Camper van peops reveal yourselves - role call ;)

[Jammygal]

Hello fellow camper peops
Well I am new to all this camper van lark, have been using the van more as a day van up till now but very soon will be progressing to overnight stays!

We have a vw t4 4 berth hi top.....I welcome any tips from you more experienced campervanners out there......
So far have been looking at jompys, iceyteks, boginabag etc feeling like I need them all....pls tell me your top buys etc
X

I'm really hoping so , and because we've got the bench seat they can both sit up front with the driver. (I was really chuffed when I was able to squeeze both their seats in the front.)

Oh yes Loubie makes much more sense for them to go in the camper

New windscreen is shiny,shiny.....Was slightly concerned when they said they might have to cut silicone on hitop

Have been fantasising about getting the bed redone in the van .....have just had a quote from a ' reasonably priced professional'........hmmm not all that cheap at all :( will have to save up or lump the granny furnishings for the time being!

We had to have a new windscreen and were worried that they might have to cut the bit that leads up to the pop top. They didn't though, I assume yours is okay too. When it's so shiny every bug will show up when you go for the first drive.
DH has come home with new wheels and tyres. He is like a boy with a train set and is most upset that I can't see that it makes that much difference.
Is the bed something that you could do yourself? I say this with some hesitation because everything DH has attempted to do himself has had to be rectified by professionals.
If you were interested in the cab bunks,this guy made ours loads cheaper than the branded ones. He makes them to fit whatever vehicle you drive.

Hi

Making my mark on this thread and adding to my watch list!!!

We've got a T25 wedge, had her for 8 years this July and have travelled millions of miles in her!!

I bought her for DHs birthday when I was pregnant with DD1, and we've used her loads! We've done 2 absolutely epic roadtrips in her, both round Europe. 2009 we had 2 weeks in south of France, Frejus and I wad 34 weeks pregnant with DD2 and last year we did 3 weeks touring France and Spain including the alps and the Pyrenees and 2 x visits to disneyland Paris with both DDs - and came back with an extra special souvenir

DS1 due on Sunday!!!! There is no tv in the camper and not a lot to do once kids were sleeping lol!!

Note to selves, install tv before this tears camping begins!!!

DH is brilliant with all things camper, so if you need any advice, give me a yell!! X

Hello, all you hardy camping people. Can I join? We are the new owners of a 4 berth motor home which DH is completely in love with.

We have only taken it to the beach so far for breakfast with a view but we are hoping to take it for a proper weekend trip in a couple of weeks' time.

We are very excited but I'm a bit concerned that DH won't like the muddy, cold outdoor life as much as he thinks he will .

DS and I, on the other hand, are as tough as old boots.

I would not want to try and get those toppers would ever get back in the bag! It may be possible - it is a zippy opening fabric bag, so probably designed to store them.They were folded in 3 down the length and tightly rolled. We are lucky they can stay on our beds though as we have a fixed double and an overhead cab so they both get left made up. They are 2 - 2.5cm thick so if you wanted to re-roll them I would suggest a good bungy strap or belt.

My bed now has mattress topper and mattress protector under the sheet so I expect great comfort. :)

Today we visited relatives who have just sole their van and they gave us ALL their stuff. Non slip mats for shelves, mini kettle, power leads, long hoses, toilet chemicals, things to hold down the awning in the wind, kitchen gadgets, parking gadgets - was like christmas! Our large estate boot was filled. Best thing though was their folder of all the campsites they have been too - loads of them - and recommendations. Wow.

can I join this thread please ?

we are looking for a van to but and are not sure what type to go for.

I love VW's but are they worth the price for the name ?

We are campers and have loads of camping equipment (tables, cookers etc etc) so I am not sure if we should go for a 2 sleeper + awning for 2 to sleep (there are me, dh dc 10 + 6 and big labradoodle) or a 4 sleeper and awning for day use.
Dh and I would get away just the 2 of us when we could and our 10yr old will use his own tent in couple of years.
We will use the van as 2nd car so needs to be reliable.
We would like a pop up top as dh is tall.

If we all sleep in the van does it rock and wake you up when someone goes for a wee ?

If you have an awning do you sleep with the van door open and does it get condensation ?

We are complete novices when it comes to vans.

Any help would be appreciated. We have up to £10k to spend ! I keep veerining from a surf type day van to a full camper and dh fancies doing our own conversion but I think it would be too time consuming and we need the van a his car so would use it daily.

Sorry for the marathon post I have a lot of questions

I wrote a rather long post about our T5 further up. Doing things yourself is time consuming. If you decide to do this be prepared not to see you DH for weekends for months to come and more. DB has done his himself, little by little, it looks home made but that is part of the style of his, he has a T4. certain things like fitting the bed you would have to have done properly I would say so that your certain it's properly attached or the pop up roof (and I would say windows since DH did ours and they ALL leaked) so you would have to manage without it for those times. We payed 6k for the base van I think, (but have spent significantly more than that since) but finding a decent basic van can be tricky if you want a VW because they get snapped up pretty quickly for conversions.
There is lots of advice on the VW T4 or T5 forums. I would think plenty of it could be applied to other types of van too. Don't get something old like a T2, they just don't seem to be reliable enough for every day use.

I like the pop top compared to a high top because it does mean you can get into most places like muiltstorey car parks as long as you're careful to check the height restrictions.
I would think it would be handy to be able to sleep all four of you in the van so that you don't always have to pitch the awning or another tent. If it's just an overnight stop for example.

thanks loubie , we have ruled out converting ourselves.

I am at the stage of looking at hundreds of sites to see what we can get for our money and will start going to see vans in a couple of weeks when we have the money in the bank.

I am so so excited as having a van has been a lifelong ambition and I cant believe it is going to come true !

Hello womanandvan
I agree about converting , it is brilliant but time consuming and costly.
Vw's are good though as they do a huge mileage (my mates has done 300,000 miles- diesel) and they retain their value , so easy to resell etc

We bought ours a few months ago and degrannying it ATM.....but learning so much a long the way regarding our needs as a family etc....I am already planning future improvements and the van we want next etc we are hoping to get this one up to spec, have fun along the way then sell and buy another and do the same;)

T4/5 forums as already mentioned our awesome, inspiring and help point you in the right direction with anything vw.....
The other thing I would recommend is going to see some different types of van, motorhome etc and really think about your needs. My neighbour started looking at bongos, then Vw's but ultimately ended up with huge motorhome recently....

Also think about how you are going to use it.....eg we live by the sea so are huge dayvanners and occasional campers but you might be the opposite so may want something bigger etc.

Hope this helps x

It's gone very quiet on the campervan thread. What are you all up to? Have any of you made curtains for your vans? Can you point me in the right direction of some decent instruction please?

I just used normal curtains and cut them down. I'm not very good at sewing though. There's lots of nice camper van curtains on eBay, although they might be a bit pricey.

Hey thunderbolt kid ....lol @ not being able to sell t4! Where are you staying in Pembrokeshire??? It's my part of the world!

I have some granny curtains (sounds rude!) in my van but am looking to change them over to some homemade ones made from tea towels! Sounds crap but I am hoping they will work!

Have now got tinted windows in the rear of the van. We are off to get other windows (not the front!) tinted this weekend!

thunder I know newgale campsite is in a great spot but no dogs allowed at campsite although you can stay in Solva up the road and drive down the hill with boards etc and either park at the rear of newsurf or at the car park on along.

You'll find more sites at st David's but surf will be busier although you should escape the hordes that come in the school holidays!

Another campervanner here!
We have a T4 Westfalia California, it's a LHD German import and I use it as my car as well as for camping.
We've camped as far afield as Italy in it and strapped our snowboards on the bike rack to drive down to the Alps, although we didn't actually stay in it when we got there, not sure 4 people and all that ski gear would be much fun, let alone how cold it would be for the DSs sleeping in the pop-top!!

That sound like fun onemoremum. I've never been abroad in mine. Mainly because Dh doesn't drive. Not that doing the driving bothers me, it's the driving on the other side of the road bit. Especially the roundabouts. Wish we could do a driving course here on practicing the roundabouts in other countries. I'd definitely go for it then.

Hello all.
womanandvan we are in the same process as you with the same buget.We have been looking at the mazda bongos as we seem to be able to get newer ones in our price range,have you looked at those.
We had a dream to go travelling when older dc left home but dd2 had other ideas and made a suprise arrival just over a year ago.The camper van is instead of travelling around south america
Any tips from veterans.

Hi Noqontrol
Since our van is LHD I spend the majority of the time driving on the wrong side of the road, it's when we go to Europe that everything's the right way around!
I must admit that DH does most of the holiday driving, as his navigating leaves a bit to be desired, but I do my share and it's honestly much easier than you'd think.

The good thing about a camper is the high driving position, so even though you are on the wrong side of the vehicle you can usually see straight over the roof of whatever's in front of you, so it's much easier than driving a RHD car in Europe. And honestly roundabouts are fine, you just follow the flow of traffic and soon you won't even notice you're going the 'wrong' way.

Why not try booking a cheap ferry crossing (Dover-Dunkirk usually comes out cheapest) and stay somewhere in Northern France for a few days just to see how you get on, I bet you'd have a great time!

Only just found this thread...
Have had campers since 2004. Never want to be without one. We are a large family with 6 kids though the oldest are now 22 and 20 and don't come along any more. The other 4 are 8,10,12 and 14. We are on our 6th van as needs and funds have changed. We have a motorhome (but have also had campers in the past) Buerstner 747 (2003 LHD).

We go to Europe and all over the UK. The kids love the experiences though there are times when they moan about the long drives. We home educate and are self-employed so we take school and work with us to allow us to spend longer in France and Spain (our main destinations). We tend to avoid cities and go for nature - the wilder the surroundings, the better!

I always check Dover-Calais and Dover-Dunkirk as the best price varies during the year. Ace places in France called "Aires de Camping-Cars" - overnight car parking specifically for campers with water and waste dump, sometimes with electricity and loos too. Buy the book "All the Aires" from Vicarious Books and a good atlas (we are used to the Michelin variety).

When we travel, you can almost see the kids' brains growing. It really is the best family activity ever for us.

....Ah! The open road....

I think I might just have to go for it onemoremum. Once I'm there I'll have no choice, I'll just have to drive. And hopefully it will be ok!!

I'll look out for that book eightpairsofhands. I'm sure the experience for the kids would be amazing. I might be tearing my hair out mind you.

I've just been looking at curtains on ebay - I want new ones because the ones in our van, although original, are a bit dull. I saw some with thermal linings. Any good do you think? Will they do instead of thermomats?

Ooh and what fabrics are we looking at? I think I'd like a colourful stripe

Yay, we have just got back from our first trip, and it was a success. We even braved using the Thetford loo and it is fab! So easy to empty etc so no more early morning dashes across wet fields to the loo blocks :)

Best thing was never getting really cold! We sat outside loads but as it got late we retreated inside and put the heating on. Our bed was also really comfy - the memory foam toppers were worth it! We could stretch out fully as well so not at all cramped.

Fridge and microwave make me feel I can never say I am going "camping" though - but we are off again on Thursday for another short break where there is no hook uo. DH has just had an LPG cannister added to replace one of the calor ones so will get to see how that all works.