The Camper Van thread

[elsiegee40]

What tips and gotchas have you got regarding the purchase and use of camper vans? Anything from spec to camp sites in the UK or overseas…

 

Mr gee40 and I are now starting to research getting a camper van. We want something sort of transit van size, ie not too big, due to the kind of places we are likely to want to take it.

 

It seemed sensible to start this thread as a more general one so that it’s harder to take it off topic. Discussion about bigger vans is perfectly welcome

 

Over to you

[JATSO]

What tips and gotchas have you got regarding the purchase and use of camper vans? Anything from spec to camp sites in the UK or overseas…

 

Mr gee40 and I are now starting to research getting a camper van. We want something sort of transit van size, ie not too big, due to the kind of places we are likely to want to take it.

 

It seemed sensible to start this thread as a more general one so that it’s harder to take it off topic. Discussion about bigger vans is perfectly welcome

 

Over to you

 

No doubt you have looked at the YouTube sites that cover lots of this and plenty of choices

We did a virtual plan for this some time ago.

We weighed up the following options:

 

Buy New – To expensive

Buy Used – Still pricy in today’s market but research is your key

Self-Build New or Used Van - If your hands on and have the kit you can DIY or hopefully have a friend who is.

Buy Used and get it converted. My mate with his mate got his done for about £7K

We worked out the costing and the usage we may get out of it, which would be weekends for us at the moment due to work, the cost of owning a day van and using campsites at weekends as you can't just park up in England and camp with your van legally anyway.

Sprinter Type Vans give you more options, a transit for instance won’t have much room inside unless you get the LWB Hit Top a VW van if you buy second hand converted it can cost a small fortune from some and has it been done well.

 

Have a look on Autotrader website

 

Google the "Motorhome Man" he has YouTube channel

 

YouTube - Van Life UK

 

Camplify.co.uk

Climbingvan.co.uk

 

I hired a day van a Nissan HiTop for 3 months with my 2 young children back in 2006 we toured about 10,000 miles of Australia in it, it was cramped but had a great time.

 

We compared all the options to just using the car and just B&B it.

 

We chose to use the car and B&B option until we retire as the van would be sat on the drive most of the time.

 

Good luck let us know how you get on:)

[nwkeene]

have a look at this channel. Seems very informative and easy going. He also did a narrowboating channel called 'cruising the cut' which was very good.

https://www.youtube.com/@Vandemonium

[HarryMonkey]

Slightly OT O know but we bought a touring caravan last year and have just decided to sell it, the cost of storage (£600 pa), servicing (£200 pa) insurance (£150 pa) plus site fees (£30-£35 a night) using more fuel in the car, increasing cost of electricity at sites made it not really worth it, plus I can only take time off in the holidays and even then have to give a months notice means it;s just not worth it. For £950 a year I can gat a few hotel stays and not have the hassle.

 

I looked at camper vans when we bought the caravan but having one with enough space, plus having to tax, insure and MOT it every year, it's your vehicle all the time you're away so have to pack all up if you want to go anywhere that's any distance away we decided that the cost involved was just way over the top.

[PotNoodleTech]

I'll be totally honest - if you are going to be doing it alot, which I guess you are now you've returned from edugeek then go proper motorhome or go bust.

 

The small - medium vans like VW and Transit or smaller are just day vans really - any attempt to use for long periods or regularly will no doubt become frustrating and unenjoyable.

 

The large vans like the jumbo transits long high top sprinters are better but at the end of the day they are still too small and a compromise - and often no cheaper than the proper motorhomes which are not much bigger and have everything you need to go away, and stay away.

 

The larger and more luxurious you get the more chance of you actually enjoying it and using it frequently. Most of the "small van" people I know literally don't hardly go away any more once the initial couple of months of excitement are over - the realism sets in, the lack of space, the lack of toilet and shower, etc.

 

Personally for me having gone through all the same throughts as you - my favourite is an older Hymer. I may or may not get one on a couple of years instead of my old caravan. Large, excellent use of space, great layout, everything you need for on and off grid, and a similar price to a second hand unconverted VW Transporter.

[elsiegee40]

We have both retired now and we go out a lot. We have room on the drive for one, so parking up isn’t an issue and it’s quite likely that one of our cars will be sold anyway as we can’t see us actually needing two going forward if we got a van. It would be useful as a base for birding and walking day trips as well as for longer stays… a touring caravan wouldn’t get as much use. We are both more than used to cramped camping and caravan conditions without the luxury of builtin shower and we are both outdoorsy people. We just need something a bit more comfortable than a tent hence not considering a bigger van for the time being.

 

I grew up with my parents owning a 12ft touring caravan which we travelled Europe in from when I was aged 2 until I my last holiday with my parents aged 18. We went right out to Yugoslavia (that long ago ) and my Dad regularly towed it over the Pyrenees round lots of tight hairpin bends with our kayaks on the roofrack as we headed to the Noguera Pallaresa at Sort. When we were in the UK it was a bit more cramped as my sister and I didn’t sleep in the awning when it was cold. Our caravan was used a lot year round… partly caused by me needing somewhere to sleep for canoe slalom events and my Dad being a BCU senior instructor and us spending many, many weekends at various scout campsites while he trained and tested.

 

Mr gee40’s parents had a 10ft caravan, no awning and two sons… even more cramped than us

 

We feel aren’t dead set on a transit base. Just that sort of sized of vehicle… in fact something other than a transit is more likely

[headoned]

I just purchased an 09 Chausson motorhome. As after years of searching it seemed the best option as it gives so much more internal space so is better for long periods on the road. its still only 6.5m long but i can stand up inside and I'm 6 foot 3

[Danp]

I would love to write loads about the one I built, but I don't have time at the moment, feel free to PM me at any point though.

 

We've been camping for years and ended up with a small trailer because of the amount of gear we had. Then swapped all of that for a caravan, then a slightly newer one, and then in 2020 sold it for "strong" money. I've wanted to buy and convert a van for 15+ years, mainly so I can go to Le Mans 24H race (still not happened, always during term time) and in Sept 2020 we bought exactly the van we have been looking for, a late 2004 long wheel base, high top Mercedes Sprinter, 129bhp, manual diesel. One of the last simple engines, limited electronics, less to go wrong, gets better mpg that my daily BMW X5

 

We had no idea about how to convert a van, loads of YouTube videos, books (Nate Murphy's is excellent) etc and now we have a 5 seater van that 4 of us (2 parents, 19yo and 17yo daughters) and 2 dogs can sleep in. We have a nearly king sized fixed bed (I'm 6'2"), large solar panel, 2 x large batteries, a proper sized fridge, sink with running water (soon to be hot water too), windows, roof light, led lights, USB sockets, projector etc etc. We can go fully off grid for as long as we want and when in Scotland normally do for a night or 2 at time.

 

I don't think it will ever be finished, there is always jobs to do with it, or tweaks, but that's why we love it, it's an ongoing project. Also, because it's not perfect showroom condition (I painted it, outdoors with a roller) we don't mind if it gets scratched going down lanes. Anyway, that's it, off to France for two weeks over the summer, just the 3 of us, no dogs

[stevejp]

have a look at this channel. Seems very informative and easy going. He also did a narrowboating channel called 'cruising the cut' which was very good.

https://www.youtube.com/@Vandemonium

 

+1 for David’s videos - on both of these channels. He’s much better than many ‘tubers - very funny, but also very informative at the same time, and has a great presenting style.