Does anyone have a camper van? How do you get on with it?

[MemorableLlama]

DH and I are considering a camper van. (We don’t have a car that we could tow a caravan with and also don’t fancy towing)

But we can’t get round the issue of having to pack up every time we want to leave the campsite. And this is putting us off.

So how much hassle is it? And do you have any tips?

Any websites or social media groups that you’d recommend to help with our research?

What about a "driveaway awning"?
So you could leave your stuff there for day trips. Depends on how big a camper you are going for but I've seen these a lot for smaller vans.

We have a drive-away awning which stays on the campsite and we can leave our stuff in it, so rather than packing everything away we just have to:

• Detach awning
• Remove blackout windscreen cover
• Close pop-top roof
• Swivel front seat to face forward
• Check we've unplugged the EHU, turned the gas off and moved the grey water bucket out of the way

The process still becomes a bit of a chore if you have to do it every day, so we look for campsites which have interesting things to do either within walking distance or accessible by public transport.

We’ve had a camper for years. It’s really not a problem, we go out in ours all the time on holiday. The way we do it is to be tidy in the van and not have loads of stuff outside. You can leave a few bits on your pitch, which anyway shows you’re coming back. We’ve not had anything taken in 15 years.

When we go out it’s a question of putting the kettle away and unplugging the electric hook up.

We tend not to do ‘days out’ in the van but try and use sites near public transport or walkable to the nearest place of interest - might be a town, beach or good place for yomping. We pack away everything outside anyway after meals and either go to a bar or sit in the van (!) of an evening. Can you tell it’s more DH’s thing?

Thank you for that. It’s very helpful.
Any recommendations for makes of camper van that are easy to drive and have good design for living in?

Are you looking for new or secondhand? There’s many facebook groups - we have a VW California and are in the VW California community and Official VW California Club 🥹, there are often discussions about which van to buy. I’m sure there are many other groups.
There’s a show at the NDC every year where you can see dozens of models but VW never go; it seems they don’t need to as their lists sre always full.

We have a classic VW and a driveaway awning.

We pack really light and only get stuff out that we need - if we're staying more than 1 night the awning becomes 'home' and will pop chairs and table outside, plus fridge etc. We only take stuff we need for each trip - we know what goes where so it's not a biggie to pack up to drive off.

Hire one first to see if campervan living is for you - it's a VERY expensive mistake if you invest before trying it out first - I've had (or been around) campervans all my life so the compromises are 'normal' to me.

I pitch a small pop up tent on my pitch and shove all the stuff in that so the camper stays fairly clear. As pp said, I just pull down the pop up roof and sort out the curtains and the front seat. I'm a very minimalist camper and I often feel a bit at odds with others on campsites with huge motor homes and massive walk-in tents. But I travel alone so I don't need much.

I would second the recommendation to go to the Motorhome & Caravan Show at the NEC in October.

https://mcshow.co.uk/

Hire before you buy - there are so many options and compromises and trying is the best way to find yours

packing up takes minutes - partly as it’s small so you can’t let things around all over the place and we tend to base ourselves where we can walk directly form the van

It pains me to say it but the British built ones are inferior to the Continental build. I recommend Carthago, a German make. They are very solid and reliable.

Which layout is the million dollar question. We are on our 4th motorhome and every time there have been benefits and compromises to the layout. But it’s entirely personal. I like a rear u-shape lounge, happy to put the bed up and down every day, a high fridge rather than under-counter, etc. The more time you spend in them the more you learn what suits you.