Best Motorhome / Campervan gadget?

Best Motorhome / Campervan gadget?

Author
Discussion

Captain Answer

1,361 posts

195 months

Monday 4th March
quotequote all
r3g said:
Had never heard of them until yesterday. Seen them a couple of times but didn't have a clue what they were. Don't caravans have their own water tank in them then? Or is this basically a water container on wheels to get water from wherever the site tap is to your caravan for those sites that don't have a tap on the pitch itself?
Not typically for cold, most/all have one for hot water internally and some will have internal fresh tanks but both want emptying before you pull it with the car on the road....

If there is a tap on the pitch I use a float valve in the side of my roll to keep it topped off and draw water out the aquaroll rather than plug it straight to the mains

Beetnik

528 posts

192 months

Tuesday 5th March
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Escort3500

12,352 posts

153 months

Monday 22nd April
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chappj said:
What app/website(s) are you using to find friendly stop over points? Both for U.K. and Europe…

We collect the van in 2 weeks and then our first trip will be at Easter. We’re thinking Bologna/Florence/Pisa with a drop off at Chamonix or Annecy on way down/return. We need to find places to stop off!
How are you getting on with the new van; good I hope smile

We collect ours next week (Twin Supreme 640 SGX). Getting quite excited now smile

If you’ve not done so already, the Adria Twin Camper Van Group on Facebook is well worth joining. Plenty of newbies as well as experienced owners with lots of advice, hints and tips.

Have you had any probs with condensation in the pop top? Someone posted in the group a few days ago about difficulties they’re having with theirs.

egor110

17,369 posts

211 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
Got any trips planned?

Escort3500

12,352 posts

153 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
egor110 said:
Got any trips planned?
Locally for first trip out (Yorkshire Dales), then down to Somerset for an alarm/immobiliser/tracker to be fitted before on to see friends in Devon

egor110

17,369 posts

211 months

Tuesday 23rd April
quotequote all
Escort3500 said:
egor110 said:
Got any trips planned?
Locally for first trip out (Yorkshire Dales), then down to Somerset for an alarm/immobiliser/tracker to be fitted before on to see friends in Devon
Who's doing the alarm ?

Escort3500

12,352 posts

153 months

Tuesday 23rd April
quotequote all
egor110 said:
Escort3500 said:
egor110 said:
Got any trips planned?
Locally for first trip out (Yorkshire Dales), then down to Somerset for an alarm/immobiliser/tracker to be fitted before on to see friends in Devon
Who's doing the alarm ?
Vanbitz

Jordie Barretts sock

6,018 posts

27 months

Tuesday 23rd April
quotequote all
Captain Answer said:
Not typically for cold, most/all have one for hot water internally and some will have internal fresh tanks but both want emptying before you pull it with the car on the road....

If there is a tap on the pitch I use a float valve in the side of my roll to keep it topped off and draw water out the aquaroll rather than plug it straight to the mains
My caravan tows better with the onboard tank full.

egor110

17,369 posts

211 months

Tuesday 23rd April
quotequote all
Escort3500 said:
egor110 said:
Escort3500 said:
egor110 said:
Got any trips planned?
Locally for first trip out (Yorkshire Dales), then down to Somerset for an alarm/immobiliser/tracker to be fitted before on to see friends in Devon
Who's doing the alarm ?
Vanbitz
At least you've got somewhere to stay sorted using vanbitz.

Are you going for the growler ?

Are you getting a battery master installed whilst your there ? well worth it we install quite a lot of them here.

Escort3500

12,352 posts

153 months

Tuesday 23rd April
quotequote all
egor110 said:
Escort3500 said:
egor110 said:
Escort3500 said:
egor110 said:
Got any trips planned?
Locally for first trip out (Yorkshire Dales), then down to Somerset for an alarm/immobiliser/tracker to be fitted before on to see friends in Devon
Who's doing the alarm ?
Vanbitz
At least you've got somewhere to stay sorted using vanbitz.

Are you going for the growler ?

Are you getting a battery master installed whilst your there ? well worth it we install quite a lot of them here.
We’re getting the Strikeback Evo Raptor as the insurer is insisting on a tracker. We had the Strikeback in our previous MH (Burstner Nexxo) and it was excellent. Thanks for the advice about the battery master. VB aren’t featuring them on their website any more, but I’ll ask them if they still supply them and probably get one fitted if they do.

egor110

17,369 posts

211 months

Tuesday 23rd April
quotequote all
Escort3500 said:
egor110 said:
Escort3500 said:
egor110 said:
Escort3500 said:
egor110 said:
Got any trips planned?
Locally for first trip out (Yorkshire Dales), then down to Somerset for an alarm/immobiliser/tracker to be fitted before on to see friends in Devon
Who's doing the alarm ?
Vanbitz
At least you've got somewhere to stay sorted using vanbitz.

Are you going for the growler ?

Are you getting a battery master installed whilst your there ? well worth it we install quite a lot of them here.
We’re getting the Strikeback Evo Raptor as the insurer is insisting on a tracker. We had the Strikeback in our previous MH (Burstner Nexxo) and it was excellent. Thanks for the advice about the battery master. VB aren’t featuring them on their website any more, but I’ll ask them if they still supply them and probably get one fitted if they do.
They do still supply them as we get ours from them .

r3g

3,750 posts

32 months

Wednesday 24th April
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egor110 said:
Are you going for the growler ?
hehe

Escort3500

12,352 posts

153 months

Wednesday 24th April
quotequote all
r3g said:
egor110 said:
Are you going for the growler ?
hehe
My missus wouldn’t let me hehe

Spuffington

1,240 posts

176 months

Thursday 25th April
quotequote all
My favourite accessories are the indulgences:

- Nespresso machine: I had a 2kW Inverter fitted to our BoxDrive 600XL when I bought it so that we could have our morning coffees. We had one in our Concorde Charisma previously, so somewhat spoilt, but there is nothing better IMO to waking up to a proper coffee in the morning. Particularly when you're fully offgrid somewhere. It does mean spending on a decent LifePo4 battery and inverter, but IMO it's priceless.
- Silwy wine glasses: we discovered this stuff when we bought our BoxDrive. Knaus has partnered with them - it's a firm who manufacture magnetic glasses & tableware for vans & yachts. We have limited space in our van but really enjoy drinking wine out of proper crystal glasses. Being able to be creative with storage solutions is great. We also use their magnets to secure the Nespresso machine to the worktop without damaging it.

OK, so both a little esoteric and indulgent in comparison to some of the other suggestions, but we wouldn't be without them.

RedWhiteMonkey

7,320 posts

190 months

Thursday 25th April
quotequote all
Spuffington said:
- Silwy wine glasses: we discovered this stuff when we bought our BoxDrive. Knaus has partnered with them - it's a firm who manufacture magnetic glasses & tableware for vans & yachts. We have limited space in our van but really enjoy drinking wine out of proper crystal glasses. Being able to be creative with storage solutions is great. We also use their magnets to secure the Nespresso machine to the worktop without damaging it.
We were given a couple of those by the dealer when we bought our campervan (VW California Beach). They are great quality, we don't really have anywhere safe enough in our van to store them though.

My gadget selection would be Ikea's Tillreda portable induction hob. Its cheap and works brilliantly when we are on hook up. Gas is the current backup for wild camping but hopefully we'll get a suitable portable powerbank so we can use induction off grid too.

Spuffington

1,240 posts

176 months

Thursday 25th April
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Yeah, we’re a little tight on space too but I can see how challenging it would be in a Beach. Nice touch by the dealer though.

r3g

3,750 posts

32 months

Thursday 25th April
quotequote all
One bad pothole or missed speed hump in the road and you're going to have a lot of teabags and broken glass to clear up hehe .

chopper602

2,256 posts

231 months

Thursday 25th April
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chappj said:
Would you go for Starlink over 5G/Satellite if buying again now? This was on my shortlist (I’ve been struggling to find a good horizontal roof mount for Starlink).
I'd leave the Starlink free standing. As it needs a clear view of the sky, you may not be able to give it that if it's mounted on the roof of the van. You could stick it on it's (already heavy) mount on a low table so it's off the ground.

As for accessories
- a decent external silverscreen - keeps van cool in summer and warm in winter and also means you don't need to mop up condensation every morning
- packing cubes as someone has mentioned, makes packing van so much easier.
- if you want to wild camp, a good investment would be a battery generator, with a standalone solar set-up. Our Jackery can power the services in the van, charge the e-bike batteries up and let us use the air-fryer, without EHU. 2 x foldable solar panels will charge it all up again (can even stick the panels on the roof or in the windscreen)

CallMeLegend

8,837 posts

218 months

Thursday 25th April
quotequote all
A decent Lithium pack, an inverter & decent solar.

We bought a Pilote V600G last October, the Lithium & inverter are a game changer, no waiting 15mins for the gas kettle to boil. The uprated solar is a project for the end of the summer.

drewbar

23 posts

172 months

Monday 1st July
quotequote all
For initial accessories I'd say:

- Roll up water hose
- Levelling blocks
- Traction mats (incase you get stuck on wet grass/mud)
- Reel for the hook up cable
- Silver screens for cab
- Decent table and chairs that fit in your storage lockers well
- Tie down kit for wind out awning
- Decent ground sheet

Try and make everything fit nicely in the lockers and avoid too much clutter. Keep it simple as possible. Its a balance between buying good quality kit and cheap stuff. Watch out as there are lots of gimmicky accessories out there in this space, I quite enjoy laughing some of the junk they try and sell at shows!