Any good camper/motor home forums about?

[Taipan]

Thinking about getting a camper van and wanted to find a forum where they discuss the merits of the different types of camper vans and other subjects such as safe wild camping, off grid requirements etc. Any of you camper van owners use such a forum?

[KungFooBob]

There's tons of Friendface Groups.

I'm on a couple of the Search 4 Sites ones and the Free camping UK and Europe.

[Gedge]

https://wildcamping.co.uk/

[IOU0]

I'll save you a lot of time and searching.
All British vans are shit
All German vans are over priced
All French vans smell of garlic
All Italian vans have an identity crisis
All yanktanks are 110v and expensive to run.

Seriously tho, decide on a budget, then decide on your layout, then see what you can afford!
Be aware that anything over 15 yo will have issues, usually damp.
There is a very healthy classic hymer group on facebook, and some cracking vans that come up every so often.
My only advice would be buy something european.
And wild camping..... in the UK!
Don't go on motorhomefun and say that ffs.
As for off grid, depends on how much leccy you want/need/use. Again, don't mention gennys.
We have 150w on the roof and 110a/hr battery which allows swmbo to use a hairdryer and power all van electrics, but we do live in mainland europe so get more sun!

[slowsider]

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[slowsider]

Thinking about getting a camper van and wanted to find a forum where they discuss the merits of the different types of camper vans and other subjects such as safe wild camping, off grid requirements etc. Any of you camper van owners use such a forum?

They are all full of pretentious pricks but some do have nice people in them. Ill PM you the one Yorick uses

which category is he?

[Rockburner]

Thinking about getting a camper van and wanted to find a forum where they discuss the merits of the different types of camper vans and other subjects such as safe wild camping, off grid requirements etc. Any of you camper van owners use such a forum?

What are you thinking of doing, how old are you, how fit are you, how handy are you, what's the budget?

[MrLongbeard]

www.doyaliokedawgs.com

[Taipan]

Thinking about getting a camper van and wanted to find a forum where they discuss the merits of the different types of camper vans and other subjects such as safe wild camping, off grid requirements etc. Any of you camper van owners use such a forum?

What are you thinking of doing, how old are you, how fit are you, how handy are you, what's the budget?

It Stared with seeing all the campers at the beach. A lot were old VWs or later T4/5/6s and were being used as day vans and we thought what a great thing to have, easy to park at home and when you're out etc, but I've never been a fan of campers without bathrooms. Neither of us wants to give up hotel holidays abroad though, so maybe one without a bathroom would Do and we'd just use it for weekend breaks or days out and not have the hassle of a LWB van on the drive and the struggle of parking in car parks? This is why I wanted to read a forum of how people use smaller vans and how creative they get, or weigh up the advantages of a bigger van?

I'm in my 50s, not in great shape but slowly rectifying that, moderate diy skills but not interested in converting a van myself.

I was looking at selling my car for c£6.5k and using that to buy something, but a brief look on eBay shows me that doesn't get you anything decent, so I'll have to add a few grand to that, which is where it gets awkaward as I don't like that much money sitting idle on the drive really? Mind you if we did use it often then it'd be worth it I suppose?

[IOU0]

As i said, a classic hymer SHOULD cost you less than 10k, but if you live near london then no use as they are not lez compliant.
If the thought of having money sat in your drive worties you, then perhaps a moho isnt for you.
Consider it an investment, what you pay you will probably get back, and if you are keen, then you finish work and in an hour you are on holiday for the weekend.
We toured Aus and NZ in a van with a boom box for a toilet for 6 weeks. We managed, but it was not my idea if a fun time compared to our own van.
Work on your budget, plan your needs, then rethink your budget again!

[Wossname]

Budget is the first thing. We're at the lower end - bought a van for £3.5k which had some bits that needed fixing. That was 9 years ago, and we've added 40k miles to the 96k that was on it. It's probably worth £5k now. It's a Pilote, coachbuilt, with a bog etc, on a 1988 Talbot Express base, there's a very useful Talbot OC group which has some very helpful people on it and some others. If you're budget is different, feel free to ignore me.

[melons]

.. a pic of Taipans wife after one night in the new camper van without have a loo

BoudicaAlexKingston.jpg (53.78 KiB) Viewed 1857 times

[Mussels]

Go big or go home, sleeping in a small van is for kids and older people with rose tinted glasses. A caravan would probably fit your bill better, more comfortable, cheaper and your don't have to pack everything up to go to a restaurant
I have a folding camper, fits in the garage, takes ten minutes to put up and has the the space of a 3.5t camper van. This one is pretty old so doesn't have a toilet and that is the only thing that my wife doesn't like about it, the rest of the basic stuff she's fine with. It still has it's downsides but I'd rather put up with canvas repairs than damp problems.
Day vans are ace for the beach, we had a twin cab Transit that could be used as a changing room, seating area and kitchen but that happened so rarely it wasn't a consideration. All I really miss about the van is having loads of space to carry stuff.

[cheb]

You forgot to include cheapskate scratters who don't care where they sleep.

To test whether you and your wife could live in a camper together spend the weekend in a small garden shed, unpreferably with a lidded bucket used as a toilet.

[G.P]

why not rent a VW california for the weekend and see how you get on, at least you'll know how you'll cope in restricted space irrelevant of what make / model / budget ?

[Taipan]

Go big or go home, sleeping in a small van is for kids and older people with rose tinted glasses. A caravan would probably fit your bill better, more comfortable, cheaper and your don't have to pack everything up to go to a restaurant
I have a folding camper, fits in the garage, takes ten minutes to put up and has the the space of a 3.5t camper van. This one is pretty old so doesn't have a toilet and that is the only thing that my wife doesn't like about it, the rest of the basic stuff she's fine with. It still has it's downsides but I'd rather put up with canvas repairs than damp problems.
Day vans are ace for the beach, we had a twin cab Transit that could be used as a changing room, seating area and kitchen but that happened so rarely it wasn't a consideration. All I really miss about the van is having loads of space to carry stuff.

My thoughts are the same, but big for me is just a converted panel van with a bathroom. F-i-L has a MWB high roof Citroen 2.2 HDi thing which would fit the bill nicely and if I could get him to part with it, it'd be a bargain. Needs some work doing as he's messed things up since having a stroke, but not anything major and its low miles too. He thinks he's getting his license back though and is holding onto it until he does. I think i'll chat with him about at the weekend. Might even get it MOT'd and borrow it a few times to see how we get in with it.

I gave up caravanning years ago and have no desire to tow one again tbh.

[Rockburner]

I'd agree with the idea of hiring one (or two) for long weekends and see how you get on with it.

If you're going to stay at campsites EVERY time, then a dayvan is fine, as you can use the campsite's toilet facilities, and the van is basically a mobile tin tent. And that's fine.

However, if you want to actually get away from campsites, then having a decent toilet (and the modern ones are fine, with the right chemicals and maintenance they don't smell) is absolutely necessary because it means you can park up absolutely anywhere. In most of Europe, as long as you aren't obviously 'camping'*, then no-one cares what you do.


* chairs out, awning out, rubbish strewn around

[twids]

We took our day van[1] up to Scotland a few weeks ago after a dry run close to home in Wales. It worked pretty well, we did some wild camping in forest car parks too.

That's the wife and I and two young sprogs. They sleep in the bottom, we pop the roof up and sleep up top.

You need to be organised to make it work, the wife's got different slide out boxes for day/night with bedding etc.. in which made things easy to find and pack quickly.

We bought a cassette toilet, we thought mostly for the kids but it was actually really useful, didn't smell and is simple to empty.

I'd recommend some kind of side shelter, we're looking at a slide out one that attaches to the roof now as when it's wet it's hard to keep the inside of the van dry.

We bought a powered cool box/fridge from Halfords runs off the leisure battery, with the solar on the roof and charging when driving around we had enough juice for it.

[1] Transit SWB with a pop top roof and rock and roll bed

[Jody]

RE parking, I've been using a LWB sprinter for 10 years and it really aint that bad. Even at Tesco, as long as I can use one of the right spaces I hang the back of it over the kerb and the front barely protrudes over the front of the parking space. Here in Biarritz, every time I go to the beach I can park very close to the sand with no bother.

Once you get used to it, it's fine.

[Taipan]

Xsitting in the garden with the wife and SHE says to me, have you thought anymore about a camper?! We then spend the next hour looking at various types and my explaining the ins and outs and pros and cons of the different types and sizes. The upshot of this is, she thinks a bigger van based one is more suited when we retire and go touring abroad, but if we want one sooner for days out and/or weekends she wants a VW T5 sized one and only if we get rid of one of our cars. Very surprised at her not worrying about the toilet issue but she said if we were on a campsite and she needed the loo in the middle of the night, then apparently I'm walking her to the toilet block. She'd also want a drive away awning as in a surprising feat of practicality she recognises the need for space to put things when on site.

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