Bought a campervan! Best purchases and things you can't live without?

[Faircastle]

No actual reason to start this thread, I'm just excited and wanted to share.

DH and I rented a campervan in the February half term and enjoyed the experience (despite the weather).

We've now bought a 2020 VW transporter 6.1 which has been converted into a campervan.
We are driving her to the camping & caravanning show today to look at awnings and accessories.

I want to only carry what we need, but also do want to be reasonably comfortable. We are both experienced campers.

First proper trip booked for the Easter holidays.

Do you have any tips, best purchases, or things you couldn't live without?

Other than that I agree with travelling light, we’re quite minimal, we get on site, swivel the front seats, pop the roof, open the wine, and we are done!

This is us, except we don't even need to pop the roof! We converted a high roof Renault Trafic, so we can stand up in the van as it is.

I think that keeping it simple makes it far easier to be spontaneous with the van. The more fuss and faff that gets introduced, the less the van will get used.

@FortunaMajor what sort of things do you attach to your ceiling? Ours is carpeted but low. Also can you do normal toast in the toasties gadget?
Thank you.

We keep small bottles of water with the right amount for 2 cups of tea, by the mugs, tea bags etc. Then are only boiling the exact amount you need.

A tiny dustpan and brush and a plastic doormat for the ground outside your door
I don’t think levelling mats were a thing when I was a kid! Watching my parents repeatedly back the van forward and backwards trying to find the best tilt, however, definitely was…!

Note that for leveling you don’t need perfection

If there’s equipment such as a fridge then it needs to be relatively level
If it were a caravan with shower then level can be counter predictive. A slight tilt to the drainage corner makes a large difference

Depending on bed layout a tilt might feel a little odd while sleeping - eg head down

But the seeking of perfection can cause OCD
The simple test is a tin can - lay it on its side to see if it rolls, but remember that the contents may have settled
Next up is a spirit level, either from the shed or a ‘dedicated’ camping level. You can get little ones that work in multiple directions

Alternatively there are apps like this:

apps.apple.com/gb/app/caravan-level-remote/id1130156903

The advantage of an app is you can turn the volume up and listen to the beeps as you adjust

@Tommika that is a very good point about working out what type of trips we'll take.

There will be plenty of day trips. This spring / summer we are mostly planning weekend trips (2-3 nights) including one festival. I don't like staying in one place for a whole week; I get bored.

Thank you all for the suggestions. I'm working my way through them and trying to resist the temptation to buy everything.

Top tip - the Fiamma style chocks fit perfectly in a pillowcase - that way they don’t get everything near to them muddy!

We had an awning for our previous camper but when we upgraded we just got a tent - much easier than lining everything back up every time you pop offsite.

[quote Wilma55]@FortunaMajor what sort of things do you attach to your ceiling? Ours is carpeted but low. Also can you do normal toast in the toasties gadget?
Thank you.[/quote]

For the ceiling, frippery bits mostly. Things like fairy lights, different fabric to personalise it, bunting etc.

You can do normal toast in the ridge monkey but if that's all you want from it then you can make toast in a dry frying pan too.

A lot of people do things like omelettes in them, but I've seen everything from a full fry up to pizza and chips and a chicken breast / steak roast dinner.

I think Go Outdoors do a slightly cheaper version of it.

Surely first off your van needs a name?

@Easterbunnyiswindowshopping

Surely first off your van needs a name?

She is called Zelda!

We spent quite a bit less than we had planned for the awning (we went smaller in the end as there are only two of us), but then spent the difference on a thermal windscreen cover (from rainbowscreens).

The ridge monkey has had a few mentions
A colleague has one, and we used this Diablo which is similar at one of the few shows last September
We had the opportunity to go early for setup, and as there had been a great shortage of camping or just going out we set off on Thursday for a weekend event

On Thursday we put up a gazebo and unloaded boxes of stock
We then took two days of ‘setting up’, but were still finishing off the set up on Saturday morning

Instead we occupied most of our time trying out toasted sandwich recipes (and drinking)
The Diablo does waste the crust if you don’t nibble that while making it, but once you’ve worked out the timing they are great

Thank you to everyone who commented with advice and recommendations.

This is what we have bought so far:

• Drive-away awning (Cayman Air Midi) - not arrived yet
• Rail to attach awning
• Portapotti (Thetford)
• Mattress topper (Duvalay)
• Cargo net to stop bedding falling out of the boot when we open the back doors
• Levelling ramps
• EHU cable
• 5L container for drinking water
• Some kitchen stuff: bamboo bowls / plates, whistling kettle, small bin that fits in the cupboard
• Some other bits and pieces

@Libertybear80 - thank you for the recommendation of Dubbed Out Community - great tip!

Congrats on the campervan! We bought one last summer - massive mid life crisis purchase but we love him (he's called Brian!). Seconding DubbedOut - loads of advice and tips on there. I'm also a member of VW Camper Chicks which is a fab group too.

If you have a rock and roll bed, defo get a topper. They are very uncomfortable otherwise. We got our's from Amazon for about £70 or you can push the boat out and get the gold standard Panda topper for about double that.

If you plan on storing your utensils, plates etc in the van, get some of that non slip drawer liner stuff you can get in B&M - stops them rattling around when you drive.

Oh and get some levelling chocks. First time we went away, we were on an ever so slight slope, but we kept sliding down the bed every night.

Microfibre towels for showers, they dry you really well, take up less than half the space of normal ‘Turkish’ towels and dry much more quickly, especially helpful when camping in UK-type weather.

@MrsMigginsCat - I have joined both of those Facebook groups; lots of useful advice on there.

@FadedRed - DH and I both have microfibre towels, bought years ago, which happen to be in a VW campervan design. It was obviously meant to be.

Two ring electric hob, use this if you have gas in the van when you’ve an electric hook up to save your gas

We had bone China crockery as it’s light but nicer stock use

Games cupboard & books