The Camper Van Bible: The Glovebox Edition

Contents

INTRODUCTION

What’s inside

Part One

DREAMS DO COME TRUE

BUYING A CAMPER VAN

New versus old

Brand new vans

Buying new: visit a dealer

Buying preloved

BUYING ADVICE

Top tips for searching for your perfect camper

Things to think about when buying your camper

Carrying gear/boards/kayaks/toys

RENTING A CAMPER

Rental companies

Part Two

BEFORE YOU GO

DRIVING

Your driving licence and motorhomes

Weights and payloads

Know your dimensions

Get proper cover

Travelling with dogs, cats and ferrets (but not at the same time)

THE SECRETS OF HAPPY CAMPING

Make a list (or lists)

One man’s meat…

Essential camping kit

Gather your resources

Organise your space

COOKING KIT

Kit you need

Herbs and spices

Condiments and cooking oils

Dry staples

COOKING METHODS AND HEAT SOURCES

Equipment

Fuel for cooking (and heating)

Gas and BBQ safety

Alternative kitchens

Open fires

Top fire-lighting tips

COOLING

Camping fridges

Chillin’ tips

Top tips for camper van cooking

WHERE TO SPEND THE NIGHT

Campsites

Campsite alternatives

Wild or free camping

Places to stay en route

Planning overnights

BEDS, FOAM AND MATTRESSES

Rock and roll beds

Fixed bed campers

Drop-down beds

Transverse beds

Make up beds

A guide to bedding foam

Sleeping bags, duvets, liners

Mosquito nets

On-board heating

POWER

Camping electrics: leisure batteries

Topping up with solar

Lithium ion leisure batteries

Cold weather battery performance

Using a power inverter

Towing more kit

Condensation

Blocking out the daylight

LAST-MINUTE VAN MAINTENANCE

Flush and fill fresh water

Flush and freshen the waste tank

Check the gas

Check and charge your leisure battery

Check the fridge

Charge the loo tank

Final checks

Part Three

ON THE ROAD

THE COST OF CAMPING

Variables

TRAVEL SMART

ECO-CONSCIOUS CAMPING

The greenest kind of holiday?

Pitch up carefully

Be green yourself

Stop blaming everyone else

Leave it better: pick up litter

Forget single-use plastics

Buy local when you can

Less waste: more recycling

Help your site - create less waste

Help regenerate

Can you go there?

STAY CONNECTED

Why internet is more than useful

Smart vans - teching up your moho

FINDING BETTER OVERNIGHTS

CAMPING IN THE WINTER

KEEPING COMFY AND WARM

LPG and gas filling

DRIVING SAFETY

Only a fool forgets…

Defensive driving

The obvious

Safety and seat belt law

SECURITY

Daytime security

Overnight security

On-site safety

KEEPING YOUR SPOT

LEVELLING WEDGES AND CHOCKS

Levelling wedges

Hand brakes, swivel seats and wedges

AWNINGS AND SUNSHADES

Awnings and pup tents

Toilet and shower tents

Sunshades and tarps

FIND YOUR ROUTINE - FEEL AMAZING

On your trips

In the mornings

KEEPING CLEAN

Personal hygiene

Going to the loo

Wash and brush-up stops

Getting your smalls done

Washing up

Washroom etiquette

KEEP THE MOTOR RUNNING

Choose your van for the mechanic you are

Essential vehicle checks: AAA (another annoying acronym)

Keeping it neat

RESOURCES AND NOTES

Resources

Glossary

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Hello! Thanks for picking up this book. I hope it will become a really useful addition to your camper van or motorhome, whether you own one now or in the future. If you dream of buying one but haven’t quite got there yet, then please let this book help you to make it happen. It will.

I call this The Glovebox Edition of The Camper Van Bible because I want it to be a book that’s really useful, both at home and when you are away. I want it to be a constant and useful companion that you can refer to as and when you need it. All the information inside has been written to be useful in some way or another, either before you go or when you are on the road, and I sincerely hope it is.

But, after you’ve used this book for a while and have got into the rhythm of life on the road, I hope you’ll pass it on – along with everything you’ve learned from your own travels – to someone else. Don’t let it fester on a bookshelf or get lost in a rarely cleaned corner of the van. It’s meant to be used, abused, scribbled in and passed on. That’s the point.

Every little bit of know-how or experience that’s in this book comes from a lifetime (well, more than 30 years) of sleeping in cars, vans and motorhomes, travelling around the UK and Europe and spending weeks on end on the road. It also comes from talking to people, making friends, listening to manufacturers and campers and poking about in hundreds of campers and motorhomes as a judge on the Motorhome Design Award for the Caravan and Motorhome Club. I hope that you’ll be able to add your own experiences to it and make this copy – the one you have in your hand right now – the most useful one yet. For that reason we’ve left a few pages blank at the end. It sounds a bit of a cliché to say that I want you to write your own story. But I do.

Camper vans and motorhomes have given me so many great experiences over the years, from waking up to six inches of snow to cooking for a crowd, and I have gained something from every moment. I hope this book helps you to get some for yourself too. Of course, not all memories are brilliant, but that is all part of the pact you sign when you turn the key for the first time.

Camper van and motorhome ownership is a journey in itself. There are bumps in the road, hairpins, long easy straights and dead ends. This book, if I have done it right, will help you to navigate all of them with a smile on your face.

OK? Let’s hit the road.

What’s inside

The Camper Van Bible, first published in 2016, set out to be the be-all and end-all of camper van ownership. I wanted it to inspire anyone and everyone to dream of starry nights in the wild and get the most out of their van or dreams of owning a van.

This book, as I have said already, is about living with a van and making the most of it. Which is why it’s full of advice, tips, lists and stuff that you might need help with. I’d still like it to give you itchy feet or wanderlust, but I also want it to help you do it successfully. And for that reason it’s as practical as it can be. But hopefully never boring.

The first section, ‘Before you go’, is for anyone who wants to read about finding the perfect van, setting it up for travelling, preparing lists for going away and booking campsites. It’s also got a load of information on types of places to stay, useful books to take and even prioritising packing.

The second part of the book is for the time you spend ‘on the road’. This is stuff you might find useful when you are away. This includes information on clean air schemes, avoiding bad backs, finding campsites and how not to make a mess of servicing your motorhome.

It’s all useful stuff and is why we’ve called this The Glovebox Edition. Because, we hope, that is where it belongs – right where you need it, for when you need it most.

Part One

DREAMS DO COME TRUE

It’s really happening, isn’t it?

Yes it is.

We’re getting a camper van.

Yes we are.

Whooooppppeeee!!!!

You know that feeling? I do. Many others do too. It’s a dream about to come true. Buying a camper van is such an exciting time. And gosh there are so many choices. So many options. So much to decide.

So I’ve tried to make it as simple as I can for you.

No book on camper vans and motorhomes would be complete without a buying guide. It’s one of the biggest commitments you can make and, I hope, one of the best decisions you’ll ever make, too. Get it right and you’ll be drifting off into the sunset. Get it wrong and you could land yourself a headache.

But you won’t will you?

No.

Whooooppppeeee!!!!

BUYING A CAMPER VAN

You have your heart set on a camper van or motorhome? Fantastic. I look forward to meeting up with you on the road. But first, before you buy, there are a lot of questions you need to ask yourself.

I have listed them in detail in the following pages so that you’ll know what to look for and what kind of recommendations can be made.

Big decision coming up, right? Buying a ‘leisure vehicle’ is a big commitment, both in time and money. Will you get to use it often enough? Will it keep its value? Will you be able to drive it every day?

Before you commit, there are some important decisions to be made. I will go into more detail later, but for now, here are the first basic questions:

New versus old

Do you go for new or old? Good question.

A lot of it depends on budget but, when I say old, I don’t mean classic versus modern. I mean new brand new versus preloved.

Just FYI: ‘classic’, according to the HMRC, is anything over 40 years old. That means anything made before 1 January 1981 (at the time of writing) is considered classic and you don’t have to pay tax on it. It also doesn’t need an MOT.

This means that all Volkswagen Type 2s – that’s Bay Windows and Split Screens – and even a few Type 3s (Type 25) are exempt. Also included in this would be early Hymermobils, most Citroën HY vans and most Commer vans.

However, even vans made slightly later in the 1980s may still be considered ‘classic’, though they don’t qualify by HMRC standards.

Brand new vans

Brand new camper vans – or a van that is being converted for you – are wonderful, but costly. So if you have the money you will have a lot of fun choosing all the bits and pieces, options, add-ons and gadgets and widgets. It’s a bit like ordering a new car but with two or three more times the number of options. You want memory foam, a heater and an underslung tank? We’ll talk about all those things later.

There is no such thing as a standard camper or motorhome, even one that’s off the peg. The choices, when buying a motorhome from a dealer, for example, may be as simple as buying an add-on ‘winter pack’, or it might be much more complicated than that.

Even going to a converter and choosing one of their models will lead you down all kinds of roads of possibilities as you’ll have to choose a base vehicle, and all the bits and pieces that come with it, before you even get on to your camping set-up.

Buying new: visit a dealer

While I am not advocating wasting anyone’s time, I think it’s a good plan to visit a big motorhome or camper van dealership to see what’s available, what things cost and what your money could buy you if it were no object, even if you are thinking of buying preloved.

If you can also do a factory tour at the same time then you’ll get a good insight into the way campers are put together, the work that goes into converting new (or old) campers and the possibilities when it comes to choosing layouts, accessories and your individual specifications.

BUYING OR CONVERTING ‘NEW’ There are plenty of companies who can source used vans to convert or will convert new vans for you. Obviously this adds another level of complication to the buying process as you need to choose a base vehicle that’s specced right from the off.

Choosing the base vehicle can be just as important as choosing the conversion because some base models are more difficult to convert than other models, simply because of the way they are finished. Often, the more basic the better, as it provides a blank canvas.

Advice: talk to the dealer about what you want and what base vehicle they recommend.

Choosing the basic conversion We are about to go through the reasons for choosing different conversions, which will give you an idea of the kind of things you might need to think about to cut down on your choices. However, when you get to see a dealer or converter you’ll get even more choices. Many manufacturers sell similar basic models, with each having different accessories and features and the option of add-ons as you go. This is when the sky becomes the limit, with possibilities for WIFI, digital TV, interior lighting options, showers, water tanks and heaters, interior heating, inverters, swivel seat bases and a whole lot more.

Buying preloved

Don’t think that buying second hand gets any easier. In fact, I’d say it gets harder. In choosing something that’s right for you, be prepared to face a few conundrums and choices, from the type of bed you choose to the type and age of the base vehicle. There are always compromises to be made.

My recommendation: go to as many big dealers, motorhome retailers, VW festivals and conventions as you can. Nose about in as many vehicles as you can. Check out the layouts, seating arrangements and budget and try to identify the vehicle that’s perfect for you.

There will be one, all you have to do is find it.

BUYING ADVICE

When you are buying a vehicle, the thing to keep at the back of your mind is ‘buyer beware’. That means if it dies or falls apart or doesn’t live up to expectations, the only person you can blame, in many cases, is yourself.

However, the law will protect you in some circumstances. If you buy from a dealer then through sale of goods legislation (Sale of Goods Act 1979), you are entitled to expect that any goods you buy are of satisfactory