Some Vanlife Practicalities

Vanlife practicalities– things we know now!

Our travels have taken us to some fantastic places. We’ve explored towns, castles and country houses. Witnessed history with the Mappa Mundi and Sutton Hoo, explored great buildings from Dover Castle to Dunrobin. Camped on mountains and cliff edges, next to rivers and lochs and on the beach. Hygge has protected us through storms and heat waves and kept us warm in the snow. It has been a learning and life changing experience and such a wonderful way of enjoying life’s simple pleasures.

As you will know by now, not only do we try and bring our experiences to life in our blogs, we also try and give you hints and tips as we learn more about van life. This blog is all about the practical aspects of travelling and things we have learned so far…

A major addition to the van:

As we travelled around in Hygge we realised that although the awning is a brilliant way of adding extra living space, on our longer tours, setting up and taking down can become a bit of a chore. Although we have now got this down to a fine art, compared with our earlier attempts – see our first trip blog.

So we decided a wind out sunshade would be a good idea, adding an area to shelter from sun and rain and great for sitting out on a warm summers evening. We weren't sure about noise when travelling. As it has turned out this is not a problem – no wind noise and the fixings are solid. We had one issue when we hit a large pothole and it started to rattle a bit but as always Camperking quickly sorted it for us.

Even with the new sunshade we can still use the awning as there is a slot along the length of the housing which is designed to take the awning strip – so best of both worlds!

When we travel without the awning we now take the ‘pup’ tent – easy to set up and it means we can store chairs, tables, pots and pans, stove, etc - leaving plenty of space in the van for days out.

Before setting off:

Write it down- it might just be our age, but there is a lot to remember – so we now have a very detailed list that we always check before we finally venture out. It’s those little things that can easily be forgotten but make a big difference when you are away. We have now created a spreadsheet, which makes it much easier to add and remove stuff.

‘Enjoying life’s simple pleasures’ is still our aim, so although the storage in the van is amazingly versatile, we try to avoid over packing and stick to what we have found really necessary.

Practical Essentials:

From lessons learned and working out what is best for us, here are some ideas:

Rock pegs and a claw hammer- for the awning, airer, pup tent or anything in fact that needs pegging out.

This summer, the ground on hardstandings in particular has been baked solid – the heavy duty pegs don’t bend and the claw hammer not only makes sure the pegs go in but also means you can lever them out if you need to.

We had an experience very early on when staying on a beautiful site on a cliff overlooking Bossiney Bay, in Cornwall. We only had standard pegs at the time and a rubber mallet. We were warned about a storm coming and I dutifully went round the awning hammering in all the pegs. Somewhere around 1am, all hell broke loose and the pegs were ripped out and parts of the awning were flying around. It was only after we had folded everything up in the awning and laid them down flat that we felt it would still be there in the morning!. The next day we saw that another campervan on the site had lost their awning completely. A seasoned caravanner on the pitch opposite gave us some sound advice - heavy duty pegs and a claw hammer, I bought some that day.

An adjustable spanner - so you can change the gas cylinder when it runs out. We have only had to change the gas once – ‘what no spanner’. It was a case of asking nicely at the campsite to see if we could borrow one. They were of course as helpful as ever, but you never know!

A long EHU cable – we initially started with a 10m cable but soon found that on some pitches the plug was positioned some distance away. We now have a 25m cable and this has been fine at all sites.

A separate multi socket EHU cable– we have used this in the awning to plug in the slow cooker (see ‘Going Equipped”). This means we can leave the dinner cooking while we are out during the day. We can also plug in the heater, radio etc. A real home from home.

Keeping the van clean– when the weather is wet you can end up dragging a lot of mud into the van. The best way to stop this is to have a mat on the ground outside which is hard wearing and washable. A pair of slip on, or as we call them ‘onny offy’ shoes, mean it is really easy to leave your shoes outside as you step into the van and if it is raining put them under the van to keep them dry.

Convenient plugs– if you are like us we always have a load of devices etc. to plug in. While we have fitted sockets, it often means that everything is plugged in at one point in the van. Getting an extension lead with a metre or so of cable has allowed us to have an electric supply at the other end of the van and adds sockets as well.

It is worth bearing in mind that the electricity rating on sites varies between 6 to16 amps - on a UK site with 10 amp supply you will have around 2.3 kw, so check what you have plugged in to avoid tripping the system.

And so to bed:

Getting a good night’s sleep is a must for us – so having a comfy bed and the right bedding is really important. We have always found the rock and roll bed as comfortable as our bed at home so we use this all the time. We’ve got a mattress topper that just helps fill in the gaps in the seat cushions. We use a quilt in the winter and just sheets and blankets in the summer.

The real trick is packing the bedding. For the trips to and from home we have found that the topper, folded in half and the quilt again folded, as well as a couple of pillows will fit in the gap between the top of the pop top and the top bed – even when fully strapped down. This means we have space in the back for fold up chairs, table, the airer, pup tent etc.

On days when we leave the van or are having a trip out, we just roll up the topper, quilt and pillows and this fits neatly into the gap behind the back seat inside the back doors – you just have to watch that they do not spill out if you open the back!

The trip back home:

A good tip, if you have the awning, is to take it down the night before, if you can – especially if there is rain forecast or to stop the awning getting wet from dew etc. We load all our stuff in the front foot well of the passenger side of the van – we can get chairs, table, airer, etc. to lay across the front and still have room for other bits and pieces on top.

Always be mindful of not blocking the inlet pipe for the heater, if like us, it is sited underneath the driver’s seat.

The other tip is not to forget the driver’s seat – ours does not swivel round so we use this for the packed up awning, it is a pretty big bag but will easily sit upright on the seat.

With any other kit stored in the locker in the back, the van is still roomy. There is just a bit of moving things around in the morning – and we can be off in good time.

That’s about it for now – I hope some of the ideas are useful - but however you work it out – enjoy van life!