What I have learned from living in an old Hymer for 2 years...
Hopefully some insights, hints and tips for those about to go 'full time', if not the full 'through multiple winters and summers in the ever vainer search of...
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- off grid, off site, fresh water is always the problem, the thing that runs out first and the thing you can't easily live without. Water can be hard to find even on the continent in winter. Always have a plan, and plenty of connectors, adaptors and different lengths of hose that can connect together,
plus apps and maps etc.
Hopefully some insights, hints and tips for those about to go 'full time', if not the full 'through multiple winters and summers in the ever vainer search of...
'- off grid, off site, fresh water is always the problem, the thing that runs out first and the thing you can't easily live without. Water can be hard to find even on the continent in winter. Always have a plan, and plenty of connectors, adaptors and different lengths of hose that can connect together,
plus apps and maps etc.
- keep a good reserve of bottled water for drinking. If tank water must be used, boil before drinking.
- Have plenty insect repellant in summer
- If winter use is the intent, a winterised German van is a superior thing.
- Fit a powerful extractor vent for cooking inside
- Properly check your tyres frequently, especially if driving in England. Those potholes will do serious damage to a heavily loaded van tyre.
- Refillable LPG tanks are essential if going off site/grid, especially in winter. Download an app to tell you where to fill them as it's getting harder.
- Don't pay too much attention to stuff written in this forum by folk with vested interests. Anyone who's name, logo, business or anything else suggests they or their mates might make some cash out of you (even if they rightly claim to be an 'expert') means their advice, however apparently sage or insanely scaremongering (look at the ridiculous thread on the 10yr LPG tank thing...) they try to be. For info, regs have mandated that LPG tanks in campers have for nearly 40years been outside the camper, so if the worst happens (a leak), the worst that will happen to you is that you will just lose your last refill.... If your tank leaks (extremely unlikely even if 20yrs old) you will NOT blow yourselves or anyone else up, unless your van is parked in a hermetically sealed (and small enough) garage with a constantly sparking igniter.
- A reversing camera is a must
- have a solid routine/checklist of things that must be checked before driving off..
- Ensure your relationship (if in one) is solid before setting off. If it's weak, it could be divorce.
- Solar panels on the roof are brilliant, the more the better, except for southern europe in summer where you need to pitch under a tree/in shade to stay cool, in that case the roof panels obviously wont work, so a remotely deployable array is better, esp if on a site
- Renogy kit works very reliably. The integrated 25/50 solar controller /B2B charger is a great piece of kit as is their inverters. But mount any B2B where it can dissipate heat (vertically and vented or to metal) or it will throttle from 50A down to 35A after 30mins.
- An uprated alternator 150/180A is a good idea with B2B
- be prepared to change/tighten alternator belt frequently with B2B, esp older vans.
- when full timing be prepared for everything to wear out quickly, camper stuff, especially aftermarket is generally overpriced and poor quality. You pay twice the price and can expect a quarter of the lifespan of normal domestic stuff. German OEM stuff (hobs/fridges/boilers/fittings and fixtures) is better, but it's even more expensive and can't be justified on an old van.
- Carry a spare water pump. We went through 5 in two and a bit years.
- for peace of mind load the van with adjustable sensors. Smoke, fire, gas and Carbon Monoxide. They do help you sleep better, and teach how to manage air quality, ie when to vent etc.
- there's no such thing as being put to sleep by gas pumped into the van. No matter what you read, it is just not going to happen. Read one of the more informed posts on this site, by Jim the site owner/moderator or a medical professional to understand why. At best the folks who claim such rubbish were just drunk, at worst it's some sort of insurance scam. It's all just made up nonsense, no matter how plausibly it's written.
- Don't skimp on van maintenance, it's an old adage but if you look after your van it will look after you. Lavish some love. It's your home.
- Chassis-carriers for light motorbikes and scooters, or ebikes are great, but if you can, get a powered one. Better still get a camper with a garage if you can afford it, or a trailer but that's more hassle for park ups. Ask the Germans.
- Travelling and roadside (aire) camping for free is very easy in most of the continent
- Travelling and roadside camping for free is very difficult in most of the UK
- If your dog gets fleas it's very difficult to eradicate them from the camper. The powerful anti flea stuff from Vets is way better than the cheap stuff from pet shops.
- Some bits of France (the central and more lowland bits) appear to be absolutely infested with ticks for some reason. You end up checking your dog every day, and quickly become adept at removing them with tweezers
- Fit the biggest and best fridge and freezer solution you can find. In summer with plenty solar it's quite easy to run a compressor fridge off batteries.
- A compressor fridge is about 3-5 times more energy efficient than those evap things, and the freezer is much colder. Though it often is really handy to be able to power a fridge by gas. Ideally have both.
- Two 11kg LPG bottles providing all heating, hot water, fridge and cooking will last 2 months in summer, 2 weeks in winter. If the weather is really sub zero cold and heating has to stay on all night 22kg of propane can be consumed in 8 or 9 days
- Buy a silver screen, stow it next to door and drivers seat and get into the habit of putting it on every day. It takes about a minute with practise. Brilliant thermal protection in summer and winter.
- like the airlines say, items in overhead lockers might have moved around in flight. We have the cracks and holes in the surfaces below to prove that's true...
- don't get caught draining grey water on the road. People can really take offence, sometimes assuming it is black water. But don't worry you are harming the environment, you aren't if using eco friendly detergent.
- blown air heaters (Truma) can overheat and act up if the compartment they are in isn't properly ventilated. I thought our 22yr old trumatic C had had it, i dismantled it and found nothing obvious, and it fixed itself when I properly ventilated its cupboard. Don't block any vents.
- if water gets down the back of the fridge compartment it can have strange effects on the ionisation sensor or the fridge doesn't know the gas is on and it won't stop sparking. You just have to wait for it to dry out.
- Old Hymers are incredibly waterproof. only 2 leaks in 7 years of ownership. One was a badly installed (by me) new aircon unit, I removed, cleaned, resealed (with proper polypropylene sealant aftwr scraping away that rubbish non setting stuff then cleaning with white spirit then roughing) and refitted in 2hrs. The other was a pattern side vent cover. Poor design meant it let water in when the van at the right angle and rainwater pouring off the roof over it.
- water tap micro switches will fail. A good alternative is a pressure sensor switch. It will also help identify any leaks ...
- when fitting roof solar, those plastic things you glue to the roof are absolutely brilliant. No holes to drill. But prep is absolutely critical. You MUST remove the silicone mould release from the moulding with White spirit, then rough with sandpaper and clean again with white spirit. Do the same to the roof.
- Replacing fabric with leather is absolutely worth the expense if you have a dog.
- always look in cupboards and under windows and around doors and on ceiling in shower room for mould developing in winter. Keep on top of it...
- the only spares you need to travel with is a credit card. use amazon and drop lockers (everywhere) to have anything you want within 24-48hr. Have a decent tool kit though.
- An onboard compressor is a great tool. You can pump up tyres on the van, bikes, airbeds, beach balls, inflatable awnings etc and you can let your own tyres down to get out of mud and reinflate them. Also allows endless adjustment of air suspension.
- Know your weight. It's easy to go over especially the rear axle. Free public weighbridges are quite easy to find on the continent.
- Netflix and Prime are a godsend in a camper esp in long winter evenings. Just get a local sim with big data and take your firestick.
- Satellite dishes are old hat. Pointless with a smart tv or even a fire stick. Sell it while it's worth something. Tomorrow it will be like trying to sell a betamax VCR or a laser disc player.
- Any type of aircon is such a bonus in summer. But think hard about how you use it when it's a hab unit. Best is the mechanically driven cab a/c but it does mean running the engine.
- There's a world of difference between staying on site with electric and services and staying somewhere with no electric hook up, and worse no water.
- After a while not having an address can get tricky. Have a UK address (friends, family) to have all correspondence and letters sent to.
- Keep exercising. Living in a camper can really prevents you moving (esp in winter) and suddenly you are fat and lazy and your joints don't work anymore.
- do upgrades properly. Proper wiring. Proper isolators. Prope lr soldered joints and connectors. Properly specced components. Don't bodge. You will just end up paying a hugely expensive foreign tradesman to sort out your bodges. You will end up paying more that if you'd just done it right in the first place. Buy cheap, buy twice.
- Take your time - these things ain't quick and they all handle like shit. Enjoy the ride and let others past as often as you can.
- avoid motorways on the continent. you can't take advantage of the high speed limit, the tolls are crippling and you don't see nowt. Use the smaller roads. It's much more fun if a lot slower.
- have european breakdown and if you need to use it, tax the van first if it isn't taxed. They won't respond if you've sorned it.
- have blue jobs and pink jobs. It's old fashioned but the mrs will likely really appreciate not having to empty the cassette.
- Emptying the cassette without splashback is a real skill, esp if it has the extractor thing (no chemicals). You just learn. For the fellas reading, keep it a blue job. She hates to do it. It's not so bad when you learn it. You can capitalise... (don't shoot the messenger ladies).
- forget generators. noisy, inefficient and just old hat.
- Don't worry too much about your heath. Exceecise as much as possible, swim, eat well and see a Medic once every couple of months. take their advice if you want to live longer... or just ignore it, like me.
- Brexit was a total disaster for moving and living in EU. It wrecked our dreams but hey ho someone is happy. IMHO it will be recorded i. history as the singular most stupid thing any country did to itself in peacetime. There you go. cue paddy...
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