Buying a campervan conversion is a big investment and needs careful thought.
Wish someone had told us this!!
At NHSontheRun, we really gave the purchase very little detailed thought.
Obvs, we have bought cars before. Even owned a van before (not a camper) but we had absolutely no idea what to look out for in a campervan conversion. Is it the right colour, and gives us that warm feeling, god damn that's lovely. Process completed!
It's a year now since we bought Nessa.
Regular readers will know our thought process.
It went like this :
Lock down - can't go abroad - maybe England is worth a look - hotels are expensive - camping is barbaric - Motorhome are for odd obsessive characters from Little Britain - VW campers look beautiful but are best for midgets without bodily functions or just for posing in - getting an unconverted van and arranging the conversion ourselves is out of the question because we don't know what we need - let's get a campervan conversion! Done deal.
We bought Nessa on emotional impulse after some minimal on line research about how much they cost and where to buy them from. We do not regret this. If we had thought about it for too long, we probably wouldn't have bought her, and would have missed out on one of life's great joys! But, ideally we would have known what we were taking on!
1) Budget. This is for you to decide. But do decide, fix it and don't go too far over! I would not comment on this except to say you can get them cheap or expensive. No shit Sherlock!
My guess is budget isn't as important as knowing what you want, and being able to see it works as you wish. If you pay less it's for a reason. No one is out there giving away bargains in this market. Look for testamonials for professional conversions. If it's home grown, you should look very carefully at quality of build, wiring, and plumbing before buying. Pay more if you can, as it's likely to be a reasonable investment. You won't make money, but they don't diminish in value very much with age, so you can probably get a lot of your money back after use.
Set your budget and then ask yourself :
2). How many people is it for? (For us for example, 2 is company, so we don't need a pop up roof or addition beds. Also, we only need 2 seats). A big bed was probably the only thing we really knew we wanted when we bought her!
3). Do you want to camp in it, or do you want to live in it?
It's a space - how do you imagine yourselves using that space - to sleep in only? Or to live in. This is the point at which we realised the difference between a motor home and a camper van!
You will also want to decide if you plan to use campsites and their facilities, or whether you want to sleep anywhere and have everything you need with you. You probably won't know till you get one! Chicken and egg but think it through ...
Things you might want
Storage for clothes etc - do you want cupboards? Check closures - there's a horrible sinking feeling when all your crockery and glasses hit the floor as you go around a corner, as we learned!
Bed - size matters to us ! The wide bed we have allows conversion to in door table and bench seats, but in retrospect we seldom eat inside and if we do legs crossed on the bed is fine. Do you need a Fixed bed or set up daily, usually using the seating/table area? We sleep better in the van (now we carry a mattress topper) than we do at home. Many people are fine in a much narrower bed. Your call.
Will you be sitting inside? Then you need comfortable relaxing seating , and eating area ie table. Also do you need front seats that turn to allow rear facing for good use of space? We don't have this but it would be nice to have.
Consider head height. If you want to live in it then crouching may not suit. But fully standing requires high top vehicle with resultant parking restrictions. You need to know what you want again probably before you buy!
Toilet - not for everyone but having one is very convenient! (Pun intended) Essential if you want to off-grid and not keen on digging holes! (If you have a wc consider where it's sited - Do you need an Extractor fan?)
Water for washing up - needs a water tank. Consider how much water you may need. 70 litre tank is great for us and we refill every 3 days on the road. (Probably will also need space to carry drinking water too, as the tanks are ok for washing but hard to maintain fit for drinking. )
Sink for washing yourself - or serviced camp sites? Most sites have a pot wash area.
Shower - do you need? indoors or out? Or happy with shared campsite facilities? It's lovely to have and we do use it, but it's NOT a power shower of any sort!!!
Lights and power - leisure batteries charge from the engine or land power or solar or all three. Ours does all three, but most campsites have electric pitches. They are about £10 a day more expensive - think £30 for electric and £20 for non electric and your not far off.
An inverter allows you to use your leisure batteries to power standard plugs. Getting your head round how you will use your van will help greatly with the choice. On line blogs give great detail about the options.
Hot water - needs a boiler - which can be gas or electric or both - ours does both, but takes up a whole cupboard for boiler, another cupboard for LPG and of course a huge area for the water tank!
Cooking : built in or camping equipment you carry ? You can have built in hob even an oven etc if you have space. You need to understand how and where you will want to use this. If you want to stay off-grid (not in serviced camp sites) you need gas! We use LPG. It's available less and less, it's easy enough to find but not at every gas station as it used to be. You may need to travel to fill up, but lasts ages! Also I'm told can't take LPG through the Channel Tunnel. We tend to bbq in evenings even tho we have all the kit, but you can't beat a bacon sandwich before you set off in the morning!
Heating - are you fair weather users? Or likely to be in the mountains in winter? Lots of options from very expensive German diesel heaters for off grid to £20 hot air blower from Argos if you have electricity. Our van had a cheap Chinese diesel heater that broke within months. Since then we have used a plug in fan heater very very rarely / usually it's pretty warm inside with 2 people and a dog!
Extractor for air circulation eg cooking inside van, and condensation that runs down windows if you find the need to breath during the night !
Aircon - if you plan to be in South of France in 35*c it can be hot inside a tin can! But you have doors and windows - do you need it? We are thinking about this as an addition at the moment.
Wi-fi - often campsites are in areas where 4G is not great - if this important to you? If you want to work in the van it is! Lots of formal camp sites can provide Wi-Fi but it's very hit and miss and pitch dependent. A 4G router is fine almost everywhere we've been in the UK so far. EE seems to have the best coverage. We also have a smaller car router that works off 12V cigarette lighter for off-grid.
Awnings or tent adjacent - if you have a van to just sleep in, you will need to consider the need for a tent and all the camping equipment needed to provide your seating and cooking areas etc,... We love to watch the VW owners setting up their kit for an hour while we crack a beer!
Accessories include wind breaks, hammocks, fire pit/bbq , dog stuff if you have #vandog!
Using these pointers thoroughly would have helped us choose better, and possibly slightly differently. Hope it helps you. Don't let it put you off!
Just helpful to focus properly on your personal needs before you jump in to wonderful #vanlife.
Our trips have taken us around the UK. To festivals, to Scotland, France, and around Europe as far as Hungary. ..... remember you can always follow our blog here at www.NHSontheRun.com
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