New to motorhomes with no know-how, are we mad?!

[scaryt]

We are within sniffing distance of buying our first motorhome. We had a fabulous Adria caravan when my son was little. I've hired a vw camper and whilst I loved it my other half really would like a shower and a proper bed. Sadly new is out of our price range. We've seen a Chausson Flash 510 2015 that's in our price range. BUT in my reading around everyone seems to have mechanical (or general practical) knowledge. Are we mad to even consider getting a secondhand van?

I really want to be able to comfortably wild camp for 3 or 4 days at a time. I'm assuming the standard leisure battery it comes with won't cope with this? There's an electric bed and diesel heating that both require the electric too. How would we go about getting solar well set up? Are there good auto electricians that would help a couple of numpties and would do a good job? (Told you I know nothing!)

To be honest I'd rather be told to steer clear than end up having spent a large portion of our savings and it sitting on the drive. But I'm willing to educate myself!

Thank you all for everything I've learnt so far from obsessively reading up!

 

[Jo001]

Not mad at all, we were all new and clueless at one time.

We have a solar panel, I know nothing about the fitting but we could probably manage two nights without electricity as long as we are sensible. If you are driving between places, remember that would charge up your battery too.

However the best advice would be to go to a site for your first few nights to get to know the van, and perhaps even not use the power hookup; or camp outside your house with no power, to see how well you manage. Then if you can’t manage four nights, you could plan to move between places to give the battery a boost, or plan shorter stays.

If you intend wild camping, the sister site www.wildcamping.co.uk is worth looking at and if you join as a member you get access to the excellent map.

 

[scaryt]

That's really helpful, thank you. I have a festival booked for the bank holiday at the end of August. We've camped in the past at the festival but would love to take the van (if we go for it). I hired a vw camper last year and had to be super careful with the battery and the fridge was disappointing to say the least. I feared it was because we were running it off the leisure battery but the person who we hired from was surprised it wasn't better. I suppose we could take power banks as I would for camping but it would be annoying to have to bring the Ice Tek (coolbox) when there is a fridge. Although as I'm writing this, I think the fridge could run off the gas? Is that a really gas heavy way to do it?

 

[HurricaneSmith]

You tell us that you've been a caravanner, and so you haven't that big a leap of faith to make.

We've a solar panel and don't watch much telly, preferring a sherbet whilst we play board or card games. So power is not an issue.

For us it's always about water. Whilst I can last four days when I travel solo, it's not possible when Yvonne comes with me. She uses far more water than me, and I've learned not to make smart a**se comments.

In the UK our compromise was to join a club and use CL/CS sites where water and grey/foul dump are usually included. Some really rural places remain incredibly cheap.

 

[scaryt]

You tell us that you've been a caravanner, and so you haven't that big a leap of faith to make.

We've a solar panel and don't watch much telly, preferring a sherbet whilst we play board or card games. So power is not an issue.

For us it's always about water. Whilst I can last four days when I travel solo, it's not possible when Yvonne comes with me. She uses far more water than me, and I've learned not to make smart a**se comments.

In the UK our compromise was to join a club and use CL/CS sites where water and grey/foul dump are usually included. Some really rural places remain incredibly cheap.

Sounds like we should be able to make it work. It'll mostly be the two of us and it's my husband who'll use more water than me! (I'll not make any smart a**se comments either!).

I suspect we'll use CL/CS sites far more in the UK than bigger campsites, so we should probably join those clubs again. We mainly need the electric for charging phones/watches/computers, the lights and I'm guessing the diesel heater. We don't watch TV in the van.

 

[Jo001]

Your fridge should run on gas, we use that when we have no hook up and to be honest, I’ve no idea if it is heavy on gas but we have never run out or even close to it.

For water, you don’t shower like you do at home. Get wet, turn the tap off. Soap up, then tap on again to rinse.

 

[barryd]

I'm useless with anything mechanical but we have had our motorhome for fourteen years, spent pretty much a decade of that 50/50 living in the van and all over Europe for up to six months at a time. The vehicles themselves are based on Commerical vehicles and are generally pretty robust and you just make sure you have decent breakdown cover like you would with any vehicle. The habitation side takes a bit of getting used to but its not rocket science. Solar is a must if you go off grid. I found a local Mr Fixit motorhome repair man. I bought the panel and MPPT controller myself and he wired it all up and stuck the panel on the roof. All in cost was about £300. Now we pretty much have all the power we need from Spring to late summer. After that we go looking for hookup.

Fridges are generally 3 way. Gas off hookup, electric when plugged in and 12v when the van is being driven just to keep it coolish. Gas is by far the best.

 

[Millie Master]

If you have any kind of ability at DIY, why not build your own panel van conversion?

There are countless thousands of us who have and have very exclusive vans that we are mostly very proud of!

In most peoples eyes a panel van has numerous advantages over a coach built, the main one being of course that they are far, far easier to drive, because anywhere a delivery driver can get to, so can you, whereas so many of the coach-builts can be right royal pains when it comes to some of the narrower roads around the country.

If you do fancy dipping your toe into the excitement of self building, then please come on over to the sister site of https://motorhomebuilder.com/ where you will discover a large number of people who are more than willing to talk you through your plans and problems.

 

[rugbyken]

depends what part of the country you are in david on here trades as wildebus ( www,wildebus,com) and is super helpful with all the stuff us non techies struggle with he’s resident in the scottish borders , if your only talking 4 days between sites a bigger power bank batteries might be enough if you want to go 3 months & running your fridge on an inverter without going on a site you will need a solar array & big powerbank

 

[scaryt]

If you have any kind of ability at DIY, why not build your own panel van conversion?

There are countless thousands of us who have and have very exclusive vans that we are mostly very proud of!

In most peoples eyes a panel van has numerous advantages over a coach built, the main one being of course that they are far, far easier to drive, because anywhere a delivery driver can get to, so can you, whereas so many of the coach-builts can be right royal pains when it comes to some of the narrower roads around the country.

If you do fancy dipping your toe into the excitement of self building, then please come on over to the sister site of https://motorhomebuilder.com/ where you will discover a large number of people who are more than willing to talk you through your plans and problems.

If only we had a single ounce of DIY ability! Honestly we're more useless than you could even imagine!! I love the idea of it and know someone from work who has a self build. But we really truly couldn't do it. We don't even own any power tools. Thank you though.

 

[scaryt]

depends what part of the country you are in david on here trades as wildebus ( www,wildebus,com) and is super helpful with all the stuff us non techies struggle with he’s resident in the scottish borders , if your only talking 4 days between sites a bigger power bank batteries might be enough if you want to go 3 months & running your fridge on an inverter without going on a site you will need a solar array & big powerbank

I've seen him mentioned before does he do the work or supply the parts? We're in South Yorkshire so it would be a trip but could become an adventure in itself.

I need to get my head around what an inverter is and how it works. It's a bit tricky when everything is so theoretical.

 

[Jenrai]

Firstly welcome, I hope you end up getting a motorhome. Being able to go anywhere with your mini house is priceless.

Gas (LPG) I believe is your answer. I have an underslug tank which I fill up at petrol stations who provide lpg. Others have gas cylinders you then exchange when empty. Along with my solar panel I can stay off grid for around 2 weeks before I need to fill the lpg again. Fridge/cooking/heating all run off the gas and I have usb ports to charge the phone.

Hope this helps, Jenrai.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Sounds like a plan to me, wish I could afford a van as new as 2015, ours is 2007 and that was new for us, we've had 11 vans, true older ones can have problems but if the price is right it allows them to be repaired or replaced, I always struggle deciding if we should go with high or low mileage, they don't like to be stood around, but things also wear out so it's all a gamble, but you are doing the best thing which is to ask questions, especially of the seller and to see everything working, no excuses, then there is buying from a dealer or private, I prefer private, can be much cheaper but zero warranty usually, as said ask to see everything working, if it requires gas then make a time to come back, assume nothing, sellers have been known to tell porkies or just not tell you something vital, the condition can tell you a lot too, look at the tyres, a picky owner will ensure they all match, a damp meter is a useful thing to take with you, and make sure you use it in every cupboard, lift seats and check under those too, a honest owner won't mind you being thorough, and of course NEVER pay the asking price.

 

[TJBi]

Sounds like we should be able to make it work. It'll mostly be the two of us and it's my husband who'll use more water than me! (I'll not make any smart a**se comments either!).

I suspect we'll use CL/CS sites far more in the UK than bigger campsites, so we should probably join those clubs again. We mainly need the electric for charging phones/watches/computers, the lights and I'm guessing the diesel heater. We don't watch TV in the van.

All the things for which you say that you need electric should run off 12 volts. With adequate leisure batteries and solar, you should normally be fine for all that (and more), though perhaps not in the depths of winter (and even then perhaps location-dependent). As others have said, Wildebus is your man for all matters battery- and solar-related.

 

[Rec]

If you only want more electric to charge phones maybe consider using a power bank for that. Particularly if you already have one. Solar panels are not too expensive to fit and, as others have said, do give you more options especially in summer.
I would try first without adding anything, try and work out what you need ( another battery, solar, refillable lpg) go to a meet and pick everyone's brains. Remember the fridge is an insulated box and can be used same as a coldbox with a bottle of frozen water to keep it cool. For three or four days that might be enough. Welcome!

 

[scaryt]

Sounds like a plan to me, wish I could afford a van as new as 2015, ours is 2007 and that was new for us, we've had 11 vans, true older ones can have problems but if the price is right it allows them to be repaired or replaced, I always struggle deciding if we should go with high or low mileage, they don't like to be stood around, but things also wear out so it's all a gamble, but you are doing the best thing which is to ask questions, especially of the seller and to see everything working, no excuses, then there is buying from a dealer or private, I prefer private, can be much cheaper but zero warranty usually, as said ask to see everything working, if it requires gas then make a time to come back, assume nothing, sellers have been known to tell porkies or just not tell you something vital, the condition can tell you a lot too, look at the tyres, a picky owner will ensure they all match, a damp meter is a useful thing to take with you, and make sure you use it in every cupboard, lift seats and check under those too, a honest owner won't mind you being thorough, and of course NEVER pay the asking price.

I think we scared of buying private as we’re so new to this. Some kind of warranty feels like a safety blanket. Thanks for the extra things to check. We’re going to borrow a damp meter if it looks like it could be the van for us.
Do you reckon we could make an offer on this van? After talking to dealers at the NEC the wait times on new vans seems to have raised the price in the used market which made me wonder if there were no deals to be had. Hopefully I’m wrong.

 

[scaryt]

If you only want more electric to charge phones maybe consider using a power bank for that. Particularly if you already have one. Solar panels are not too expensive to fit and, as others have said, do give you more options especially in summer.
I would try first without adding anything, try and work out what you need ( another battery, solar, refillable lpg) go to a meet and pick everyone's brains. Remember the fridge is an insulated box and can be used same as a coldbox with a bottle of frozen water to keep it cool. For three or four days that might be enough. Welcome!

That’s a great idea about going to a meet. Although I would be that annoying newbie with ALL the basic questions!!

 

[Jenrai]

If buying from a dealer make sure the van has had a recent habitation check done, see the paperwork. If not ask for one to be completed and get it free or taken off the asking price. Whilst this won't show you vehicle mechanicals it should be a good indicator the health/safety of the systems.

 

[Millie Master]

If buying from a dealer/trader, never ever forget that oh so many of them all flat on their face when asked to pass the honesty test!!

 

[scaryt]

If buying from a dealer/trader, never ever forget that oh so many of them all flat on their face when asked to pass the honesty test!!

This does worry me to be honest. But think I’m even more scared of the private market! Stuck between a rock and a hard place and scared of being landed with a lemon that I can’t even pop in a G&T!