and you will find hundreds of posts relating to this.

:unamused: another know it all :unamused:

So ngetting on to the fact that this is a forum for asking questions (even if theyā€™ve been asked before :wink: ).

A lot will depend upon what the company you work for will pay. If they pay parking then you shouldnā€™t need too much, entertinment a must, night time pee receptical definately (depending on your age :laughing: ). If they donā€™t pay parking then you will need cooking facilities + stuff to make a brew and stuff to eat off (and stuff to eat0.

The more basic stuff should be washkit, and sleeping kit.

If you cab hop then keep it all to a minimum, if you get your own wagon then start with the basics and build up, basically if you have it at home and it will fit in your cab, theres no good reason not to have it (dishwasher and shower is a no-no :laughing:).

Another good idea depending on your knowledge of the hours regulations is to keep an upo to date copy of the regs, so that you can work out your hours to keep legal and, if possible get you home on a friday.

At the start, as long as you can eat drink and pee you should be ok, then you can build up.

Itā€™s not a bad life good luck!

Why am I a know it all? I just thought he would find more out by running a search rather than waiting for people to reply.

Because new posts always keep the information fresh, if everyone just did a search then forums would die through lack of interest.